Miniature Internal Temp Probe, High Precision, for Fish/Sausage

This miniature internal temperature (IT) probe provides high precision measurement of the food temperature during smoking. It is especially suitable for thin or small piece of meat such as fish or sausage. With this probe, our controller can finish smoking at the specific temperature. For example, ending the smoking when the internal temperature of salmon reached 125 ~ 130°F will result a "perfect" smoked salmon that has buttery texture; ending the smoking when the internal temperature of chicken or pheasant reached 165°F will make sure the poultry is tender, juicy and safe to eat.

This probe is compatible with H series controller such as AW-1520H and SYL-2615/SYL-3615 controllers. 

The bottom three are the typical internal meat temperature probes on the market, made by various manufacturers. Top one is WS-SENSOR22. It is much thinner, shorter with a lighter cable than others.

Most of internal meat temperature probes on the market are L shaped with pointed tip.  This popular L shaped probe is easier to be grabbed with a pair of kitchen tongs, so that user can move the probe in the hot smoker. However, these probes have several drawbacks for measuring small and thin meat such as fish and sausage:

1) It is difficult to place the sensor tip (sensing element) at the very center of the meat. For thin pieces of meat such as salmon filet, placing the sensing element at the center of the meat is very important.  If the tip is pushed too deep, the sensing element could pass the center section so that reading is hotter than the true temperature of the center. When a couple of degrees make a difference, this becomes a problem. To make it worse, due to the variation of the size of the sensing element and the tapper of the tip, the exact location of the sensing element in relation to the tip point is unknown to the user. Some can be a quarter inch back from the point. Also, large probe is difficult to be held stably in a 1-2" thick fish. In addition, the stiff cable can pull the probe by cable weight, causing this probe to move.

2) The probe body can function as a heater to heat up the meat surrounding area. When there is a large temperature difference between the cold meat and the hot air inside the smoker, the metal body of the probe can function as a heating pipe. The probe section that is not inserted into the meat will pick up the heat energy from the outside hot air, transfer them to the tip which is inserted into the meat. Since metal is a much better heat conductor than air, our study found that the temperature of the meat surrounding tip area is often hotter than the other places after several hours of cooking. This problem is more severe when this temperature difference is large.  

To solve these problems, we developed this miniature food probe. This probe is much smaller than the L shaped probe. It also has a light and flexible lead cable attached. It is only 0.079" (2 mm) in diameter and 1" (25 mm) long. The sensing element is in first quarter inch (6 mm) section of the tip. Since its tip is very small, user can precisely place the sensing element right at the center of the meat. The heat picked up by the exposed part of the metal body is negligible because of its small size and surface area. The thin and flexible leader cable will apply almost no stress to the probe so that the tip will not be moved during smoking. 

Limitation of WS-SENSOR22 probe: 1) The maximum temperature rating of the lead cable is limited to 400°F (200°C). It cannot be exposed to open fire. 2)  Since it is too small to be grabbed by a pair of tongs, moving the probe from one piece of meat to another can be difficult during high temperature smoking. However, since fish smoking is normally at relatively low temperature (~150°F), this is not an issue. In addition, if the thickness of meat is fairly uniform, there is no need to move the probe during smoking.  3) it may withstand less abuse than the larger and heavier L shaped probe. However, during our 4 months of testing, not a single probe has failed.

The right probe in the picture above is the L shaped IT probe. Since the tip is long, it is difficult to know where the sensing element is. The heavy body of that probe also makes it difficult to be held in place. The miniature probe is on the left. Since the total length of the probe tip is known, by looking the length of the metal section that is not in the fish, the location of the sensor tip can be easily determined. The light lead cable does not put any stress on the probe. 
 

Note1: Refurbished probe is limited in stock here.
Note 2: WS-SENSOR22 is a PT1000 RTD sensor. For a similar probe with PT100 RTD, please check PT100-FD. 

Specifications