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X2!  Comes out great! 

Owens BBQ also has a good selection of collagen, fibrous, sheep and hog casings, meat bags, carrot fiber, encapsulated citric acid for your processing needs! www.owensbbq.com/sausage-seasonings-jerky-mixes.html

Large selection of over 300 flavors of rubs from the following manufacturers! www.owensbbq.com/seasonings--rubs.html - 2 Gringos Chupacabra - All Q’ued Up’ - Arnold's Misfit Acres - B Xtreme BBQ - BEER:30 - Beer’s Blackdog BBQ - Bexten’s Best - Big K'z Glaze - Big Frig - Big Smoak BBQ - Big Swede BBQ - Blues Hog - Boars Night Out - Brine Some Turkey - Burnt Finger BBQ - Butcher BBQ - Chili Dawg's - Cimarron Doc’s Bar-B-Q & Chili Co. - CJ’s All Terrain - Clark Crew BBQ - Crawford Barbecue - Daigle's - Dead Bird BBQ-DB180 - Demon Pig - Devil Daves - Double Barrel BBQ - Elk Creek Bar-B-Q Co. - Fat Bottom Girl BBQ - Fergolicious BBQ - Fire Dancer BBQ - Go Big or Go BBQ - Heavy Smoke BBQ - Heath Riles BBQ - Hillside Smoke ‘N Que - Historic BBQ - Hotty Totty BBQ Crew - Jack Daniel’s - Johnny Joseph Steak Rub - JonesyQ BBQ - Jumbo - Killer Hogs Barbecue - Kosmo’s Q - LC BBQ - Loot N' Booty BBQ - Lotta Bull BBQ - Lumberjack wood pellets - Malcolm’s How to BBQ Right! - Meat Church BBQ - Meat Revival - MOJO RUB - Montana Outlaw BBQ - Owens BBQ - Pancho & Lefty Steaks - Pellet Envy EAT Barbecue - Plowboys BBQ - Pork Pachanga/After Party - Queshine/Brantley Creek BBQ & Company - Richie Z’s - Slap’s BBQ - Smoke This BBQ - SmokinGhost BBQ - Smokin’ Hoggz BBQ - Smoky Okie's - SuckleBusters - Swamp Boys BBQ - Sweet Swine O’ Mine - Swine Life - Texas Oil Dust - Texas Pepper Jelly - Thunderbird Ranch - Trigger Happy BBQ - Triple 9 Swine - University of Que - Wicked Pig - World Championship SCA – Steak Cookoff Association - Wright Barbecue Company

Yes! But in an Akorn, with a loose lower vent. Bayou Classic looks like a very nice Kamado. I upgraded to a Big Joe, and found I could kill the fire by closing only the lower vent - no leaks there! Can you kill the fire without closing the top vent? If so, you just need to be more aggressive with vent settings. If not, I'd talk to Bayou Classic.    I've found I can maintain 225F at the grate, 250F at the top vent using only the lower vent. The problem is that it doesn't let in enough air to get a smoke ring. I now leave a few millimeters of gap at the bottom and fine tune with the top vent.    One enabler is to use larger chunks of charcoal. It burns a long time, and a little cooler due to the lower surface area of large pieces. I break down brands like KJ Big Block to fist-size pieces because BB is too big!   HAve fun, Frank   PS smoke roasting at 300F is a great technique, too. 

I entertained thoughts - but it would really mess with the feng-shui - ... hmmm... but wait... all the others are on the outside.... my wife would kill me because I lobbied for the inner setup -

How about remove the slats across the inside edge on the 4 x 4's on the back. Remount them on the outside edge of the 4 by's (assuming that gives you enough room?  Or is the problem where the back of the kamado comes down on the countertop / deck?

Yes.  Air is flowing out your lower vent drawing some smoke with it.  It won't "hurt" anything.  But I find it harder to control this way.   I deal with it this way. Restrict the airflow on your lower vent to maybe 1/4".  The upper vent should be open enough to allow all the lower vent source air, plus thermal expansion through air heating, to escape.  That will help to lower the temperature, and the available heat and smoke should then flow up and out the upper vent.  Note you also want to not allow the upper vent to become a second source of oxygen, particularly when your fire is too hot.  So don't open the top vent too much.   The underlying issue here is that, at 500 degrees, most of your charcoal is now lit at one time.  Typically, you'll light 1 or 2 locations, and if you monitor the temperature rise (keep the fire growth manageable), you'll limit the growth of the fire across your charcoal.  But, this time, it got away, and ended up at 500 degrees.  So most, if not all, of your charcoal is now lit.  Therefore you need to restrict the flow of inbound oxygen.  That will damper the fire and thus lower the temperature.  But because most of the charcoal is now lit, it's a larger surface area fire that you now need to manage.  It can definitely be done, but the changes you make to your vents should be done carefully and in small increments.  Like 1/32 each adjustment.

Have always had trouble trying to keep grill temp at 225 or 250. Usually cooks at 300 to 350. Not a bad thing I suppose. But the “low and slow” cook has never happened.  anyone else have this issue? If you have not, what’s the solution? also, the grill is a Bayou Classic Ceramic Cypress Grill.