New to smoking / Callow mods

[EdSmokerCarter]

Hi All,

Been lurking for a few months and thought it high time to say hello and thanks for all your advice that's been awesome without you guys even knowing it lol.

So basically I'm a lover of BBQ brisket and burnt ends. I can only get them from one restaurant called blues smoke house. Got fed up of only going there a few times a year though I'd go and make my own. Ended up with a callow smoker due to cost, a wireless dual probe, a probe thermometer, a Weber BBQ starter, Australian heat beads, some mesquite and some beech wood chips, and a big bag of restaurant grade charcoal. Quite a collection over the last two months. Also got a couple of books smoking meat and pitmaster off amazon. But neither have burnt end recipes. This is the start of my smoking hobby so did everything on a bit of a budget. Couldn't afford to go big straight away. I'm doing my second smoke as I'm typing so gunna give you a quick over view of my first smoke, then the second and what I've learnt. Any tips welcome as I'm winging it at the moment.

Smoker seasoned.

Seasoned the smoker the day I got it. Used veg oil on the sides used charcoal to obtain a hot heat. Struggled to get temp up and stay up. However I didn't have a dual probe then. Only had the food probe and the lid thermometer which was useless. I did ring Callow directly and they did send me a new temp gauge out. Still no improvement. But good customer service.

Smoke 1.

Decided for my first smoke ever (don't ask me why, probably because it's a cheap meat) I smoked a whole chicken. Used a dry rub from the supermarket Marinated the chicken. Used the BBQ starter with the head beads, minion pattern used, along with beech and mesquite wood chips. Wood chips left in water for an hour, i wrapped some in foil also to place on top of the hot coals. I dont have a smoke box and saw you could use foil to create one on a website somewhere. I did struggle to get the Callow past or up to 100 degrees as I wasn't to savvy with the vents and I used the water pan full with hot water. I had to heat up some more heat beads to keep the temp up as much as I could. However after a bit of fiddling and half way through pulling the water pan out completely heat rose to 115ish. I got the chicken cooked though. Tasted good. Good smoke ring although wasnt crispy but I was surprised at the result. I was also surprised how much I had to mess around with the fire and control temperature. In fairness I was 1 or 2 degrees outside. Plus I was only using my food probe in one of the probe holes.

Mods before smoke 2.

Looking through amazon comments, wades review and threads I decided it's time to modify the Callow for better results I.e airflow and temp control. So using a metal drill bit and a drill I have drilled holes all around the circumference of the charcoal tray. There are holes at the bottom for ash control and supposedly airflow. As wade stated the air vents are level or slight above the charcoal tray. The air doesn't seem to flow through the coals. By drilling holes all over the side of the tray air now air gets to the coals much much better. I used two whole charges of my 18v drill to do it. Took some time and it's not the prettiest job ever. I think I read somewhere the Weber smoky mountain charcoal tray is more like a wire mesh than a solid tray. I have also covered the sides of the door with tin foil to create a better seal. Seems to work quite well and cost me next to nothing lol.

Smoke 2.

Armed with my modded charcoal tray and tin foiled door I though I would try to smoke some pork ribs, a salmon steak and a sea bass fillet. If this goes well then it's gunna be the brisket tommorow. I made up a dry rub from various ingredients . Im usually a wet rib guy but I wanted to see if I could build up some bark on the outside as this is what I really want from BBQ. I dry rubbed the brisket and that's absorbing flavour till the morning. Dry rubbed the ribs and the fish. I don't want to buy some generic supermarket rub so I thought I'd better start learning to do my own. That's what BBQ is about. Your own cook with your own flavour from scratch or it is to me.

So again used heat beads in minion pattern. I lit 15 heat beads in the starter, put the same amount in the charcoal tray, got beads just starting to turn white into the tray and put the smoker together. Left it for half hour and put wet wood chips on half hour before I started cooking. I found the Callow hit 140degrees easy with no water pan in, vents fully opened. This leads me to believe with my mods I have made a vast improvement but the limitations to this smoker is it's a low and slow smoker only. Again the temperature here is 1 to 2c. So same outside temp as before. Come summer maybe you can improve this and with a full tray of lit charcoal I'm sure you can get it higher.

