Help with water pan touching coals...


 
M

Mike WSM

TVWBB Member
I'm a newbie cooking on a 18.5" wsm. I'm having trouble keeping the temps down. I've followed Harry Soo instructions on seasoning the cooker.

I've cooked chicken which I let get to 325-350. Wife likes crispy skin, and it turned out great.

Tried ribs for the next cook, and couldn't keep the temps below 300. Rib were dry, but still good. I think my first problem was usin too many lit coals to start the fire. It was about half my weber chimney. And I filled the Ring 3/4 full of kingsford blue bag.

Using a maverick 732 to measure grill temps.

But I'm curious, on both cooks, my foiled but empty water pan is touching the hot coals cause it's so deep. Does the fact that its touching make it less useful as far as deflecting heat?

My wife will give me the evil eye I I spend any more cash on smoking, so I'd rather not buy a brinkman water pan cause id have to buy it online and she would see the package. I can probably get away with buying a clay pot, cause she won't see it, and it's only 5$ or so anyway.
 
Well, you want to buy the brinkman charcoal pan and then put a foiled clay saucer in it. The pan is cheap.
 
Mike WSM said:
So were u guys having trouble with keeping the temp down, and that change made the difference??
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At first I did it to have more water capacity. Since I never actual used the pan it came with. This site recommended not to use and get a brinkmann part.
 
I use about the same amount of Charcoal in my 18.5 WSM as you Mike when I do BB ribs. Maybe a little less, ( A 3/4 full chimney and about the same unlit in the ring.


EDIT: Re reading your post Mike, yea, having lit coals touching the pan sounds to me like you have too muchcharcol in the ring. use less, or spread it around. You don't want the pan touching the coals.


I foil the water bowl and get this...I fill it with....water! (gasp!) I have no problems maitaining temps around 250. I fiddle with the vents for the first 1/2 hour but once it's dial in, it stays pretty steady.

It seems for the past few months there's been a lot of talk of using no water or saucers, but I've never had a problem using the water pan as it was intended and having both the 18 and 22 WSM I'm thinking the water pan plays a much bigger role in the smaller 18.5. I can't imagine with nothing in the pan you having much luck getting low steady temps.
 
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I wanted the extra room so I got the charcoal pan. And only recently found out the thinness of the pan was causing lots of troubles- uneven cooking and problems with the ique. Since adding the saucer cooks have been really smooth. Learn from my frustration.
 
Andy in MA said:
I use about the same amount of Charcoal in my 18.5 WSM as you Mike when I do BB ribs. Maybe a little less, ( A 3/4 full chimney and about the same unlit in the ring.


EDIT: Re reading your post Mike, yea, having lit coals touching the pan sounds to me like you have too muchcharcol in the ring. use less, or spread it around. You don't want the pan touching the coals.


I foil the water bowl and get this...I fill it with....water! (gasp!) I have no problems maitaining temps around 250. I fiddle with the vents for the first 1/2 hour but once it's dial in, it stays pretty steady.

It seems for the past few months there's been a lot of talk of using no water or saucers, but I've never had a problem using the water pan as it was intended and having both the 18 and 22 WSM I'm thinking the water pan plays a much bigger role in the smaller 18.5. I can't imagine with nothing in the pan you having much luck getting low steady temps.
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I'm sure all these other things work, but yes put water in the pan if you can't get those temps down! I assure you it's not the end of the world!
 
Yeah. Just don't look forward to the cleanup. Maybe I'll just give in, use water for a little while, really let it get seasoned for like 20-30 cooks, and see if I can go no water later.
 
If you can't get Temps. down you most likely have air leaks. 1st check around the aluminum access door. gently bend to a best fit. next when assembling the mid section and charcoal base I rotate the mid section to where there is the least amount of rocking and do the same with the lid.
As far as charcoal if you're touching the pan use less! there is plenty of room for enough charcoal for an 8 hour cook @ 250° with the stock water pan. If you want to do a longer cook without adding more fuel then get a shallower pan. Or just add more fuel @ the 8-10 hour mark. Before I bought the WSM I found myself getting up every 2 hours to add fuel to my Brinkman offset and masterbuilt smokers. I do have a 14" clay saucer for the stock water pan and a 12" clay saucer for a water pan that came out of the Cabelas/Masterbuilt smoker that is shallow enough to let me start with enough charcoal for 15 hours and a good nights sleep.
 
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