Clay pot question.


 
D

Dennis Stilwell

TVWBB Member
I have been using a pizza stone instead of the clay pot because I can not find one during the winter months. I feel that using the pizza stone is not that great. It seems that the drippings tend to burn on stone and I feel it adds a negative taste to my Q. I also notice a blackish puddles on the meat sometimes which I don't like to see and for now blame using the pizza stone. I just got my Brinkmann water pan and thinking about doing it old school with water.

For the guys that use the clay pot.

1. When you finish cooking is there wet drippings in the clay pot or are they all dried out and burnt?

2. My target temp is 275. Is this my problem with the burring of the drippings?


Thanks,
Dennis
 
I haven't used a clay pot for awhile, but when I did use it, I foiled it. When I was done and it was cooled, I just took the foil off and threw it away, leaving the pot clean. It might be worth your time to try it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris W.:
I haven't used a clay pot for awhile, but when I did use it, I foiled it. When I was done and it was cooled, I just took the foil off and threw it away, leaving the pot clean. It might be worth your time to try it. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So are you using water?
 
Yes, I went back to water. I found that worked best for me. However, I never refill the water pan, even on long cooks. I fill it up at the beginning, then place foil over the top of the pan to catch drippings. I found clean-up was much, much easier that way. I don't have to clean out fat drippings and what not from the pan; just like when I was using the clay pot, I simply crumple the foil up, toss it in the garbage can in the garage and take it out to the curb on trash day.

I don't refill the pan because I have the most problems controlling temps at the beginning of my cooks. The water pan helps offset this, and later in the cook, when the coals are beginning to die, most, if not all, of the water has boiled away, meaning the coals that are left are usually enough to keep the temp where I want it.
 
It does boil off; when I take the foil off there is little to no water left in the pan. Unless aliens are beaming it up, I figure it's boiling off. I didn't use water in the pan with the clay pot, but I would assume it would boil off with that as well.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Chris W.:
It does boil off; when I take the foil off there is little to no water left in the pan. Unless aliens are beaming it up, I figure it's boiling off. I didn't use water in the pan with the clay pot, but I would assume it would boil off with that as well. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Chris,

Thanks for the replys to answer my questions.

Do you find that when you run out of water in the pan your temps start to get high and do you have any issues keeping the temp low and slow?

Why did you go back to water?

Thanks,
Dennis
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Do you find that when you run out of water in the pan your temps start to get high and do you have any issues keeping the temp low and slow? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I've found that when I run out of water, the temps don't generally go up to much, probably because at that point in the cook I'm running low on coals. The coals that are left are usually enough to keep the temps where I want them without them getting to high (above 300*). I don't generally have trouble keeping the temps low, and if I do, the cook is usually so close to done that I don't worry about it too much.

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Why did you go back to water? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I found that I had more trouble controlling temps with the clay pot than with water. Most people on here will disagree with me, I'm sure, but I just found water to be easier. For me, the temps were always too high with the clay pot, probably because, unlike water, the clay pot absorbs whatever heat you throw at it and then radiates it back out for awhile, even after your temps in the smoker have dropped. Water, obviously, has a boiling point of about 212* depending on your location and won't get any hotter than that. My experience with the clay pot was that the temps would soar past where I wanted them and I had to struggle to bring them back down, but with water I can catch them on the way up, which is way easier.

Long story short, I used the clay pot a few times and simply couldn't get temperature control figured out with it, so I switched back to something I knew how to do.

I hope that helps!
 
I use fire bricks and then cover the entire pan with foil (over the top of the bricks as well as the bottom). It makes cleanup easy and the bricks help with keeping the temps stable for the overnight cooks.
 
w<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Don Dukes:
I use fire bricks and then cover the entire pan with foil (over the top of the bricks as well as the bottom). It makes cleanup easy and the bricks help with keeping the temps stable for the overnight cooks. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Where do you get the bricks?
 
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