I might see if I can buy some air vents from somewhere or put bigger air vents in. I believe the design flaw like may is there's not enough air flow to the coals. Anyways left the top vent completely open the whole time, used the bottom vents to control a steady temp from 115ish to 125 when I put the fish in. Kept the temp steady for over 5 hours in total without the need to add more fuel. I did half way through add some more wood chips for more smoke. Just ate the fish and ribs. Ribs had excellent char and smoke ring, just a bit over done same as the fish. Lesson learnt. I was using a guide by a book for the heat of the ribs. One said 125degrees which is damned hot, another said 76 and another said 85 ish. So I did mine at 99 degrees c. Way to much should have been around 76 I believe. All lessons to help me improve my smoking. Tommorow here comes the brisket. I'm gunna try Wades Tim foil around the charcoal tray to see if air is forced through the holes I've made. Any comments welcomed and tips welcome any burnt ends recipes welcome.

 

[dl8860]

Hi Ed. Interesting post. I'm halfway through my second smoke on the callow. It's my first real long cook, the first I did a leg of lamb and a duck, so didn't need long, but these beef ribs are taking their time. Currently at 165F after 5 hours, having only been able to achieve 205-210F in my smoker.

I had already drilled holes in the basket (9 of them) to line up with the bottom vents, but just half an hour ago I did the ring of foil trick and now sitting nicely at 250F. Wade's mods continuing to provide benefits for all! How did you get on with your brisket? That's what I'll try next, but want to make sure my smoker is running exactly as I should before I take it on. Cheers, Dave

 

[wade]

Hi All,

...I did struggle to get the Callow past or up to 100 degrees as I wasn't to savvy with the vents and I used the water pan full with hot water. I had to heat up some more heat beads to keep the temp up as much as I could. However after a bit of fiddling and half way through pulling the water pan out completely heat rose to 115ish. I got the chicken cooked though. Tasted good. Good smoke ring although wasnt crispy but I was surprised at the result. I was also surprised how much I had to mess around with the fire and control temperature. In fairness I was 1 or 2 degrees outside. Plus I was only using my food probe in one of the probe holes.

... As wade stated the air vents are level or slight above the charcoal tray. The air doesn't seem to flow through the coals. By drilling holes all over the side of the tray air now air gets to the coals much much better. I used two whole charges of my 18v drill to do it. Took some time and it's not the prettiest job ever. I think I read somewhere the Weber smoky mountain charcoal tray is more like a wire mesh than a solid tray. I have also covered the sides of the door with tin foil to create a better seal. Seems to work quite well and cost me next to nothing lol.

... So again used heat beads in minion pattern. I lit 15 heat beads in the starter, put the same amount in the charcoal tray, got beads just starting to turn white into the tray and put the smoker together. Left it for half hour and put wet wood chips on half hour before I started cooking. I found the Callow hit 140degrees easy with no water pan in, vents fully opened. This leads me to believe with my mods I have made a vast improvement but the limitations to this smoker is it's a low and slow smoker only. Again the temperature here is 1 to 2c. So same outside temp as before. Come summer maybe you can improve this and with a full tray of lit charcoal I'm sure you can get it higher.

Hi Ed - Sorry this is a bit late but I have only just noticed the post.

It appears that you have the Callow Mk 1 if you have the high air vents. I have been doing a lot more testing in conjunction with Callow with both the Mk 1 and Mk 2 (Cook4All) and so have pinned down the design challenges in both. The issue with getting the Mk 1 up to temperature in cold outside temperatures was actually a combination of three factors working together - (1) the position of the bottom vents, (2) the lack of air into the fire basket and (3) the size of the top vent (too small).

You have partially addressed the issue with the fire basket by drilling holes in the side. You can help further by cutting out the bottom of the basket (leaving a lip inside) and replacing the bottom of the fire basket with a wire grate or mesh.
Wire mesh made from an old cake cooling rack

A more sturdy bottom made from a sheet of 10mm perforated steel


Either of these helped to increase the air flow through the coals. The next model of the smoker (due out later this year) will have a totally redesigned fire basket which is larger and has a wire/mesh base.

The bottom air vents were lowered in the Mk 2 and were increased to 4. The lowering of the air vents made a big difference but increasing the number of them did not add any benefit. The next model will have 3 bottom vents in the lower position.

In the Mk 1, when the air flow through the fire basket was improved there was little benefit gained by sealing round the fire basket with foil.

Once the air flow was sorted at the bottom the limiting factor then moved to the top vent. It became too small to enable the increased air to flow to pass through the smoker. With the Mk 1 it is best to remove the vent cover completely and then use a step drill to increase the size of the air holes. The new model will have 2 air vents in the lid.

