Here is what I do with my Akorn Kamado. I will fill my firebox with lump. I put one starter cube in the center and light it. Once the initial smoke dies down a little (I give it about 3 minutes) I add a few chunks of wood around the fire and put a couple of small pieces of lump on the fire. I then put on my deflector, drip pan and grate. Both my top and bottom vents are wide open. I monitor the grate temperature with a digital thermometer. I use the Smoke from thermoworks. Once the temperature hits around 150 I will close both vents to about 1/2 open. When the temperature gets to 200 I close both vents to about 1/4 on the bottom and between 1/4 and 1/2 on top. This will maintain temperatures between 225 and 235 with my Akorn for several hours. You will get spikes when the wood catches, but I ignore them. I don't touch the bottom vent at all after the last setting. If needed I will adjust the top vent a little. Make sure you give it at least 10 minutes to adjust to the new settings. Hope this helps.
