another clay pot question !


 
B

brian diethert

New member
i'm about to fire up my wsm for it's maiden smoke, and am going to go the clay pot route with no water on some ribs. with the new bigger water pan i can't find a clay saucer around my area that's the right fit, all i can find is a 12 " one that will fit inside a couple of inches. will this still be o.k. ?
 
I'm a rookie too with 3 smokes under my belt and I've been using a pizza stone. It fits right into the water pan about 2 inches from the top. I just cover with foil, for easy cleanup, and it's been working great. No big temperature spikes yet and the cleanup is easy.

Good luck.
 
Brian, the clay pot bottom is not needed.
Water is a very effective heat sink, but a clay pot is not. Without water the empty water pan functions as a heat diffuser.
The WSM works fine in this setup.
I do suggest that the first few cooks you use water till the seasoning process seals some of the leaks.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Water is a very effective heat sink, but a clay pot is not. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not sure I agree with this statement. I never use water and generally cook everything except beef ribs at 300 degrees or higher. But when I do cook low and slow, I've found the clay saucer to be pretty effective at controlling temps.
 
well i finished my first cook using the above setup with no water on some spare ribs. i found that everyone was right about the wsm running hot for a few cooks. after 2 hours i had to shut all the lower vents and it still ran at about 240 at the lid and 285 at the grate, just couldn't get it any lower .i had a turkey fryer thermometer that i slid into the top vent. the flavor was awsome but they were pretty dry ! they were on for about 5 hours , i checked them earlier by trying the tear apart method but no go, and i knew they were getting to dry so i pulled them off and threw some sauce on them .i'll keep trying though ! but i better get this figured out , the wife wasn't to impressed
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any ideas would be greatly appreciated. i checked the turkey thermometer in some boiling water and it seemed right on. i think john has a good idea and use water till it seals up !
 
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