Water Pan Necessary?

[tatoosh]

I have posted here and elsewhere that I thought the water pan was not quite so necessary for a good smoke. I've done a number of smokes with the pan removed and one with it moved to the food grate.

I just want to say, I was probably W R O N G! Why I was adrift, I did not understand until I ran into a science guy's blog who did some experiments with the amount of smoke various things attract when dry or moist. The results were quite eye opening. He did it with meat and with other substances such as cloth and ceramic tiles. Moisture really makes a difference. Particularly water over oil and both over a dry surface.

He also experimented with cold or frozen food and found they attracted more smoke as well. So another one of my techniques bit the dust. I was always taking meat out to warm up before I put it in the smoker. No more. It will stay in the fridge or even freezer until it is time to smoke.

The informative blog is available here for your viewing.

He has some pretty informative tidbits about brine and cure penetration too, worth reading as well.

[tatoosh]

Another smoke with the Smokenator, this time with high temps as the target. I had some really surprising (for me anyway) results. I didn't put the water pan on the grate at first. I had the charcoal loaded then started about twice as much charcoal as normal so I'd get a hotter burn. My dome temp was running 310F and the food grate hung in the 190F to 200F area. About an hour into the cook, I finally filled the water pan and sat it on the food grate above its cutout so it got good heat.

Big change in temps. I started seeing 360F to 370F as my dome temp and my food grate went up to 270F to 280F. I had both the bottom vent and top vent full open since I was cooking chicken vertically. Only downside was needing to refill the charcoal bin a bit more frequently. My top temperature, given the charcoal I have available in the Philippines, which is a mix of Chinese round briquettes - likely compressed sawdust, and the local lump charcoal - unknown species so maybe not hardwoods, was 385F a few minutes after reloading the charcoal bin and it had a good coal of hot charcoal in the bottom.

I noted that what worked for my previous lower temperature smokes did not work for higher temps - before I did large temperature management on the lower vent control and smaller temperature changes with the upper vent, also finding the temps went up with the vent almost closed and down with the upper vent open. With the high temperature target, I had the bottom vent full open and closing the top vent gave a drop in temperature. So I opened them both to get my highest temperatures.

Water pan is, in general, very necessary. I wish that I had steel cups that fit the round cutouts. I really like to access the charcoal and wood chips by the larger water pan cutout. But I can see I need water to help with both smoking and temperature.

Learning as I go! I love the Smokenator and will be smoking ham chops and home cured bacon on it later today or tomorrow.

[flbuckeye]

The water pan is critical to maintain temp

Water in the pan absorbs heat and never rises above 212°F. This helps you keep the temp down to 225°F, a temp I recommend you learn to hit with regularity

Water helps stabilize the temp in the cooker and minimize fluctuations because water temp takes longer to rise and fall than air.

[BB-Kuhn]

I'd say that the water pan is the easiest way to regulate temp. Without it, it can be hard keeping temp low. That said, an insulated smoker with digital temp controller makes non-water pan smoking easy as pie. But with a kettle setup like a smokenator, ditching the water pan creates a whole lot of trouble.

[jrroz]

As long as you have water inside I find the water pan unnecessary and even detrimental. It boils too quickly and therefore doesn't really control temps. I leave it out and maintain steady temps but I do have a water pan underneath the meat for moisture

[1luckytexan]

I understand the physics of it but, it seems to me, temps have been stable enough without it. It's in the way , it boils off quickly - I don't use it. I didn't use water in my big pit that I used before either.

I won't argue that if you have had good results with it that you should abandon it - just reporting my experience.