water pan ??

Any general items, polls
Post Reply
SitDown
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:48 am
Location: West Auckland, NZ

water pan ??

Post by SitDown »

Am about to make a triple skinned stainless, all in one bbq, to include wood as a fuel option...rotisserie, pizza, low & slow Q-ing .

My WSM came with a water pan. I fill it with water each time when doing a cook up.... bloody hopeless in the colder months with temp drops needing baby sitting with fuel top-up... the reason for making the 3 skin Q
Results do tend to be moist.
Others say, its only good for temp spikes & fluctuations in cooler or windy times of cooking.... stabilizes temps

Lately, I have been using my W-GA to do all our Q-ing..... pulled pork, ribs, shanks, beef cheeks & more. No room for a water pan, just mist spray every hour
Unsure if there is a difference with the GA food, as I wrap everything once the bark has formed

Sooooo.... do I really need a water pan in the new Q.... what do you reckon
Baby Q + Rotisserie
GA + Rotisserie
WSM 14
Davo
Forum Administrator
Posts: 5330
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: water pan ??

Post by Davo »

Hi Sitdown,

Had to read your post a couple of times to understand where you were coming from but rather than make a triple skinned BBQ , perhaps look at a Ceramic Komado type where the Ceramic provides it's own insulation or a cheaper type unit like a Fornetto as it's a metal insulated unit. Komado types of cookers don't need a waterpan because they keep moisture within the walls of the BBQ.

As for WSM, I always used my waterpan full with water whether it was Winter or Summer only difference is that in Winter, I boil the jug and fill it with boiling water and top up with hot tap water, this saves fuel energy and gets the WSM to temp a lot quicker.
I always used Minion method with the coals, pouring an almost full ring of unlit coals with wood immersed within the unlit coals, then a full chimney of hot lit coals on top of the unlit, that way it burns down and takes a long time for it to do so, when the temp dial gets up to 180F, close all 3 bottom vents, keep open top vent until temp dial stops going up and stabilises then open up the bottom vents to about 20% open and top vent fully open. In Summer when ambient temp is much higher, I just use ordinary temp tap water, gets to temp pretty quick.

The idea of a waterpan is not only to keep temps stable, but the smoke mixing with the steam assists with the smoke penetrating the meat and keeps chamber moist. The Waterpan also acts as a diffuser plate so it keeps the heat indirect from the food.
They give you a much moister cook then an offset for example. Most bullet type smokers are quite easy to keep at temp, sometimes little adjustments are needed like closing a vent that is in the direction of wind to keep the coals burning equally and not off to the side.

The WGA on the other hand is just a small portable hibachi type grill, you can place a small tray of water in there for slower cooks just over the side where the fire is.

Cheers

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
Weber Performer Kettle
Weber WSM 18.5
SitDown
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:48 am
Location: West Auckland, NZ

Re: water pan ??

Post by SitDown »

Hi Davo
Thanks for your reply mate

Love to have a ceramic kamado, always wanted one when I first got into the low & slow game..... will never for me as I have a kayak fishing fetish where somehow, my spare cash always goes into fishing *shoulder shrug*
So the triple skin stainless bbq will take its place. Its all free at work, just spare time to make it
the smoke mixing with the steam assists with the smoke penetrating the meat and keeps chamber moist
This basically answers my question, thanks again.
I will fabricate a water pan for the new Q

Cheers
Baby Q + Rotisserie
GA + Rotisserie
WSM 14
Davo
Forum Administrator
Posts: 5330
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: water pan ??

Post by Davo »

Can't wait to see what you come up with.

A mate of mine loves his fresh water fishing around the Hunter Valley fishing for Bass, catch and release only, he reckons he hates eating fish.

I don't trust myself in a Kayak, I'm bound to get very wet and lose all my gear.

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
Weber Performer Kettle
Weber WSM 18.5
SitDown
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:48 am
Location: West Auckland, NZ

Re: water pan ??

Post by SitDown »

the water pan will sit directly under the cooking grill, was thinking about 30 - 50mil below
is this too close.....does this need more space between the meat & the pan
Baby Q + Rotisserie
GA + Rotisserie
WSM 14
Davo
Forum Administrator
Posts: 5330
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: water pan ??

Post by Davo »

No mate but the bottom grate foods will take a bit longer to cook because of it but it will be moist.

I rarely cooked anything on the bottom grate at all, never needed to really.

Just ensure if chicken is part of your cook, ensure it's on the bottom shelf as you don't want chicken drippings on other types of meat below for safety reasons.

Cheers

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
Weber Performer Kettle
Weber WSM 18.5
Cobblerdave
Posts: 104
Joined: Sat Oct 18, 2014 4:17 pm

Re: water pan ??

Post by Cobblerdave »

G’day
My first smoker was a home made mini WSM. A lot of these type makes used a large ceramic pot plant base as a moderator/ heat bank instead of water bowl. Reason being with no lower door it was hard to refill the water bowl. Tried this but not pleased with the results. Forever spritzing to get the moisture up. It does I recon make a diference to cooking times I recon it’s faster with water. And the meat I’m certain excepts the smoke taste more readily.
Went to filling the water bowl and refilling with a short length of garden hose with a funnel on top. Always boiled the jug for refills too as Davo mentioned.
Regards Dave
SitDown
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Nov 26, 2016 7:48 am
Location: West Auckland, NZ

Re: water pan ??

Post by SitDown »

thanks guys, good to know
Baby Q + Rotisserie
GA + Rotisserie
WSM 14
Post Reply