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When you "fast," especially for an extended period of time, you tell your ancient body that "there is no food to be found."  Your body switches to its ancient protective modes, drawing down its reserves to stay alive.  However, it has switched into "crisis mode." It stops doing things that it would ordinarily do in times of plenty.   I've frankly found an easier way: "eat well."  Circumnavigate the grocery store and go ahead and try those vegetables: if any of them "suddenly catch your eye," impulsively buy it and learn how to cook it.  Give your body a cornucopia of varieties to choose from.  (It was never built to assume that meat was readily available.)  Your kamado can prepare a great many interesting things – roasted zucchini, anyone? (It's delicious!)   When a horse is deficient of minerals, it will begin to eat the wood of its stall – a phenomenon known as "cribbing."  Well, the snack-food industry calls the same thing "the munchies."  Because you aren't eating whatever your body is looking for, your body compels you to eat.  And, as necessary, it puts the excess away as fat – as a shield against future hard-times or starvation.  But it still isn't getting what it's looking for, and so it keeps compelling you to search.  You gain weight. And, you lose health.   "When you go to the grocery store, skip the 'TV Dinners' aisle entirely."  Flash-frozen vegetables are a legitimate source of things that are not now in season, but do not prepare your suppers in the microwave.  Just a few aisles over, you will find the ingredients that are in all of those frozen boxes, and it is much more fun to go ahead and cook them!   Without you even noticing it, the excess weight will go away.

My nephew uses the smokeware cap to warm his skull cap, and enjoys the warm on a cold Christmas Day. 

I don't recall what all was in there, maybe some cheese, veggies etc.  

looks delicious. I am hankering to do a real wood dutch oven cook- chili or a deep peach pie.

I have experienced this on more than one ocassion with various brands of new lump. It it not restricted to "used" lump at all. And, I seriously doubt it has anything to do with new kamados. Mine weren't at the time. I think that it was more probably bags that were rained on at some point and perhaps the middle of the bags did not get dry.

Bend more than one?  I bent two, they sent me 4. But there are two types of bracket, one with the flange that bolts into the strap going to the left, one to the right.     They were also out when mine needed replacing, but had new stock in a few weeks, and we're quick to send when they got them.

So was there any residue smell or taste in the shoulder?    You mentioned water in the second pan - I get a lot of juices coming from pork, so not sure if you were far enough along in your cook for it to be that, or was the meat still fairly "cool" (say less than 140 F)?

Traditional Andouille in Louisiana is stuffed in casings from the large intestine and you rarely see it offered commercially any place outside of South Louisiana.  It is stuffed with pretty much every part of the pig that wasn't used for another purpose, spiced heavily and smoked.  Most Andouille you find commercially is either stuffed in small intestine casings or commercial collagen based casing about 1" in diameter when stuffed.