New Guy with an Old question LOL

[Lambo-az]

Looks like I am late to the party.

Welcome aboard from SE Arizona.

You got some great advice above from everyone.

It does sound like you have an air flow issue with that particular smoker.
Electric smokers are tight to begin with so why Dyna Glo didn't add an intake with damper control is a mystery.
If you don't want to drill holes in the smoker, then you are on the right track about leaving the chip loader open a couple of inches.
Obviously, it will be a trial and error process until you find the sweet spot.

As far as some other things to try for better bark formation, I noticed you're using brown sugar in your rub. Try switching that out with turbinado sugar AKA "sugar in the raw".
You don't mention if you're using a binder like mustard to make your rub stick on the ribs. How much rub are you applying? Thicker is not always better.
You could also try mopping or spritzing with a mix of ACV and apple juice during the unwrapped phase of the smoke. As mentioned above, wrapping produces a soft bark.
So, you could try not wrapping at all. We call this going "nekkid".
The neighbors won't be offended either.

You don't mention if you are using a separate digital thermometer set up to monitor the actual chamber temp. If you are, good. If you aren't, then you should get one.

As for smoking during the summer up there in the valley, I don't envy you and Ray one bit.
After living up there for 50 years, I finally bailed! And yes, a pool helps even when the water feels like a warm bath.

You could always get yourself one of these for your patio if/when you decide on an offset or WSM.
View attachment 466776
The cat is optional, of course.

Hey!! Lucky duck, getting out of the Valley is on my bucket list LOL

I have gotten fantastic help on this forum, so I am going into my next smoke with a plan and confident.

I got a thermometer to get accurate temps, it was delivered this morning, so I did a test burn and found my digital built into the smoker is off about 25 from top rack temps. Thats a huge difference! I am also going to try the chip door trick, and see if that works to increase flow, it does seem choked up a but. I think that will help.

As far as binder, I have tried a few things, mustard, used ghost pepper sauce once ( Worked wonderfully! )and I have done without. Done see much bark difference but definitely flavor differences. I think I use minimal rub but I have no real reference point so I could be wrong. Maybe I will try some variations on that as well.

I have thought about spritzing and not rubbing, but I have some weird aversion to opening the smoker to do so. Probably a newb thing, but I tend to not want to open the smoker to do so. I will have to give that a try, especially with probes in place, I can really gauge what effect the opening has on my temps. I am definitely going to go nekkid next smoke. I have wrapped pretty much everything I have ever smoked, so I need to try something new and see what comes out of it,

 

[Jonok]

Turbinado sugar is a game changer. It melts and carmelizes, but if you do it right, does not burn. I use a double dose in my brisket rub (relative to the amount of sugar in my regular pork butt rub) and when I wrap at around 140, I get a nice sweet-hot crusty bark that isn’t burnt, but stands up to a subsequent wrapped cook to butter-tender, and a 5 hour rest to re-absorb the juicy goodness.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

Hey!! Lucky duck, getting out of the Valley is on my bucket list LOL

I have gotten fantastic help on this forum, so I am going into my next smoke with a plan and confident.

I got a thermometer to get accurate temps, it was delivered this morning, so I did a test burn and found my digital built into the smoker is off about 25 from top rack temps. Thats a huge difference! I am also going to try the chip door trick, and see if that works to increase flow, it does seem choked up a but. I think that will help.

As far as binder, I have tried a few things, mustard, used ghost pepper sauce once ( Worked wonderfully! )and I have done without. Done see much bark difference but definitely flavor differences. I think I use minimal rub but I have no real reference point so I could be wrong. Maybe I will try some variations on that as well.

I have thought about spritzing and not rubbing, but I have some weird aversion to opening the smoker to do so. Probably a newb thing, but I tend to not want to open the smoker to do so. I will have to give that a try, especially with probes in place, I can really gauge what effect the opening has on my temps. I am definitely going to go nekkid next smoke. I have wrapped pretty much everything I have ever smoked, so I need to try something new and see what comes out of it,

Aww, come on man. I stuck it out for 50 years. You can too!
Seriously, when my wife and I retired, we were wanting a change. The valley had grown too large and had become too fast paced for our liking anymore. We don't miss it one bit.

Good call on getting the separate thermo set up. Now you're no longer flying blind.
You will find that when the smoker door is opened, the temp will drop and take several mintues to recover. This is normal for any type of smoker.

The last couple of baby back smokes I've done, I have used what is known as the 3-1-1 method which produces more tug or bite instead of fall of the bone type of ribs.
The jury is still out on that.

zwiller touched on some very good techniques to try out as well. If you don't have a grill, the oven broiler is a close second. Just keep an eye on them.

Keep experimenting and you'll hit it soon enough.