Wade

Sorry guys but I will not be able to make this one 😞

The Skoo arrived yesterday and it looks to be a very reasonable tube smoke generator. It comes with a cleaning brush and a hook to pick it up with when it is hot. Its size is almost identical to the A-maze-n 12" tube smokers It also holds the same weight of pellets as the 12" A-maze-n tube smoker so I would expect it to produce smoke for the same amount of time under identical conditions One advantage it does have over the A-maze-n is that it it is hexagonal and so will be less prone to roll in the smoker/grill For £16 it looks to be good value - significantly less than the A-maze-n pellet tube smokers which currently start at ~£20 plus shipping.

Hi Mark and welcome to the forum. The combination of a grill and a smoker will give you what you need to feed family and friends

I can get 6 x 10Kg bags of pellets in each box - 4 standing upright and 2 laying flat on the top They also stack well. Excuse the project wood laying on the top - that will soon be turned into garden planters for SWMBO

Yes it has a bottom with holes in it. On the first picture you can see them either side of the tube smoke generator. In the third picture they are obscured by the water pan which is sitting on a couple of bricks inside the incinerator. The water pan is only needed if the smoke chamber is getting too warm - not usually a problem this time of year. The maze/spiral smoker creates less heat than the tube smoker so it will be fine inside the incinerator. Depending on the type of incinerator it could have holes at the top and down the sides too. Look at the different types and look for ones with holes near the top that are in a good position to push canes through. Any down the side cover with tape. I use the self adhesive aluminium tape as it is heat resistant and weatherproof. https://www.diy.com/departments/diall-silver-repair-tape-l-50m-w-75mm/1714141_BQ.prd

You will almost certainly have the mark 3 (the latest). The way to tell is by looking at the fire basket- if it has wire rods as its base it is a mark 3. If it is pressed steel with punched holes then it will be a mark 1 or 2. The redesign of the fire basket was one of the main design changes for the mark 3.

I use these from B&Q. The pellets stay outside in them all year round and the pellets are fine. Keep the pellets in their plastic bags in the boxes and wrap down the necks of the bags if they have been opened. Weatherproof, stackable and only £16.50 each https://www.diy.com/departments/form-skyda-heavy-duty-black-149l-plastic-nestable-storage-trunk/3663602763505_BQ.prd

I think that during one of the forum software updates they changed the way that the photos were stored. I am sorry that some of the old photos are no longer available but it is something that is out of our control. If you have any in particular you are interested in then we can try to upload them again (or similar). Or we can restart a new thread.

You will almost certainly have the mark 3 - as the mark 2 has not been imported for at least the last 2 years. The easiest way to check is with the fire basket. If the fire basket has a thick wire/rod bottom then it is a mark 3. The marks 1 and 2 had a pressed steel fire basket with punched holes in the bottom.

I have just come across a Skoo Pellet tube smoke generator that I hadn't seen before that is similar to the original Amazn tube smokers. Has anyone already used one? At £16 is must be worth a try so I have one on order and it should be delivered today. I will let you know how it compares. https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07SRC1ZYZ

Another incinerator smoker

You do not want to slow the air flow over the meat too much as that is likely to end up with the heavier tars from the smoke condensing on the surface of the meat, making it bitter. If you need more space at a budget price why not increase your capacity with an incinerator smoker. They are cheap and are very effective. Tube generator inside the incinerator - but this could be a maze generator. Canes are slid through top holes to support the hanging meat or a wire BBQ rack. Any unnecessary hole are covered with aluminium tape. If you need to run the smoker a little cooler then place the smoke generator underneath the incinerator and shield with bricks. You can even place a bowl of water inside to help reduce the temperature.

With some premium brands the minumum sale price is often determined by the manufacturer as part of their trade contract. I recall this being so ridged that even Weber UK themselves (at their training courses) were not permitted to sell to the public at less than full RRP. With the less restricted brands I think the markup is often down to the overheads of operating the company. A larger company has to make a minimum %age to cover all their costs, whereas a small one-person-band operating from home through an E-bay shop can afford to make only a small profit and hope that they do not have too many returns.

