That first hour was an exercise in "burping" the cooker, trying to close the intake vent and wedging it tight, and eventually opening the upright door a crack and wedging a wood chip in the chamber door. (no pictures, I'm embarrassed enough)
Finally, with all the leaks I made in the rig, and after my wood had burned out, the temp "stabilized" at about 165°-170°....I could live with that, but it was close (remember, 165° if the average of hot and cold zones so some areas were 180° and others were 155°) (I know my friend Stogie is laughing his A$# off here, cuz that's the temp range he PREFERS....sicko ;)
I also decided that I didn't want to throw any more combustibles (dry wood) in the fire, but still needed smoke and it was too late to try soaking anything......SO:
WE MAKE FOIL PACKETS!
Barbecue is a thinking man's game, and we're improvising here.....it worked great!
At Halftime, I turned 'em over. Here's how they looked.
At about 4.5 hours, I pulled the pieces off that were on the hottest rack. At 5.0 hours, I pulled the rest.
Results - very tender, probably due to the high temps and good meat. Very tasty, with just the right amount of mild smoke flavor. Nice grill marks, which I don't get normally because I hang the pieces.
Notes for Next Time:
Minion Method worked well, but only use briquettes (which burn cooler) and no lump. (I hoped the mesquite lump would impart some flavor, but the tradeoff isn't worth it.)
Use soaked chunks or foil packets or small handfuls of chips.
Buy some replacement racks for the upright so I can go back to hanging strips with toothpicks (the existing "diamond" grids won't let me do this, but the cheapo replacements for gas grills will work fine) This will let me hang much more quantity in the upright, although I'll have to put each strip on toothpicks or skewers.
Spicy jerky is definitely better with course black and red pepper sprinkled all over it. (I skipped it this time because I was lazy)
