First time without water in the pan


 
C

Chris Y

New member
Hi all, new member here. I've had my 18.5" WSM since December of last year, and I would say I use it every 4 weeks on average. So, I've got a small number of cooks under my belt, but not as experienced as most of you here. I've done all chickens and one pork butt, always using water in the pan. I had a couple of cooks where the temperature needed some attention to stay on target, but I was worrying about +/- 10 degree changes around 225 at the grate. To do that, I usually had the bottom vents 1/2 open (all of them) and the top vent always wide open.

So I stumbled across this site a week or so ago, and I've been reading a bunch of threads, recipes, and how-to(s). Lots of great info available! I decided I would try ribs this past weekend, and based on what reading I had done, I foiled the pan, left out the water, and was hoping to maintain 275 at the grate.

It seemed to start off ok. I found pretty early as the temp was rising that I could completely close one bottom vent, then a second, and had the third about 1/2 way open. But the temperature was still walking more than I was used to, and man every teeny tiny adjustment seemed to cause pretty large swings. So my +/- range was more like 25 degrees and that was with me tending to it quite a bit over the 3+ hours to cook the ribs.

I foiled the ribs @ about 2 hours in, and I guess had the lid off for too long while I did it, because within 10 minutes I was up over 305. I felt like I was on a roller-coaster! The ribs ended up turning out great anyway (which is all that matters I guess) - and after I took the ribs off I went wide open on all the vents and put some beans and pork chops on. I seemed to reach and to hold around 320-330 wide open, which was nice. I smoked the porkchops for about 15 minutes and hit them on the gas grill for about another 8 minutes and they were the best I had ever had.

All in all, I would say both new attempts this weekend were a success (ribs and porkchops) but it sure felt like more work along the way. Although, the WSM cooled down much faster after I closed the vents and clean up was a bit easier just tearing foil out of the water pan. I think I'll try the no water method some more, but it amazes me that you all can hold 225 for long periods this way!

Anyways, thanks for reading and most importantly thanks for all the knowledge you have posted here!

Chris
 
I always suggest people learn to run the WSM without the pan. You just need to stay way ahead of it. It will take off on you in a hurry. As soon as I pour my charcoal on top of my load. I build my stack and have all vents 1/2 open. Top wide open. It takes awhile to burn off all the oxygen in the barrel. If it keeps climbing after 15min and starts pushing the 275 mark. I'll shut two of the bottoms vents all the way down and start adjusting with the top. You can drop that temp pretty quick with the top vent. Sounds like you learned a lot thou.
 
I always run no water on my 18.5 and 22.5, always with the front and top vents open 100%, and they stick at 250F without variance. I even sleep overnight without problems. Now, they may vary, but I don't know because they must come back to 250F by the time I check them.
 
To master temp without anything but the pan is very difficult however add a clay saucer or two and get instant easy temp control
 
Also catch your temps as they rise, when my temps hit 180 -190 I close 2 bottom vents this will slow the progress down and may even cause a drop and if the temps continue to rise I start closing the 3rd, remember it's easier to bring temps up then to bring them down. I also use a buffer in my pan but if you go empty you may try closing the vents a little earlier.
 
As ChuckO says the clay saucer really helps a lot controlling T. WITHOUT the pan. ONLY the clay saucer. For me, I use a dispisable water pan over the clay saucer with a little water in (1/2 gal max). It goes for 4 hours. Then I refill.
 
The 8" & 10" clay saucers are less than $6 at Walmart or Home Depot. Not sure why you spend 10 times that for one of those
 
Thanks all - I will look into the clay saucer as well. I'll probably try a few more cooks without any thermal mass just to see if it gets 'easier' for me. :-)
 
Many folks do not agree with me when when I say: Don't be afraid to use the top vent. Just be sure to ensure you have the top vent open more than the bottom three combined ensuring you maintain a positive chimney effect. No water, bottom vents open very little, and using the top vent will lock in temps for very long periods.
 
Dwain Pannell said:
Many folks do not agree with me when when I say: Don't be afraid to use the top vent. Just be sure to ensure you have the top vent open more than the bottom three combined ensuring you maintain a positive chimney effect. No water, bottom vents open very little, and using the top vent will lock in temps for very long periods.
Click to expand...

X2.. & I got tired of replacing cracked flower pot saucers. Get you a 1/4" or 3/16" steel plate.
 
I have never used water. I use the clay saucer. I don't want to mess with getting rid of nasty BBQ water.
 
Dwain, I have always kept my top vent wide open while cooking on the WSM, so the smoke exits the cooker after passing over the meat. If closed, the smoke seems to stay at the top of the cooker and makes the top grate meat too smokey for me.
 
For me it was a reflex where I closed the top vent 100% after the bottom vents were completely closed for ~= 5 minutes and the temperature kept creeping up past 305. I snuffed it out, and opened the top vent back up 100% when I was back down to 285 or so for temperature.

I can see where maybe having the top vent closed just a smidge could help further with temp control, especially when a single bottom vent is barely cracked open.
 
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