Water pan = moist meat?

[Uncle Bob]

Humans seem to have a desire for single solution answers to whatever they see as a goal/problem. What can sometimes be called a "Silver Bullet" solution. Usually that isn't realistic as most operations have a range of factors/variables.

In the BBQ world many believe that adding a water pan to a cooker will assure a moister protein outcome. Here's a YT vid from a guy some of you will be familiar with wherein he does some measured testing on brisket outcomes: Everyone Is WRONG About Water Pans | Oklahoma Joe's
I doubt this is unique to an offset smoker. In a way, it also harpoons the idea that a wide open exhaust stack is the only method for offset cooking. Enjoy.

[Oak Smoke]

Great video, thanks Bob. This is one of the reasons I love my kamados so much. They use low air flow and have much higher internal humidity. I can cook hotter and faster without drying the protein out.

[Michael_in_TX]

That was a great video. It immediately made me think of my PBC and how I always get the best ribs in there in terms of juiciness than my other cookers. The PBC has minimal airflow out of it, similar to not opening a stack all the way.

I thought his speculation at the end of loading up a smoker with a lot of meat to get juicier meat was quite insightful.

(I was a little puzzled as to why he didn't just use a hygrometer to measure the humidity, but them I remembered that a wet-bulb thermometer is much more accurate for measuring evaporation, which is really what he was getting at.)

[Mosca]

I haven’t watched the video yet, but there is a misconception (one I had myself) that cooking in a wet environment keeps meat from drying out. This is not true. You can dry out meat while braising it, or stewing it, or boiling it, or steaming it. That’s what happens when you leave cubed beef in the chili too long and it gets tough. Meat dries out when the water is chased out, and you can never put the water back in.

[Henrik]

I’ll watch the video for sure, but before doing so, here are my 2 cents:

- a water pan will not increase moisture IN the meat. However, it helps fine tune the process of building bark. An offset has dry heat, so the water pan is needed.

- yes, cooking with a loaded smoker increases moisture, simply because the smoker can’t get all the humidity out the smoke stack fast enough. I know that from cooking for 250 people several times with my big offset smoker, loaded with many briskets and double digit pork bellies. But it’s not always good, because the thing that doesn’t turn out great is the bark. What I did to compensate? Cook at higher temps, typically 285 deg F, and rotate meat in the smoker.

[Lynn Dollar]

I've never thought a water pan was for moist meat. I've mostly used it for a heatsink. It stabilizes temps inside the cook chamber.

I was testing an old Westinghouse turkey roaster to use as a warming oven. When empty, the roaster had temp swings up to 25*. When I added a half pan with water, the temp swings tightened.

And in one of Meathead's books, actually, its on this site , he proves that a moist surface attracts or holds smoke better than a dry surface.