Well to make my burns as consistent as possible I like to have thing measured out. I have a Weber Rapidfire chimney starter which holds approximately 100 briquettes when filled. I filled the chimney then dumped those coals into the charcoal basket. I then found out if I flip the chimney over the bottom holds approximately 40 briquettes. So i added on bottom load to the approximate 100 I already had in the charcoal basket. Then I filled it up again with another approximate 40 briquettes.
I lit the second load of 40 briquettes and let them ash over. I dumped these into the barrel and hung my meat, 3 slabs of ribs. I have the hooks going just bellow the 3rd bone to keep the ribs out of the coals. I have the intake set to where PBC recommends for my area. I threw my Maverick probe in the barrel to watch the temps. It has been running between 220-235 the whole time, granted it has only been an hour so far.
Finally got it figured out, so far.