lets take a vote on water pan filled with water or clay saucer or piedmont or sand or whatever else is working fo you guys best. I like the saucer i think best. seem to work well. How bout ya. Cheers

Clay saucer/foiled pan.

Foil-lined clay saucer over an empty foil-lined bowl here.

I started that way 'cause it sounded like the easiest to keep clean. It's worked fine. No temp control problems. So I've kept doing it.

Corey... the clay saucer works best for me.

Stock water pan, filled with water.

Clay saucer. Used to have sand, but the saucer is essentially the same thing and easier to deal with.

Foiled clay and pan, only have 2 cooks with this but I'm hooked. Just say no to water!

Piedmont pan - in my case, the WSM pan mounted atop a Brinkmann pan, since those are what I already had to work with.

Empty foiled pan W/ airspace.

Tim

Clay saucer in original water pan - both foiled. Been a real treat to have to replace the foil instead of messing with a greasy, wet, gross water pan. Plus no need to refill water pan on long overnight cooks. One less thing to worry about. Won't go back.

Todd

Foiled pan with a terra cotta tray inside and shallow bowl (1" to 2" deep) to cover all for catching drippings.
Using the WSM every 5 to 6 days, there are times I do not replace the foil, simply use what was in place from the last cook.

I foil a clay pot and place it inside the foiled water pan. I then double-wrap these two in foil too. The foil on the pan and the clay pot do not get replaced. Depending on what's been cooking, the outer layer of the "package" is replaced. I've been using a drip pan of late on all cooks. That is saving the foil.

Foiled pan and running it empty.
Think I will give the clay saucer in the water pan a try it very soon.

quote:

Originally posted by Jeff_B:
Think I will give the clay saucer in the water pan a try it very soon.

it's no big deal... i can not see a drastic difference.
i only did start using it to catch dripping through the ripped foil covered water pan...

Now empty foiled pan. Started w/ clay saucer and no water, but didn't like the idea of dropping the saucer. Easier and lighter, same control.

I use the sand method. Ocassionally I replace the foil when it gets to crusty. I have not replaced the sand yet and it has been better than 3 months with moderate use.

quote:

I foil a clay pot and place it inside the foiled water pan. I then double-wrap these two in foil too. The foil on the pan and the clay pot do not get replaced. Depending on what's been cooking, the outer layer of the "package" is replaced. I've been using a drip pan of late on all cooks. That is saving the foil.

I just started doing the same. The disposable drip pan saves on clean up.

Foiled clay saucer on top of the water pan. Never used anything else.

Piedmont Pan. Two WSM pans bolted together one inch apart.

I use the clay pot base foiled in a foiled pan.

However, for Bacon where I want to keep the temp around 170° I found that water in the pan maintained the temp better. The clay pot base was just holding too much heat