Cant get my temp up

[Rooeey]

Hi...I am hoping i can get some advice from some good people in here.
I have Matador Bullet pro and am having troubles getting above 100c.

Ive tried a few things i.e more fuel, Charcoal, Beads , vents are always fully open.

I dont use any water pans either.

I had a Kamado a long time ago and it was much easier to get temps up actually harder to tame the heat in that...This thing wont budge.

[Davo]

They are similar to the bullet shaped smokers like the WSM and Pro-Q so i'll go by my experience with WSM.

So first of all, how are you measuring the temps? by lid temp gauge or by a probe temp meter?

I Didn't have a temp gauge in the lid of my WSM so i had to use one out of my Weber performer and also a probe meter for the meat.

The temps don't need to be spot on, hot smoking temps can vary between 80C till around 130C I usually use the American Fahrenheit measurement of 225-250F for cooker temps but each to their own. I would suggest to invest in a 3-4 probe meter like ink bird brand which you can buy from Bunnings BBQ section and you can use 1 probe to measure the grate temp (where the food sits) and use other probes to place inside your meat to measure internal temps.

The only other way that i do is place a 3/4 charcoal basket full on unlit coals, place some smoking wood in amongst the unlit coals and place a full chimney full of hot coals on top. Place hot water in your water bowl from the tap is fine and let it build up. Then if the lid is too hot to touch for a few seconds, it's hot enough. Close bottom vents down to 1/4 open once you can see smoke coming out the top, leave top vent open.

Water is useful to use as a heat sink and as steam, it mixes with the smoke to penetrate deeper into the meat and keep it moist.

I would use heat bead briquettes at first as they are the most consistent for long term temp as they are a uniform size. What brand of fuel are you using?

I would suggest that you compare your lid temp gauge with some other measurement to determine accuracy. It may already be hot enough but the gauge is not showing it...... if a full chimney of hot coals doesn't get your smoker to well over the right temp, then your temp gauge is wrong.

Hope this helps, give it a go and let us know how you get on.

Heres something to watch, only a short video and it's Australian. https://youtu.be/4ZcWN_GueHI?si=aUS2knXZsisSGYj4

Cheers

Davo