WSM- Using Heat Sinks


 
Gary S

Gary S

TVWBB Guru
I’m not new to using the WSM but I know I will never stop learning various techniques.
This post is not intended to contrast the merits of water versus no water but rather to have a discussion about using heat sinks or not and up to what temperatures if there is a limit? I’m also keenly interested in what different members are using as heat sinks besides clay saucers and the water pan.
A member recently posted that he did not see any advantage to using a heat sink above 250F. That is something I never gave any thought to before reading his comment.

Your comments would be great appreciated.
 
When cooking poultry I don't use a heat sink at all because I want crisp skin that higher heats gets me. Most other cooks I use a alum foil wrapped clay saucer.
 
Gary, for me..
Heat sinks are great for keeping temps on the low side. Water does it's job for 225, clay saucers or sand work well until a certain temp when they can only absorb so much heat and then start releasing that energy and cause spikes.
I used the saucer for my first year then decided to go with an empty foil wrapped pan. Made sense to me as I like to do butts between 275-300 and ditched the saucer cause my WSM likes to run @ those temps with no fuss.
Now back to you're question. I did a foil clay saucer mock- up for a member awhile back with some pics with it inside my water pan and forgot about it. A few days later I did my standard empty foiled pan minion start up for a few butts like I always do.
Usually around 250-255 I cut the vents back about 75% and she settles in @ 275 which usually takes about an hour or so. This time she was up to 300 so I cut back about 85% and said no worries and walked away.
Came back a few hrs later and it sounded like I had a turkey frying inside my WSM. Lid therm was well above 400 and I said WTH is going on, opened the side door and got a face full of acrid burnt smoke, the foiled water pan looked like it was gonna go nuclear.. I pulled those butts and stuck them in the oven to finish and drank alot of beer, cause I didn't know what went wrong.
Till the next day, when I cleaned the pan and discovered I still had the clay saucer inside it.
For me.. What I learned is 250+ is the cut-off for using a clay saucer or sand as a heat sink for low temps.:wsm:

Tim
 
And sharing Gary.
We learn from each other, and everything I learned on BBQ I got from this site. Nothing is set in stone, cause if we all thought the same way, BBG would be pretty boring. I like to say, what I do in my backyard is totally different what you do in yours. The outcome might be the same, but how we arrive at it is our own.:wsm:

Tim
 
I use the saucer and like the results. Thanks for all the input.

After a cook, would taking the saucer out of the unit help preserve fuel or would just leaving it in to cool down give you the same results? Seems like removing it when the food is done would help save fuel. Just curious.
 
NeilH said:
...After a cook, would taking the saucer out of the unit help preserve fuel or would just leaving it in to cool down give you the same results? Seems like removing it when the food is done would help save fuel. Just curious.
Click to expand...

I don't know that it matters much since shutting down the vents is what puts the fire out. That said, I usually pull the pan and hit grates with a brush after pulling meat off if I have the time. Then I shut it down to save some lump.
 
timothy said:
Gary, for me..
Heat sinks are great for keeping temps on the low side. Water does it's job for 225, clay saucers or sand work well until a certain temp when they can only absorb so much heat and then start releasing that energy and cause spikes.
I used the saucer for my first year then decided to go with an empty foil wrapped pan. Made sense to me as I like to do butts between 275-300 and ditched the saucer cause my WSM likes to run @ those temps with no fuss.
Now back to you're question. I did a foil clay saucer mock- up for a member awhile back with some pics with it inside my water pan and forgot about it. A few days later I did my standard empty foiled pan minion start up for a few butts like I always do.
Usually around 250-255 I cut the vents back about 75% and she settles in @ 275 which usually takes about an hour or so. This time she was up to 300 so I cut back about 85% and said no worries and walked away.
Came back a few hrs later and it sounded like I had a turkey frying inside my WSM. Lid therm was well above 400 and I said WTH is going on, opened the side door and got a face full of acrid burnt smoke, the foiled water pan looked like it was gonna go nuclear.. I pulled those butts and stuck them in the oven to finish and drank alot of beer, cause I didn't know what went wrong.
Till the next day, when I cleaned the pan and discovered I still had the clay saucer inside it.
For me.. What I learned is 250+ is the cut-off for using a clay saucer or sand as a heat sink for low temps.:wsm:

Tim
Click to expand...

Tim, thanks for the good input. It confirms what I'm thinking and experiencing, myself, and I think I'm learning that clay is a bit over-rated as a heat sink. Temp changes from vent adjustments can be quite slow in coming, and my last brisket cook had some really nasty burning grease in the foil, no doubt made worse from the clay pot base underneath releasing heat. Thankfully, the brisket was wrapped and didn't take on that smoke, but the grate temp was only at 300* or so if I recall. Anyhow, I was talking to a friend about it the other day, and I think from now on I'll save the clay pot base for any low-n-slow foiled rib cooks or daytime butt cooks...especially in windy weather.

