butts or briskets with the water pan out all together?


 
Corey Elks

Corey Elks

TVWBB All-Star
do any of you folks do butts or briskets with the water pan out all together? If so will the wsm get hotter then with pan in but no water in it? thinking about trying a butt this way and just flipping every hour or so. any thoughts
 
As long as you can control the heat & there is at least a minimum distance from heat to food a pan or heat shield is not needed. An UDS typically has about 24 in from heat source to food.thie will work for top rack only in WSM
 
Some folks aren't too keen on the flavor of the smoke created when fat drips on a fire, can be a little overwhelming to some.

If you can control the fire, you should be able to get whatever temp you want.

I always use a pan, usually with water for brisket and butts, sometimes with sand.

Chicken is good without a pan, IMO.
 
If you were to fill the water pan up with sand, are you able to contol the heat alot easyer? Seems like it would be more steady which would mean less ajustments thoughout the cook. Does this make sense? I've never tried an water pan with no water in it but I'm gonna next time I think. You fellers are very wise in the ways of the WSM.
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Corey i can tell u that ribs come out great i cook ribs with out a pan all the time. I have never tried a brisket or butt with out the pan. The fat dripping on the fire is the best flavor for any bbq. As for controlling the heat i have never had a problem with the wsm.
 
I helped a friend of mine recently with a big butt cook, six cooked on a couple of UDS, and six off his offset. All had the same rub, same wood (hickory and oak), very similiar appearance, but the bark off his el cheapo offset cooked butts tasted ten times better to both of us. You get TOO MUCH "fat in the fire" flavor from the closed environment of a UDS or a wsm without the pan. It's ok for chicken or ribs, if you don't mind paying a lot more attention to the smoker, and flies will love you for it.
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For the past 2 and 1/2 years, I've used the pan with a terra cotta planter dish, I wrap the bowl in foil, then the saucer, put the saucer in the bowl, and put another layer of foil on top.

Regulates temp as well or better than water, and clean up is a breeze. Just remove and discard the top layer of foil.

I have also heard of folks using sand, but the clay pot method has worked well for me.

There is nothing worse than trying to scrape out the crud from a bowl that went dry on a long cook! This makes sure that never happens!
 
I use foil over the top of an empty water pan for butt, ribs, chicken and all work well. Might want to flip brisket or butts that are on bottom rack above empty pan--gets hotter down there on long cooks, but not an issue with ribs or chicken. Can't get cooker hot enough with water in the pan.

I'm in CO at altitude and cold weather so there may be some similarity to bozeman MT.
 
I grill chicken in my WSM with no pan.

I use a foiled empty pan for everything else.

Used water in the beginning but found it too messy to clean up.

Used sand but found it has a downside in that, once it gets hot, it will support a high temp spike not prevent it.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
I helped a friend of mine recently with a big butt cook, six cooked on a couple of UDS, and six off his offset. All had the same rub, same wood (hickory and oak), very similiar appearance, but the bark off his el cheapo offset cooked butts tasted ten times better to both of us. You get TOO MUCH "fat in the fire" flavor from the closed environment of a UDS or a wsm without the pan. It's ok for chicken or ribs, if you don't mind paying a lot more attention to the smoker, and flies will love you for it.
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</div></BLOCKQUOTE>
I could not Respectfully Disagree with Dave more. I have cooked Brisket and Butts on my WSM and on my BDS and I think the flavor of the meat cooked on my BDS is Superior. I love how the fat in the fire flavors the meat and what it does to the bark. Now, I do not believe it would work so well on a WSM without a water pan as I don't think there is enough distance between the fire and the meat.
 
I cooked butts on my 18" bullet all the time without the pan... I love the smell and taste of the fat dropping in the hot coals and smoke wood. It reminds me of the smell of cooking pork over an open pit. Old time barbecue... Man Please it can't get no better...!!!
 
LOL...Thats probably true John... It also requires a lot more hands on ... I don't recommend walking away from the job very long. I turn the meat often. I'm looking for a little darker and heaver barking of the outside meat.

I use a lot more wood in this process and you can expect flair ups. (which is a good thing) Spray the meat every time you turn it. I use a mixture of 1/2 water, 1/2 cyder vinegar and seasoning salt. It can also be used to cool the fire.

