charbroil offset american gourmet and turkey

[karen936]

I did the modifications to my smoker. Sorta. I added a baffle out of aluminum
pan and I hung wire under the grids and attached two cookie sheets to even out the heat and do away with hot spots. I had nice even smoke. I was not able to move the thermostat but I did do a heat check before the smoke so I could get an idea of temperature difference. I wanted to cook the bird at 325 so I had to get the heat to 350 per my heat check. I had one hell of a time keeping the fire up. I had to revert to wood and coals. Went through a lot of wood. The mod is from someone on this site. I also followed instructions for putting wood on leaving one log to the side by the door and replenishing it with a new one as I used it. Is anyone else having trouble getting the heat up. I did not have a problem with the heat till I put in the baffles and pans but without the baffle and pans you get a very hot spot near the box and uneven cooking. I will say this I used to use a plain jane water smoker cheap o and I would get perfect turkey every time. For 3 years now I have been fighting the bird since the offset smoker, but it does wonders for other meats. With the smoker before the mods the bird was dry on top and raw on bottom even with flipping. This time took her off at 161 breast meat and legs were around 178 but still a little under cooked for my taste legs that is. All in all came out pretty good did a 12 pounder brined for 2 days. Any ideas greatly appreciated on the temp problems.