Has anyone used the new sns 2.0 without the water pan on low and slow cooks?
-
-
That water pan is going to steam out pretty quickly - I imagine lots of folks don't refill. It depends on what you're cooking, what you're looking to achieve - lots of variables here... -
I’m not talking about refilling I’m saying don’t use it at all.Comment
-
I have the old model, so I can't remove it. But it seems to me that leaving the tray in place would help prevent radiant heat from reaching the bottom of your protein. That may or may not be a good thing...Comment
-
I use the 2.0 in the 26†kettle. I’ve tried with and without. Similar results in terms of food taste. It’s most helpful for me though in helping to control temperature. I’m still gathering data and notes on it but temp spikes seem to be less drastic with the water pan full and the food cooks more uniformly. That really helps when the SnS starts burning coals in the wider middle section. When I don’t fill reservoir I find that parts of food nearest fire cook faster and temperature is harder to control.Comment
-
I have a Performer and pre-SNS I used a Smokenator. If the water ran dry in the Smokenator the temperature of the kettle always went up substantially. I have the original SNS and I never had the water pan run dry on a low and slow cook until just recently. The only change I made to the Performer was for the first time I foiled off the coal grate except the portion directly under the SNS (the theory being bottom vented air is directed to the coals). With the foiled coal grate method the temperature in the kettle was definitely higher than without and I struggled with "re-learning" my cooker temperature control settings after the cook started. I am pretty certain the higher temps at the beginning of the cook before I got things under control contributed to the water running dry.
Interestingly, there was no temperature spike when the water ran dry like in the Smokenator days. I finished the cook without adding water (probably 3 hours of a 10 hour cook) and there was no difference in the meat.
So now I need to test foil or no foil on the grate and water or no water in the SNS? Or I am thinking I take the foil off of the grate and go back to what worked for me in the past (10 hours of controlled temperatures with water). My thinking is sometimes it is best to not change what works.
Comment
Comment