Well I finally pulled the trigger on the Pecos. After cranking it up for about 5 hours and chucking on some beef ribs for fun, I'm happy so far.
I'll have to put some gasket sealer around both doors, I'm losing smoke in a few spots. There's gaps in the side door but I'm not worried about that. I just ran it stock, decided not to fool with tuning plates this time around and figured with a probe at each end I'd just see what I had out of the box. I tried running with the door at least partially open as much as I could, and doing so I had TBS all day no problem. Never got dirty as far as I could tell. There were times where I could get each end within just a few degrees of each other, other times (like after opening the lid or adding a split) they'd be off by between 10-20. Not a big deal until I need to fill the whole cooker but by then I'll probably have tuning plates.
I still just have to get to know her. I think I'll be able to get it down after a few runs. I think I had probably a little too small a fire and I couldn't keep a good coal bed. I was able to keep it between 225-275 between each end but I was definitely up and down the whole time, and had to fool with the side door/damper a lot. Some of that was intentional just trying to get a feel for what would happen if I tried certain things. I did notice I could get both ends of the cooker within a few degrees the more I had the door open. When I tried closing it more to bring down the temperature, they would be off. At times it also seemed like the ends would trade off getting hotter/cooler. I wasn't able to discern a pattern with that just yet but I know it has to do with the door. Some of what I experienced may not be the best benchmark because it was a pretty windy day and I'm thinking that kind of played hell with the draft at times and may have burned through my wood quicker. What I may try next time out is using the stock charcoal grate as a tuning plate and just having my fire in the bottom of the firebox. The ash might build up more but I'm thinking if I run with the door open it might be ok and keep a better bed of coals instead of the smallest pieces falling through the grate.
Like I said, I think I had too small a fire because I couldn't get more than 40-45 minutes at most of consistent heat until my temperature would start diving and I'd have to add more. The wind might have played a role in that too, though. Hopefully it'll be a little less of a fuel hog as I get better at it. Side note, I bought a bag of the oak mini logs from Academy and they seemed to burn pretty well. They are kiln dried so maybe some actual seasoned wood with a little more moisture in it would last a little longer overall.
After seasoning (with bacon grease) for a couple hours I threw on some beef ribs just to have something cooking. They turned out well. Good smoke ring, and I didn't use a water pan at all but they were nice and moist.
Overall I'm happy and excited to get this cooker down. Stick burning is fun.
