Boston Butt success

[Rusty]

I am going to post pictures soon, but I thought I would share that I smoked two boston butts on my 18 WSM with great success.
This was my first try with using a foil wrapped clay saucer isntead of the water pan. Even though the meat came out great, I won't ever use the clay saucer again. Temperature spikes kept me in and out of the house where as when I used the water pan, it was pretty much set it and forget it. The only pro I found with the clay saucer was I got a couple more hours out of the charcoal.

 

[Dave Russell]

Rusty, Unless you use a guru or similiar gadget to control air flow to the coals, the water pan is the way to go for low and slow barbeque, as you found out. (Obviously, use no water in the pan for a hi-temp cook.)

The new wsm has a much larger water pan so that's a big help. If you have the old wsm, you can get the larger brinkman pan cheap. With the larger pan, you should be able to go all day or night long without adding any water.

There are some good dense lumps available (like B and B) that will burn a LONG time if you take the time early on to adjust your vents. I adjust mine to give the coals as little oxygen as possible and still maintain the temperature I want. That way I'm not wasting lump by boiling water. You'll find that lump won't suffocate itself from ash like charcoal sometimes does and you should also find that if you make sure the lump is all packed in really tight that you don't even need to re-fuel. This does take a little effort compared to just pouring in briquettes, but I feel it's worth the effort. (I hate the smell of kingsford!) I light my fully loaded lump with a weed burner and then place a couple of more wood chunks on the coals (in addition to the few I've already got buried in the lump). This is how I've been doing with my drum smoker for years and it works just the same with my new wsm. The wsm is just easier to cook low and slow, and I have much more control over my smoke.

Congrats on your first butt cook!

 

[Jim Lampe]

"(Obviously, use no water in the pan for a hi-temp cook.)"
I never use water anymore. For any cook.
Simply foil around the base of the pan and the top foiled with a formed shallow bowl to catch drippings.
Doing so, I have had no problems maintaining my temps, either high or low.

 

[Brad Benski]

I also never use water. Rusty, you just aren't used to the responsiveness of the smoker with the saucer, it may take several cooks. After a few cooks you'll know just were the vents need to be.

I typically end up with all but one bottem vent closed and just adjust the one vent to adjust the temp, that way I've only got 1 change introduced into the system. As mentioned after a few cooks you'll learn were things need to be.

 

[Rusty]

Here are the pics.

 

[Dave Russell]

Originally posted by Jim Lampe:
"(Obviously, use no water in the pan for a hi-temp cook.)"
I never use water anymore. For any cook.
Simply foil around the base of the pan and the top foiled with a formed shallow bowl to catch drippings.
Doing so, I have had no problems maintaining my temps, either high or low.

I've had no "problems" with "maintaining temps" and no water pan, either....as long as I occasionally adjusted the vents as necessary to compensate for weather changes. However, I like the peace of mind a "set and forget" cooker like the wsm affords when I'm cooking all night long. Others, like Rusty, have found out the same thing and that's why Weber designed the cooker to cook with a water pan. "Keeping the meat moist" was not part of the design, but more for marketing appeal.

 

[Tom R (doughboy)]

Originally posted by Brad Benski:
I also never use water. Rusty, you just aren't used to the responsiveness of the smoker with the saucer, it may take several cooks. After a few cooks you'll know just were the vents need to be.

I typically end up with all but one bottem vent closed and just adjust the one vent to adjust the temp, that way I've only got 1 change introduced into the system. As mentioned after a few cooks you'll learn were things need to be.

This is exactly how I run mine. I've had ribs on for 3 hours now and temps are steady the whole way.

Now, I did find that my lid temp is reading 200 while my grate temp is reading 240, but it is steady.

 

[Dave Russell]

Originally posted by Brad Benski:
I also never use water. Rusty, you just aren't used to the responsiveness of the smoker with the saucer, it may take several cooks. After a few cooks you'll know just were the vents need to be.

I typically end up with all but one bottem vent closed and just adjust the one vent to adjust the temp, that way I've only got 1 change introduced into the system. As mentioned after a few cooks you'll learn were things need to be.

Brad, good point in using just one vent for adjustments when cooking "dry" and "low and slow." It sucks though, when the wind completely changes directions on you.

I guess I could do some searches, but what's the advantage to the saucer as opposed to a foiled pan?

 

[Jim Lampe]

Originally posted by Dave Russell:
I've had no "problems" with "maintaining temps" and no water pan, either....as long as I occasionally adjusted the vents as necessary to compensate for weather changes. However, I like the peace of mind a "set and forget" cooker like the wsm affords when I'm cooking all night long. Others, like Rusty, have found out the same thing and that's why Weber designed the cooker to cook with a water pan. "Keeping the meat moist" was not part of the design, but more for marketing appeal.

Dave, what I'm trying to say is: Water in the pan, in my case, is not necessary. Water in the pan does nothing butt act as a heat sink as an empty pan only deflects the heat. "Keeping the meat moist" is not related whatsoever to using water in the waterpan.
Utilizing the WSM week after week after week, one learns to react to the WSM with or without weather changes. If you're cooking out of the wind, weather should be a non-factor during your cook.
In my experiences cooking with this smoker, I have never had to babysit or hawk over to maintain my temperture or cooks. Your mindset of a "set and forget cooker" is the same subscription I employ.

 

[Brad Benski]

snapped this picture of my damper on the Big Green Egg which uses no water pan. This is the only damper and it's cracked only 1/8". There were a few adjustments during the first 2 hours of cooking but then I made this setting and the egg chugges happily away at 250 degrees for over 3 hours.