More than happy to share what I’m learning.
Yes, the AJ or a water tray will help keep very consistent low temps as you see in the graph.
The high temp spike is two things, I believe. First is AJ is about all evaporated AND the latter wood chunks are firing off and burning hotter, thus the temp run up.
Once the wood chunk burns off, you see the temps drop back down again.
After I did the sweep and the opened up the lower and top vents a smidge, I like my current trends and temp reads.
And this is a big choice brisket so the stall, due to lower cook temp, is running a little longer than usual.
I should get to 173° soon and then I’ll wrap, which at that temp I’ll be out of the stall, usually.
I’d recco starting with a smaller cook weight, say 14#. Those are always easy cooks.
The WSK is pretty easy to manage and work with. I’m sure you’ll master it quickly and to your desired results. You’ve got the skills.