New in Colorado

Cool, thanks! Hoping to get everything dialed in soon so I can try some of the amazing recipes that I've read!

Oh yes, I've done the ecourse, and bought the rub and sauce recipe. That's what made the smokin' bug bite!

I'm in Fort Collins, CO. Sorry, haven't done much with my profile yet.

Sorry for the delayed responses, folks. I was outta town and not near a computer...
Thanks for all the kind welcomes. I'm looking forward to using the new smoker soon. I've gone through the process of breaking in the new metal and honestly, practicing a little keeping temperatures correct. I've used an electric smoker before, so I didn't have to do much but add chips. I'm still getting used to using a damper, but I think I'm getting the hang of it.
By the way, I'm from Fort Collins. Love it up here!
The only mod I have left to complete is the tuning plates, and I have some ceramic tiles that I'm going to cut and see how they work for tuning plates.
I've been messing around with different charcoals to see what works best for me - this is definitely a learning process. Soon, I'll be snapping some photos and puttin' em' up. (I need to read up on the Qview here pretty quick - thanks for the link)
Not sure what I'm gonna smoke up first - but you all will be the first to know!

OK, so I didn't get all the mods done that I wanted - I still need to get some tuning plates in there, but I've got most everything else. I couldn't wait any longer and while seasoning it, the temps weren't that bad, so I figured I'd give it a go without the tuning plates.

I got her all set up and got ready to roll. Leftover 3" vent tube on top of the chimney, just barely so I could angle it ever-so-slightly away from the wind.

I decided to smoke a coupla fatties and some ABT's for my first attempt. I ran out of bacon so the weave didn't happen, but still laid some across the top.


Everything went pretty well for the first time. I even had to leave to take my daughter to a movie and the temps were still hanging in there when I got back. Just had to add a few lumps and I was back in range. Here's one of the fatties (the ABT's didn't look so good - they were black and wrinkled really bad. Still tasted pretty good, though. I ate them all in a day....)

Here's one of the fatties


So here's some thoughts afterward. I'm open to suggestions from the vast knowledge here....
I would have liked to have had more smoke flavor in the fatties. Maybe more wood (hickory and apple chunks) , but I think I need to shut the chimney down a little. It was full open for the entire smoke. (and yes, the chimney is extended to grate level). Would that help with the smoke flavor - to shut the chimney a little?
I want a bigger charcoal basket. There's a lot more room than what the Lowe's shaker basket takes up. Even if I don't use that much fuel, it'll give more room to put the chunks further away. Expanded metal coming up!
I think I need a chili grill. Some of the cheese squeezed out the top of the ABT's. And definitely one that holds MORE!
Trying to figure out how to get the Thin Blue Smoke more consistently. When I would add wood chunks (trying to keep them off the coals and to the side) I would still get white billowing smoke for the first while.
I'm open to any and all suggestions!

(by the way, where is the best place to post this after Noob has worn off a little?)