Ray,

First of all, I'm not asking you to choose between a WSM and a BGE. I think both have advantages and disadvantages.

My question is regarding an earlier comment you made: "I also think the water impedes the bark, and may even wash too much smoke out of the air."

I do not own a BGE, but one of my best friends does and I have cooked on it many times. It is a great cooker, for sure.

One thing that I noticed, however, was that bacon does not crispen up in the BGE like it will in a WSM (without the water). I have cooked bacon-wrapped whatever in both cookers many times, but the bacon just won't crispen in the BGE for me.

I asked someone who sells BGE's about it, and he said that the BGE actually is a wet cooking environment - even though there is no water added.

This intrigued me. It certainly explained why the bacon would not crispen like it would in my WSM (even though time and temp was all the same).

My question to you is: Does this sound consistent with your experiences cooking on the BGE?

It just seemed very weird to me - but again, I'm not THAT experienced cooking on them.

Thanks!

Hi Brad,
Yes, it does sound right. Once the ceramic gets all warmed up, there is very little fire required to keep a low temp. There is also very little air flow so the moisture that is cooked out of the food remains in the atmosphere within the cooker. A Jedmaster has the similar situation and so soes a double walled Backwoods Smoker. It the WSM was double walled or insulated it would be the same.

The solution for me in the egg is to cook a little hotter throughout, or at the end, depending on what's in there. A little fire and some air flow creates a drier enviroment in the egg, and to finish that's a good thing. With a pan of water in the cooker, you just create more steam as you raise the fire.