The pizza pan on the second food grate to catch grease did not work out. With two chickens cooking on the top grate. Too much grease for the pizza pan to handle, I caught it just in time as the lake of grease was nearing an edge. This pan has no side or rim. Maybe a deep sided pan might work to some extent. But picturing this much grease hitting foil on a clay saucer if I went to that method, also is a negative for me.

So Weber's idea of a big reservoir of water to catch the grease while moderating heat spikes looks better by the minute! At least for this aged and lazy BBQ'r.

Looks like back to water in the pan, and always using more charcoal than suggested to achieve temperature flexibility.

I also may move all chicken cooking to the Q instead of using the WSM for that. Fair enough.

But... the chickens turned out beautifully. Basted them indoors with a nice simple sauce and aimed one toward supper today and another to Zip Loc vacuum storage in the freezer compartment.

Why did the turkey cross the road? Because he wasn't chicken!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: R. Ryan,

I'm glad you've seen the light!

i use hd foil(2 layers) on top of a empty brinkman charcoal pan. I press down on the center of the foil to form a resevoir to catch grease.

quote:

Originally posted by DAVIDMICHAEL:
i use hd foil(2 layers) on top of a empty brinkman charcoal pan. I press down on the center of the foil to form a resevoir to catch grease.

Thanks. Do you do this in place of the Weber water pan, or atop the second cooking grid?

I want to go look at all the many ag related pans at the Tractor Supply store to see if maybe one of those fits the WSM. Then ponder what I might do with it.

It sounds like you've made up your mind but I can tell you that I've never had a grease overflow problem with the foil above my clay saucer, and I've smoked multiple pork butts which certainly throws off more juice than 2 chickens.

As a general rule, a pan without a lip or rim will make a lousy catch basin. I've done a 12 hour cook of a 12 lb pork shoulder over the clay saucer and not had a problem with it.

If you want to use the water pan filled with water, great. It also works filled with sand. Some people do it empty. Some people use the clay saucer(I do, won't go back to using water).

I use a either a large foil pie pan or the large Weber foil drip pan[sold for the 22"] on the lower shelf. This separates fat and drippings from the water.

Kent
OTG, WSM, Genesis

quote:

Originally posted by Cris:

If you want to use the water pan filled with water, great. It also works filled with sand. Some people do it empty. Some people use the clay saucer(I do, won't go back to using water).

By clay saucer do you mean a 14-15" wide clay shallow bowel you can buy in the gardening section of a place like Home Depot? You could then put a foil pie pan on top of that to catch the drippings. It would be nice to not use a water pan, if for no other reason than using less charcoal. With the clay saucer, as cooking time increases don't you have to watch for a rising temp. as the saucer, or "heat sink" warms up?

Kent

quote:

Originally posted by Kent:

By clay saucer do you mean a 14-15" wide clay shallow bowel you can buy in the gardening section of a place like Home Depot? You could then put a foil pie pan on top of that to catch the drippings. It would be nice to not use a water pan, if for no other reason than using less charcoal. With the clay saucer, as cooking time increases don't you have to watch for a rising temp. as the saucer, or "heat sink" warms up?

Kent

Thats it. Get a 14" base for a clay flower pot. What you do is foil the bottom of the water bowl. then foil the top of the saucer. put the saucer in the bowl. After the cook toss the foil in the saucer. The foil on the bowl will be fine for a while. The top of the saucer sits slightly higher then the bowl so the lower grate will sit on top of it, but that is a non issue at least for me.
To catch the temps, go with the minion method. Start with as much unlit as you need for the cook, then add some lit ontop. Either mix smoke wood with the unlit or add with the lit. I do both. Do a search for "minion method or MM" There is a lot of info about it. What I do is when I add the lit I moniter temps. When it gets to 200* I shut all vents and see what happens then I slowly adjust the vents to get to my target. I can usually get to my target within first 30 min. good luck
graz

I use a slightly different approach: Weber Water pan, foiled; clay saucer, slightly smaller than the water pan, foiled; cover the whole thing with foil.

During the cook, the dripping will fall into the foiled pan/saucer, but since the saucer is smaller than the top of the water pan, there is a catch basin for the drippings.

After the cook, and the grease has cooled, I just wrap up the top layer of foil and toss it.

Easy peasy.

I also have a large clay saucer that will actually fit in the WSM in place of the water pan and I've used that successfully (the drippings did not come to the top of the lip on the saucer, the saucer was foiled - wrap up the foil with the grease and toss).

Pat