Should I use a water pan

[duke smoker]

Not sure if this is the right place for this question.  I'm new here.

Doing my first smoke tomorrow in a Masterbuilt XL propane.  Smoking a 7# chicken & a cured ham.  After reading the suggested recipes and cooking temp (225 deg), my question is do I need to put water in the water pan?  or should I just leave the water out and use the pan to catch the drippings?

Thanks a bunch.

 

[graystratcat]

Hey Duke Smoker, welcome to the forum.  As for the water pan... there are 2 schools of thought on this one.  Some feel the water helps with moisture and 'steam'....other feel it slows down cooking times.

Personally, and from testing it myself, I have given up on water unless I'm doing home made sausage.

I have a Master Forge LP smoker (similar to your MB) and I've gone to sand instead of water in my pan.  I think it holds heat much better and I don't have to worry about filling it up.  If you want to give this a try, just line your water pan with HD alum foil, fill it about 3/4 full with clean play sand (Home Depot or Lowes) and then cover it with 2 more layers of HD foil.  You can also slope the sand so there's a low spot in the middle, this helps all the dripping flow to the center and makes clean up a bit easier.

-Salt

 

[boardpuller]

That's part of what this addiction is all about what works for you. Try bit both ways I always use water, I'm sure you have some on hand, try the sand later. Less running now. Good Luck & Happy Smokeing.

 

[roller]

Hello and welcome...I never use water on anything and have never had a dry piece of meat..

 

[whistlepig]

Welcome to the forum. I've tried it both ways and prefer water in the pan. I think it adds moisture to the meat. Try it without water and if the meat turns out good that's all that matters. Brining, spritzing, injecting, marinating, and foiling are all good ways to add moisture to meat. Water in the pan is the easiest thing I have done to add moisture and an easy thing to try first.

 

[SmokinAl]

Play sand for me, Home Depot carries it & I use it in all 3 of my smokers. 

 

[custom99]

I have always used water until my last smoke on Sunday. I ran to Home depot and picked up some sand. Filled up the water pan with sand and covered with foil. I did not notice any difference in the ribs, just as juicy as usual. I did see that the smoker recovered temps really fast after opening the door to spritz the meat. Usually in 15 degrees temps there is usually a lot more recovery time than I experienced this time.

 

[siletzspey]

I always thought the water pan was mostly about "thermal mass" for averaging out and controlling temperature. Indirect heat and moisture have always been secondary considerations for me, but I haven't yet pulled the water to see.

--SiletzSpey

 

[sprky]

I an with gray here I use the sand in my Master Forge. However I put a small pan of water on a rack above the sand I have seen much better recovery time and much more stedy temps since doing this. I usually fill the water pan on the rack with round 1/2 gal for long smoke and don't refill. 

 

[graystratcat]

Hey sprky, have you ever thought of, or tried, filling that second pan with sand as well?  I agree with SiletzSpey that the water and/or sand is more of a thermal mass than a moisterizer... and now I'm thinking a second pan of sand would increase that thermal mass even more.....I may have to try this the next run I make in the MF....

-Salt

 

[tjohnson]

Great Answers!

I agree with the sand

TJ