Thanks LA for the high praise. I do highly doubt that I am a better cook though. I think I am about 50/50 ratio of bad cooks to good...........adult beverages and talkative neighbors could be a factor
I think what helped me the most was scouring the net and reading reviews and all the tips and tricks out there. I seemed to me that if the temps get away from you from the beginning you might as well put a steak on because you won't be at smoking temps any time soon. i also learned that slight adjustments can make for some pretty major results.
The biggest factor was when I was waiting for the grilling stone (came damaged two times and had to wait for Lowes to get them in the store), I was doing quite a bit of dry-runs with charcoal and lump. I was able to get the Akorn to sit at 300-325 with no deflector. I figured once the deflector got put in, I was down-town.
The grilling stone is very thick and heavy and made all the difference in the world when trying to go lo and slo. In fact, I was setting just under 200 degrees and I had to make a small tweak to get to 250. After that it was all about the cooker.
I love the title of this post:
Smoke , Backyard Jack, LostArrow & the AKORN very good company to be included in
P.S. my PK Grill is lonely. I haven't touched it since getting the Akorn. It is that good