Beginning - water in the pan, standard operating procedure.

Middle - sand in the pan, easier clean up.

End - foil in the pan. Guru owner.

I have never tried without the pan maybe this week.

Right now I am using the WSM water pan. Will be upgrading to the Brinkman pan in the near future. Sand may be easier but I like the water and the false idea that water may be keeping the meat moister.

Vic

I use foil covered pan with water in WSM. Victor I'm with you on the mirage of moisture feeling you get with water in the pan. It does have psychological benefits!

aloha!

greg kemp

I use an empty clay flower pot base covered with foil for easy cleanup.

Enjoy,
Dan
3DB

I use a foil lined water pan. For overnight smokes I use a foil lined Brinkman water pan.

Michael

Is there any way to restart this topic and update the questions to include more options, such as the clay pot base, and the piedmont pan?

Things seem to have evolved since March of 2005.

Jim, I bet your using the Piedmont Pan in conjunction with the foiled terra cotta saucer. Thats all I use now, easy temps and clean up is just a folding of the foil.

quote:

Originally posted by Jim Groom:
Is there any way to restart this topic and update the questions to include more options, such as the clay pot base, and the piedmont pan?

Things seem to have evolved since March of 2005.

I certainly could restart this poll, but my guess is that there would be very few people selecting clay pot or piedmont pan, and in order to get those couple of votes registered I'd lose 2 years worth of data. I'm not sure it's worth it.

Maybe a better choice would be to start a poll on alternatives to normal water pans. Still, I'm not sure that's of broad interest.

Regards,
Chris

Dino, my WSM is brand new and I have only used the stock water pan so far. I am trying to decide if I want to make a mod, and if so, what one.

This poll is very helpful to me for making that decision.

Chris, thanks for your answer. I can see and agree with your point.

I was looking at the subject more from a newbie viewpoint. It is very easy to try the different options myself with very little expense to see what one I like, so that is what I will do.

I use the Brinkmann pan the most, when I'm using water. I tried sand in the WSM pan, but it just didn't work for me as well, and the heat wasn't as easy to control. I'll never use sand again.

But the WSM is such a versatile cooker, that I also use it without a pan at all. This is best for cooking chicken at higher temps. Let the chicken drippings fall on the coals and bring more flavor to the cooker chamber.

Move the charcoal pan up to the bottom grate and the WSM becomes the perfect Grill.

Can't beat the WSM!

Thus far I've only used the stock WSM water pan filled with either water or apple juice, or a mixture of both. But yesterday I smoked a bunch of wings, and used the stock pan without water, lined with foil. I was shooting for higher temps with the wings, so I felt liquid was unnecessary, and it indeed was. For a short cook like that, I'm fine with no water, but on longer cooks, I like having the temp-regulating water/juice in there for moisture and temp control. But I've been using up the rest of my Kingsford to try out lump, maybe lump will benefit more from sand in the pan or clay pot base... I have much experimentation and learning to do!

It seems like the obvious question to ask.
What is the advantage of an empty pan versus no pan at all? Heat distribution?

quote:

Originally posted by Bruce R:
It seems like the obvious question to ask.
What is the advantage of an empty pan versus no pan at all? Heat distribution?

More heat deflection, actually. Maintaining the indirectness of heat, which is widely considered a fundamental of true BBQ.

Some in NC may disagree from what I have read. There would appear to be a significant group of BBQ's who treasure direct cook with the fat flavoring the fire.

For most of us, indirect cooking is more predictable and easier.

Thank you. This does make sense.

Did my first WSM cook last night with sand in the pan and had no problem at all. Did 2 butts and man was the clean up easy.

low and slow for ribs and brisket water in the pan the wsm came with. takes me no time at all to clean it. foiling the thing seemed to be far more difficult for me that just soaking it for a few minutes then wiping it out with a scrubby.

for high heat chicken standard pan no lining nothing in it.

who is crazy to use no pan at all??

Guru---empty pan. I use about HALF of the fuel I used to.

DigiQ II = NO Water.