[jmoney7269]

Greendrake, I follow your daisy chain briquette idea, but for us non briquette cookers that's just not gonna work. A pit of that caliber should be able to cook 160-450 no problem. Especially as large as that charcoal basket is you should be able to get 12 hrs min on one load of charcoal. 4 hrs on one load is just not acceptable for those 225 guys. I have only built about 10 pits in my day, but controlling temps only deals with 2 parameters, tight seal and ability to control airflow: intake and exhaust. I used to own a Pitmaker bare bones vault years ago and it was just too much for me to manage at cookoffs weightwise since i do all o the loading and moving myself. I loved it Becaise it was built how I wanted it. It had no side slide intakes. It was just a 3/4 ball valve installed just like the drip pan valve is installed and a fire basket with no solid sides, problem fixed! I can take my drum from 225-350 in a matter of min and cool it down no prob also, Because the airflow is built how I wanted it, just like my past vault