I was wondering since my tuning plates are very close together near the firebox. Does it affect the amount of smoke and flavor that the meat gets versus the area that has more opening where the smoke will come up more. I have a old country wrangler.
I am going to look into the louvered heat diffuser. I have had success with all the set ups but each set up required attention. My first brisket on the BTMLE turned out great and took about 7 hrs. It a 3-1/2 LB'er. I took it to 210 IT, pulled it off, wrapped in foil and a towel and rested it in a cooler for a couple hours. What a treat it was, melt in your mouth good.Pellet I also have a BrinkmanTrailmaster that I recently bought at the Depot, I also bought an adjustable heat diffuser from Lowes for $17.00 that goes from 12"to about 18" long with stainless steel screws for the corners that act like legs. So you can go out horizontally and up or down!! The nice part is that it is louvered for heat (and smoke ) and it isn't the full depth of the grill which allows smoke to roll up both sides. I have a 1/4 " plate at the fire box side of the grill and I'm still in the experimental stage, I smoked a brisket 5 lbs. last weekend and had problems with the temp due to inconsistent wind conditions, after 8 hrs. I pulled it off and I had a beautiful smoke ring and the beef was good. The crazy part is that the internal temp never went above 148 degrees , I had trouble with the grill temp and I think part of the problem was buildup of briquette dust in the fire box and lack of a breeze.I hope this helps!!