Humidity versus Bark on Backwoods Smoker

[DWCowles]

vandy I ask Ben Lang 1001 questions when Ipick up the stickburner and using a water pan was one of them and he said there is no need for it. He said when you get ready to cook to built a hot fire to heat the steel and let get to 300 F. When it reaches 300 F spray the inside of the chamber to create steam. Also the logs will help to produce moisture. He also say that if I do use a water pan to see how dark the water gets. If it gets to dark that means there's to much dirty smoke.

[vandy]

DW, I do that same thing every time I fire up my Lang it cleans the inside of the smoker plus adds some steam but it does not last that long. As soon as the water is evaporated there is no more steam or moisture except from the fat dripping that creates steam.

[vandy]

I also talked to a guy on the Lang forum and he always uses a water pan under his meat so I guess the answer is what ever works for you just go with it. Like I said I have not cooked a butt on this thing yet but when I do I think I will try it without water.

[DWCowles]

vandy the wood will provide the moisture

[ecowper]

After starting with a Hasty Bake, I spent that last 10 years slow cooking on the Big Green Egg. I recently moved to a Backwoods Smoker because I wanted to try smoking in a more humid environment ...

I sorta skipped right over this jimchall .... That's three pretty high end platforms there. Do you still have the Hasty-Bake and BGE, I hope? They are two of the best cookers of their type that you can have, after all.

[jimchall]

Loved all ecowper! Hasty Bake didn't last long - built stronger now. Loved BGE - sold to my sister! Wanted to try cooking with moisture. Plus, the Backwoods capacity is awesome. I just cooked 70 pounds of pork butts for the 4th of July, and they were fantastic (except I'm missing the bark....)!!

[ecowper]

I'm sorta amazed about the Hasty-Bake. They must have had some sort of quality control or build materials issues, or something. I got mine in 2010 and I'm just now thinking I need a lifting mechanism for the firebox. And I cook on it pretty much every weekend, year round.

[Meathead]

I am a strong believer in water. Water adds thermal mass and helps keep temp low. Sand can let heat ramp up high. Water cannot heat beyond 212. Humidity also condenses on the meat, slows cooking time to allow better collagen conversion. It also attracts smoke. That said, bark is jerky. It is dried meat mixed with spices. So moisture can kill bark, and that is a problem with water smokers. I have a Backwoods party and I start with water in it and as the water dries out the coals are dieing. If you let the water run out, the temp can run up, and that is good for bark, but it can get away from you. If you manage the timing (tricky) the temp won't run up. The other option is to remove the water or water pan near the end of the cook to dry out the bark, or move the meat to a grill or indoor oven.

Interestingly, the best competition meats I have tasted, the cook has willingly sacrificed bark for tenderness.

[Breadhead]

Do you ever use a water pan in your BGE?

[jimchall]

Thanks Meathead! I kinda figured that I should just experiment with how long to go without water if I wanted to create a bark toward the end of the cook. The moisture has definitely made for more tender meat all the way around.

[ecowper]

I am really curious about sand a la Harry Soo, so going to give it a try. My suspicion is that I won't like how the WSM handles with sand rather than water.

[rat88]

I have never been a big bark guy, mainly because I used more of a texas style rub (salt, pepper/ cajun spices) , have a 7 gallon water pan in my vertical hog smoker and wrap after stall and /or 3-2-1 on ribs. I have recently started using sugar rubs and an offset smoker with a 1 qt water pan on the hot end, just to try something different. The first cook using that setup had good bark. My wife's first comment was "why did you burn them". My question for meathead is, does bark/ sugar rubs have any effect on smoke ring or smoke penetration. I have read the sections on bark and the science of the smoke ring, but I am still a little confused on all that. It seems to me that the crust, while it may hold moisture in, it would also keep the smoke out and that is the "spice" you cant inject (or maybe it is but that is an entirely different discussion)

[DWCowles]

I will NOT change on how I cook not using a water pan. If it ain't broken why fix it?

[Breadhead]

jimchall ... commented
July 19th, 2016, 11:45 AM
Thanks Breadhead! Backwoods capacity is awesome! I think the added moisture makes for more tender butts and briskets than my BGE, and they taste smokier too. Now if I could just get that awesome bark too....


Jim... You say smokier than in your BGE. I think most Kamado owners struggled on learning how to increase or decrease the amount of smoke flavor they wanted on their meat from their cooker.

Recently CeramicChef posted a game changing new method for increasing smoke flavors in a Kamado. It's brilliant and works like magic. With this method you could easily over smoke any meat to the point it would be nasty tasting. Check it out.

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/fo...-got-em-part-2

[Potkettleblack]

One suspects that the humidity from a water pan increases the ability for the meat to absorb smoke flavor. Maybe water pan through the stall, then remove at say 170, and go dry for bark.