Last summer I bought a used 22wsm. I fell in love with it, however, the water pan, and in general it is just a lot of weight and work. I keep holding onto it, for multiple reasons I have come up with. So, as I sit and look at it. I say, why not pull out the water pan, the lower rack, or leave both racks in if both are needed, and use it on shorter rib smokes, with wood fire. Seems like it is not far off what a Drum smoker is set up. ??
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I seldom use the water pan in my 18" anymore. I find it is more trouble than it is worth. I use briquettes and wood chunks; I have a bag of lump I am going to try out on my next cook. Never tried it with just wood. -
I’ve never used one, so excuse the potential silliness of the questions. Does the water pan allow you to get a hotter, cleaner fire while helping to keep the temp down and does it act as a deflector? I take from klflowers ‘ answer, he uses it primarily as a deflector now. klflowers, without the water pan, are you BBQ’ing hotter now than you used to? If not, is the venting treated differently?Comment
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Richard Chrz I always liked water in the water pan of my 22 as well both for humidity and temp stability. It does use more fuel because of that but it does serve a purpose so I don’t know that I’d call it a waste necessarily.
When you take the door off, the bottom of the water pan hangs down a bit into the opening. Assuming you aren’t using the lower shelf for food maybe put the water pan on that? Use some chunks of wood to keep it from rocking maybe? That would free up some refueling space -
Richard Chrz I realized after thinking about this that you’d have to come up with a solution for a drip pan. I hated having to clean out the water/grease mixture. As others have said I started experimenting sans water pan a couple times but then I sold it.Last edited by Andrrr; December 1, 2020, 07:51 AM. -
It does run a little hotter without the pan, but I control it with the vents or the cyber q fan when I use the fan. The lower vents are at about 1/4 and the top at a little less than 1/2 for around 230. I don’t use the pan as a deflector either. I guess I am treating the wsm more like a pbc. If I want drippings, I put a small aluminum pan on the lower grate.
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I wonder if you dumped top soil into it, would it be a land fill?
maybe a planter for flowers.Comment
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Richard just ditch the water pan. I’ve posted dozens of times cooks done without one in mine. Yes it’s a heat sink that theoretically helps regulate temps, but as you say without it it becomes a PBC or drum cooker. I’ve gone fan controlled on mine so I don’t have regulation problems. Plus you get the dripping grease on the hot coals effect instead of a pan full of greasy water. I say ditch the sucker.
As to logs, I’ve done it a few times with mini logs and small splits. It works but it becomes like a stick burner, you have to baby sit it. Best to stay with KBB and wood chunks.
My 2 cents worth after using them for 5 years or so. Also, get a Hunseker hangar, best chicken out there cooking with one !!Comment
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While at the store earlier this week, we came across pork shoulder for 99 cents a lb. We bought 4 of them, and told my wife, It gives me a chance to pull out the big gun, Reached out to our neighbors, they are all scheduled to pick up Pulled pork tomorrow.
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Get a slow n sear.....Comment
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I think many folks use the WSM with an empty water pan. In that case, it just acts more as a drip pan. Put a piece of foil in it to keep from getting a huge mess - probably just needs to be a square big enough to catch grease and then let it burn off. Throw the foil out when done with the cook. No heavy water filled pan to deal with then.
Gateway makes a 55 gallon drum hanging kit that is said to fit the WSM22. BBQguys.com sells it here:
Might be cheaper elsewhere. I haven't looked.Last edited by jfmorris; December 4, 2020, 10:45 AM.Comment
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Whenever I run my friends WSM, I always leave the water pan out. I find that you get an awesome flavor from the fat dripping onto the fire. Basically, it runs much more like a PBC. I have never really found a use for water pans in smaller smokers like the WSM, kamados, Kettles, etc.
Sure you might need them in big rigs like a Yoder or LSG offset. I even use them in my KBQ where there is a ton of airflow. But in these smaller smokers, I really do not see a need. You can control the temp jsut fine with out one, it is more about getting the dampers dialed in and managing the fire. Plus, with out the water pan, there is less chance you spill water everywhere in the smoker or even better......you don't have to deal with greasy water when the cook is done.Comment
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I will jump back in and say that I think the water pan serves a purpose as a heat deflector if you want a more traditional smoked flavor profile from charcoal and wood chunks, versus the PBC grilled flavor profile. That fat dripping into the coals really does result in a different flavor profile than you get from just wood smoke.
I think it is almost paramount to have it in place (either dry or with water) if you are using the cooking grates, and want to have food on the lower grate, and have similar temps at the lower grate and the upper grate. If I wanted to cook 8 butts on a WSM22, I think I would only do that with the pan in place, maybe with water to help act as a buffer if smoking at 225. If I just wanted to use the top rack, then a dry pan would be fine. If I wanted a PBC flavor profile, take the pan out, or take it out and get a hanging kit.
I would almost bet that a lot of the dry pan folks, like Harry Soo, are just using the top rack.Last edited by jfmorris; December 4, 2020, 11:11 AM.Comment
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Richard Chrz are you feeding an army, or doing massive meal prepping with all that pulled pork?
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I've let my neighbors know that tomorrow they should plan on making pulled pork style meals for tomorrow. We have such excellent neighbors, so, I try every few months to hand out a bunch of smoked goodness, or some sort of bread, or quarts of homemade red sauce, granola, etc.. . They were .99 a lb, Could not resist.
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