Does your drum have a water pan?

donnylove · Jan 23, 2010

The paint on the new drum was a little scuffed up, so I went ahead and gave it and the lid a fresh coat. All I've ever used is the cheapest paint that Wal-Mart offers and it's always held up fine, even with temperature spikes as high as 450 on occasion.

donnylove · Jan 23, 2010

Here's a pic I left out that shows the welded lip . . .

meateater · Jan 23, 2010

Alright I'm the odd one here, I use a water pan. Mostly to collect all the fat from the meat and keep the drum somewhat clean.

donnylove · Jan 23, 2010

I figured someone must. Has your drum always had a water pan? Have you cooked with one that didn't? I'd be interested in a comparison . . .

meateater · Jan 24, 2010

I had a ECB before the UDS and tried it without the water pan and didnt like the flare ups and sour smoke from the fat drippings or just the opposite with poultry dripping moisture on the coals. My fire runs consistent and effecient. This is just what works for me, ford , chevy, dodge, they all get you from point a to b.

craiger · Jan 24, 2010

That uds should be entered in a car show!

meateater · Jan 24, 2010

It wont pass the smog check!

ddave · Jan 24, 2010

Do you put water in it or just use it as a catch pan? I know some folks put a pan on a lower rack just to catch drippings. I saw another post, I think it was from Bassman who put a foil pan full of vegetables underneat a brisket during a smoke. I'm going to have to try that. Probably not the healthiest meal I'll ever eat but I bet it will be one of the tastiest.

There are times when the vaporized fat flavor gets to be a little too much for me too.

I've placed a steel plate on top of the charcoal basket a time or two as an experiment. It did increase the fuel consumption quite a bit but seems to smooth out the temp spikes when removing the lid.

Dave

grizandizz · Jan 24, 2010

Wow Dave, I hadn't thought of that. Did you need to open your intake more to compensate for the plate or leave it the same?
I'm smoking tomorrow, don't have any steel on hand but might try doubling up some HD foil instead. What do you think?

rickw · Jan 24, 2010

This is the exact reason I don't use the drum anymore. The taste got to be a bit overbearing at times. That was my reasoning in getting the WSM. The WSM being a water smoker doesn't suffer from this and is very fuel efficient to boot.

ddave · Jan 24, 2010

I had to run the intakes open quite a bit more to keep the same temp as without the plate. And it used A LOT more fuel. The plate was a piece of 1/8" steel that was 10" wide and about 14" long. I just laid it on top of my 13.5" diameter fire basket.

My drum normally runs at 240° with both caps on and the valve 1/3 to 1/2 open. With the plate on, it took one cap off and the valve about 1/3 open to maintain 240ish. My drum has a real tendency to creep up in temp when I am lifting the lid a lot like to foil, unfoil, or glazing ribs in the last hour. With the plate in place, the temp was much easier to control I think because having the plate in there cut down on the HUGE updraft of hot air rising and sucking in oxygen to take its place when the lid is removed. It's not so bad in the winter but in the summer it really helps a lot.

Dave

meateater · Jan 24, 2010

Yes I put water in it or the brine from poultry, dont know if it helps, probably does a bit. Yup the fat is not a smoke flavor to me, I like to stick to wood. The water pan does help out with these problems for me. The flat plate would still burn fat in my opinion, probably prolonger the burn as it wouldnt hit the fire direct. Again these are just my own opinion, smoke on brothers.

grizandizz · Jan 24, 2010

Ah gotcha, I was hoping it wasn't going to use more fuel. That one thing I love about the UDS.

Maybe I just use it when smoking something I need to tend to a lot, like when spritzing or foiling.
I'm doing beer can chickens tomorrow so I probably don't need it since I don't spritz those.
Thanks for the info Obi Won!

meateater · Jan 24, 2010

This is a great post, keep adding.

ddave · Jan 24, 2010

I don't really worry about it for poultry. I usually do poutry at 325+ anyway. If the drum wants to run at 350° that's okay with me.

I used the plate for a butt smoke awhile back. That's where I really noticed the increased fuel usage. Probably wouldn't use it for an overnight brisket smoke but for butts or ribs, it's not too bad.

Dave

ddave · Jan 24, 2010

It seemed to sizzle more than actually burn and smoke. In fact at one point towards the end of the double butt smoke, the temp got away from me just a little as I forgot I had an extra cap off.

It sounded like a dang deep fryer in the bottom of the drum. The accumulated fat was going to town but I didn't see the white smoke I see sometimes at the end of a long smoke when the charcoal starts getting full of grease.

Dave

grizandizz · Jan 24, 2010

DDave, have you tried the bricks to retain/stabilize heat as Tip stated earlier.
Would that not serve a similar purpose as the steel plate and not compromise the fuel efficiency?
I have a buttload of granite river stones, maybe I'll try that.

rickw · Jan 24, 2010

Couldn't you try a pan full of sand covered with foil? That's one mod folks use with the WSM.

grizandizz · Jan 24, 2010

Hover it above the fuel basket Rick?
Foil is to keep the sand sanitary correct?

ddave · Jan 24, 2010

Well, the issue with the drum is not retaining heat, it has more to do with smoothing out the heat spikes. My drum has no problem whatsoever recovering when I open the lid to do something. The trouble I have with it is it wants to recover too much and overshoots where it was before the lid was lifted.

The cause of that is the huge influx of oxygen it gets when the lid is removed. To compensate for that, I sometimes close the intakes for 3 minutes before I lift the lid and leave them closed for 3 minutes after I'm done and put the lid back on. That helps some but if I'm opening it up every 15 minutes like when I'm glazing ribs, it just seems to want to keep creeping up in temp.

This is where the plate helps because it disrupts the airflow that feeds the fire with fresh oxygen. I think the bricks or tile would have the same effect on fuel consumption if they are place between the charcoal basket and the food.

Dave

Does your drum have a water pan?

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