KEhrl
TVWBB Member
Yesterday made for a very interesting cook! After doing "long cooks" for over a year always at least partially filling the water pan, I decided to try out an empty pan. I recently started using an air probe thermometer and felt I've gotten a good grasp at temperature control using the vents, plus from what I've read using an empty pan may help extend my charcoal's life a bit. Using the WSM 14 I've usually had to re-load coals for anything longer that 5 hours.
For this cook I had a cryovac of spare ribs from costco, which came with 3 racks of ribs for a total of 10.5 lbs (~3.5lbs per rack). To many recommendations, I place a few crumpled up foil balls in the bed of the water pan before fully foiling it. This helped catch some fat renderings that made it under the foil. To light the smoker I used the minion method with a full chamber of KBB plus three medium chunks of cherry wood. I used two Brinkman ribs racks, placing three half racks on each cooking grate.
For the first hour of the cook the temperature slowly crept up to 225 Degrees, so I closed all the bottom vents halfway, leaving the lid vent fully open. The next hour the temps held at around 230 degrees. With over 10 lbs of meat plus rib racks the contents were essentially acting as the heat sink, no water required! Starting at the two hour mark, and every 30-60 minutes thereafter I spritzed the ribs with a mixture of AC Vinegar and water. This was to compensate for the lack of moisture usually created from the filled water pan, and to encourage better bark formation and smoke ring.
For the third hour of the cook the temps crept to 235 degrees, then 3.5 hours in they went all the way to 265 degrees, so I closed my vents to about 10% open each. My original plan for these ribs was to do a modified 3-2-1 method, either going 4-1-1 or 3.5-1-0.5, but at this point the ribs on the top grate were showing great bone pullback. Doing a quick temp check some ribs on the top grate were around 190 and those on the lower around 180. At this point I didn't think foil was necessary as the ribs were well along on their cook less than 4 hours in. To encourage a more even cook I decided to switch the ribs from the bottom grate to the top and vice versa.
This was the point where I experienced the first potential downside of an empty pan. Likely due to the fact I had my lid open longer than desired performing this flip, temperatures shot to over 300 degrees. With bottom vents all a crack open, I decided to close two of them and even close the lid vent halfway. I've never touched the lid vent in a cook before so was curious of the results, and it worked pretty well. I was able to get temps close to 250 degrees. I returned the vents to all a crack open and the lid vent fully open, and the cooker settled in around 275 degrees.
I did mention a "downpour" in the title of this post. For pretty much the entire cooking session there was a threat of showers. I did experience some light rain soon after the four hour mark which had no impact on cooker temps, they were stilling running at 275! However, at about 5.5 hours in the skies opened up and thunder was rolling. It started to come down in buckets and I feared for my ribs!
After about 20 minutes of heavy rain the cooker was still standing and had dropped to about 215 degrees, not terrible! Being 6 hours in at this point I checked the ribs and they looked great! They were probably done at this point but with family not arriving until after 7 for dinner I decided to leave them on a bit more at these lowered temps, which had now settled at about 220 degrees.
6.5 hours in I sauced them, half with Trader Joes Golden BBQ sauce and the other half with sweet baby rays. Below you'll see a great bark has formed with bone pullback for each half rack. Doing the tear test the meat was pulling from the bone, but definitely not fall off the bone. The first pic are the racks that were four hours on the lower grate then 2.5 on upper. The second is the reverse.
These returned to the cooker for another 20 minutes to set the sauce, before pulling them at the 7 hour mark. After a quick 15 minute rest under a foil tent I was excited to cut them and see the results. The smoke ring formed was just what I was looking for, and the larger set of ribs were nice and moist! Some of the smaller racks were slightly dry, but nothing terrible. These were seen on the racks the racks that spent the first ~4 hours on the top grate. I think the ribs would have benefited from flipping grates earlier in the cook, maybe at the three hour mark.
Overall, I was very happy with the results of this cook, and my family thought it was one of my best yet! As I had hoped I was able to do the entire cook on one load of charcoal without reloading, despite getting rained on! I may have been converted to an empty pan guy from this cook...at least when loading up my cooker with 10 lbs of meat. I could see some benefit using water if I was doing low and slow with a small quantity of meat, like just one rack of ribs, but that often never happens
. I hope everyone enjoys reading my post and that it encourages others to try an empty water pan, let me know what you think!
