Question:
Which method do you use most often when cooking in the WSM? Register your vote below.

Choices:
Water in the standard WSM pan
Water in the larger Brinkman pan
Sand in the pan
Empty pan
No pan at all

 

I use the BBQ Guru ~ Empty pan.

Well it depends for me. For my overnight long cooks, I will use the brinkman pan with water. for my shorter cooks, ribs and maybe if I decide to do poulty low and slow, I will use the stock Bullet pan, with water.


Big Al

Water in the Brinkman for me for all my smoking (until I get a guru!)

When using only the top rack, I have been using sand. My last cook with a butt on top and brisket below was water in regular pan.

Make no mistake about it. Sand is easy clean up. Water, however, offers better temperature control for most of us.

Make my answer...WATER. Can't believe I said that.

My father-in-law told me, and I believe him,
"Only a fool never changes his mind".

I'm the lazy type. If I don't use a water pan I have to baste every so often. When its time to check the water I just happen to be in the bathroom ( ) and yell to my wife to check the pan and add hot water. She hasn't caught on yet

I use the guru and unlike anybody else, I use water in the pan. I don't care what shotgun Fred says, the water works fine. And when I hear about the clean up...please...if I'm gonna spend 24 hours on a cook, 3 minutes to clean a waterpan is nothing!

Try the foil Nick ~ You won't be sorry..

Water in the Brinkmann pan,mainly because I already had the Brinkmann pan from my former Gourmet smoker.
But I plan to try sand in the Weber pan soon.

UPDATE: I just cooked a beer can chicken with the standard water pan - empty - and a small drip pan under the chicken. This setup held temperatures in the 325-350 range just as easily as the usual full water pan and 225-250 temps. I may try the empty pan on my next butt.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Larry D.,

Standard water pan w/water on my stock WSM and an empty water pan with foil on my Guru equipped WSM. For whatever reason, I seem to use the WSM w/Guru about 2 to 1 over my stock one.

Rick

quote:

Originally posted by Bill Hays:
I use the BBQ Guru ~ Empty pan.

What he said..

I use a Brinkmann water pan with water in it. I leave it empty whenever I do poultry. For low temps water, for high temps no water. No sand for me. Never tried no pan.

I use mt water pan with tin foil wrinkled up over the top of it, with my guru.

Whoops, I accidentally voted "water in standard wsm pan" when I meant to click the brinkman choice. Of course, as I'm starting to use the guru more, I should have said nothing but foil.

D'oh!

Sorry.

i use the standard WSM waterpan. But I'm contemplating getting the brinkman pan for those extra long smokes.

Greg

I would...I mean for $5, you can't go wrong not having to worry whether you need to add more water or not. I can go a good 12-14 hours at 225F without having to worry about refilling using the Brinkman water pan. Much larger and well worth it. You can always use your Weber one and fill it with sand.

I've been using the stock pan and it is fine. I've never had to fill it more than once. However, it has gone low enough to really bake on the fat and drippings that are in it. So, I just ordered the replacement pan from Bass Pro Shops. I'll use both depending on the type of meat.

AR

Heh, I'm one of the minority who voted - no pan at all.

Jim

Water in the standard pan. I like adding water when needed. Makes me feel important.

I'm boring and use water in the pan. Although yesterday I tried the no pan method with chicken and had great results. Crispy skin!