I have just spoken with Callow Retail and they tell me that the current model is still the Mark 3 - this is the one that we helped to redesign to give good temperature control. The only difference to the original mark 3 is that they have upgraded the lid clamps, as the original ones were failing in a few cases. I hope this helps

Hi Ian and welcome to the Forum. Where in Kent are you? There are several members from Kent, I am in Woodchurch, not far from Ashford. The Callow is a good inexpensive way to start smoking and to develop your bullet smoker skills. I know a lot of people who have started with the CAllow and have moved on to larger smokers after a few years - and also others who are happy to continue with the Callow. You mentioned that you were also looking at the WSM 47cm. This is a good smoker but at this price level (~£300-400) you may also want to also look at the ProQ Frontier as they are more flexible when in use. The Callow has gone through several major design changes since it first came out and the current version has been around for a while now is a good reliable entry level smoker. I have used these on several of my BBQ training courses. There is one small mod that I think you may want to do when you first get it and that is to place small locking washers behind the nuts that hold the air vent covers in place. This simply stops the air vent nuts from working loose with use and needing tightening. The temperature control is straightforward and it is a good smoker that can easily feed a family. All the BBQ meats cook well in it though you will be limited to the size. Pulled Pork, small briskets, whole joints of beef/posk, legs of lamb and whole and spatchcock chicken will fit easily. Baby back ribs are fine too but you will probable need to cut full racks of ribs in half to get them to fit flat on the cooking grates. This is easily overcome using the most versatile "rib cooking rack" from Ikea. Ikea used to sell these only as "pot lid holders" but since we have been promoting their use for cooking ribs they now market them as "Spare Rib Holder/Lid Holder" One item that is a must before you start smoking is a twin probe digital thermometer. With this you will be ably to constantly read the temperature inside the cooking chamber as well as the temperature inside the meat. An inexpensive one to start with is the Inkbird IBT-2X. This will cost you around £25 Good luck with your smoking and dont forget that we are here to give advice whenever it is needed. Cheers, Wade

The scale of the effect is variable depending on how effective your coals are being as a heat source. If you have ample heat and the vents are closed to slits then light winds can be compensated for by opening the vents a little wider. If the wind is gusty though the temperature will not remain stable. If the coals are already struggling to maintain temperature (i.e. with the water pan full of water) then the effect of the wind will be magnified. Unfortunately I don't have a temperature log that shows the effect of the wind on internal smoker temperature however I do have one that shows the effect of the sun. This log was taken using a twin probe data logger over the course of the day. One probe was inside the smoker and the other was measuring the outside air temperature. This log was taken a few years ago from 7am to 6pm over the course of a day in April. There was no fire in the basket as I just wanted to see the effect of the weather on the inside smoker temperature. You will see that from about 8am the internal temperature (orange) began to rise a few degrees above the outside air temperature (black). At about 3pm the general air temperature began to drop, however the clouds parted and the sun came out. While the sun was out you will see that the internal temperature of the smoker increased significantly. This log was taken on a cool day in April, where the morning temperatures was only about 7C and the spring sun strength was still quite low. The effects are more significant in the summer when the power of the sun is a lot greater. Another weather event that has a dramatic effect on the temperature is rain. Even a light shower can cause the internal temperature to drop significantly. Whilst logging long cooks during showery days you can tell from the temperature profile when there were showers of rain.

We are here to help wherever we can. We all had to start out at one time and had exactly the same challenges. This is always an unpredictable balance. Whatever the direction of the wind it will cause heat loss through the smoker walls. On cold days with chill winds the heat loss will be greatest. Yes, if the wind is blowing in the right direction to hit a bottom vent straight on then it can cause that side of the charcoal to burn hotter. This will be intermittent though as the wind speed varies. Also the bottom vents are angled so any wind will also be hitting them at a tangent. Keep it out of the wind whenever you can. If it isn't possible then try to shield it from direct wind with something. Another good alternative is to drape an old fire blanket over the top of the smoker to act as insulation. If you do this though don't forget to cut a hole for the top air vent.

