When smoking....

Scott

How do you keep drippings off of the coals? Do any of you put aluinum foil over them to prevent ash kick-up or burning fat from creating off flavors?

Steve-O

Scott,
Here is what I have learned on this forum. There are two primary ways of keeping meat drippings off of the charcoal: cooking direct with a drip pan; cooking indirect with a plate setter or fire brick set-up. A direct cook over a drip pan requires a second cooking grate.You place the drip pan on the first grate and the second grate on top of the drip pan; then add your meat right over the drip pan. A little water or fruit juice in the drip pan will keep the drippings from burning. For an indirect cook you will need a plate setter or fire bricks. With the plate setter you will only need the original cooking grate, but with fire bricks you will need a second grate. Most people also use a drip pan under the meat with this set up. There are others on this forum with far more experience than me, and they may have some other suggestions as well.

Citizen Q

Scott,
I keep my dome temp around 200 and use a v-rack with a detachable 2" wide drip tray and catch basin for single briskets or pork shoulders. When doing more than one cut of meat, I'll place the brisket directly on the main grid with a foil drip pan suspended beneath it by piano wire and the shoulder above it on a grid extender. When cooking at 200, the fire is so small that most of the fat that does drip onto the coals, misses the flame anyway, so I don't get too concerned about it. [p]Good Luck and Good Q,
C~Q

Marvin

Steve-O,
Cooking over a drip pan is also indirect cooking. Anything that comes between the food and the fire interrupts the direct effect of the heat on the food.

Steve-O

Marvin,
Yeah, I thought about that when I was writing my post, but also thought that thin piece of aluminum between the meat and the hot fire isn't going to do much compared to the ceramic plate setter or fire bricks. Chalk it up to inexperience - I'm still learning my way around. Maybe should have left the reply up to those with more experience.