I might be the odd duck but I learned how to cook on my ugly drums and my new cans pretty much on my own and watching youtube/reading forums/ect. The toughest meat for me to get figured out on a can was chicken. The exhaust on a Gateway is the same size as my cans and I find I always just leave the exhaust wide open and only adjust the intake. I like cooking right around 300 grate temp, no diffuser plate. I don't hang my ribs, that works for me. I use kingsford blue bag because it is cheap, consistent, and available everywhere. I think the trick to using blue bag is that I light my can 2 hours before my meat goes on, I light the charcoal box from the bottom and let it get hot with the lids off, after 30 minutes or so, I put the lids on and let the coals get stink free. Don't use too much wood, I use 2 fist size chunks of hickory and i put them in at startup so it isn't green when my meat goes on. Many others have a completely different philosophy on how they start their cans, I am just sharing what I do. When your butts start dripping too much (I don't know how to explain too much, but around 1 hour 45 minutes to 2 hours at 300) on the coals wrap them. A little bit of fat on the coals is awesome, too much gives it an off flavor IMO. I haven't cooked in near as many contests (12) as many on here but am holding my own, just got my first RGC! Hope something I wrote helps! Practice Practice Practice! When I was first learning, my goal was to figure out how to make stuff repeatable. I work on the process and timeline, then I worried about flavors.
