OK. I tried my experiment. Did a partial basket of coals, using fire bricks to partition the basket. Cut up a chicken, put all purpose rub on all the dark meat pieces (my wife only eats white meat and doesn't like rubs of any kind). Put chicken on the grate and used my 1/2 inch bolts to impede airflow from all 4 holes. Note, the holes were not plugged. They were filled with the same impediment to airflow as if the rebar for hanging had been inserted. As you can see from the 4th picture below, smoke was venting from the barrel quite nicely. Initially, the barrel spiked to just under 400 degrees before settling down to just under 300 degrees. The final results were fine, but I think it's easier to KISS it. Cut the chickens in half, season them to taste, hang them and take them out of the barrel when the Thermapen says the thigh meat's at 160 degrees. The partial basket idea seemed to work fine.
[attachment deleted by admin]
[attachment deleted by admin]
