Covered water pan


 
T

T Adams

New member
Sorry if this has been discussed before but has anyone tried covering a filled water pan with foil to keep the steam in? The water would still be absorbing much of the heat and you would loose much less water. In theory you could go much longer without refilling. Thoughts?
 
T Adams

If you plan on covering your water, you might as well use sand. I think the steam helps to keep the meat from drying out. I'm not a big fan of sand. I would get a Brinkmann water pan, it's larger than the Weber and the water will last longer. Usually when I lift the lid to baste, I just pour some water right through the grate. Other members will have different opinions. Trial and error is the best. Try it and let us know how it works.
 
I have ran my water pan empty and have foiled it also to catch the drippings. That way I have no clean up and the water pan looked just like the day I bought it but it was also in a electric char broil smoker. In my Big Block Smoker I have seen no problems useing no water and mainly use the water pan to deflect the heat a little bit. For some reason when I do summer sausage the ends do not tend to dry out first.
 
Thanks Tony,

You’re probably right. I don’t need to make things more difficult than they need to be
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I would think the steam (or boiling over water, depending on how hot the cooker is) is going to find its way out--right down onto the coals.
 
I've been covering my water pan just to minimize cleanup. I crimp the foil loosely around the rim and leave a couple of "vents" by pulling up the foil in a couple of places.

I poke a funnel in the vent area to refill if needed. It is kind of hard to see if a refill is needed.

I've done this maybe three times so more research is needed.
 
Joel,

Are you using the stock pan or Brinkmann? Are you filling ll the way at the outset? Curious.
 
Usually the Brinkman, filled to within about an inch below the rim. I wanted to allow some room for the foil to sag.
 
Hey Joel,

So what is the longest smoke you've done like this? Just wondering if the water would hould out for an overnighter.
 
I don't think this method is slowing the evaporation of the water, if that's what your after. Using the Brinkman pan, you get pretty good mileage on an overnighter.

I did a long smoke this past weekend. Everything went on at about 8:30 PM and finished by about between 12:30 and noon. I know the pan was dry by sometime mid morning. I'd bet it was dry earlier but I didn't notice it. I wasn't having any big temp problems at that point. I added about a half gallon when I did notice.

As I mentioned before it's hard to tell when the pan is empty with the foil on.

Joel
 
Thoughts?
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I have to agree with Kevin on this one, I think your 'foil over full stock water pan' approach is begging for trouble.

For long cooks, if you only use the top rack, I'd suggest going sand. If you wish to use both racks for long cooks I'd highly recommend the Brinkmann pan with water, no foil.
 
When I use to use water, the Brinkmann pan filled with water to within an inch of the top would last all night on overnighters and maybe throughout the whole cook, but definitely overnight.
 
Originally posted by T Adams:
Sorry if this has been discussed before but has anyone tried covering a filled water pan with foil to keep the steam in? The water would still be absorbing much of the heat and you would loose much less water. In theory you could go much longer without refilling. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

Hi T
I've mentioned this before, but here it goes again ... boiling is a cooling process, when water evaporates it takes heat with it. If you could seal the water against an enormous pressure (pressure cooker) you can raise the liquid to a much higher heat, and as others have said you might as well use sand. And as Kevin said you would most likely drip all over your coals. Bigger pan, good idea.

morgan
 
Morgan,

My thinking was more to slow the evaporation but not eliminate it. I think the Brinkman water pan will be the way to go. I just ordered two of them
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Hi T

I hope you mean the Brinkman *charcoal* pan, I'm not sure the Brinkman water pans are wide enough.
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I'm gonna get one too because I quite like the way the cooker runs with water as opposed to sand for really long cooks, and I don't want to get up in the night to fill the pan.
 
great suggestion on the ecb pan - glad I was able to bring at least part of it back to life. Makes for a good wireless therm transmitter base now!
 
A little science (from memory, so please forgive me if I go wrong).

The density of water decreases as the heat rises. This continues to be true as water changes from a liquid to a gas. Therefore, as your water changes into steam, the density will decrease, but the volume of your "foil container" will stay the same, causing pressure to build up inside your foil "container".

Therefore, the steam will be forced out of any vent holes you have. Or you will have invented an aluminum foil pressure cooker. (which would probably be cool in its own right)

In summary, covering the top should do nothing at all.

Originally posted by T Adams:
Morgan,

My thinking was more to slow the evaporation but not eliminate it. I think the Brinkman water pan will be the way to go. I just ordered two of them
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