Regards,
Dave
 
I cook with a foiled clay pot, no water pan used at all, and I run quite often in the 275 to 300 area, even 10 to 12 hours cooks, and have experienced no problems.....................d
 
Loose fitting foil wrapped around the saucer helps keep it from burning the best I can tell. I've also noticed about a 15 min window as far as temp changes after an adjustment to a vent. I'm trying to figure out the need for the bowl if using the saucer although I do it. I guess it helps catch some grease that the saucer misses as I see some in the bowl as well after a cook.
 
Great imput. What a difference in use and opinion! We all can't help but learn from each others experience.
Hope others join in.
 
timothy said:
Gary, for me..
Heat sinks are great for keeping temps on the low side. Water does it's job for 225, clay saucers or sand work well until a certain temp when they can only absorb so much heat and then start releasing that energy and cause spikes.
I used the saucer for my first year then decided to go with an empty foil wrapped pan. Made sense to me as I like to do butts between 275-300 and ditched the saucer cause my WSM likes to run @ those temps with no fuss.
Now back to you're question. I did a foil clay saucer mock- up for a member awhile back with some pics with it inside my water pan and forgot about it. A few days later I did my standard empty foiled pan minion start up for a few butts like I always do.
Usually around 250-255 I cut the vents back about 75% and she settles in @ 275 which usually takes about an hour or so. This time she was up to 300 so I cut back about 85% and said no worries and walked away.
Came back a few hrs later and it sounded like I had a turkey frying inside my WSM. Lid therm was well above 400 and I said WTH is going on, opened the side door and got a face full of acrid burnt smoke, the foiled water pan looked like it was gonna go nuclear.. I pulled those butts and stuck them in the oven to finish and drank alot of beer, cause I didn't know what went wrong.
Till the next day, when I cleaned the pan and discovered I still had the clay saucer inside it.
For me.. What I learned is 250+ is the cut-off for using a clay saucer or sand as a heat sink for low temps.:wsm:

Tim
Click to expand...

So Tim no heat sink above 250 but do we presume you are catching the drippings or do they they just go in the fire?
 
I don't view the clay pot as a heat sink so much as simply a barrier between direct heat and the food. I find that controlling the air flow is the key to using a wsm, though a filled water bowl will certainly fight against high cooking temp's due to the 212 degree high water temp. Since I've never cooked with water on a wsm, I'm talking from only one side of the equation, so I can really only address that side. But from 2 to 12 hour cooks, from ranges of 225 up to and slightly exceeding 300, I've never had any problems controlling temperature in the unit just using the foiled clay pot resting on the ledge with not water pan (in fact, I don't even know where it is), using only the vents to control the heat level. I only use Kingsford charcoal, have never had to put more in, though on a 12 hour cook, with the ring filled level to the top, there is very little left over after shutting down.

Unless something happens that I have not experienced yet, I will never use water, too messy, and cannot for the life of me determine how it can make the meat more moist past 1/32" of the surface. It might enhance the smoke quality as it mixes with the smoke and therefore hits the meat with greater density, however, once meat heats up, that also declines. I'd have to see the scientific evidence of water's benefit to food while cooking and then it would have to be a noticeable difference in taste and tenderness of the meat to make me change. Way too many cookers out there that don't use water to make it that big of deal to me............................d
 
Gary S said:
So Tim no heat sink above 250 but do we presume you are catching the drippings or do they they just go in the fire?
Click to expand...

Gary. I just use the empty water pan like a baffle, with one sheet of HD foil crimped over the top with a slight indentation. That catches all the drippings and the air-space between the foil and bottom of the bowl keeps drippings from burning.
Some wad up a few foil balls and place that in the bowl first to support the top sheet, I've never found a need to do that yet.

Tim
 
I use a foiled clay flower pot base in the foiled water pan, and have had good results from 225F up to 325F.
 
David said:
I've never had any problems controlling temperature in the unit just using the foiled clay pot resting on the ledge with not water pan (in fact, I don't even know where it is), using only the vents to control the heat level. I only use Kingsford charcoal, have never had to put more in, though on a 12 hour cook, with the ring filled level to the top, there is very little left over after shutting down............................d
Click to expand...

David that's exactly the way I was using my clay saucer. I did the washer mod and brought the tips in a little closer and foiled it. I have cracked two of them so $30.00 down the drain and am considering other options. I still like water for ribs but have done well otherwise without water.
Thanks for posting.
 
