Sand in the water pan

[drew c]

Used sand in my water pan for the first time yesterday. It seemed to make a big difference. My temp held steady much easier and for a longer time. Don't think I will go back to water in the pan again.

 

[timothy]

Glad to here that it works for you Drew!

Tim

 

[TravisH]

A note about sand - it's critical not to let it overheat as sand will retain that high heat for a long long time.

I was using sand and got distracted with my food prep and forgot to check the temps and catch them on the way up. By the time I got out there, the temp was in the mid-300º and climbing.

Not fully realizing what was going on, I attempted to lower the temp through vent adjustment - no effect. Indeed, even closing them had no effect. So I attempted to reduce the amount of lit coals - no effect. After futzing with the coals for a bit with little change, I decided to just start all over. It was then that I noticed the temps were still high even though the top+mid section had been sitting to the side for awhile. Lifting the lid a nice warm updraft greeted me and the light bulb went off - it's the sand!

The sand had absorbed all that heat and, unlike water which gives off excess energy in the production of steam, it was now releasing all the stored up energy.

If you let that sand overheat, you're going to have a really tough time getting temps back down.

 

[drew c]

Good insight Travis. thx.

 

[Clint]

try empty water pan - total fire control.

It's really easy. It's stable too.

 

[C. Moore]

Do use playground sand? Do you fill the pan all the way with the sand?

 

[Dan N.]

Used to use sand all the time. Now just a foiled pan. If using fill only a 1/3 to 1/2 with playground sand. Still need to cover with foil. Remove foil often as any grease, etc that gets underneath the foil will quickly turn the sand into cement.

 

[Dave Russell]

The concern that Travis addresses is the potential BIG problem with sand, and I think that I'd avoid it altogether if I was gonna be taking the lid off to do anything other than check the meat for doneness. For instance, I wouldn't use sand in the pan for ribs unless I was skipping the foil and glazing.