It's just basically a split range control.... Which is really common. Do one thing from x to y and another thing from y to z.
The thing is even after you turn the blower off...... Natural convection can pull air through the smoker and keep it going,..... So the damper provides the additional...
Well it might be possible I would really worry about all the meat not coming out as equal due to temperature differences. The fastest cooking are the ones on the bottom and they're the hardest to get to. WSM simply are really not high volume cookers.... Because the only useful rack is the top...
The wsm temperature in natural ventillation operation depends on vent opening
....and how many coals are lit... Because that powers the draft. If you don't light enough it won't reach your temperature , if you light too much it will overshoot.... Requiring manual damper adjustments to get it...
Nothing new here, this forum has been around for years. I use a heater meter with a blower and a damper.... And it does several things:
In conjunction with my expanded charcoal ring, it runs hands off for 24 hours.+
.... I do not need to add charcoal, or knock down Ash...ever...
What's the purpose of the door? My wsm runs 30 hrs on single load of charcoal with an expanded coal ring and controller. I never need to open my door or knockdown ash.
There was a small historic town 20,000 people or so I used to drive through and stop at a small barbecue joint there all the time when driving through there for work around mealtime. It had really good barbecue.... But the owner sold it.... And two women apparently bought it.... That...
I think you have to differentiate between small chains and national chains. There are small local / regional places with a few locations ...2-10 or so that are great .... Much harder to do on the national level with hundreds.
But I can tell you this.... If they don't have a strong smoke smell...
I have a controller and have no problems going down to under 150 even.... Doing bacon. You can get the temperature wherever you want by lighting the right amount of coals and having the vent settings right if you're too hot you're lighting too many coals
Much higer heat than wsm sees .burns off grease......will make plated grates fail, drastically shorten wsm life when compared to use as greasy low temp smoker. You can do it ...really not good idea. Kettles.are much cheaper than wsm...just buy one.
It's really wrapping ribs that is the worst.. for me... Particularly multiple racks of ribs. Lid is just open for a while removing them and putting them back in . They're hot... Not easy to handle arrange in the tiny area available.
I don't have any problems with temperature control.... Which is why I wouldn't spend money on cast iron plates. However 50 lb of old steel brake rotors are free..... People add a ceramic dish..... With sand rocks nothing or even a water pan... To help buffer temperature changes.. That said...
While changing brakes on my truck..... It occurred to me that the old brake rotors are perfect for adding quite a bit of mass to a WSM to help with temperatures stability after opening the lid, etc.... and free. I considered cast iron weight discs before... But they generally are a dollar a pound.