Stump's smoker moister

I own a Stumps Baby and like you I compared the two before buying the Stumps. I don't have any trouble with a lack of moisture and one of the reasons I choose Stumps over a Backwoods is I don't have to deal with the water pan, just something else to clean up. I am not knocking Backwoods smokers at all, they are a fine cooker but why clean another pan? IMHO

:biggrin1:

I have both, backwoods is a lot more humid then the stumps. That said, ribs and chicken I (personally) feel its better at ribs then the stumps. Lot of people making great q in both, this is just my personal opinion.

I have a stumps jr. I have had no issues with moisture at all. The smoker works very well and I couldn't be happier with the purchase. I cook both in pans and on the grates. No real difference either way in moisture levels. With a stumps if you want water you can easily set a pan of water on the bottom rack. I have never had the need for it but you can di it if you feel the need. I have thought about toying around with it but never felt it was needed.

I cook on a Superior Smoker SS-1 gravity fed (I know its not a Stumps, but it is a gravity fed smoker) and a BWS Fatboy. Just because a Backwoods has a water pan doesn't mean that the product is necessarily more moist; I used to cook ribs on the top rack of my BWS and they can sometimes get a little dryer than I like on the meat side because that side is so close to where the heat flows out on the BWS and is obviously the farthest from the water pan. Of course after wrapping or spritzing they are fine.

Superior offers a water pan standard with their smokers that is decent sized, so in a sense you have the best of both worlds if you want to use water or not. Kevin at Superior said he never uses his water pan and I haven't had to either and have not noticed a difference from using my Fatboy with a full water pan. In fact I made a point not to use water and to pay close attention to the moisture levels in butts, ribs, etc and there was no noticeable difference.

Add moisture to what exactly?

it will cook faster due to a more humid environment, do you want to deal with cleaning water up or clean out the stumps, assassin or whatever cooker you choose?


you can inject your meats, but a water pan doesn't add any moisture to your meat.

the water pan is there for temp control as much as it is anything, no need to burn the extra charcoal to boil water in a gravity fed insulated cooker.

cgel42 said:

Wornslick, thx for the reply!!!! I am really leaning towards a Stumps but it sure seems like the Backwoods are winning everything right now. Do you cook your meet in the pans or just on the racks?

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No problem, I have cooked both ways, no complaints either way.

If you want a water smoker buy a weber smokey mountain for 299.
jon

At a recent comp, the team next to us spritzed their meat while cooking on a Stumps. Not sure if it helped any, but something else to think about

I tried putting a tray of water on the bottom shelf of my Stump's prince and to be honest it didn't do much of anything to/for the meat.

It did however do a magnificent job of steam cleaning the interior. So now I get to start all over again with the cooker 'seasoning', dag-nab-it.

Russ

Maybe I'm wrong but, In a Stumps type smoker, if you place a water pan on the bottom rack, then water vapor only has one way to go and that's UP^^^ (around your food).. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but in Backwoods smokers, the heat and water vapor travel down since they draw air out the bottom of the smoker, I guess you could place a water pan on top rack of Backwoods since the vapor will be forced downward.. :typing::typing: