Smoked the ribs this weekend, turned out great. It does use much less fuel than expected, had it going for 5 hours and this is what I had left, easily 8-10 hours with just the middle filled. I bet if I filled the whole bottom I could get 24 hours, not that I would ever need that. As for temps, it did hold much steadier than the WSM. Moved up or down very slowly, but I still had to adjust the top vent every 30-60 minutes to keep it around 250. Maybe I am not as good as you at getting it dialed in, but it was either going up or down, never holding steady. I am going to order the billows just to try it out, I like gadgets anyway. Would be helpful if I want to run it overnight and not have to wake up to alarms.
Nice amount of fuel left over....this bbq is efficient as heck....I love that about it.
Now in terms of adjusting temps....it takes forever for an adjustment that is not going from 250 to 400.....that goes fast and is easy to do.
I find I have to make an adjustment and look for a temp swing in about 30 minutes or so...moving to lower the temp is more difficult than going up.
Also the E6/S6 works exactly backwards in air flow for heat adjustment.....when using my 22" performer the top vents at all times stay open 100%.
Closing them down half way doesn't seem to have any effect.....the bottom vent is my heat control.
I use the performer as my go to bbq for most cooks...about 75% of them....I would say...it is much easy to clean and keep clean.
The E6 when being used for low n slow I keep the bottom vent basically closed and adjust the top vent for heat control.
Took me a few times to get that straight.....was frustrated with not being able to maintain a nice low temp.
Once that was obvious the things got easier.......
The pic above of Brett's temp guage is basically where mine will smoke at.....
It seems they all have a mind of their own....I think Dan's will hover at a bit lower than mine will...but 15 degrees really isn't going to change much.
If I leave the lid open to long to do something while mid smoke the temp will rocket up.....this is no good so I try not to do that....bringing the temp back down is a bunch more work than I want to do.
You will have this down in no time...have fun....
