Wireless Temperature Monitoring With The INKBIRD INT-11P-B Thermometer

One of the most important aspects of your outdoor cook, whether you are grilling or smoking, is being able to control and monitor the temperature of your food and the temperature of your grill. A lot of the time the built-in thermometer on your grill can be inaccurate. Especially in my setup. So, some kind of digital thermometer is a MUST HAVE in your arsenal of grilling and smoking tools. I recently received the INKBIRD INT-11P-B Wireless Thermometer for review. The fact that this thermometer is wireless was really appealing to me. So, I was really looking forward to trying out this thermometer for my next session over the grill.

THE INKBIRD INT-11P-B WIRELESS THERMOMETER

The INKBIRD Wireless Thermometer model I received was the INT-11P-B. The device uses Bluetooth 5.1 technology, which eliminates the need for wires and has a range of over 300 feet. Moreover, this meat thermometer can locally store 30 minutes of offline data and automatically synchronize with the app after a Bluetooth connection without lost data.

The dual temperature sensor monitors the ambient temperature of the grill as well as the food itself. It supports a food temperature range of 14 to 212℉ and a ambient temperature range of 32 to 572℉, with a measurement accuracy of ±1.8℉ according to their website.

INKBIRD asserts that the Thermometer’s dock can fully change the probe in just 25 minutes and can used continuously for 25 hours. It can be used with grills, smokers, ovens, and frying pans.

The user-friendly app contains a list of pre-sets and it can also be customized for all kinds of different food options as well as alarms and alerts.

UNBOXING AND SET UP

First and foremost, the packaging was elegant and very Apple-esque. The package includes, the charging dock, the probe, the manual, and charging wire (a USB type C). Setting up the thermometer was fairly simple (although a QuickStart guide would be helpful). The QR code to download the app was all the way on page 7 of the manual. So. It took some digging around to find the app. But found, it was easy to install and set up was a breeze.

Not only does the packaging look cool, but the device itself does as well. It has a nice sleek black and gold color, and the build quality is very durable and comfortable to use. The ergonomics of the thermometer are very nice; the unit feels sturdy in my hand.

USING THE THERMOMETER

Since the thermometer is wireless, I wanted to test out its battery life and its range. So, I decided to try it on a somewhat longer cook. Pork butt! The probe is pretty thick compared to what I am used to, so I would say that this product is best suited for large cuts of meat. The way I cook pork butt is that I smoke it using indirect heat until the internal temperature is around 155 to 160℉, and at that point (which is usually the stall), I wrap it. Depending on my coal situation, after I wrap the pork butt, I either keep it on the grill, or I put it in the oven. In this case I put the pork butt in the oven. In the oven I consider it finished once the pork is probe tender. Around 200℉. The total cook time for me was around 6 hours.

I set the custom alarm to 160℉ and put the pork butt on the grill. The first surprise for me was that the thermometer also monitored the ambient temperature of the grill, which I didn’t know it did until I saw that in the app. That’s huge! Being able to watch the temps of the grill is important because the temperature gauge on my dome can be pretty inaccurate. Especially since I put the vent side of my dome over the food, which means the gauge is over the coals.

BLUETOOTH CONNECTIVITY AND USER INTERFACE

I will say that the Bluetooth connectivity is very good when I am outside. But when I was inside my house the probe lost the connection every once in a while. The distance of the Bluetooth connection is accessible 300ft, but the actual distance will be different due to certain conditions. For example, if there is a wall between the probe and your device, that could affect the transmission. But it always regained the connection, so it was never really that big of a deal. When I moved the pork butt inside to the oven, the connection never went out.

I thought that the interface of the app was intuitive. The temps were very clear and easy to see. Like I mentioned before, there are several pre-sets, alarms, and notifications that you can set. Also, if you have other products from INKBIRD, you can connect to them with the same app. What I especially liked was the graph showing the history of how the cook went. I can see the food temperature rise and the ambient temperature fluctuate, as it does when I grill. I can look at the graph and say, “Yeah, that’s when the coals started to die out.” Next time, I’ll know when the coals die out and be better prepared.

BATTERY LIFE

In terms of battery life, the indicator was a little confusing. I started at 100 percent charge; after 3.5 hours it was at 82 percent. Two hours later in the oven it still said it was at 82 percent. Then a bit later when I was going to charge it again, it was at 45 percent. So, I could not really tell how much time was actually left. Admittedly, it was sitting around for a few hours before I put it back on the charger. Bottom line is it never died and I didn’t have any issues. Once my cook was done it appeared that there was plenty of time left.

FINAL THOUGHTS

A digital thermometer is one of—if not the most important—tools you need for grilling or smoking. Between the dual temperature reading, the great user interface on the app, and the long battery life, I would say that the INKBIRD INT-11P-B is a great wireless thermometer and is highly recommended.

Sourced from Barbecuebible