i shut the bottom one fully and it is holding now at 225 steady for hours.Yeah, if you need to close them I wouldn't close them more than 50%. Start with 10-15% the drop a tad more if needed. If you are running at 255° with all lower vents closed I am guessing you are getting a lot of air leaking in through the door. If you poke around the threads there are some people that use high temp. silicon to create a good door seal to prevent that. Any uncontrolled air flow will make it harder to adjust the temps the way you want/need to during a smoke.
That's probably good enough.i shut the bottom one fully and it is holding now at 225 steady for hours.
WOOT! Glad it all worked out! Congrats!So I did get to 225 and she stabilized for me. The ribs were great and I cooked them a little longer. No dryness. Really strong smoke flavor though. At least i learned from these mistakes and now my next batch will be better. My next task will be brisket. First time ever and never even had a brisket in my life. Thanks for all your help
its crazy how good the WSM is. The temps were moving a little bit for me, but with ribs im sure that is expected since you have to take the lid off every hour. Im going to try a chuckie this weekend i hope.So I did get to 225 and she stabilized for me. The ribs were great and I cooked them a little longer. No dryness. Really strong smoke flavor though. At least i learned from these mistakes and now my next batch will be better. My next task will be brisket. First time ever and never even had a brisket in my life. Thanks for all your help