Did it and it worked.

[holehogg]

I did this and may be blasphemy to you guys but it was all I could think of and it worked.
I started my charcoal and needed to get to the shops around the corner. I wasn't going to be to long so I left the lid off the kettle while the charcoal caught.
When I returned I realised what a bad idea that was the fuel had an intense burn.
With the lid on with all vents closed I could not tame the heat.
So I DOUSED some of the burning coals with water and replaced the lid. Temp came down but not enough and it started to rise slowly again. I again poured on water (got me a slight steam burn in the process).
Well I got the kettle to desired temp. I'm 4 hours into cook and everything's good.
My first Chuck (S&P) with the kettle and IT @ 175 and I'm hungry. Raising temp to 325F to hopefully speed things up.

[jgreen]

Luckily didn’t burn anything down. Glad it worked, although I wouldn’t do that asa regular practice. You can always pull that chuckle and slice it if you can’t wait till it gets to a pulling temperature. I do that a lot.

[holehogg]

Was tempted but will hold out till ready.

[RonB]

If it works...

[holehogg]

If I knew of a better way would have done so.