drip pan too big???

citychicken

i purchased a 16 1/2" circular cake pan that fits perfectly within the legs of my large platesetter. thought it would make for a great drip pan when cooking indirectly.

this weekend did some bb ribs.

first cleaned large egg; fresh lump to top of firebox; firering; light egg; continue with setup; inverted platesetter; three 1/2' copper elbows as spacers; drip pan sitting on the copper pipe which is sitting on top of the inverted platesetter

here was the problem. dome temp did not get above 175 until i removed the cake pan. at one point i even had the bottom and top vents wide open. i believe i am a sufficiently experienced egger to rule out the typical fire temp control problems.

i wonder though if the drip pan may be too large and thus sufficiently restricts airflow. by the way with this setup the grilling surface is approximately the same level as the top of the bottom rim.

anyone have any thoughts or similar experience?

Richard Fl

I have a similiar pan that fits inside the legs when inverted on my large and found that if I have it full of water about 1 1/2 inches it takes forever to get to 250F. SO now I only fill it about 1/2-3/4 inch and works for my ribs. Sometimes I may have to add a little more water to keep about 1/2 inch in pan. HTH

citychicken

when you have that setup do you maintain normal vent settings for temp control or do you have to make adjustments to achieve the same temps?

Richard Fl

Do not remember. I just do it the "habit" method, but probably have the settings a little more open. After 4 years who keeps track. I forgot what I had for dinner last night.

gdenby

Often I make a quick drip pan out of HD foil. On my mediums, if I make a rectangular one that blocks about 80% of the air flow up from the coals, a 250 dome will drop to about 210, and stay there. Also, I have some perforated ceramic squares that I occassionally use as a heat shield. To get up to 350, I need to open the vents at least as far as I usually would for 450.

Unknown

Citychicken, I had the same occurance with a large round pan. Cutting some "ventilation notches" approximatley .750 wide x .625 deep along the periphery did the trick. Even with the notches there was still a lot of heat barrier for indirect cooking; much more than with a rectangular pan. With this pan in place the daisy top is removed and the bottom vent is opened much more than normal.

KaiserJorge

the drip pan is too big. i had the same problem using a 14" cast iron lid set atop TJV's Spider appartus. it restricted the airflow way too much, and i had to open all the vents just to hit 280 degrees. it took an entire load of lump (on a large egg) to to a 5 hour rib cook.

so, what i did was simply switch to a 12" cast iron lid as a drip pan, and just set it atop the Spider...except now, the Spider is in the "inverted" position such that it does not dip down below the firering.

try a smaller pan. i wouldn't go above 13". sure, some of the rib ends may get a bit dried out, but you can always just cover the ends with foil.

citychicken

thanks for all of your comments. !!!