Now wait just a minute here. I have to follow directions? But, I'm a Mac user and, as any Apple fan-boy knows, we don't read manuals. Alas, there is occasionally a price to pay for our stubborn behavior. Like my first cook. Perhaps if I'd read everyone's replies here – with the emphasis on not over-thinking things, it would have been a better cook. Not that it was bad, mind you. I did two chickens. In my wife's opinion (which is really the only opinion that matters in our house), the result was, "WOW! This is terrific". To me, the chickens were slightly overcooked.
So, here's the sequence of events.
I filled the charcoal basket level with Kingsford briquettes, poured about half of them into a chimney starter, got them really going and poured them over the rest of the coals remaining in the charcoal basket. Gave it another 15 minutes by which time there was so much heat coming off the charcoal that I needed gloves to insert the rods. hanging the chickens was also dicey because of the amount of heat being generated. (I’m at sea level and the ambient temperature was about 68 degrees). Upon re-watching the "how to start your charcoal” video, I see that once I had a starter full of well ignited coals, I should have just poured them over the rest of the coals in the basket and started cooking. I didn’t do that. I gave it another 15 minutes.
The barrel temperature shot up to 340 when I first put the lid after hanging the chickens. The screw that tightens the vent opening wouldn't stay tight after the lid had been on for a while. The vent cover fell down to fully cover the vent hole. I was able to put my finger inside the barrel through the vent opening and hold the nut on the inside enough to at least get the screw tightened enough to keep the vent open about 1/4 of the way. The internal temp, according to my ChefAlarm (I inserted the high temp probe into one of the rebar rod openings) got down to about 226 or so. That worried me that perhaps my temperature wasn’t hot enough.
Next time, I’m going to follow instructions. (I’m a Mac user. As I said above we don’t always read manuals.) I’ll use the chimney the way the video instructs. Hang the chickens and walk away for 1:30.
Today, weather still permitting. I’ll try the ribs. From what I’ve seen and read, they should take longer than the chicken and I’ll be looking for the meat to pull back from the bone ends. I do plan to put barbecue sauce on them towards the end. What I’m thinking is, when it’s time to sauce, to pull the rods and insert the grate. Sauce the ribs on one side, put on the grate for 15 minutes or so, then turn and sauce them on the other side for the final 15 minutes or so. My concern for saucing and hanging is that the sauce will drip into the fire and perhaps extinguish some of the coals? What I’m looking for is a nice caramelized glaze on the sauce. Any suggestions?
I’ll keep you posted. Any suggestions about what to do with the screw that holds the vent cover in place?
And, finally, thanks to everyone for the feedback