I've had my wsm for a few months now and have been reading about all the different things folks have put in the water pan. I've used water and I know it's the best if you want to maintain a stable temp around 225-250 but I find it to be a bit of a hassle when it's time to clean up. I have sand in the pan now and it holds temps pretty steady for the first few hours but then temps start to rise and roller coaster on me when I try to stabalize it which defeats the set it and forget reason I bought it. I've also read the clay saucer is great if you're looking for high temp cooking and it seems from what I've read is also suppose to be easy to maintain steady temps just like a empty foiled pan. So I guess I'm just curious as to what the wsm owners use the most. I use the minion method using only about 12 lit briquettes spead around on top of the unlit,all vents open until the temps get to about 180 then close 2 of the bottom vents down and use the 3rd for fine adjustments. Like I said the temps will hold steady for a few hours then start going up, is the wsm that touchy when you adjust temps that it takes so little to change so much? Could it be the sand holding the heat until it just can't hold any more then releases it faster than I can adjust for it? Maybe I'm just frustarting myself over nothing but I just can't help thinking there is an easier way to do this, I want to fire it up and relax with out having to mess with the temp control every 45 minutes.