A warm Illinois welcome to you Budbrew!
Some good tips have been given already. Trimming excess fat, drying the meat, and cracking the lid for last 15 minutes or so.
One thing I caught tho from your description, after adding your 40 lit coals, you put lid on. Leave the lid off for 15 minutes before you hang your meat. If the coals are not going good before meat is hung, drippage will retard the coals from getting up to proper temp. and you'll always be playing catch up.
Good luck....it's like riding a bicycle, you'll get it!
