Keep in mind we want a small, breathing fire, not a large choking fire (which produces dirty smoke) I start a very small fire in front, upper left of the firebox. The fire will work back, down and right. I only leave the lid open 5-10 mins to ensure the FEW coals I’ve placed on top of my fire starter are well lit. Then I close the lid and and leave top and bottom wide open. As it nears 150* I’ll put in the last smoking chunk near the fire (others had been buried so they light later in the cook), add the deflector plates, water pan, grill grates and temp probe on grate. I shut the lid as quickly as I can, as the fire can jump quickly with the lid open. I’ll then close both vents halfway. When it gets to 200* I’ll close the bottom to about pinky-tip wide (YMMV) and the top is equally closed but will be where I fine tune from here on as I close in on 225* slowly. This generally gives me excellent control over my temps even a fair bit below 225* I’d not put my food on until the fire is clean and I’m well in control of the temp. Keep in mind, once you put on that cold meat, the temp is going to be suspect for a bit. Avoid the temptation to make big changes for the next hour or so. When I first started I’d panic and think my temp was falling so I’d open up vents, then once the meat warmed up suddenly my grill temp would jump dramatically. In reality, the grill temp was good and that cold meat was just making it look low. Finally, keep an eye on your water pan on long cooks. If it ever goes dry, you’ll see a temp spike. Usually not a problem if you know it’s coming, but you don’t want to be woken by a temp alarm at 4am because you didn’t plan…