Good title, mark.....i'm running into the same thing....used the stianless Weber baskets 5~6 times now & it's different....... lump, briq's, hi-heat...med. heat....slowly getting the hang of it....There's some people around here that really know what they're doing with baskets....we should ask them what gives?looks like your basket's working pretty well.....good airflow (2nd & 3rd pic) as was intended.....Chook appeared singed (musta been that dam 'white box' thing...)....but the last two pics, the crust looks fine.....Did yer taters fare well stacked against the basket?
I'm learning, too. I've only used all-lump a couple times but of course it does burn hotter AND faster. And with you having very small pieces it would burn just that much faster. I think next time you'll nail it, by replenishing the basket sooner, especially with pre-lit/chimney started fuel. That image with the brown bird shows less than half the basket has fuel left.*******Two unrelated questions:1) With potatoes (or say, corn in the husk) with one side so close to heat I'd have the urge to turn them, which wouldn't be easy. Not necessary?2) What kind of wood did you add for smoke? Looks like something I just threw away because what I had didn't seem like hardwood. It was some kind of soft fibrous tree I cut down from the neighbor's yard, sshhhh!) Damn I really need to learn to recognize trees.