After wrapping with fiberglass blankets, the gasser will run at 225, sometimes hotter when the water runs dry. I do use a 9 x 14 pan on the bottom shelf to hydrate the smoker instead of the "bowl" down with the chips. The middle bowl dries up quickly, so not useful to keep your smoked good moist. The lack of racks, and the cost of additional racks (the smoker comes with 3) is a problem. I scavenged two racks from a kenmore smoker to bring the number to 5 - so I can use 1 for the water pan and cook on the other 4. That's 4 briskets or 4 whole boston butts, more than the original smoker is capable of.