David said:
I don't view the clay pot as a heat sink so much as simply a barrier between direct heat and the food. I find that controlling the air flow is the key to using a wsm, though a filled water bowl will certainly fight against high cooking temp's due to the 212 degree high water temp. Since I've never cooked with water on a wsm, I'm talking from only one side of the equation, so I can really only address that side. But from 2 to 12 hour cooks, from ranges of 225 up to and slightly exceeding 300, I've never had any problems controlling temperature in the unit just using the foiled clay pot resting on the ledge with not water pan (in fact, I don't even know where it is), using only the vents to control the heat level. I only use Kingsford charcoal, have never had to put more in, though on a 12 hour cook, with the ring filled level to the top, there is very little left over after shutting down.

Unless something happens that I have not experienced yet, I will never use water, too messy, and cannot for the life of me determine how it can make the meat more moist past 1/32" of the surface. It might enhance the smoke quality as it mixes with the smoke and therefore hits the meat with greater density, however, once meat heats up, that also declines. I'd have to see the scientific evidence of water's benefit to food while cooking and then it would have to be a noticeable difference in taste and tenderness of the meat to make me change. Way too many cookers out there that don't use water to make it that big of deal to me............................d
Click to expand...

David,

A lot of guys like myself have tried all kinds of ways of cooking, and personally, while I hate using a lot of foil, I like cooking butts and briskets by day without water. I like how I can speed up the cook if I want, and I like the bark better, both color and texture. If doing an overnight cook I'd probably still use water though, since I don't have an ATC and prefer lump. But anyhow, help me out here....so you've got a water smoker, but you don't know where the pan is so that you can see what water could do for your ribs? Is it that you always foil ribs? Is so, I completely understand. That's generally what so many of those "way too many cookers out there that don't use water.." are doing, especially if competing. And if you're gonna do that, sure, you want faster bark development, and there's no reason to use water. The foil will even out the cooking, anyhow. But if you want scientific evidence, why not just find your water pan, rub down a rack or three of st. louies as usual, cook with water in the pan at around 235-250 til tender, and see what you think?

But regarding the clay pot base, can you or someone else tell me just how much grease from a full cooker of butts or briskets will fit inside top of a clay pot base? Mine is 16" and I just put it inside the pan and foil the top of the pan as I would if it was empty. It doesn't seem like the base would have enough capacity to hold all the grease from a big cook, but I guess that reminds me of another question. Doesn't your grease eventually start to burn and smoke on the pan?

Regards,
Dave
 
Dave, I only recently began foiling ribs after many years of cooking, before the wsm I only cooked them indirect on a charbroil grill, and they were great. Foiling certainly can make them much more tender a little bit faster. Ribs are in fact, the only meat that I've ever foiled. Years ago, on some other off brand, I did a water pan, but mostly smoked turkeys and fish. I never did ribs on them, and at that time I also did not do butts, or briskets.

As for the grease, if I cook just on the top shelf, which is 95 percent of my cooks, I also put an aluminun dish on the bottom shelf in addition to the foiled pot. Never had a problem with burning grease, maybe it just doesn't get hot enough, it is usually just a sludge pool of stuff when done. Perhaps my cooks are not large enough to present me with that problem, as the 18 to 20 pounds is about my usual top limit...........could be your cooks generate enough grease to need the water. As for the water bowl, I don't have a clue where it is...............................d
 
Just curious, have any of you ever tried running your WSM with no barrier, letting all the grease hit the coals, UDS style?
 
David said:
Dave, I only recently began foiling ribs after many years of cooking, before the wsm I only cooked them indirect on a charbroil grill, and they were great. Foiling certainly can make them much more tender a little bit faster. Ribs are in fact, the only meat that I've ever foiled. Years ago, on some other off brand, I did a water pan, but mostly smoked turkeys and fish. I never did ribs on them, and at that time I also did not do butts, or briskets.

As for the grease, if I cook just on the top shelf, which is 95 percent of my cooks, I also put an aluminun dish on the bottom shelf in addition to the foiled pot. Never had a problem with burning grease, maybe it just doesn't get hot enough, it is usually just a sludge pool of stuff when done. Perhaps my cooks are not large enough to present me with that problem, as the 18 to 20 pounds is about my usual top limit...........could be your cooks generate enough grease to need the water. As for the water bowl, I don't have a clue where it is...............................d
Click to expand...

If you've enjoyed unfoiled ribs, but like foiled as well...well, sorry you can't find your wsm pan.

Anyhow, no water in the pan needed for a big cook, whether to deal with the grease or temps. Fifty pounds plus of meat is a pretty good heat sink, certainly more than a clay pot base. But you just foil the pan (with a clay pot base, steel disk, or nothing in the bottom) and leave a good indention in the foil over the top to hold all the grease. Thanks for the feedback on using drip pans to catch the grease. Thankfully, I don't have a problem with burning grease at low temps with a foiled pan.

Thanks,
Dave
 
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