No drip pan, no foil

BilZol

Other then using a pan under a rack for roasting a whole bird or cooking something over veggies as part of the cook I've never used a drip pan or a container holding liquid under the cook. I've never foiled my platesetter either. I've never considered using it inverted for a pizza stone since I have plenty of those around as well. I'll scrape it off and clean burn every now and then. Am I of the wrong mindset here or is it just a personal prefernce thing? Anyone else treating their platesetter with wreckless abandon like I am?

lousubcap

All I can say is "whatever works".  As you know, there are many ways to get there and I don't ever recall a hard mandate that "This is the way it must be done."  Have fun and enjoy the journey-

Jupiter Jim

It's working for you and that is what is most important. I bake cakes in my eggs and need a very clean plate setter and egg I will also do a clean burn when needed before baking breads or cakes.

Lit

I never used to but I got sick of going out to do a higher heat cook and having to wait a half hour to burn the gunk out. My wife got me the AR package a couple years back and it comes with a stainless drop pan that I foil and I use it all the time now it really makes life easier.

BilZol

I guess I'm kind of fortunate. I rotate which eggs I use so they are normally getting a hot cook at least once a week, normally no back to back slow cooks. We also do pizzas every couple of weeks or a reverse sear, then I dump everything into that grill while we're eating and cleaning up. I've got one gunky one right now that's getting chicken Friday then jacking up temp to clean. 
How aggrivating is it to keep the CGS drip pans clean? They are the reason I started this thread. I'm looking at getting an AR for one of my L's and take advantage of the spiders being on sale for the next few days when I saw them. 

theyolksonyou

My drip pans are all nasty. I just throw some foil over and cook. Throw foil away and leave drip pans on the ground for my dog and various creatures of the night to clean. Then refoil next cook. Easy peasy

Jupiter Jim

Drip pans are easy to clean if use a layer of foil, I do a double layer. I also can't say enough good words for the CGS and it's products.

theyolksonyou

The possums in my hood all have high cholesterol 

Lit

I don't clean it. I put one sheet of wide aluminum foil across it and if anything sticks it sticks to the foil. I will spray it with hot water every once in awhile to get grease off but that's about it. Don't think I have ever scrubbed it 

smokeybreeze

I don't use drip pans and I don't cover my plate setter with anything.
I'm with the "use these implements with abandon and stop worrying" camp.

I'll scrape my plate setter with my ash removal tool as needed and the occasional high temp cook or clean burn keeps things just fine for me.

I do probably 80+% of my cooks low and slow.

Oh, and I use my egg 12 months of the year and I live in MN.

My only issue is with the humid summer months where I need to close down all vents after the cook but re-open the top and bottom vents after the coals are cold to keep mold from trying to form in the moist cavern of the BGE.

Eggdicted_Dawgfan

Just curious, do you typically cook a brisket or a butt/shoulder without using anything to catch the grease and do you have no ill effects of the burning grease dripping into the fire? I only ask because I thought letting that amount of grease burn would change the profile of the final product. But my old gasser has "flavor bars" that supposedly add flavor as the grease  drips on them so that's kinda confusing too. 

smokeybreeze

That's correct, pork shoulder/butt and trimmed brisket without using anything to catch the drippings. These drippings land on the plate setter and do not directly drip onto the coals. If any of the drippings actually drip onto the coals, I do not know what percentage do.

Lit

If you are doing one shoulder it's not a huge issue to just let it drip on the plate setter as long as you are staying low in the 250 range. Turbo the drippings will start to burn and give a nasty taste. Also if you load the egg up ever with multiple shoulders you will have grease dropping off the platesetter. After going years without a drip pan it really is much easier to use a drip pan.

smokeybreeze

My low and slows are in the 215-235 range. I do not do turbo shoulder, brisket, ribs, or anything else.

In fact, if I'm using the plate setter, the only non low and slow cooks I do is my pizza setup - plate setter (legs down) plus the ceramic feet plus the BGE pizza stone (or the CI round griddle).

I've cooked two 8# shoulders, one 18# brisket, and up to six full rack baby backs in this low and slow way on my large BGE and it's been exceptional.

BilZol

I've never had any bad flavors due to the drippings on the PS. I have a small masonary tool I use to scrape the buildup after the cook. 

bgebrent

Going naked only roils the boys who don't.  If your doing L &S, drip pan matters.

Lit

BilZol said:

I've never had any bad flavors due to the drippings on the PS. I have a small masonary tool I use to scrape the buildup after the cook. 

I didn't think so either until I started using a drip pan. 

