[Homebrewed Q]

Glad to hear Weber took care of you. You've got some good advice so far, and I'd agree with the temp gauge replacement, find a good one to replace it with. Then again, I never use one when I smoke on my Weber Kettles. For a 6 hour rib smoke I just shut the vents on the bottom to just a sliver opening, vent on top wide open, and dump about a half chimney of lit in a coal basket to one side with a couple of chunks of pecan and put the lid on, add 6-8 coals about 2 hours in, and maybe a few more a couple hours later.