Can someone explain foiling (the smoker, not the food)

[James O]

I've seen references to people foiling their water pans or clay saucers and such?
Could someone explain to me why this is done?
I understand the clay saucers are there for heat purposes but what else gets foiled and why?
The water pan?
is there still water in the pan and you cover the top in foil?
Are you wrapping the entire pan in foil and then adding water?

 

[timothy]

Howdy James and welcome!
I use an empty pan with a layer of foil over the top with a slight depression to catch drippings. Which is my go-to for High Heat.
Chris has a write-up with should answer some of your Q's here.
http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/waterpanusage.html

Edit to add pics on a foiled saucer on my 18'5"WSM
Here.
HTH

Tim

 

[Corey Elks]

foiling just keeps everything clean.

 

[Russ Harris]

I foil my water pan just for easier clean up. Otherwise you meat dripping will get on the pan, get cooked in (baked on) and be impossible to clean off. I have a friend who uses a Brinkmann smoker (I know...I know) and he never foiled his pan. Then when he finally went to clean it, he had to scrub so hard that he actually wore some tiny holes into it. I foil mine with that extra wide foil and after a handful of cooks, I remove the foil, give it a good scrub, then re-foil. I actually use water in mine, not the clay saucer. But I imagine that the guys that use the saucer, foil it for the same reason - easier cleanup.

 

[Mark Q]

I foil the outside of mine just for ease of cleanup. I crimp the foil on the top edge of the water pan so the foil stays above the water line. I don't do the inside of the pan. When I'm done I take the foil off and rinse out the inside of the pan with some soap and water and an old dish rag. I don't worry about getting all the gunk off. I just get the major stuff off. The foods not touching the water pan so it doesn't have to be sparkling clean IMO.

 

[r benash]

I foil in and out. Helps with clean up. I apply foil to the bottom first then to the top using the wide HD foil. You can leave the bottom on for several cooks at a time, just removing and tossing the top half and replacing.

Mr. Allingham has a very nice instructional video on foiling the pan in the resources section.

 

[Earl D.]

Here is a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HR5Y3OZwlfc

 

[Ron G.]

Another part of the foiling for the Water Pan is that you want some sort of "gap" between the hot lower side of the Water Pan (which is exposed to direct radiant heat from the charcoal) and the fat dripping from yer meat.
Fat coming into direct contact with directly-heated metal = potential grease fire and major ruined meal.

Some guys use balls of foil or simply stretch the foil across the top of the Water Pan to creat an "air gap" between the Water Pan bottom and the foil that will be catching the dripping fat / juices. If you do this, you still want the top surface of the foil to act like a "bowl", to catch the drippings & fat. If you make it too flat on top, fat will collect, run-off into your fire, and FOOM! Unless your fire goes totally bonzo, foiling it with proper "dishing" should be enough to prevent grease fires.

The Clay Pot is another way to accomplish the air gap, plus the thermal mass of the clay material acts as a heat-sink.

Then there's the clean-up part. When you're done cooking, you can just peel-off the foil once it cools and you're left with a much smaller clean-up job.

I foil the bottom of the water pan for clean-up, but I still use water in the pan. Although I trust that it will work without it - Weber DID spend bucks in Engineering, and the Water Pan was part of their design to make it easy to control.

Hope this helps

 

[Derek Stapleton]

Originally posted by James O:
I've seen references to people foiling their water pans or clay saucers and such?
Could someone explain to me why this is done?
I understand the clay saucers are there for heat purposes but what else gets foiled and why?
The water pan?
is there still water in the pan and you cover the top in foil?
Are you wrapping the entire pan in foil and then adding water?

Much like the other posts here, I foil the water pan and clay saucer for easy cleanup. Once the cook is finished, I can dump the drippings out of the clay saucer into our municipal composter, peel off the foil and be ready for next time.