Square Brinkmann Charcoal - Temps too high

I am in it right now. Closed bottom vents and open both top completely. Temp is holding at 234-6so far for an hour or so. More to come today ( 10hr smoke). I have to add 3-5 coals every 40 min or so.

Well. I left it for an hour to go see my sons baseball game down the street and that was a mistake. I threw in 5 coals before I left and it was at 235...when I got back just now it was at 168 . So 10 went in and now vent adjust. See what happens. The top vents are open....I think that was a big help.

I will post a recap tomorrow on how the whole thing went. The butt was unbelievably good. My wife called friends over to take samples home to their hubbies. I am very thankful for all of the insight here. More tomorrow. Beers now

Sorry guys, but the forum upload locks up when I try to post pics....so they are a above as attachments - worked fine from my phone though - strange.

So, my WHOLE problem was the 2 top vents I believe. I was checking this forums replies as I was "in the smoke" and that's when (themule69) posted  his suggestion about the top vents. I went outside and did this, my temp dropped almost instantly from the 270's down to 234-8 and held there. Night and day difference. Now the only issue left is fuel management. I used regular Kingsford "blue and white" bag charcoal briquettes and had a total of maybe 10-15 in the coal pan at any given time. I had to throw in 5 or so about every 30-40 minutes to keep it stable. In the end I went through close to a whole bag of coal over 11.5 hrs. Any ideas on other fuels or methods? or am I close enough? I want to say thanks to "themule69" for his post earlier about the vents - If you were in Minneapolis I would buy you a beer. I have been hating this smoker up until now - I can deal with it.

So, the meat : 7.6 lb. Boston Butt bought at Gordy's in Chetek, WI for .98/lb - yes I bout a few for that price! I used "Mike's Memphis Dust" for the rub. Rubbed a whole day ahead of time and wrapped in plastic wrap - put in fridge for 24 hrs. Lit smoker at 5:30a and put but in @ 6:00a. The rest of the day involved baseball, beer, checking coals, etc. Butt came out of smoker at 4:30p when internal temp was @ 180 and went onto plate, tightly wrapped with foil for 30 min ( told to do this by a buddy ). Pulled apart fine, tasted incredible, family and neighbors want another one sooner than later. I served it on buns with jalapeno- cilantro sweet coleslaw on the side, sweet tea or beer, and 73 in the shade. Perfect end to a day.

Thanks to everyone hear. I appreciate the collective knowledge base and try to implement what I learn. I am not totally new to smoking, but by no way refined. I pay attention to the details. Thanks again for everything.

P.S. Sorry again about the pics. None of the plated food w/ coleslaw were taken. I'm learnin' . JD

Gottcha Dave. I was aware of that also. what I was told was 180 is done, 190-200 for pulled, and 200-210 for sliced. Sound right?