Tips for setting temp

My approach for long and slow -  

Get rid of ashes ( either stir them - or clean more if I want a longer cook ).   Make sure each one of those holes in the bottom and sides are clean.   The longer the cook is - the more attention I pay to this step.

Charcoal all the way to top of fire ring.   If I want smoke, will mix in some wood chunks throughout charcoal.

Kinda dig a little indentation couple of inches down in one or two places ( I prefer the back 10 and 2 o'clock ).  Have done many times with just 1 location and did ok, but many reccomend 2 to eliminate the straight down burn.   I think having it at the back, with the air flowing from the front takes care of that.

Light and drop a firestarter block in each indentation, stack a couple of pieces of lump over it.  With lid open, bottom vent all the way open - wait for 2+ inch visible flames.   Kinda a baseball size area lit up.  2-4 minutes normally.    Close lid, bottom vent still wide open, top vent cap removed.

Note: many people have put in the plate setter at this point - I prefer to wait.

Watching dome temp - when it starts climbing above 200 - then I shut the bottom vent to about 1/4 inch wide.   If climbs up close to 300, will tap bottom vent closed a bit, put on vent cap, with daisy holes open.

Wait for the VOC burn down, typically burning at 270-290.   The longer of a cook I am doing, the longer I wait at this stage.   I start messing with the vents, love to get it down around 250 - no lower - I know temp is gonna drop when I add platesetter and meat.   I like to be stable on temp, vents are set holding temp where I want.   Open up, add platesetter.  close lid, go inside to gather up meat, maverick, fix another drink.   let temp recover some, but not all the way.   I know while putting drip pan, grill, meat, hooking up maverick, etc - I am going to let alot of air in - and thus create heat.

Load up everything, then monitor for the next 40 minutes or so.   With the maverick, that means sitting on the other side of the patio with a cocktail watching tv - lol.    After 40 minutes of post load stability - then I am done until time for temp check.

Spend alot of time pre-loading of meat, sometimes will light an hour or more before I actually put meat on.   This helps me get things stable before a long cook.   after the initial monitoring - I am off to bed, etc.

I dont open the lid until the maverick probe has the internal temp to my initial target - with brisket say mid 190's.   Then I open and start poking around with the thermapen, looking at tenderness and temps in the different places.

Guess that my approach may be slow starting up - but I have been successful with 20+ hour cooks without touching the fuel - and holding temps in the 200's, but still enough fuel to bump the temp up some after I finish the plateau if I want to finish anything out.

Hope that helps