Bristket- Water Pan or No?

Scotbradly725

Ok, so I have seen several posts for briskets, some say yes to a water pan, some say no. I would like to hear opinions as to yes or no and why or why not. Thanks!

Scottie the BGE rookie.

Egglegal_Alien

I'm on the "yes" team on this one, a couple of pointers tough:

1. Use just a little water, the brisket itself will contribute a fair amount of liquid, the water will help it not to char on the drip pan.

2. Use some kind of spacer between the Plate Setter and the pan, anything that'll raise the pan about an inch should be fine, this way you have no direct heat transfer from the stone to the pan, you wont steam the brisket, and the pan won't dry out and contribute foul charred dripping smoke.

nolaegghead

I don't use one because it's messy to clean up, but they do help slow down the cook and let the inside meat temp catch up with the outside.  They also act as a buffer if you have spikes in temp (from opening), but really not that important in this regard.  They increase the humidity slightly and you'll burn more lump at a given dome temp.

All these things influence the cook and the final product, for better or worse, depends on how and what you're cooking.

Carolina Q

I'm no brisket expert, but I can read. I have never seen anyone say that a water pan is needed for any egg cook.

Unless, for some obscure reason, you're cooking pasta on the egg.

Scotbradly725

Egglegal_Alien said:

I'm on the "yes" team on this one, a couple of pointers tough:

1. Use just a little water, the brisket itself will contribute a fair amount of liquid, the water will help it not to char on the drip pan.

2. Use some kind of spacer between the Plate Setter and the pan, anything that'll raise the pan about an inch should be fine, this way you have no direct heat transfer from the stone to the pan, you wont steam the brisket, and the pan won't dry out and contribute foul charred dripping smoke.

That's where my problem lay! I put the drip pan directly on the plate setter!

SGH

@Scotbradly725‌
If I may I would like to offer my findings on the use of a water pan. First let me say that there are others on here who have been using the egg far longer than I have so you may wish to seek their council instead of mine. That being said here are my findings and conclusion on the use of a water pan. In ceramic type cookers ( Big Green Egg, Kamado Joe, Vision, Bayou Classic, Komodo Kamado etcetera ) a water pan is not necessary. It doesn't hurt a thing if you chose to use one but that being said I feel it doesn't offer much in the ceramics as far as aiding the cook. I feel a drip pan is a must but not a water pan. Now let's move to the other end of the spectrum if you will. Offset stick burners and wood burning vertical cabinets. This is the arena in which a water pan does aid in the cook. In these type of cookers you are burning wood. Literally. Unlike the ceramics which are dependent on smoldering lump. Offsets and verticals are fed a constant diet of fresh wood throughout the cook to maintain temp. The ceramics are not. The offsets and verticals impart far more smoke to the cooking chamber than the ceramic cookers. When cooking in the big units with a much higher ratio of smoke the humid environment makes it much easier to control the color of the said meat. It also allows for a longer dwell time in the smoker without over cooking if all other variables are equal. It also serves as a heat sink as well. Volumes could be wrote on this subject and I will be happy to go into more detail if you would like. But I hope this at least answers some of your questions my friend.

nolaegghead

@SGH - I agree with you - you don't need a water pan on the egg.  The humidity is higher in the egg because you don't have as much by-pass air as a stick burner, not as much smoke because you're burning lump rather than wood.  With or without a water pan, the humidity is mostly non-condensing given the meat temp (except for the beginning of the cook).  I don't know very much about stick burners or reverse flow smokers, but I would hazard a guess they have lower humidity than the egg when it's operating at peak efficiency. 

Scotbradly725

Thanks guys! I also noticed that I was getting some condensation out the top of my egg during the cook. I'm assuming this is from too much moisture in there with the waterpan. I'll dry a raised dry drip pan next time and see how that turns out!

SGH

@Scotbradly725‌
Give the raised drip pan a try and I think you will like it much better. First you won't have to contend with the hassle of the water. Second your meat will cook some what faster. Note -The more moist the environment the longer the meat must dwell in the cooking chamber to reach internal temp. As I said above there are certainly times when this is a advantage but on the ceramics it's minimal at best. The ceramics by nature are already a pretty moist environment due to being almost air tight so the addition of water offers very little. Again a water pan is not necessary but if you chose to use one it will not hurt any thing at all. It will just add time to the over all cook and increase fuel consumption considerably. I hope this helps my friend.

Billy Grill Eggster

The raised drip pan can be on aluminum foil balls. I used a throw away aluminum pan on the foil balls.

JRWhitee

+3 on the no water pan. @SGH and @Nolaegghead are spot on. 

Scotbradly725

Well, sounds like I've got my answers! And yeah, cook times are long enough as it is without adding time!!! I will try the raised dry pan method on my pork butt I'm doing this weekend.

JRWhitee

I am doing a packer Brisket for Monday the same way, i will post the cook with pics. Good luck.

Hoosier_Patriot

I'm a newbie here, but I want to "follow" this conversation (want to see JRWhitee's pics) how do you follow a conversation in this forum? 

nolaegghead

You can bookmark it with the little star in the upper right of the post.

JRWhitee

Thanks @hoosier_Patriot I just cleaned the egg and loaded the charcoal will be starting the egg tomorrow evening. I have a brisket and two 10lb Butts.

GATABITES

my last 2 briskets i didnt use a water pan. Just make sure you have enough fat on the brisket to keep the meat moist. My first couple brikets I definately over trimmed. 

nealcr1

@JRWhitee‌ ‌ ‌ - Where are you getting your packers in ATL?

Terrebandit

I've never used a drip pan with water.

JRWhitee

@nealcr1 At the Restaurant Depot.