What has been your experience using sand instead of water in the water pan? How high did you fill it and how did the food come out? I am interested in trying this method on beef roasts.

I find the water keeps the sides too moist when I did an eye roast at smoking temperatures.

Works great as long as its' not too hot out.
Great for cold weather.
Have you tried a clay saucer? great heat sink and very easy clean up. Just wrap in foil and you are good to go.

Okay this is always a popular topic, sand, water, clay.
I dont understand why you need any of these options? I have been using a brinkman pan with foil balls and a sheet of foil over the top since 2006. No mess, easy easy clean up and no extra parts to bring along. And yes it works just fine without automatic temp control. I can cook on the same load of charcoal for well over 14-16hours and the best part is temp control is quick to adjust.

Rick

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Soliman:
I have been using a brinkman pan with foil balls and a sheet of foil over the top since 2006. Rick

Rick: I just received my Brinkman Pan(BP), so, how many foil balls do you put inside the BP for a 6 hour cook??

Richard

WSM Classic, OTG 22 1/2"

This is a question I've had recently as well, so I guess this is as good a place to ask as any: Does anybody know what size saucer fits the pan for a 2009 model 22 1/2"?

I've just been using my stock foil lined WSM water pan empty for 6+ years now. I used to do the foil ball thing for the first year, but no longer see the need for that. I just leave the foil up off the bottom of the pan by an inch or two, and have at it. I see no need for anything but the stock water pan and a sheet of HD wide foil. But maybe that's just me.

Richard,

The number doesnt matter I just make sure they are big enough to touch the bottom of the foil sheet.

Thanks

What Rick said. In response to Bryan's comment the only issue I see is if you are smoking something extremely fatty (i.e. butts, briskets, or pot roasts) the foil balls add some support to the foil layer if the pan fills up with the grease. This is especially true with the 22 pan where I have to seam two pieces of foil together. Don't want the weight to pull the seam apart.

quote:

Originally posted by Dan N.:
In response to Bryan's comment the only issue I see is if you are smoking something extremely fatty (i.e. butts, briskets, or pot roasts) the foil balls add some support to the foil layer if the pan fills up with the grease.

Never a problem even with 3 butts on the top grate, and a brisket on the lower. I crimp that foil around the rim of the pan tight.

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Soliman:
Richard,

The number doesnt matter I just make sure they are big enough to touch the bottom of the foil sheet.

Thanks

Rick; for the Brinkman Water Pan looks like you need a wad of foil the size of a small bowling ball.

Richard

NO maybe 3-or 4 baseball size balls...you guys make this WAY more difficult than need be. LOL

Rick

quote:

Originally posted by Rick Soliman:
you guys make this WAY more difficult than need be.

Rick, You could say that again.

you guys make this WAY more difficult then need be!

I'm lazy by nature and got sick of the mess and stank from using water in the pan. So I went and bought some lava rock and use that with a foiled pan and foil over the rock. Easy to clean and keeps temps steady. I don't see any difference in moisture content between water and rock.

i just use a bare pan nothing in it no foiling. i dont really care what the pan looks like or whether it is clean for the next cook or not. if there is any liquid grease when i go to put the wsm away after a cook and the coals are out i just pour the excess into a small bucket and dump it out in the garden. to me the pan is just a means of catching the grease to keep it out of the fire.

i used to use water but it was a hassle waiting for the temps to come up making me fiddle with the dampers to much or extending the cook times too much while waiting at a set vent damper setting. was reading here last year about folks using just foil covering. i just took it one step further into laziness and liked it.

I was thinking of putting in a couple rocks in the pan instead of water. I'll build up to no rocks and go dry. I am not confident in choking the heat down that much yet.

Maybe I am worried over nothing?

Does anyone notice a difference between doing a butt dry and with water?

I found 4 clay saucers this past week. 2 of them are 12.5" 2 are 16" . The 12.5" fit nicely into the foiled water pans for my Weber smokers which are a WSM and a Jumbo Joe with a Pro Q WSM stacker mod.

1 16 fit nicely into the bottom of my Pro Q excell 20 pan. The other I placed on top of a WSM 18" charcoal ring and then I dropped it into an 18" Old Smokey grill. This gave me enough room to place the cooking grate on it's holders and still have room between the saucer and the grate.

I smoked on the WSM 18 and the Old Smokey I did 2 racks of spares and a Ham on the WSM with the foiled pan and saucer. Heat control was different than with water but managable and infact more stable just higher vs the same vent settings using water.

The Old Smokey grill I smoked a whole Turkey. The little grill with it's clay pot addition held a solid 325 for 8 hrs, and was over 225 at 12 hrs in. That was a load of mixed stubbs and Kingsford lump. it was not heaping full because I had to use the top of the ring to hold the clay saucer.

The Turkey and everything else turned out great. The Turkey was a beautiful golden brown and tasted great. And no moistier difference was noted between the clay saucer mod and the water.


Joe

i used to use water in mine. now i just use a empty pan no foil no sand no water. been using the pan just to catch the drips for a while now. havent had any problems. since i am of utmost laziness when it comes to bbq this works fine for me. pretty much all the methods of sand foil foil balls saucers water nothing at all etc all produce excellent results. i would suggest experimenting with different ones and pick one which you like best. none of em add or delete anything from the taste of the bbq. flavoured water adds nothing to the taste of the meat.

i dont clean my pan at all so nothing in it works fine for me.

i think as long as you have something blocking the direct heat and there are no major airleaks in the cooker you can control the temp fine with just learning vent control and an empty pan. I foil the top of the pan with heavy foil to prevent too much heat radiation on the lower grate and catching dripping grease.

Hello everyone, I've always smoked with water in my pan. (about a dozen times) I'm looking at smoking 4 or 5 butts at the end of the month and after reading all of your post, I'm going to try without water with this smoke. Thanks all.