Callow Smoker Review

[reti]

Wow, thanks so much for the comprehensive response Wade. I'm based in SW London. Bound to annoy my in-close-proximity neighbors who are trying to dry their washing outside in the weekends! I think you have sold me on a Weber, I didn't realise such long cooks were possible with one. I've created a few saved searches on Gumtree and Ebay; thinking i'll try get something second hand if there are some in good condition around.

I bought a cheap probe thermo for testing meat temperatures some time ago - I suspect that for £5 there will be a fairly large margin of error. Sounds like I should add a better one to my shopping list. I'll do some research.

Keen to hear how the callow improves over time, it does seem to look pretty good on paper at that price point given it's about 3 times cheaper than a smokey mountain.

 

[smokin monkey]

I bought a cheap probe thermo for testing meat temperatures some time ago - I suspect that for £5 there will be a fairly large margin of error. Sounds like I should add a better one to my shopping list. I'll do some research.

Best way to check it, boil a kettle a place probe into it. Should be 100'C if it's within + - 2'C it's a good enough!

 

[wade]

I bought a cheap probe thermo for testing meat temperatures some time ago - I suspect that for £5 there will be a fairly large margin of error. Sounds like I should add a better one to my shopping list. I'll do some research.

You may like to look at this - Inkbird IBT-2X Wireless Bluetooth BBQ Thermometer


It costs £23.95 from Amazon and is a dual probe thermometer - that links to your Apple or Android phone by Bluetooth. It can be used stand alone but the phone app allows you to set high and low alarms and also gives you a nice temperature log/graph over time. A friend of mine has been using one and I have just bought one to compare with a couple of other temperature loggers for the next UK BBQ magazine.

 

[martyn c]

I mistakenly  bought the single probe one and left it out in the rain, I'm now looking for a 2 probe model  

 

[mitch kingsland]

Hi, I've just spent the day attempting to smoke a pork shoulder in my new Callow. The big issue I had was getting the temperature anywhere near 100degrees C. In fact, mid 80's was the average.....However....when I eventually conceded defeat after 5 hours of less than adequate cooking, and removed both the meat (to the oven) AND the water tray......the temperature SHOT UP to 125-130 degrees.....and stayed there.....it's still there 4 hours later!!!!! My conclusion being that I had  probably overloaded the charcoal tray which was then too close to the bottom of the water tray and therefore restricting air circulation. Next time I'm going to put the water in a container on the lower of the two cooking racks and see how this works. Never really expected my first attempt to be terribly successful, but valuable lessons learned I think.

 

[PaulM]

Hi

Purely thanks to this thread, I'm 3 hours into my first ever smoke using this very piece of kit.

Complete novice but hope to become an addict.

Just wanted to say thank you for the advice!

Cheers

Paul

 

[wade]

Hi Paul - I am glad you are getting on with it :)

 

[kanadias]

Hi Guys- I'm completely new to the forum and hoping to dip my toes into the world of smoking as I finally have a garden (the joys of living in London). I have been through a few threads and this one caught my eye as I am still undecided on where to start off my smoking journey.

I have been looking into this Callow smoker, as I have also been looking into the WSM. The Callow is 1/4 the price of the WSM at the moment.

Was hoping to get some opinions as to which side of the fence I fall over to.

Thanks!

 

[smokin monkey]

HI Kanadias, I think Callow have brought a new version out, I would go for this unit. Wade should be able to update you on this.