Water or no water?


 
Depends on what your cooking.

High heat, or low and slow?
Does smoke permeation take priority over fuel consumption?

Some BBQ people claim that water helps smoke penetrate the meat. Water absorbs energy when you boil it. This will cause a higher consumption of the fuel source. Water also boils at 212 deg F at sea level. Water will not get any hotter as it boils so this also help stabilize the smoker temp. The down side is that you cannot reach higher temps with water if your doing something like a chicken or turkey.
 
Each method has it's pluses and minuses. For me no water. I didn't like the clean up and I didn't like what it does to the cooker (flakes in the lid, generally more "gunky"). Water evaporates and has to be added during long cooks (unless you buy a larger water pan). For those reasons I choose no water. On the other hand, water works very well because that's how the WSM was designed to work. Put water in, fire up as much charcoal as you want and you'll be in the BBQ cooking range.

It's just one of those things where you will have to try both and decide for yourself. Either way can produce great BBQ.
 
Rich T65 said:
Water in the water bowl? Or use some other medium like sand or clay bricks etc?
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First time firing it up?- if so then I would go water-less for a half dozen cooks. Your trying to build up layers of seasoning, and while water does offer benefits as a heat sink it also adds moisture and when mixed with smoke it adds a brown layer to the underside of the lid. Repeated layers of that will just flake off like peeling paint like Jerry pointed out.

Tim
 
I'm a no water convert.... Haven't looked back and haven't found a downside, yet. Nothing in the pan, just foiled. I run a digi-Q, though.
 
I started out no water, but found I need the water to keep temps down in my new pit; I will go back to no water once she has started to season better.
 
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I suppose You are speacking of WSM (I don't know wich model). IMO, you should remove water pan and put inside a foiled pizza stone .if you like some water put it in the drip pan just over the pizza stone or in a pot over the meat grate.
Pizza stone will help you with its termal mass to steady cooking T.
My 22 WSM cooks always @250F super steady.
 
Enrico Brandizzi said:
I suppose You are speacking of WSM (I don't know wich model). IMO, you should remove water pan and put inside a foiled pizza stone .if you like some water put it in the drip pan just over the pizza stone or in a pot over the meat grate.
Pizza stone will help you with its termal mass to steady cooking T.
My 22 WSM cooks always @250F super steady.
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I want to see if I can get this right first before I start adding other items, but it's a great idea and I see lots of folks using this method. I just want to learn the pit right now in 'stock form'.

I still need to get more cooks under her to see how steady she will be.
 
another vote for no water. just foil the pan. my first cook i used water, and the clean-up was a huge mess. never again.
 
Replaced my water pan with a clay plant saucer, wrapped it in foil and put another piece just large enough to fit over the top so when cleaning I pull that sheet and replace it with a new one, makes cleanup easy. Another advantage is I have more clearance to load up the charcoal ring with more wood and coals.
 
Doesn't a water-less cook make for a tougher bark?

I removed the OEM bowl and replaced it with a foil-lined Brinkman charcoal pan, but I still use water for long cooks. I may try a water-less cook sometime soon.
 
Rusty,

Controlling the bark's toughness is entirely within the pitmaster's bag of tricks, ie aluminum foil.

If you foil before the bark is fully set, you end up soft bark, or in some cases the bark gets 'steamed' away.
If you wait until the bark is fully set, the resulting bark will still be there but not tough, as it would be if left unfoiled.
Or just let it ride without foil for a bark that is truly set :)
 
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Thanks, Bob. There's much to learn.

I've been afraid to *not* use water for fear that I would overcook the bark.
 
Tim McG said:
another vote for no water. just foil the pan. my first cook i used water, and the clean-up was a huge mess. never again.
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No foil here. Dump the water and put the pan back in over the lit coals. It will burn the junk off as the coals are extinguished. Water pan isn't any more dirty than any other thing inside the smoker. It's not like you have to eat off it.
 
No water. Just a foiled pizza serving stone for a heat sink. Job done. Some drippings might get on to the coals, & that's good.
 
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