Dry Pan or with Water

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Yeah, I'm the guy with a thousand questions this weekend! I really want these Boston Butts to come out right.

Tonight it's supposed to get down close to the freezing mark and not be much warmer tomorrow. With the outside temps that low, should I run a dry, foiled pan to help keep the temp up or can I put in hot water and be ok? And then there's that whole sand in the pan thing!
 
No problem Kyle, that's how we all learn. A few tips, for what they're worth:

1) Do not worry about the temperature outside. That's one of the beauties of your WSM, it will hold a temp in any weather. Do watch the wind, however. You may want to put your Bullet somewhere out of direct wind.

2) Under no circumstances would I would run a dry pan, especially since you are doing a longer cook, which you will be with your butts. My personal experience has been that either water or sand will give excellent results. I prefer sand simply because there seems to be little difference with the cook, and cleanup is easier. My experience has been that the only time to use a dry pan is with chicken, other poultry, or something else you want to cook in less than 2 hours.

3) Follow Chris' guidelines in the "Let's Cook" section. If you do this, you will get good results. Also, follow and use the Minion Method, particularly with longer cooks such as butts.

4) Do not worry too much about small spikes in the temperature. The first 60 to 90 minutes there may be some volatility, but after that you should get a consistent temperature plateau.

5) Leave plenty of time to complete your cook. If you want great tasting butt, you are going to need to leave it on to 195 internal. There is no way around that. I would plan 2 hrs. per pound, with an extra 2 hours to spare. You probably won't need it, but better to take it off early than trying to rush it.

6) Have fun, and tell us all how it turns out!!!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Good Luck!!!!!
 
When I ran water, I used hot water to get the WSM to temp quicker (like almost immediately). No big deal. Just did not want to waist an hour getting the WSM to the proper operating temperature. The last butt I did I was using water in the pan. As the time passed there was less charcoal but less water. It seemed to end up keeping the temperature constant.

Also, my (brief) experience so far with a big butt is that it has different temperatures at different places. That is at one point it is 160 and in another place 180.

I was confused by the statement to run an empty pan. An empty pan will give me a temp around 350ish if I remember right. Good for chicken for crispy skin. Water or sand seems to give me a temperature around 225 ? 250 at the top cooking surface. So far, winter has not hindered my cooking of affected the operating temperature of the WSM. Watch the wind. A strong breeze will.

I would use nothing but Kingsford when I was expecting a very long cooks.
 
I was thinking "dry pan" because of the outside temp being close to freezing. From what I gather it's wind I have to be concerned about. I've got a nice protected place on my carport so I think I'll be fine. The WSM seems to be pretty forgiving--thank goodness!
 
Howdy Kyle...

You should go for the sand in the pan.
Cleanup is much easyer, no refilling and most important for butts, you get a very good and crispy bark .
Pork butt is moist enough to be cooked without that extra water, but i still cook ribs with water in the pan.

Last weekend i put some water (1/2 quart) on top of the foil that covers the sand.
Seemed to me that this helped to keep the temperature more constantly lower for the first two hours.It was at 225 grate temp and as soon as the water was gone it went up to 235-237 and stayed there all night.

Guess why i know that it stayed there all night ?
Was my first overnighter and i got up every 1 1/2 hours to check the temps... /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

Good luck with your butts,

Don Marco
GERMANY
 
You know guys....this may really sound stupid (but what is new from me), but I was thinking (which for me is dangerous) the other day about the sand/water issue. First, for me, I am going sand all the way.. I tried it on a rib roast and it was great. BUT.... WHAT ABOUT USING WET SAND????...then, you have (possibly) the best of both worlds...sand that will maintain heat, but the moisture that will possibly help less "juicy" meats. /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Howdy...

That would not be a good idea to me.
First, the sand will catch all the fat and stuff from the meat and you?ll have to dump it afterwards.
And if the sand is wet the water might not be able to expand the way ususally can and you might up with little "explosions" of sand within your WSM...Yeah, i know i havent found the right words but i?m not a native speaker...
Hope you know what i mean ??

Don Marco
GERMANY
 
I have a mental image of miniature little mud volcano's erupting in the sand pan, spewing their nauseous lava upward to the... /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
Ok... so maybe I do have a vivid imagination!
Dave
 
Ok, so we shoot that idea down.. Now, who is the idiot who started that wet sand idea... lets get em... oh, he is out playing golf again (but at least he is not cooking again)
 
Don Marco --

If you hadn't have told us, I wouldn't have known you weren't a "native speaker". You do a fantastic job! /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

I have wondered many times what has taken you to Germany and what you do there. Now, I know! /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

You live there!! /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif

Keep up the good work. You add a lot to the Forum!
 
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