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by canadaj 4434 days ago
A temperature sensor for BBQ smokers.

Simple thermocouple with an Adafruit breakout board (MAX31855), and an existing Python driver.

Also serves up a Nodejs static page that polls for a new temperature every 5 seconds.

I'm struggling to find the time to get this going, but it's working okay right now. https://github.com/CanadaJ/heat-of-my-meat-node
1 comments
wil421 4434 days ago
Came here to say this is what I have been wanting to build. I did some research a while back but I was trying to find a USB thermistor that would work with high temps. All I could find was devices that were probably meant for measure outside temp or ambient air temp.
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canadaj 4434 days ago
I'm not sure what kind of BBQ you are into, but my dad and I do quite a few competitions every year, and the temperature inside the smoker itself is more valuable than the temperature of your meat. It's easier to consistently get your smoker temperature to what you want than attempting to cook your meat at specific temperatures, considering no piece of meat is alike another. Obviously we check the internal temp to make sure it's safe, but it's easier to keep the smoker at 250f for 4 hours than to make sure your internal temperature stays at whatever degree for 4 hours.

I would absolutely recommend any type of K-type thermocouple, because they can handle the heat that the BBQ will spit out. In fact, the one I used for testing and initial development was directly from Adafruit[0]. It works well, it's just a little flimsy. It's not USB, however.

[0] http://www.adafruit.com/products/269

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wil421 4434 days ago
Right, I would be wanting two temps, meat and temp at the grate. Also it would have a fan to control the BBQ temp like the BBQ Gurus or Pitmaster IQ (the one I use currently).

I dont do comps but I do a lot of backyard smokes, I would like to do some amateur comps once I get better.

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canadaj 4434 days ago
Awesome, I wasn't looking for something so full featured. I just want to be able to check the temperature without having to get up :)

If you're from the Pacific Northwest, get into the PNWBA quickly. Lots of great people and so welcoming to amateurs.

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