Hello and thanks for having me!

[powertrain]

45 year old here in the west side of Cleveland, Ohio.  Just picked up a 2 year old "The Good One" smoker.  This is my first smoker and my first attempt was less than stellar.  I started small with a couple pork chops and a chicken breast on the bone.  I had a hard time getting the grill up to temperature and maintaining it over 200 degrees.  I'm sure a lot has to do with learning the proper use of the damper system on my smoker, but I'm also wondering if it had to do with the lump charcoal I bought at Home Depot not burning consistently.  Is there a difference from one to the other?

I look forward to learning from others and taking the 5 day e-course.  

 

[SmokinAl]

 to SMF!

Glad to have you aboard!

I'm not familiar with your smoker, but normally you control the heat with the bottom dampers. Open them up & temp goes up. Close them down a little & the temp will go down. It's about air flow. More air = hotter fire. The top damper should be open 100% all the time.

Al

 

[gary s]

  Good afternoon and welcome to the forum, from another cloudy but hot day here in East Texas, and the best site on the web. Lots of great people with tons of information on just about  everything.

Gary