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I did a small batch of sticks yesterday, sorry no pics. Started the smoker at 100 to dry the casings, temp shot up to 120 then seemed to settle down. Filled up the dust pan spraying the dust with a spray bottle as I went, man the pan holds a lot of dust. I put the pan in and started bumping the temps 10-15 degrees till I got to 150 that's when the smoke started rolling, heavy. Temps went straight up to 180 before I knew what was happening. I checked and saw no fire but could not control the temps after that. I would open the door and lid to cool things off close it up and the temp would climb right back up, even after the smoke stopped. I'm either doing something wrong or this is not going to be as easy to manage as I had hoped. If the dust pan is going to generate that much heat I'll have to look at another smoke source.
If the weather isn't too bad this weekend I'm going to modify the legs that the chip pan rest on and open up the vent hole on the side. Food lion has 73/27 ground beef for 2.99 a pound this week. Not what I would prefer but cheap enough to mix up a couple of pounds and see how the smoker acts with the mods.