Help with electric smoker build.

[donanthony100]

Here is my custom aluminum electrical cabinet smoker I got off Facebook marketplace from an old tool and die maker. It is about 4 and a half feet tall, one foot deep and 3 feet wide. Cooked a couple of smaller items on it and went well. But just did 25lbs of sticks on it and realized how hot the side above the 1250 watt element gets compared to the rest of it. Opening the door releases all of the heat to re arrange the sticks around and whatever internal temp I accumulate it will drop 10-15 degrees when the door is open. By the time the sticks on the far left got to temp was almost 12 hours later and I feel like from the door opening and bringing them back up to temp caused them to dry out more. There is a couple 2 inch diameter holes in the bottom for airflow and I leave the one open under neath the element and put a cookie sheet over the rest. What are my options for remedying this issue? Install another element on the left side or could I make a long one that goes across the entire bottom of the smoker? I saw they have some “flexible” heating elements you can shape to desired form. Smoker has zero issues getting up past 200 degrees as it is fully insulated. But being able for it to cook somewhat evenly is gonna be essential for me. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Also have a auburn PID on the way but might need to get a bigger one if I end up having to put a second element in and wiring them together. Figure that out when I get there