Water pan/therm probe

[boisblancboy]

Hey guys this may be a really dumb question but here goes. Depending on the amount of room I have in the cook chamber I sometimes run a bigger or small water pan. I also try not to open the cook chamber up if I don’t have to and sometimes I haven’t noticed my water pan had gone empty. So I’m thinking of putting one of my meat probes in a potatoe or something else to hold it submerged in the water pan. When the temp spikes I know the water is low. Will this work? Any ideas other than a potatoe?

 

[wild west]

if you have an extra probe that should work. If no extra probe i would rather know the chamber temp and the IT of the meat im cooking. Also i dont think the probe tip should be touching metal so i would keep an eye on that. Alot of us dont use water in the pan. I just foil mine so its easy to clean up.

 

[boisblancboy]

Alot of us dont use a water pan even though our smokers have one. But if you have an extra probe that should work. If no extra probe i would rather know the chamber temp and the IT of the meat im cooking. Also i dont think the probe tip should be touching metal so i would keep an eye on that.

Yeah I know lots of people do and don’t use water pans. I just always have cause that’s how I started out. I’ve got enough probes so it would be in addition to the grate and IT temps. I agree that the probe shouldnt touch metal that’s why at first thought I could hold the probe just off the bottom of the water pan with the potatoe.

 

[wild west]

Try it out and share your results. Be good info to know

 

[phatbac]

What kind of smoker is it? I have always used a little bit of sand and rocks with a trapped air pocket (as i cover the pan in foil) seems to make a great heat shield... be interested in your results...

Happy Smoking,
phatbac (Aaron)