Cheers,
Kyle
P.S. One last glamour shot
For this cook I had a cryovac of spare ribs from costco, which came with 3 racks of ribs for a total of 10.5 lbs (~3.5lbs per rack). To many recommendations, I place a few crumpled up foil balls in the bed of the water pan before fully foiling it. This helped catch some fat renderings that made it under the foil. To light the smoker I used the minion method with a full chamber of KBB plus three medium chunks of cherry wood. I used two Brinkman ribs racks, placing three half racks on each cooking grate.
For the first hour of the cook the temperature slowly crept up to 225 Degrees, so I closed all the bottom vents halfway, leaving the lid vent fully open. The next hour the temps held at around 230 degrees. With over 10 lbs of meat plus rib racks the contents were essentially acting as the heat sink, no water required! Starting at the two hour mark, and every 30-60 minutes thereafter I spritzed the ribs with a mixture of AC Vinegar and water. This was to compensate for the lack of moisture usually created from the filled water pan, and to encourage better bark formation and smoke ring.
For the third hour of the cook the temps crept to 235 degrees, then 3.5 hours in they went all the way to 265 degrees, so I closed my vents to about 10% open each. My original plan for these ribs was to do a modified 3-2-1 method, either going 4-1-1 or 3.5-1-0.5, but at this point the ribs on the top grate were showing great bone pullback. Doing a quick temp check some ribs on the top grate were around 190 and those on the lower around 180. At this point I didn't think foil was necessary as the ribs were well along on their cook less than 4 hours in. To encourage a more even cook I decided to switch the ribs from the bottom grate to the top and vice versa.
This was the point where I experienced the first potential downside of an empty pan. Likely due to the fact I had my lid open longer than desired performing this flip, temperatures shot to over 300 degrees. With bottom vents all a crack open, I decided to close two of them and even close the lid vent halfway. I've never touched the lid vent in a cook before so was curious of the results, and it worked pretty well. I was able to get temps close to 250 degrees. I returned the vents to all a crack open and the lid vent fully open, and the cooker settled in around 275 degrees.
I did mention a "downpour" in the title of this post. For pretty much the entire cooking session there was a threat of showers. I did experience some light rain soon after the four hour mark which had no impact on cooker temps, they were stilling running at 275! However, at about 5.5 hours in the skies opened up and thunder was rolling. It started to come down in buckets and I feared for my ribs!
After about 20 minutes of heavy rain the cooker was still standing and had dropped to about 215 degrees, not terrible! Being 6 hours in at this point I checked the ribs and they looked great! They were probably done at this point but with family not arriving until after 7 for dinner I decided to leave them on a bit more at these lowered temps, which had now settled at about 220 degrees.
6.5 hours in I sauced them, half with Trader Joes Golden BBQ sauce and the other half with sweet baby rays. Below you'll see a great bark has formed with bone pullback for each half rack. Doing the tear test the meat was pulling from the bone, but definitely not fall off the bone. The first pic are the racks that were four hours on the lower grate then 2.5 on upper. The second is the reverse.
These returned to the cooker for another 20 minutes to set the sauce, before pulling them at the 7 hour mark. After a quick 15 minute rest under a foil tent I was excited to cut them and see the results. The smoke ring formed was just what I was looking for, and the larger set of ribs were nice and moist! Some of the smaller racks were slightly dry, but nothing terrible. These were seen on the racks the racks that spent the first ~4 hours on the top grate. I think the ribs would have benefited from flipping grates earlier in the cook, maybe at the three hour mark.
Overall, I was very happy with the results of this cook, and my family thought it was one of my best yet! As I had hoped I was able to do the entire cook on one load of charcoal without reloading, despite getting rained on! I may have been converted to an empty pan guy from this cook...at least when loading up my cooker with 10 lbs of meat. I could see some benefit using water if I was doing low and slow with a small quantity of meat, like just one rack of ribs, but that often never happens
. I hope everyone enjoys reading my post and that it encourages others to try an empty water pan, let me know what you think!Cheers,
Kyle
P.S. One last glamour shot
. Thanks for sharing!
. The sky did eventually open up.