BilZol

Lit said:

BilZol said:

I've never had any bad flavors due to the drippings on the PS. I have a small masonary tool I use to scrape the buildup after the cook. 

I didn't think so either until I started using a drip pan. 

Well, CGS has me suckered in with the 40% off spider and I can't navigate their website worth a darn so they'll get a call later today about an AR setup for one of my L's. I'll probably order a couple of drip pans to boot, and another wok, and, and, and,.......  Most likely won't even end up with the spider. That's how they got me last time. Cunning folks with awesome products. 

northGAcock

theyolksonyou said:

The possums in my hood all have high cholesterol 

Careful...PETA will be on your arse.

Miked125

I have an AR but I either just scrape it off of flip the stone the next time I cook.

minniemoh

BilZol said:

Lit said:

BilZol said:

I've never had any bad flavors due to the drippings on the PS. I have a small masonary tool I use to scrape the buildup after the cook. 

I didn't think so either until I started using a drip pan. 

Well, CGS has me suckered in with the 40% off spider and I can't navigate their website worth a darn so they'll get a call later today about an AR setup for one of my L's. I'll probably order a couple of drip pans to boot, and another wok, and, and, and,.......  Most likely won't even end up with the spider. That's how they got me last time. Cunning folks with awesome products. 

They have certainly gotten a bunch of my money. All money well spent however. 

The spider can be pretty handy and for 40% off, why not! I also have the stone for the spider as well as a CI grid (from SBGE). Works great for reverse sears. The other nice thing about it is that it lets you do 3 tiers of cooking grids. The only time I ever do this is for smoking bacon. I can fit 3 slabs of belly in this way.

One other thing that I discovered is how handy the 16" drip pan is for the LBGE. I use it for multiple butt cooks (when I have the AR in use with a brisket) and for the largest of spatchcock turkeys at Thanksgiving. The added indirect coverage with this on top of the platesetter works well for me. I ended up with it when I they had a package deal on drip pans. It's not something you'll use everyday but I'm glad I have it. I think I have at one of every size drip pan they sell.

WeberWho

I usually keep a roll of tin foil near the egg. I'll thrown down a sheet across the plate setter. Sometimes I'm just lazy and go without. My platesetter is full of crud more times than not.  

JethroVA

Some are tighty whiteys, some are boxers and some go commando. Whatever works. 

BilZol

Spoke with Tom today. The AR isn't the set up for me on my L since the larger cooks would go on my XL with the AR. He was quite thorough and thoughtful, told me what videos to look at, etc... Going with the Woo, wok, and a few other things. Had I not had the AR for the XL the story would be different. 

smokeybreeze

WeberWho said:

I usually keep a roll of tin foil near the egg. I'll thrown down a sheet across the plate setter. Sometimes I'm just lazy and go without. My platesetter is full of crud more times than not.  

I'm with WeberWho, don't put too much thought into this and just start cookin' (often).

Terrebandit

I smoked two 10 lb butts last night and the volume of grease was immense in my pan. I can't imagine letting that drip all over the ceramics below the grate without creating a mess somewhere down the road, not to mention a potential sanitary problem. 

smokeybreeze

Terrebandit said:

I smoked two 10 lb butts last night and the volume of grease was immense in my pan. I can't imagine letting that drip all over the ceramics below the grate without creating a mess somewhere down the road, not to mention a potential sanitary problem. 

I dunno, I've cooked two 10#ers at once without a drip pan and have never had grease end up in the ash pit under my coals. My plate setter was all crusty but I've never had a second thought about not using a drop pan.

Perhaps the bone-in butts I get in my locale are leaner?! I dunno...

BilZol

I've never had grease in my ash pit either. I did four butts on my XL a couple of weeks ago without a drip pan and they were Sams club ones. 

Lit

You guys saying it's fine not using a pan wait till you use one and see how much faster your eggs burn clean after. Use search history and go back about 5 years and I was saying the same thing you are. It works fine without and with beef and pork the drippings burning don't ruin the food like chicken does but it really is easier to use a pan.

Focker

Yeah, when you see the grease buildup from butts, brisket, ribs, chicken, and smell it burning away, don't want that sh!t in my fire, or soaked into my ceramic.  

All of my smokers get a foil lined pan.  Every time.  Even the drip pan outside of the KBQ, and the bottom of the KBQ gets a line of Al.  Makes cleanup a breeze too.

blasting

JethroVA said:

Some are tighty whiteys, some are boxers and some go commando. Whatever works. 

I'm generally in boxers while applying the foil.