XL drip pan - 13x18 vs. 15x21

Canugghead

Bought the 13x18 yesterday, not significantly better than my 18" round.  Go for 15x21 (see cardboard cutout) instead? seems easy enough to bend the corners to fit, need to make sure there's enough clearance for expansion though.  Of course the larger one won't fit the AR, I'm thinking single level cook, or grid raised by nut/bolts or extender.

It's all @Cowdogs fault for leading me into this )  

GATABITES

I use the 18" round from ceramics grill store. I like the disposables better as I dont like to have to scrub the gunk after a cook. 

So you foil your 18"round when you use it? if so, do you wrap it good enough to not need to clean afterwards? 

Canugghead

I don't foil.  Just pour/scrape off the loose crud, then soak for couple of days, no heavy scrubbing required.

Canugghead

@Cowdogs - thanks for your great analysis in the other post.  The 15x21 will pick up too much heat, makes sense. Think I'll stick with the 13x18.

GATABITES

the 13x18 seems like a viable option. I seem to have uneven cooking on my ribs and am looking for an alternative for a heat shield like to oval stone (LBGE) provides for ribs. 

GATABITES

Here is a pic of ribs I did a couple months ago using the 17.5" stone and 18" drip pan.

Do you think the 13x18 will give the ribs more protection?

Canugghead

I usuallly put a small piece of foil under each end of the rack, it helps.  The back (hinge side) of the egg is usually hotter than the front, were the two dark ends towards the back? Turning the platesetter in an upside down "Y" configuration helps to cut down the heat at the back; once the egg is stabilised you can also lightly touch the dome (unless you have an infra red thermometer gun) to determine if one side is significantly hotter, you can then rotate the ribs as needed, sometimes I even remove everything and try to redistribute the glowing lumps the best I can.

IMO, for two racks flat, the 13x18 should help, especially if one of the short sides is facing the hottest part of the egg.

Cowdogs

  

GATABITES said:

Here is a pic of ribs I did a couple months ago using the 17.5" stone and 18" drip pan. Do you think the 13x18 will give the ribs more protection?

I think the first time I used the 13x18 sheet pan as a drip pan was after I had used it to prep a couple of racks of St. Louis ribs.  After seeing the 2 racks fit perfectly inside the pan, the light bulb finally came on.

GATABITES

@canugghead - Yes, the ribs that have the darker ends were towards the back of the egg. This was 4 slabs done using the AR and the top two racks got more heat. 

@cowdogs - are you confirming 13x18 the pans adds heat protection for ribs? 

Canugghead

GATABITES said:

This was 4 slabs done using the AR and the top two racks got more heat. 

If they were at top of AR and towards the back then IMO it's excessive  convection heat from the dome, not sure if the 13x18 could help significantly.  Sometimes you have to break the 'if you're lookin you ain't cookin' rule ... peek and rotate 

GATABITES

Canugghead said:

GATABITES said:

This was 4 slabs done using the AR and the top two racks got more heat. 

If they were at top of AR and towards the back then IMO it's excessive  convection heat from the dome, not sure if the 13x18 could help significantly.  Sometimes you have to break the 'if you're lookin you ain't cookin' rule ... peek and rotate 

yeah, i  should have rotated the ribs. I want to buy another oval grid so I can just pull the racks and swap them vs having grab the ribs and rotate them that way. 

Cowdogs

GATABITES said:

@cowdogs - are you confirming 13x18 the pans adds heat protection for ribs? 

Yes.  For 2 racks of ribs, or 2 pork butts, or a large brisket the small difference in the shape (compared to round) makes a big difference in heat protection.  

Canugghead

testing to see if my thread stays on page 999, or gets bumped by a new post