[trekmstr]

temps were holding really good yesterday for my first build, i even slipped away for a few hours and the temp did drop but a quick shake of the coals and it was back to temp. so i put a few chicken breasts on and they came out great. also opened her wide open nd got the coals going good and did smores after dinner. wife and daughter are hooked.

re set everything this morning and have a but on now and will be adding some chicken later.

but while resetting this morning i wanted to fix a problem i was having with one of my gages. i have a hole drilled in the side to run a prob though for the meat but i had to use that yesterday to dial in temps. the gage i had bolted on was way to short, with only about 1" inside drum. so was looking around for a solution and found a candy / deep fryer thermometer with a 6" probe. i had to make a retaining spring out of a piece of wire hanger but it seems to be working OK so far.