So I cleaned out my gunked up water pan really good with SOS grill pads. I got all the grease and build up off of it, so it looks close to new. I reinstalled my thermometer, and loaded it up for minion method with Best Choice 100% hardwood briquettes. I left the water pan and the trays out while I finished cleaning the water pan. After I foiled the pan I returned to find my smoker really putting out a lot smoke and running at almost 375 degrees! I installed the foiled water pan, and filled it up with water. I installed the racks and placed 3 butterflied chickens on the racks. The WSM dropped back to around 250 degrees, and stayed between 250 and 235 for a solid 4 hours. It was just like the old days. So, my questions is, could the gunky water pan have been sucking up my heat, acting like a big heat sink? Could it have been the lack of foil transferring the heat to the top? What do you think? My party got moved to the 3rd, so I plan to load it up with pork butts tomorrow night and see what happens. I'm going to run with the water pan dry, and keep my Pitmaster IQ110 close by. I will likely use it to control the temps through the night if it looks like the WSM is doing anything funny on the temps. I'll let you know how they turn out.