Wsm 18.5"


 

PaulNY

New member
Hey everyone quick question. I've had my WSM 18.5" for a few years. I love it, but find it to be a royal pain in the @$$ to clean it. i usually fill the water pan with water and i foil the pan, but it still becomes a mess to clean. I've always filled my pan with water, but I see some people do and some people don't. What are the advantages and disadvantages of filling the water pan with water??
 
Easy answer is water is a heat sink, typically used to keep temps below the boiling point of 212.
You get above that, you have to replenish the water or you'll get heat spikes.
It also depends on what your target temp is, if your dead set on 225 then a sink like water is best.
If you want to go higher like 250-275 then a clay saucer or empty foiled pan is better.
OBTW, Welcome to the board!

Tim
 
One of the main reasons I bought a WSM was because of the water pan. I used to have a Brinkman and was convinced water was needed. Until I started reading this forum. I tried smoking without water,and havn't used water since.
I can't think of anything that I would use water in the pan. But I usually wrap the meat in foil with something like apple juice somewhere right at or after the stall
 
My first WSM style smoker was a homemade mini using a stock pot and a Smokey joe grill. I didn't have a water bowl just a clay saucer wrapped in foil as a heat sink. I learned to maintain low temperatures with air flow and using a snake instead of a Minion method.
After a couple of years I purchased a 18.5 WSM and I just foiled the water pan as soon as I got it. I have never used water and I have been quite successful with using it this way. Although sometimes it can be a little bit of work to keep a steady 225 but anything above that is easy to maintain.
 
My 18 WSM is a 2002 and I have the smaller water pan. I've never found a good reason to not use it . I like the water vapor in the smoker and it really doesn't take that much time to clean. I do mostly the same thing Chris does, except I salvage good chunks of charcoal, then I line a 5 gallon bucket with trash bags and pour the water. I double bag to protect from possible link. The bottom of the WSM might be better than a 5 gallon bucket, because there's a larger target.

I use water in my offset, an Old Country Brazos. I have a 16" loaf pan that I put on the firebox end of the cooking grate. I think water is important to the meat, but as this barbecue game goes, its each to their own tastes.
 
Spare Ribs

Hey all,

So made spare ribs this past weekend. First time not putting water in the pan, and first time no wrapping the ribs after 3 hours. I would usually wrap them and then pour a brown sugar, honey, apple juice mixture. This time at 4 hour mark, basted them with butter and some coke. Then at 5 hours sweet chili glaze and bbq sauce. Temp was definitely a few degrees hotter with no water, but kind of made managing the fire easier. Temp was hovering around 250, 260, which i had no problem with. Used a few chunks of apple. Overall was very happy with the ribs. They werent as tender as in the past, but was still plenty tender, and had the kind of color which i was never able to accomplish.
 
I am kind of surprised that Weber is passing up a chance to sell "Genuine Weber drop-in disposable" aluminum foil liners.

Sized to fit with a Weber logo stamped on it. Could be some bucks there.
 

 

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