Yup!!Interesting, am I correct in assuming that you have both ends of the soup can cut out?
It does double duty here..it is also the chimney for my MES...
Craig
Yup!!Interesting, am I correct in assuming that you have both ends of the soup can cut out?
yepInteresting, am I correct in assuming that you have both ends of the soup can cut out?
EDIT: NVM...just noticed it's already been answered twice. ;-)Interesting, am I correct in assuming that you have both ends of the soup can cut out?
Thanks!!!Excellent step by step. I would like the DigiQ or Guru but do not want to spend the money. With this set-up it's hard to justify buying the draft system.
Bill - secret is DON'T OPEN THE LID. I learned this pretty quickly with my WSM. If you leave the bottom vents closed or cracked slightly and you're at ~225F on a relatively calm day, it WILL stay at 225F for a long time. If you MUST open the lid, make it quick! Every time you open it you give the fire a BIG gulp of fresh air and it raises the temp at a ridiculous rate.Tweaking the positions of the bottom vents can fine-tune your temp really effectively.Thanks for the help today. Done my first per smoke. We double smoked a spiral ham for Easter. The WSM wanted to run about 240 to 260. I think with more smokes and practice I will learn how to keep it at about 230. Trying to figure out what to do with the charcoal that didn't finish burning.
BillMc
Why not use a clay pot water pan filled with water? Wouldn't the water help prevent the clay pot from going above 212 Deg F? Plus now you've got the clay pot plus the water that's in it acting as a large thermal mass. Once the water evaporates, the clay pot will still act as the thermal mass so you won't need to open the smoker to add water and mess up the smoker temp. Just thinkin' out loud!Other thing that affects run time is how you set the smoker up. Water pan will not run as long as a clay flower pot base. Both serve as heat sink mass to even out temp swings, but the water is more forgiving and can absorb more heat just by the way heated water works. If you heat the clay pot base to 225* it does not take much energy to keep it there and it will release heat if you drop below 225*. However if you have a prolonged spike to 240* the clay pot will also heat up to 240* and want to stay there. On the other hand water by the nature of it's boiling point, prefers to stay a liquid at below 212*. It takes a considerable amount of energy to convert water at 212* to steam at 212* so water is a excellent temperature moderator as the mass wants to stay at 212* or lower. If you have the same temp spike in a water pan setup WSM, it will naturally fall back down in temp faster than the clay pot setup. It's just the physical nature of the water/steam relationship where as the clay pot is not changing physical states, just getting warmer.
Great article and pictures. Can you post a picture of your clay pot and how you have it set up.
Why not use a clay pot water pan filled with water? Wouldn't the water help prevent the clay pot from going above 212 Deg F? Plus now you've got the clay pot plus the water that's in it acting as a large thermal mass. Once the water evaporates, the clay pot will still act as the thermal mass so you won't need to open the smoker to add water and mess up the smoker temp. Just thinkin' out loud!
I have never used water in the pan...dont see the need for it..my stuff usually turns out great..I like water for the way it will moderate a temp back down where a clay pot will overheat easier than a water pan run system. But all will work.
I've seen a few threads over at TVWBBB where folks talk about if their clay pot base gets greasy, they toss it out and get a replacement. Never quite understood why.Never have foiled the clay saucer either.. it is like a well seasoned Dutch oven now..a quick squirt with the hose makes it all clean again..the water beads up on it...
1; pork butt. The bark on a pork butt will be ten times better without water. Water (steam) makes the meat kinda mushy when cooking 250-275* which is where I like to go with a butt. I don't like mushy pork - I like it kinda stringy when I pull it (by hand).What are the reasons for not using water in the water pan on the WSM's?
ok. there have been very interesting and helpful posts here in this thread. all have been very ideal, especially the suggestion of a brick/rock method which I have been applying to my custom 20" smoker. I may try using the clay base rather than the water pan.I use Kingsford Blue charcoal..it burns nice and lasts a long time...
The blue bag is what I am referring to....unless fpnmf is referring to a blue bag which is commonly found in grocery stores and such, where can I find this bag otherwise? I don't remember seeing it at a Walmart on my quest for the Royal Oak lump coals (which I haven't been fond of).