Cover the water pan?

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MrMike

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I plan on smoking a boneless turkey breast on Thanksgiving and practicing this weekend. I have a ton of info, but one piece of information I've seen in a couple of places is to leave the water pan empty and cover it with foil. Am I safe in assuming that the water pan is unnecessary because the bird has been brined? Or if I do go with my usual water pan, am I gonna wind up with a really soggy bird?

Mike
 
I don't know who said to "leave the water pan empty and cover it with foil" but it's bad advice. Some will advocate water and some will advocate sand. But I don't want to get into that debate again.

Mike, this topic has been beat to death to hell and back a dozen times at least. Do yourself a favor and search this forum for water pan or sand pan and then make up your own mind (as long as its to go with water).

Oh $hit. Did I say that?
 
I'm cooking on a Brinkmann gasser - I've had decent results with it as long as I can keep it out of the wind. I'll probably run the temp on the high side (250 - 275) because from everything I've read here is that poultry can use the higher temps.
My apologies if the the 'foil the pan' thing was beaten to death - I generally look for the answer first before post. My intitial search ('foil the water pan') didn't really help much. My gut instinct is to go with the water pan as usual. If it winds up soggy, I can always dry it out on the grill rotisserie....

Mike
 
Interesting. I never would have thought to leave it empty but did some digging and it doesn't have to do with brining. Reason is so that you have pure drippings at the end of the cook in order to make gravy. From the virtual bullet site:

"[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]Line the water pan with wide, heavy duty aluminum foil, but suspend the foil 1-1/2" above the bottom of the pan so it does not touch. This prevents the drippings from burning. Assuming you don't oversmoke the turkey, the drippings will be perfect for making gravy—in fact, they're already seasoned by any rub applied to the turkey.[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]As you remove the turkey from the cooker, pour the accumulated juices inside the body cavity into the water pan. You can also use the juices left in the bottom of a rimmed baking pan after letting the turkey rest before carving.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana,Helvetica,Arial]It's not uncommon to end up with about 1-1/2 cups of drippings."[/FONT]

turkeyselect2.jpg
 
I just did a bone in turkey breast yesterday and i made a catch all out of foil on my pan. left just enough room to hold to drippings. worked fine for me. bird was super moist and good color. and had plenty of drippings for gravy. you can see the pics in the weekend cook thread.
 
very cool. I suppose you could fill your water pan 1/2-3/4 way then do the same thing. Not sure what it would buy you in the long run...
 
tommykendall said:
very cool. I suppose you could fill your water pan 1/2-3/4 way then do the same thing. Not sure what it would buy you in the long run...
Click to expand...

That's pretty good idea TK. I'd poke a few vent holes along the edge.
 
I agree with marks post...make a decision...as long as it;s sand. I;ve filled mine with sand and covered with heavy duty foil. It's da bomb!!! Just choose one way and try it out. I'm sure it's personal. I will say i;ve never used water in any of my smoking and nevr had dry meats. Lucky??? Or unnescessary? Scott
 
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