:welcome1: To the group . Good to meet you. That is a good smoker to learn on. I had a brinkmann gourmet bullet smoker for a number of years and although it frustrated me at times , it also opened my eyes to the possibilities of BBQ. If I may be so bold as to give advice , I will say this about these basic bullet smokers. They are awesome chicken cooking machines . In fact on anything that is good cooked hot n fast , you can do a great job. So brats , burgers , hot dogs....even steak come out good (usually with one load of charcoal) you can do ribs pretty well too if you're not too hung up on going slow.
When you decide to cook a big honkin pork butt or a brisket you might have some temp and time issues. Ok , here's the advice part....when you cook those things start them in the smoker and finish them in the oven. Get all the cooking and smoke you can get from a load of charcoal (usually 3-6 hours YMMV) and then put them in your 250 degree oven in the house and take them the rest of the way. This works really well when you're having company and you want to eat at a set time. Just a suggestion that may save you some heartache. Feel free to experiment when you have lots of time. Good luck. And have fun.