Hi John You have already identified the problem I think. A couple of things to bear in mind - The bullet smokers have a large surface area and so lose heat quite quickly - especially on cold or windy days. This is not a problem but something to remember. - Water will absorb a lot of energy (heat) as it turns from a liquid to a gas (steam). This heat is being produced by your burning coals but is being absorbed by the water in your pan. Maintaining the required temperature is a balancing act between controlling the amount of heat that your coals are producing whilst managing the amount of heat lost through your top vent, the side walls and through the water pan. It is important to keep the top vents fully open so you therefore need to control using the other variables. The prime one being the bottom vents. On cool or windy days ensure that your smoker is out of any wind. Wind is one of the main losses of heat from a bullet smoker. The opposite is true on sunny summer days - strong sun will have a significant affect on the internal temperature, especially if it is going in and out behind clouds. Do not put water in your water pan as for most smokes it isn't needed. The pan is there to help even out heat spikes from the coals before it reaches the meat. Either leave it empty or, better still, half fill it with clean playpit sand. This will then act like a storage heater, giving you much smoother heat profiles. Control the heat through the bottom vent. You have already found that you could reach the higher temperatures by removing the water from the pan and that to keep it down you needed to close the bottom vents. This is exactly what you need to do. Depending on your heat source you may even find that they will be almost completely closed to maintain the desired temperature. You said that you were using the Minion method - which is good. Start with mostly unlit coals and then add a relatively small amount of fully lit coals. Start with the bottom vents fully open. Monitor the cooking temperature as it rises and when it reaches two thirds of the desired temperature start to close down the bottom vents in stages. You should find that as they are closed the rate of temperature increase will slow. You will reach a point where the temperature stops increasing at the desired cooking temperature. Barring external influences (or the coals running out) the temperature should then remain stable for many hours - with just the occasional tweak being required. Remember that if you allow the temperature to overshoot it is often harder to then bring it down. The secret is patience. I hope this helps

Yes. All fridges behave slightly different though and so you will need to use your judgement towards the end. Bacon is going to be cooked before eating, you have applied two different bacterial controls (salt and nitrite), and you are going to keep it refrigerated, and by keeping it as a block you are minimising it's surface area. It should be wrapped in the fridge. Keep it in the zip locked bag with as much air removed as possible. That is great to hear. Making your first batch is always the most stressful and now you will have the confidence to experiment further. Advice I will give is to keep a book to document everything you do. This will help you remember each batch, what you have changed, anything that went wrong and how you overcame it. This will help you to produce consistent batches as you move forward.

Good advice from Ice. The bacon will store longer in the fridge if it is uncut, but if you don't think you will eat it all over 4 weeks or so then you will need to freeze some. Unlike @Icefever (aka "gadget man" 😁) you may not have access to slicers and vacuum packers so below is how you can achieve similar results... If you don't have a slicer, put the bacon in the freezer for about an hour to get it to firm up (but not freeze) and then slice as thinly as you need it with the sharpest knife you have. The sharper the knife the more successful the slicing will be. If you don't have a vacuum packer then, once sliced, place in zip locked plastic bags, removing as much of the air as you can before sealing and freezing. Freeze in batches that you will be able to use in about a week. Don't forget to save the saltier end slices and any offcuts to use as lardons. They can be cut into small chunks and frozen in individual use portions.

We have been worried about Ice for a while !!

The only time it should be yellow if when it has been out too long and needs to be thrown away

Hi Stupot That sounds great. There are several pubs/restaurants near us that (used to) smoke some of their own food. What kind of things are you looking to smoke: Also will you hot smoke, cold smoke or both? A guess you will be looking for one that needs the least amount of tending. Cheers, Wade

At that price it is pretty good value as it is also supplied with your own full time Michelin Star BBQ chef... 😎

I have used them once when Bookers had run out of the meaty ribs. I was a little disappointed as there was a lot less meat. The semi meaty ribs tend to be the ones used by pubs and restaurants as they are cheaper. They will take a little less time than the meaty ribs but the length of cooking time is still needed to ensure the meat is tender. I found that 2:2:0.5 was fine but I did need to watch them for the last 0.5 and spritzed as they can dry out as there is less fat. I would only use them again as a last resort.