Using water in the "Water" pan without having made the air flow modifications will also make it harder for the unit to get up to temperature in cold weather. The water pan is really there as a heat deflector and water is not necessary with most smokes. As you found out, if you use the smoker without water in the pan the temperature will rise higher.

 

[dl8860]

Interesting stuff Wade. I find I keep drilling a few more holes in my charcoal basket (v1) before each cook and I'm finally able to get it as hot as I like and need to cool things down using the vents (top and bottom). Still using water, must go and buy some playpit sand soon!

I think I have about 10 6mm holes in the basket which I line up with each bottom vent. I don't have the equipment to removed the base of the basket and replace with mesh like you've done above. Do you think there would be any chance of Callow selling the basket of the v3 that you mention?

Like I say, I'm able to achieve up to about 270F comfortably, and I don't really want to go much higher in this thing, I have a barrel BBQ for searing if I want. Would you say that increasing the size of the top vent holes would only really be necessary for higher roasting temps?

I do find that getting stable temps remains a challenge though. Often having to play with the vents every 30 mins or so, which is a bit of a pain. On a recent smoke I was at 270F for some beef ribs after about 2 hours. I thought I was nice and stable, having stayed at this temp for a little bit after closing the vents slightly, so went out the house for 2 hours. When I came back I was at 175F, and quite a bit of charcoal had burnt. So more to learn.

Some other notes about the condition of my smoker. I built it earlier this year and have used it 5 times I think.

• The spring on one of the latches no longer functions, which is quite annoying​
• One of the screws was always missing from one of the hooks for the lid latches​
• One of the bottom vents is seeing some degree of rusting around the holes​

Do you think it's worth me getting in touch with Callow about these issues? I know it's more of a 'value' product than some of the more expensive smokers out there, but I'm not halfway through a season yet and seeing a couple of niggles on what is advertised by them as a 'Premium' smoker. I love the thing, but if it's not usable come next year, I'll have to look into buying a WSM or a ProQ. Which is a shame, as I love the concept of supporting a smaller company and using mods invented by the community on here and elsewhere to get similar results of the more expensive cookers.

 

[wade]

Hi Ed
The long consistent slow burns can be affected by several factors.

• Fuel - Make sure that you are using a good quality long lasting fuel as your base. For the low and slow cooks I find that Heat Beads or Weber Briquettes are best. You can add your flavouring woods/pellets on the top - but the stability of the burn will benefit from using very compact long burning fuel.
• Location - As with all bullet smokers they are affected by their environment. They are best used in the shade (out of direct sunlight) and where there is no wind. Having the smoker in direct sunlight and then in shadow (sun goes behind a cloud or changing time of day) can easily affect the internal cooking temperature by up to 20 C (40 F). On a partially cloudy day, as the sun goes in and comes out it will result in noticeable temperature fluctuations.
  The wind is also a major factor - and this affects the relatively small smokers more as they have a larger surface area to volume ratio. Even a modest breeze can result in the smoker losing heat.

When I was first reviewing the Callow Mk 1 I made the following temperature logs. I used duel probes - one on the top grate and the other on the bottom.

You will see the effect of the wind picking up at around 20:45. If on the other hand you had set the temperature whilst there was a breeze blowing which then dropped, you would expect to see an equivalent cooking temperature drop. Still, i got a good 8 hours cooking temperature from just 2 Kg of Heat Beads.

Your temperature stability issues over time may have been a combination of several factors so it is hard to pin it down to anything specific without being there.

Regarding the spring, yes, talk to Scott at Callow (or their Customer Services) and I am sure that they will sort you out. The same with the screws. As for the bottom vent you could talk to them about that too, but it may be easier to put on a dab of hear resistant BBQ/stove paint (available from DIY stores or from Vitcas directly). Just make sure you don't create a bump that will interfere with the vent closing. I had a little rust appear around the door on my Callow Mk1, but I just seasoned it with some vegetable oil and it didn't get any worse.
If you have any questions regarding quality, their Customer Services are always very keen to help.

The new model of the Callow/Cook4All is being manufactured at the moment. I will ask them if they will be able to supply the new components to retrofit the older models. If they can they will probably be chargeable though.

 

[dl8860]

I have been using weber briquettes exclusively for a couple of years now, I think I'll try heat beads when my current stocks run out though.

I keep my smoker about 2 feet from my garden fence and 6 feet from the house, so a good majority of the time it's wind sheltered and in shade. Hadn't imagined it could change temps by as much as 40F though, I will bear that in mind for sure.

I've sent an email to callow with feedback including the issues I mentioned above, looking forward their response.