water ???

[crosshill]

Esplain sumptin to me please??? Why does WSM smoker or other bullet type smokers use a water pan and a larger offset smoker like the one I'm building doesn't? Someone asked me about the water pans in my new "under construction" trailer smoker and I said it didn't have any... then I got to thinking, why do the little ones (and some others ) have them and some not?

thanks
crosshill

[crosshill]

sorry, I should have put this in the Pits forum and not the general Q page. Moderators - you can move it if you want...

crosshill

[texasbill]

Hey Crosshill and welcome to the forum.

Let me make a stab at this one. My thought process is the smaller pits and especially the vertical cookers have a heat source that is very hot and in the vertical type cookers the heat source is directly under the meat as it cooks. So they add a buffer to the heat source, the water pan, to keep the heat down a bit and to spread the heat out across the circumference of the vertical cooker. They tell the folks it adds moisture to the pit and it does as it boils down and buffers the heat from hitting the meat at full temp.

Offset smokers do not require the use of water in most cases. My thought would be the bigger the pit the less likely the water would be needed as the firebox is getting large enough to build the fire away from the main cooking chamber. Also along comes the tuning plates that actually act as the water does in the vertical smokers in that evens out the temp over the length of the cooking chamber. I do suggest to some folks with the smaller offset cookers to put a pan of water in the hole between the cooking chamber and the fire box to help in spreading out the heat in the smaller pits.

Maybe Ritch will jump in here and give us the real facts as I am not a pit builder.

Bill Cannon
Texas BBQ Rub

[Woodman]

Bill is right on the money. The other factor at work is the fact that, especially in an electric, you don't want 2 lbs of hot pork fat fallin directly onto your heat source while cooking. Could create a fire hazard ya know? I have a 36" offset and a waterpan is a must on the firebox end of the cooking chamber. I like to use Dr Pepper or ginger ale at times altghough it tends to form a kind of caramel syrup towards the end. -Woodman

[Texana]

Finally ...............

Woodman got an avatar. Nice one.

[Woodman]

Yeah Tex, you made it pretty easy. I figured it couldn't be too hard if a Wolverine like Dirty Ron could do it! See, it's a MAN and he's chopping WOOD......get it? WOOD.....MAN? Hey, what's this Q'Fest I'm reading about?

[Mac]

Woodman,

If you can make it, we need you there! Check out the "Flatonia" post under BBQ Events. You'll get filled in fairly quick.

:D :D

[Grumpy Gator]

I have a WSM and Bill is correct.

I've only been cooking with the WSM for 5 months or so, and lots of folks use sand instead of water with great success.

I choose to use water for the following reason: As long as the water bowl is filled with water, that water cannot be greater than 212*. That is a great benefit when trying to control temps in a smoker. It acts as a heat sink. Now you do have to keep the water pan full.

The pan that comes with the WSM is inadequate. It is too small in diameter and too shallow. It has a tendency to slip off the brackets into the charcoal. A better choice with a WSM is to use the Brinkmann CHARCOAL pan. It is bigger around, and holds twice as much water. It costs around $14 from Brinkmann including shipping. I've also heard that there are sporting goods stores that carry them.

As for the water pan imparting moisture to the cook, it has to just based on physics. That is why a brisket on the WSM can cook fine with the Fat Cap up. I don't know this from personal experience, but too many people do it this way for it not to work. With an offset, I believe that since it is drier inside, you should put the fat cap down. This is the way Bill recommends a brisket to be done. When I'm ready to do a brisket, I will do both ways to compare.

One thing you have to be careful of on the WSM is getting the meat too close to the outside edge, outside the diameter of the water pan. The temp there is much hotter than directly over the water pan, and could dry out the ends of the meat. I usually cut my baby backs in half and can get 11 racks of them on using both the bottom and top grates and the Charbroil Rib Racks, usually $7 at Home Depot.

Hope this helps...