When the out side meat gets the color I'm looking for I cool down the smoker a little and cook the meat up to 160. I then wrap it. I take it off around 190 or when the prob feels like its entering butter.

It's as close to pit cooked pork as it gets without the pit.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Whiting:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dave Russell:
I helped a friend of mine recently with a big butt cook, six cooked on a couple of UDS, and six off his offset. All had the same rub, same wood (hickory and oak), very similiar appearance, but the bark off his el cheapo offset cooked butts tasted ten times better to both of us. You get TOO MUCH "fat in the fire" flavor from the closed environment of a UDS or a wsm without the pan. It's ok for chicken or ribs, if you don't mind paying a lot more attention to the smoker, and flies will love you for it.
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I could not Respectfully Disagree with Dave more. I have cooked Brisket and Butts on my WSM and on my BDS and I think the flavor of the meat cooked on my BDS is Superior. I love how the fat in the fire flavors the meat and what it does to the bark. Now, I do not believe it would work so well on a WSM without a water pan as I don't think there is enough distance between the fire and the meat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

I hear ya. If I'd spent as much $$ on a drum as the BDS costs, I'd have a hard time believing that indirect smoked bbq was better. Like my friend that has built and cooked on two drums for a while now, I've gotten awesome reviews from bbq cooked in the drums....BUT WE COULDN'T DENY WHAT WE TASTED, SIDE TO SIDE.

To be honest, I think our taste test suggested that a butt or brisket properly smoked in an offset (all wood fire/thin blue smoke) will taste better than one cooked with charcoal and smoldering wood, whether indirect OR with "the fat in the fire." Who has the time to feed a smoker splits all day or night, though? Folks start banking the coals and starving the fire of oxygen to get longer burns between logs and all of a sudden you go from what's ideal, to creosote...and some folks actually like the taste of it!
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I agree, though, that the little wsm top rack is a little close to the coals for cooking big cuts. I know it could be done with lower temps and some flipping, though, as some have attested. I just think the easier way to get "fat in the fire" flavor on the wsm is to just throw some fat on the coals sometime in the cook. I tried it back in the spring, and was surprised that only four little chunks of fat cap could add so much pit flavor, and I haven't done it since, if that tells you anything. To each his own...
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IMHO , the WSM is an almost set and forget(sorta) type of cooker. Small amount of work and great product.The key here is ease of use. If I want to work as hard as you guys are saying, I'd just invest in a big stick burner then you can smell burned fat as long as you want and tend it till your hearts content.
 
I don't think my opinion is influenced in any way by the fact that I paid a premium for my BDS and therefore don’t want to believe what is truth. I believe one thing and you believe another. So be it. All is good and that is that brother.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by paul h:
IMHO , the WSM is an almost set and forget(sorta) type of cooker. Small amount of work and great product.The key here is ease of use. If I want to work as hard as you guys are saying, I'd just invest in a big stick burner then you can smell burned fat as long as you want and tend it till your hearts content. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

All the stickburner drains I've ever noticed were on the opposite end of the firebox, and if you have it leveled right, the grease will run that way and not start smoking.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Steve Whiting:
I don't think my opinion is influenced in any way by the fact that I paid a premium for my BDS and therefore don’t want to believe what is truth. I believe one thing and you believe another. So be it. All is good and that is that brother. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Sorry, Steve. I don't think I made myself clear. I was just relating what me and my buddy thought in side by side tastings. I thought we had an opportunity at a very objective analysis and I thought that some might appreciate that.

When I said that I wouldn't want to believe indirect was better, I meant I would hate to think that I paid a premium for a drum and then decided I liked the indirect better. No "denying truth" meant, and obviously a lot of folks like that pit flavor. Like I said, "to each his own."

I bet your guests and neighbors love the smell coming from your jumbo BDS, and I wouldn't turn down any Q off of it, trust me! My favorite thing about the drums though, is how the meat seems to keep it's moisture a little better than with the wsm. Of course that's understandable when you compare the difference in the time needed for a cook on each of them. I regularly smoked butts in less than 10 hours on the drum, but haven't finished in less than 13 on my wsm yet.
 
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