Derrick Llewellyn
TVWBB Fan
I know if you are looking you aren't cooking but I have been one to always spritz my ribs with apple juice on my stick burner so is this a big no-no on WSM? How well do temps recover from opening lid?
Opening the lid to spritz and mop
- Thread starter Derrick Llewellyn
- Start date
Russ Harris
TVWBB Super Fan
Same here - I open and spritz very quickly. No more than 5 to 7 seconds. My temps usually don't waver much at all.
Not an issue at all.
Spritz and mop away. If you get good at lifting the lid straight up, holding a few inches away and spraying/mopping with the other hand you can help reduce some heat loss (you are holding hot air in the lid by not tilting and doing this quickly).
I think the fact that you don't have to lift up a lid at and angle and let all the hot air escape makes the WSM better for this.
In the end you will lenghten cooking time regardless
Me - I stopped doing all that as I found other techniques worked the same or better for me.
Have fun!
Spritz and mop away. If you get good at lifting the lid straight up, holding a few inches away and spraying/mopping with the other hand you can help reduce some heat loss (you are holding hot air in the lid by not tilting and doing this quickly).
I think the fact that you don't have to lift up a lid at and angle and let all the hot air escape makes the WSM better for this.
In the end you will lenghten cooking time regardless
Me - I stopped doing all that as I found other techniques worked the same or better for me.
Have fun!
Dave from Denver
TVWBB Wizard
not necessary imo, just will cool off the surface of the ribs via evaporation and make your cooking take longer. If you want to add apple juice/mop flavor add it to a closed system like a foil pouch.
I used to spritz with apple an juice/apple cider vinegar mix, but the last few cooks I just left the lid on. I couldn't tell any difference. If you have to lift the lid, pick it straight up like Ray said. I have a platform of pavers that I use to put my charcoal chimney and Weber lids on, and the thermometers barely fall when they're off.
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Yep. Why not? If you do have to take the cover off though to spritz a second rack or whatever, a clay pot base helps temps to recover quicker.
As to the merits of spritzing, I think it's more beneficial on an offset pit and actually counter-productive on the wsm if using water in the pan.
Derrick Llewellyn
TVWBB Fan
Dave you bring up a good point with the water pan. I am going from big stick burner to WSM so I spritz or mopped all the time. I imagine the water pan does keep a moist environment to where spritzing or mopping is not needed any more.
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Derrick, yes, that's conventional thinking. Just to be clear though, you can overcook or dry out anything, even if over a pan of simmering water, and moderation in cooking temps will also go far in controlling bark. (That's one reason why the guys that use ATC's seem to rarely use water in the pan.)
Anyhow, I do find a significant difference in how fast the bark forms cooking dry vs. with water, so I'd take that into account not only for spritzing, but also if you're prone to foiling meats during the cook. Water aside, though, there's less air movement in a wsm than in an offset. Also, meat amounts matter. My buddy I was talking to just yesterday is a big proponent of using water in an wsm. However, he just foils the pan and cooks dry if really loading up the cooker since there's a lot of moisture from all the meat.
Anyhow, I do find a significant difference in how fast the bark forms cooking dry vs. with water, so I'd take that into account not only for spritzing, but also if you're prone to foiling meats during the cook. Water aside, though, there's less air movement in a wsm than in an offset. Also, meat amounts matter. My buddy I was talking to just yesterday is a big proponent of using water in an wsm. However, he just foils the pan and cooks dry if really loading up the cooker since there's a lot of moisture from all the meat.
Going from a stick burner, I get that. The water pan IMHO doesn't really introduce a moist environment as much as it adds ballast for slow temp movements. Another discussion.
In my experience stick burners/horizontals adjust slower to temp changes. In that they don't come back up to temp as quickly when you open up that big tilting horizontal lid.
The WSM will come back up to temp quicker than a stick/horizontal. So less of an issue.
Why not let him experiment with the whole mopping spritzing thing is where I was coming from. It's not that it's "tabu" specific to WSM or bullet smokers. If you do it on the WSM there are methods to minimize heat loss and lengthening cook time extension that you can't do as well on a horizontal.
I.E. - a bullet has pretty much direct flow from the fire up through the top vent. A horizontal has baffling and right angles the heat has to do to come up through the food.
Not saying one is better than the other, just a characeristic.
On the WSM/bullet you can mop/spritz, lift the lid, etc and the impact and transition back to temp will be shorter than if you are doing this on a horizontal. A generalization I admit, but essentially it has proven true in my experience.
Anyway the vertical nature of the WSM in this case is an advantage if mopping/spritzing is your thing
I did it for a good while than found as I said above that for me it just wasn't necessary. The action cools the food, cools the surface temp of the food and cools down the cooker. It all extends cook time. And in the end the techniques during and after the cook that I have implemented with help from experts on this site has really shown me that the whole spritzing and mopping ritual was very inefficient and totally unnecessary in the end. Although I have to say it was fun.
