Temperature Problems

[Sacrifice]

I had a strange experience today with my Procom and turkey temperatures.  I was smoking a turkey and all seemed well.  However, about 5 hours into the smoking, the temperature stabilized at 150 and remained there for almost 2.5 hours.  The cabinet temp was 210.  Then, the temperature went down to 148, and slowly progressed to 150 - 151 and stayed there.   I put another probe into the other breast and the initial temperature read was 169.  That temp fell to 154.  Since it was almost time to eat, I jacked the cabinet temp up to 230.  The temperature on the cooler side finally rose to 162 and the hotter side rose to 169 (I rotated the turkey to insure even temps, so this was strange also).

I figured that 169 was close enough to 170, so I pulled the turkey after a total smoking time of 9 hours (I was a 15 pound bird which usually takes me 8 – 9 hours).  The turkey was moist and good, but overcooked, meaning that the internal temp had to be much higher than 170. 

I have smoked a lot of turkeys as well as other meats in the past few years, so I know that temps sometimes stall for long periods of time, but on this turkey, it was a very long stall and a drop, and I have never had stalls on turkeys like this before.

I know that the temp probes (all 4) on my Procom are accurate because I test them and compare them against other thermometers.  So, does anyone have any explanation on why the temp probes in the turkey would register what I think are false temperatures?  Or, has anyone had this problem before. 

Thanks

[Habanero Smoker]

Nothing like this has ever happened to me, and I have done a lot of poultry, though I've never did a turkey over 12.5 pounds.  While smoking poultry, I have never had what I would consider a temperature stall, let alone a drop; that I had noticed anyway. When I smoke whole turkeys, I always rotate the bird. If not the side facing the rear of the cabinet cooks much faster.

My guess would be that it is an equipment malfunction. When you stated you put another probe in the other breast; was that a separate type of probe, or an auxiliary procomm probe? If both were connected to the procomm, then equipment failure would be my first suspicion. If you used a separate probe that was not connected to the procomm, then it would be a strange phenomena. It's possible that the batteries were low, or you may have had some type of interference.

If you have an instant read thermometer you could have used that confirm the temperature reading, and the final temperature. This would have, at least narrowed down, whether it was the equipment. Hopefully others will have better insight.

One other thought. There could have been a loose connection somewheres.