Hi All
I'm new to the world of smokers etc though i did do a 2 day course last summer and have a friend who runs his own smokery and has taught me a lot.
I've recently got myself a Callow vertical smoker having been told by my friend that it's a great entry level smoker and great for beginners. I've used it a couple of times and it does seem to be good for low and slow, holding a steady temperature around 115C or so however I'd like the temperature a little higher for cooking a chicken and twice now I've tried and not managed to get it about 120 or so and I'm not sure why/what I'm doing wrong.
I've tried lumpwood and today I'm using heatbeads, and I'ave had all the vents open to start and watched the temperature increase but even with the vents fully open the temperature just won't get any higher, anyone have any experience with this smoker or any suggestions on what to do to get the temps up a bit, Ideally I'd like to be cooking around 160C/180C or there abouts, as it's taking ages to cook a simple chicken at the low temperatures (so far today it's been on around 4 hours and it's just gotten to 68degrees - I realise that it would be fine to eat once it's been at this temp for a while but I prefer the texture once it's gotten a little higher)