It was a learning curve for me and this is only my opinion. The water pan wet or dry in the end was also of no significant consequence AFA results of the finished product as it turns out. But it is always in as a heat block.
I say go ahead and spritz/mop. Experiment with wet or dry pan. Then a person will have real empirical experience to go by. In the end the food will come out just fine as the real trick is always fire control and understanding what "done" is
Lew Newby
R.I.P. 1/26/2024
First, I'm not trying to take a shot at anyone but merely stating my opinion.
I don't spritz or mop my ribs but I do foil them. That said, my philosophy is that each of us has to find what works for us and the people we cook for all the time. If my wife was one to constantly ask "how does the meat look?" then I would peek. She doesn't so I don't. I guess I'm not a purist but I do what works for me.
I suspect that mopping or spritzing doesn't take any longer than probing for tenderness and most of us do that. The WSM recovers fast enough to make it a non-problem. I'm no expert but it seems to me that when you open the lid the coals get more oxygen and that helps recovery. Whatever the reason I know my WSM recovers much faster than my CharGriller and that's all I have to compare to.
Have fun with it, experiment with it, and enjoy your cooks.
I don't spritz or mop my ribs but I do foil them. That said, my philosophy is that each of us has to find what works for us and the people we cook for all the time. If my wife was one to constantly ask "how does the meat look?" then I would peek. She doesn't so I don't. I guess I'm not a purist but I do what works for me.
I suspect that mopping or spritzing doesn't take any longer than probing for tenderness and most of us do that. The WSM recovers fast enough to make it a non-problem. I'm no expert but it seems to me that when you open the lid the coals get more oxygen and that helps recovery. Whatever the reason I know my WSM recovers much faster than my CharGriller and that's all I have to compare to.
Have fun with it, experiment with it, and enjoy your cooks.
Dave Russell
TVWBB Honor Circle
Lew's right. I don't find temp recovery an issue with the wsm. Quicker with water or clay in the pan, though.
Guess I should clarify my above post, though, about the merits of spritzing. I don't have a problem with it, but was just trying to point out that the less air movement and more moisture your pit has, the less spritzing will help.
Myron Mixon says he has one rule for spritzing, and I think it's highly pertinent in considering the differences in spritzing when cooking on an offset (Mixon's preferred cooker) vs. a wsm or other charcoal smoker:
"Now, the one rule about spritzing your ribs is that you must get the color just right on them before before you start spritzing, or else you're going to end up washing your bark off - and obviously you don't want that." (p. 77, Smokin' with Myron Mixon)
For the first part of the cook Mixon says to smoke St. Louis ribs for 3 hours at 275*, with spritzing at 15 minute intervals for the duration of the smoking time after the first 45 minutes. Now, in my experience with cooking on the wsm, spritzing at 45 minutes is just too early, and every 15 minutes is just plain overkill. The bullet is simply a different kind of cooker than an offset, and again, ESPECIALLY if simmering water in the pan. Regarding water in the pan, don't just take my word for it, though. Cook and see for yourself, or do some searches. If memory serves, both Ray Lampe (aka Dr. BBQ) and Harry Soo point out that they prefer cooking dry for "better" bark.
Guess I should clarify my above post, though, about the merits of spritzing. I don't have a problem with it, but was just trying to point out that the less air movement and more moisture your pit has, the less spritzing will help.
Myron Mixon says he has one rule for spritzing, and I think it's highly pertinent in considering the differences in spritzing when cooking on an offset (Mixon's preferred cooker) vs. a wsm or other charcoal smoker:
"Now, the one rule about spritzing your ribs is that you must get the color just right on them before before you start spritzing, or else you're going to end up washing your bark off - and obviously you don't want that." (p. 77, Smokin' with Myron Mixon)
For the first part of the cook Mixon says to smoke St. Louis ribs for 3 hours at 275*, with spritzing at 15 minute intervals for the duration of the smoking time after the first 45 minutes. Now, in my experience with cooking on the wsm, spritzing at 45 minutes is just too early, and every 15 minutes is just plain overkill. The bullet is simply a different kind of cooker than an offset, and again, ESPECIALLY if simmering water in the pan. Regarding water in the pan, don't just take my word for it, though. Cook and see for yourself, or do some searches. If memory serves, both Ray Lampe (aka Dr. BBQ) and Harry Soo point out that they prefer cooking dry for "better" bark.
Boss Banks
TVWBB Pro
I totally agree with you. When I open the lid, it lets more oxygen into the cooker and I worry about it cooking too hot rather than recovery. I usually check my ribs after 2 hours, 3 hours and every 30 minutes afterward. I will spritz if needed at each check.