Harry Soo foiling water pan question


 
F

Frank Licata

TVWBB Fan
To those of you lucky enough to go to Harry's class I was wondering how he foils his empty water pan? Does he just double wrap it. Does he put something down there to have an air gap? I know he foils top and bottom for easy clean up but wanted to get a more detailed explanation.
 
He's not using the water pan in the 18.5" WSM at all.

He's removed the heat shield from the legs and wrapped that with foil and he's using it in place of the water pan to catch drips and provide indirect heat. Nothing fancy. No air gap, no heat sink. Just covers it with foil. The reason he doesn't use the stock pan is it's too deep, hanging too low over the charcoal + smoke wood below.

Harry Soo is the MacGyver of barbecue!
 
Chris I have a 2003 18.5 WSM, so you think if I bought a heat shield from Weber I could you that in my older model?
 
I had read somewhere along the way that you should never close the upper vent on a WSM. Recently I was reading an article here by Chris on heat control and he does say you can close the vent half way to try to control heat. I did try it with my WSM and it helped but not enough. Even though my WSM is seasoned it still leaks too much and I'm working on that. But what is the story behind the top vent? If Harry says it's ok I'm sure it is, but in that article he also talks about dirty smoke and clean smoke. I've heard Franklin say the same thing, about having a good clean fire that isn't smoking too much. I'm guessing you only want to close the top vent when you have a proper fire? Any links to threads and or articles on this topic would be appreciated.

Thanks,
BS
 
The old water pans were a lot shallower, I wish they still used those

Chris Allingham said:
He's not using the water pan in the 18.5" WSM at all.

He's removed the heat shield from the legs and wrapped that with foil and he's using it in place of the water pan to catch drips and provide indirect heat. Nothing fancy. No air gap, no heat sink. Just covers it with foil. The reason he doesn't use the stock pan is it's too deep, hanging too low over the charcoal + smoke wood below.

Harry Soo is the MacGyver of barbecue!
Click to expand...
 
Thanks guys for the info and link to Harry's site. I've never even touched my top vent before but I've never not smoked without water. I can not wait to try a dry water pan smoke. I bought a thin charcoal pan thanks to this site to replace my huge one that came with my 18.5 smoker so I will just double wrap that. Now the next obvious question. To foil or not to foil.
 
This is how I foil my defuser (water bowl) As you can see, my defuser would be a huge mess if not foiled

8F778533-F1EB-4F67-85CD-3D9DBED9A826_zpse760b9ew.jpg


Remove the foil, and there's my clay saucers, which I use instead of water

197C4636-9108-4641-A7D3-C2FC68D10101_zpsiljlumoi.jpg
 
I use the same as Chuck, but I'm gonna try it with the heat deflector like Harry does when my Stoker gets here...hopefully it'll help get the temps low and keep them low
 
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