Who all runs a water pan in their stick burner?

[kevinwi]

If you are cooking at a reasonable temperature the stall isn't a big deal. If you are at 225 the stall is a nightmare. At 250 to 275 it's much less so.

Correct
The video in the post above suggests water pan to avoid burning while cooking high temp.....but also wrapping pre stall where the water pan will have ZERO effect on your meat...and if you wrap pre stall, there is little chance of burning meat.
..very confusing theology.

 

[Dashweb]

Like it says, who runs a water pan?
And do you think it's a real benefit?

Hello, I have a MES40, and I use the water pan.

I found that it needed to be refilled about every 4 hours. Even with using hot water at 120 degrees, it would be a sudden heat sink and temperature would drop. Also it was a pain to get up at night to fill the pan, and sometimes it would run dry before I could attend to it.

I put a drip system to keep the pan full. I used a simple IV tubing line., pushed into a plastic bottle and it sealed well enough that I don't need a sealant. I ran a silicone grade tube that withstands heat inside, to above the drip pan, so I can watch it drip through the window.
It drips from the rack above, so it does not get gooey from oil, and you can see it drip. If it just sits inside the bottom of the pan you can't tell if anything is coming out. The ripples are very satisfying.

I'll call the "The IV Mod"

Here is the tubing I used on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BJDCKJV5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_image?ie=UTF8&th=1

I got the 10 foot, 1/4 inch size.

I got the IV tubing at work, but its readily available.

I thought of using a float valve system, but I'm sure it would fail with all the oil and built up.

An alternative I tried to use a larger drip pan, filling up a huge aluminum pan and setting it above the rack, but when I did that the smoker struggled to get to temperature.

 

[HalfSmoked]

sorry Dustin 225 is my game just relax and work with it.

Warren

 

[Smokin Okie]

From Meathead's Amazing Ribs site

Will basting the meat, injecting, or putting a water pan in the smoker impact the stall? There is no question that extra humidity will slow down the cooking process, whether it comes from a water pan or applying a wet mop. When we baste, whether by mopping, brushing, or spritzing, we cool the meat just by the fact that the liquid is cool. It then sits on the surface until it evaporates, prolonging the stall. When we put a water pan in the cooker, the moisture evaporates from the surface and raises the humidity in the cooker, slowing the evaporation from the meat and slowing the cooking. In low and slow cooking, this allows the meat’s interior to catch up with the surface temperature.

Until reading Blonder’s results, I had always believed that water pans were important in order to keep the cooking chamber high in humidity, thereby reducing moisture loss from the meat. Apparently, water pans do this to some degree, but they also cause the cook to take longer. Bottom line: this is no reason to stop using water pans. The moisture in the environment of your cooking chamber mixes with the smoke there, influencing flavor and allowing the meat’s interior to catch up with the exterior so it cooks more uniformly. Water pans also help to stabilize temps in charcoal cookers by causing them to heat and cool more slowly, evening out temperature spikes and valleys. Most importantly, moisture condenses on the surface of meat and smoke sticks to it, increasing the smoke flavor.