Well, I'm not finished with PID settings, but the experience of my first HM cook was WONDERFUL, even with some blunders.
Good stuff:
Lump charcoal is great - I have no intention of ever touching a piece of Kingsford again. With a full, slightly overpiled ring and lighting two chimneys at first (blunder one), then letting it roar away for nearly an hour before I put the barrel, water pan, meat, and lid on, I still had hot coals over 22 hours after lighting. Despite starting with half of the coal lit and letting it burn way too long, I still added NO charcoal at all throughout the cook. Lots of that time was NOT low and slow, due to various blunders and then experimentation after the cooking was done. I believe that 24 hours of controlled low and slow cooking would be possible without adding fuel.
The Harbor Freight fiberglass welding blanket was a Godsend. Best 15 bucks I've spent on this barbecue project. There's always been at least a little wind every time I've cooked, and every time it's been at least cool if not downright cold. And every time I've been fighting for enough heat. This cook included overnight temps in the low 20's, but I was actually experiencing too much heat (over 300 degrees) all night. I was asleep and didn't realize it till 6:30 AM... Blunder 2 was that the welding blanket had opened one of the vents so the HM was really not in control of things.
Using a remote thermometer (the HM) was great. I just bipped Pit Droid on my phone and instantly saw the temperatures, wherever I was.
Stoking really works. I no longer fear trying to get enough temperature.
Other blunders:
I napped maybe half an hour before setting up and lighting the smoker, trimming and rubbing the brisket, installing the probes, etc., etc. I was still a little fuzzy from the short nap. I moved the HM from my desk where it'd been running for nearly a week, and assembled everything outside at the smoker. By the time I put the meat on it was midnight, and then I was so intrigued with seeing temperatures remotely that I stayed up till after 2 AM. Smoker temps were still high, so I didn't even think of checking whether the fan and damper worked. When I woke up at 6:30, the smoker was running at over 300 degrees (I didn't yet know there was a vent opened by the welding blanket). Upon checking, I found the open vent, and then noticed that the fan and damper were completely dead. After warming the fan / damper and then later warming them again along with the HM, I was baffled. A different CAT5 cable didn't help either. I started checking for voltage at the other end of the CAT5 cable (easier to see than inside the jack on the HM) and no 5V, no 12V. This thing is bad !!! Ahem. Once I plugged the fan/damper into the CORRECT jack on the HM, all was well.
The brisket had a long stall, so I eventually set the temp back up to about 305 to git 'r done. After finishing the brisket (18 hours) and smoking some sausage, I decided to try to see how hot I could get the WSM with the remaining charcoal. Within half an hour I had 419 degrees, but there was really lots of room for more charcoal - there wasn't actually a full layer left on the bottom. I'm pretty sure it could get over 500 with lots more lit coal available. I left it with all vents open and the HM blowing away and the temp slowly declined, till after about 20 hours from first lighting it dropped below 300. Removed the HM and left the vents open, and about 2 hours later it finally went out. Incredible. This morning I cleaned the smoker - there was very little little ash in the bottom - I know I could repeat this same cook twice more before I really needed to remove ash. With KBB the ash would've been over the ash grate.
Soooo...
Lump is the fuel of choice for me. Burns hot and long, with little ash. I lucked into a good deal on Kamado Joe lump at a Costco one-time sale. If you haven't seen this stuff, it's from Argentina and has some huge pieces in it with almost no powder in the bottom of the bag. Liked it so much I bought another 400 pounds. I'll cry when I have to pay full price for that stuff, but it's great. Pieces of trees in the bag - not pulverized bits that fall through the grate on the WSM like the (maybe mishandled?) bags of RO I've bought at Home Depot.
A welding blanket shields so much heat loss that wind and cold isn't an issue. I don't need a Kamado like I was beginning to think.
The HeaterMeter is wonderful. For the first time, I didn't get more smoked than the meat. Once I get to know what I'm doing, low and slow barbecuing can be nearly effortless. Now if it could only clean the grills when I'm done ;-)
One more observation. I calibrated my lid thermometer at 211 degrees (altitude-corrected boiling here). It's not incorrect. BUT - placement is critical, and where it is is NOT where temperature needs to be measured. Depending on air flow, etc., there might be up to 50 degrees variation from the temperature at the grill. Sometimes the lid temp is pretty close - it all depends. Main thing I've learned is that it's not the lid thermometer itself, but the location of the lid thermometer that makes it inaccurate. Nice ornament though...
Thanks to one and all for all the instructions, suggestions, and tutoring. This is finally getting to be FUN !!
