SmokinJohn
Babbling Farker
Hello SmokinJohn.
Thanks for the very quick response!
I will find and read N8Man's post about lighting.
The next time I light it, I am going to target higher temps - maybe up to 300 deg to bake off any final undesireables.
Do you think that my temp control struggles were because I was trying to stabilize at 200? Do you think most UDSs stabilize better at 225 or higher?
How tightly are others able to control the temps? How often do you usually have to tweak the valve during a cook?
I think they were caused by not enough charcoal to start and then playing with too many switches at one time.
The old adage here is that is is better to catch the temps on the way up than to force them down.
UDS are an interesting thing. My "Bat UDS" will cook at any temp you want, if I have no wind and little humidity. It goes as low as 200 and as high as 400 (from leaving the lid open too long on a foil job).
This last weekend, (100 degrees with humidity) it wouldn't settle in until it hit 275, which means I was cooking in the low end of the "Hot and Fast" range. Ordinarily, it will hold at 225-245, and will do so for over 12 hours.
I have yet to have to fiddle with the valves, unless I have wind.
This lets me do an overnight cook while I sleep.
Each cook will teach you more about your UDS.