quote:

Originally posted by Sean S.:
gary, i love the flavor of the comp briqs, but imho they burn too quickly for overnighters so i can see how you'd run up the expense. i use them for grilling or doing a turkey. the blue bag kingsford gives me 12-14 hours burns, using a minion start and no off flavors (i taste coffee for a living so i can taste pretty well). i just use a foiled water pan, no water. the butts come out perfect every time; give it a try. especially now that it's getting cold up there i think that using water in your pan is just too much of a heat sink and you'll burn even more fuel.

quote:

Originally posted by Sean S.:
the pan collects the drippings, which char and certainly add some small amount of fatty smoky goodness of their own, i'm sure, and do stop the flare ups, which could be pretty massive i'd reckon given the amount of fat that drips out. the pan stops that. this also stops all the resultant ash that would billow up and coat your butts. the pan also serves as a mild heat sink and more importantly i believe somewhat of a heat disperser so there aren't hot spots on the butts above that cause uneven cooking.