First time no water in pan

[Dunstablegrizzly]

So woke up around 6am today and started on pulled pork. Rubbed the 4lb boneless butt, shoulder, and let it sit while I got the wsm up and going. I decided to run the water pan empty since it was going to be in the low 40s to high 30s. Placed a pizza pan I bought cheap at walmart on top of the empty water pan so I wouldn't have to clean a mess.

Anyways buried 4 chunks of hickory and mesquite wood in the charcoal. Just put charcoal up to the top of the fire ring not over it. I think about 8 lb or slightly less. So I lit the wsm with a propane torch through an intake vent I learned from this site. I think it might have been noboundaries I got this from. So it literally took about 4 minutes and i had reached 240ish so i pulled the torch and placed the meat in the chamber. Temp dropped to about 180ish but it climbed to 221 within 15 mintues. I then closed the bottom vents to about 3/16 open on each. Pit stayed between 221 to 243 throughout 9 plus hours and when I shut down the vents I still had about 1/3 of the charcoal left. It burned very efficiently.

I spritzed at the 2 hour mark then every 1.5 to 2.5 hours after. The butt hit the stall at 147 which is the lowest temp i have seen for a butt and stayed there for almost forever and a day. Got a little restless as I wanted to eat early so i pulled and wrapped it in foil to finish the cook. It got tender at 202 so I pulled it. Only let it rest for about 15 minutes then we tore into it. Couldn't wait as I was hungry.

Came out great just wished I had started earlier as I never seem to time it correctly so we eat early. I just need to wake up a couple of hours earlier I guess.

 

[RiversideSm0ker]

Just yum!
G

 

[forktender]

That looks great, I never use a water pan.
I actually filled mine with sand and cover it with foil with a drip pan over it. If I want moisture I spritz or throw a 28 oz can of boiling water to one of grill grates it really helps maintain a constant temp in the smoke box.
Try it made all the difference in the world in my old propane smoker.

 

[Dunstablegrizzly]

That looks great, I never use a water pan.
I actually filled mine with sand and cover it with foil with a drip pan over it. If I want moisture I spritz or throw a 28 oz can of boiling water to one of grill grates it really helps maintain a constant temp in the smoke box.
Try it made all the difference in the world in my old propane smoker.

Yeah I tried it and it works well. I have a smoker I built that I switched out the water with sand for when I do high temp cooking like chicken. I just tried the empty water pan on the wsm because it struggles when it's cold out where I live. It performed well and the food was good. I was a little concerned because I thought it would have temp swings but it was rock solid.