I want to smoke a 13lb turkey at 225F over the WSM with water for about 4 hours, and then dry roast to bring the temp. up to about 325F for the remaining time to complete cooking to a safe temp. for consumption. What do you think about accomplishing this by putting water in so that it would be evaporate by the fourth hour of smoking. Then the temp. would rise to 325 for the duration of cooking. Have any tried this? I'm interested in a slow temp. rise to slow the enzymatic process that breaks down the muscle down between 90F and 130F. This would be to improve taste and texture of the breast meat. Have any tried this?

Kent

WSM, OTG, Genesis

I won't use water in my pan for most cooks, especially turkey. It's just TOO tender, too mushy.

I only smoked one turkey so far and other more experienced members here can give better advice.

But i will share what worked for me.

I smoked at about 250F the whole time and used a full water pan.

Turned out good and would have been better if i brined and started with fresh instead of frozen turkey.

I like to think that the water pan was designed and put there for a reason and that is why i use it but at see time, i respect others' opinions on not using water in water pan or using sand instead, etc...

I think the primary purpose of the water is to create a uniform smoking environment in the 225-250F range. Water boils, or simmers, at 212F, and the steam above it stays in that range. If you smoke dry, you have to rely on the size of your fire relative to the volume of the smoker. With the WSM the ambient temp. outside the smoker affects the inside temperature when dry smoking is occuring. This doesn't occur with the ceramic smokers, like the Big Green Egg or the Kamado. Traditionally, almost all smoking was done dry.

It would be helpful to know what the experienced smokers in this forum feel about this.

Kent

I don't use the water pan when smoking a turkey. Actually, I've had better results smoking whole turkey in my charcoal grill. It's easier to get the temp high enough to get a good skin. Low and slow makes for a rubbery skin.

quote:

Originally posted by Kent:
I think the primary purpose of the water is to create a uniform smoking environment in the 225-250F range. Water boils, or simmers, at 212F, and the steam above it stays in that range. If you smoke dry, you have to rely on the size of your fire relative to the volume of the smoker. With the WSM the ambient temp. outside the smoker affects the inside temperature when dry smoking is occuring. This doesn't occur with the ceramic smokers, like the Big Green Egg or the Kamado. Traditionally, almost all smoking was done dry.

It would be helpful to know what the experienced smokers in this forum feel about this.

Kent

Kent,

I'm gonna have to disagree with you here. The main purpose of the water pan is to provide a baffle between the heat source and the food you're cooking over it. What you put inside the water pan, be it water, sand, a ceramic dish, or nothing, affects the dynamics of your cook by acting as a heat sink.

You're right about using water to create a uniform temperature inside the smoker. Water is the most efficient heat sink you can use, because the heat is actually converted into kinetic energy when it boils the water. As you said, water tops out at 212 F. It's therefore difficult for the smoker to get too far above that.

Ceramic or sand heat sinks act slightly differently - they absorb heat but don't top out at any given temperature. In fact, they help prevent massive temperature fluctuations in the event of a wind gust, for example, by radiating stored heat to warm up the cold air that blew into your smoker.

Using a dry water pan allows you to save on charocal, because nothing in your pan is absorbing any extra heat.

With practice, you can maintain whatever temperature you want between 120 degrees and nearly 400 degrees, using sand, ceramic, or dry pan. Water, however, will limit the upper end of your temperature range because of its chemical properties.

However, your observation about ambient temperature is misguided. On a cold day where your smoker is cold to start, the smoker itself will act as a heat sink throughout your cook. It will therefore require more charcoal to maintain the same temperature. But ambient temperature will not really affect the interior temperature inside the smoker by creating hot or cold spots.

The beauty of the design of the WSM is that it uses all three forms of heat transfer (conductive, convective, radiant) to maintain a fairly uniform cooking enviroment inside. Wait for a cold day and check for yourself during a cook. Once the smoker has been at temperature for a while, take readings at the dome, at the top grate, and at the bottom grate, and both near and far from the exterior wall of the smoker. You'll find that there's not much more than 10% variation in temperature between all locations above the water pan.

Indeed, the effect of cold ambient temps is further lessened by the physical design limitations of the water pan. The fact that it has about an inch of clearance on all sides allows extra radiant and convective heat to rise along the outside edge. This creates a hotter area along the circumference of the cooker, and can act as a buffer for any potential heat loss through the exterior walls. However, once it's up to temp, the thick porcelain-coated steel doesn't lose too much heat.

Hope this makes sense.