First time with Brinkmann Pan, what gives?


 
M

Michael Behan

New member
I have been using the WSM for several months now and have done several butts using the regular water pan. I had planned to get the Brinkmann pan but hadn't gotten around to it, until last week.

This past weekend, I was planning to cook a couple of Butts for a gathering on Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning I had to be out for about 6 hours at a church breakfast so I figured I'd give the Brinkmann pan a try so I wouldn't have t worry about the water during that time. I started the cook at 1:30 AM and was shocked to hear the sound of water boiling after a little while. I looked in and sure enough, the water was at a rolling boil. I found that after about two to three hours the water pan would be almost empty and the temp would rise, I was trying to maintain 235 at the lid. I even had to break away from my breakfast to run home and add water to the pan.

The end results were fine in that the butts were excellent and well received but I ended up have to add water far more often then with the regular pan which is what I wanted to avoid. Any ideas??

Michael
 
Did you foil the inside of the pan? I can cook for extended periods of time at 275 (at the lid)with a foiled Brinkman pan, and the water does not boil. Just a thought...
Keep in mind that I'm just a rookie, so take it for what it's worth.
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How did you fire the cooker?

I've done Minion Method cooks for 18 hours with the standard WSM pan without boiling and without adding any water.
 
Mike,

Yes I did foil the pan, although I don't think that would make a difference. The only think I can think of is the Brinkmann pan sits so much closer to the coals than the regular pan does.

Michael
 
Steven,

I fired it using the Minion method. Same way I do with the regular water pan. During previous cooks, I would top off the water pan with 20 to 40 oz of water two to three times during a 14 hr cook. With the Brinkmann pan I added several gallons of water during the 14.5 hour cook.

The pork was good though
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Michael
 
The water is there to keep your temps down and moderate temperature spikes. It did that just fine - but the fact that the water boiled off so fast indicates your coals are much hotter then they need to be.

This example is mostly conceptual, but if the coals are running at 700 degrees the water will evaporate much faster then if the coals are running at 350 degrees. In both cases, the water boiling off serves to keep the temps in the 250 to 300 degree range - the extra energy from the 700 degree coals goes to "force" the evaporation to occur faster. The fact that your water is boiling off so fast indicates that your fire is hotter then it needs to be.

Turn the heat down by closing the bottom vents a bit more.

Jeff
 
I agree with Jeff, need to keep an eye on those bottom vents in order to keep temps down. Water can only do so much.
 
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