Drip/water pan

I almost never use one.  I just scrape off the plate setter and rinse it before I use it the next time.  You'll hear that you have to do it because the drippings will burn and release bad smoke which will ruin your meat, hasn't happened to me yet.  I like to keep it as simple as I can. 

For like longer low and slow cooks some folks think waterpans help with moisture or bark formation, etc. Aaron Franklin says he always uses one with brisket. I'm pretty sure his is better than mine. . . so I'll listen to him.

I also don't like the drippings burning on the platesetter, so I get a two-fer. As long as you don't add cold water to a cook, it doesn't cause any problems, so I figured it can't hurt.

I also use an aluminum drip pan raised slightly off the plate setter. I often put some foil over it and just discard the foil when done..

vchelf said:

You don't need a water pan. I have one, but don't use it any longer. If I am worried about grease, I line plate setters, etc. with foil.

@xchelf - Lining the setter with foil will keep it clean, but it still gets very hot, even on low temp cooks. It is exposed to direct IR from burning lump. Drippings onto the foil can burn and provide an acrid smoke.

Haven't used water in the WSM in years.  Look into a "Piedmont Pan" mod on tvwbb.com.

Two Brinkman charcoal pans, SS bolts, wing nuts, and copper spacers is all you need.  Works great, saves on fuel as well.

For the egg, I am leary about anything aluminum.  Melted an aluminum drip pan doing wings, raised with spacers above the platesetter.  Like Skiddy explained, it gets really hot around the platesetter, even with an air gap.  Found a Chicago Metallic steel deep dish pizza pan that works great.  It has warped from the heat, but holds up with a single layer of foil over the top.

For low and slow cooks at 250-280, have found around the 5 hour mark, grease in the drip pan will burn.  To minimize, I add just enough water to coat the bottom of the drip pan.  For butt cooks, I add more and check every couple of hours due to evaporation.  Burnt grease is not a flavor profile you want on your end product, even if it is during the later stages.   

@Focker - man, you must have had some fire going. You have to stop cooking wings like @Mickey, he overcooks them a touch. )

You don't need a drip pan for grilling and pizza

KenfromMI said:

Skiddy, no intention on getting rid of it. I'm actually loaning it to a few people now for parties etc. On the BGE will a full ring of lump last 14 to 16hrs like the WSM18?  I have a 17lb Brisket I'm going to cook on the Egg. Also seems like the Egg will be tougher to add fuel to since it doesn't lift like the WSM.

I have smoked for 20 hrs on one load of lump. I still had enough charcoal left for 3 more cooks (burgers, wings, and a spatchcock chicken) without adding any lump. For this particular cook, I used Wicked Good Weekend Warrior and I couldn't believe how long it lasted. I had it filled to the top of the fire ring. 

Skiddymarker said:

@Focker - man, you must have had some fire going. You have to stop cooking wings like @Mickey, he overcooks them a touch. )

Aluminum will melt/burn in an egg as the egg is capable of 1200º temps - but only on a nuclear runaway. For most cooking I think foil is just fine in the egg. 

Yes I was/is aware of aluminum's melting point.  Was cooking wings indirect, not quite 500 dome if I recall.  Have done the same cook at 400 dome with no melting.  As you pointed out, it gets nuclear at the platesetter during high temp indirect cooks.

 

I agree, many can use aluminum and have it work just fine.  Prefer not to hover around and babysit my eggs dialing in a specific temp.  For baking, I do.  Often when grilling, it is a wider range.  Sometimes I overshoot that range significantly doing other things, not a crisis. 

 

Steel eliminated any chance of this happening again.  Not that I plan on doing another wing cook on the egg....but you never know.  

There are two other WSMs in my circle.  The others agree, that these two mods are a game changer for the "water smoker".

FWIW, with the "Piedmont Pan", I can cook on all three levels of my WSM with no problems.  My WSM cooks a little faster on the top grate.  I rotate items to even it out.  

>On the BGE will a full ring of lump last 14 to 16hrs like the WSM18?

A full load of lump will easily last this long. And an overfill, halfway up the fire ring, can easily last for 40 hours.

I used to follow the Edler Ward method from the Naked Wiz site. It advocated a temperature of 225, which I think now is a little underkill. Those cooks would often drag out two and a half hours a pound, almost 24 hours.

I would cook a couple butts overnight, starting around noon.
Butts would be done same time next day and on would go ribs or a flat. I'd pull the butt for lunch, and when the ribs were done five or six hours later they'd come off as appetizers. A spatchcock chicken goes on for the main meal, and cooked at higher heat for about an hour.

This was our standard 'welcome to the camp' Saturday dinner.

The egg running continuously (on the old WW lump or Royal Oak back then), for about thirty-plus hours. And of course, there would be lump left over even after that.

It's an efficient system.

I plan to experiment with a drip pan to see if a beer and garlic infusion would have any effect on a brisket.