Offset Smoker Water pan question

Peter B said:

The temperature on my offset got away from me over the weekend. I was cooking at 275/300 instead of the desired 225. I was running around doing a bunch of stuff and just didnt have the time to dedicate to watching the firebox. In hindsight, I am thinking that a water pan would have helped to regulate the temperature a bit but what is the best way to add water to an offset?

Fill a foil pan with water and move it close to the firebox or just pour water into the bottom of the main cooking chamber?

Any insight will be greatly appreciated.

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what type of offset do you have

you can add tuning plates to it. is the steel painted or coated?

I have a Chargriller, I don't use a water pan because all it does is cause you to use more fuel.
Are you burning charcoal in the firebox or wood? If wood, take some out. If charcoal shut the intake to the firebox and ride it out. IMHO your cooking temps of 275°-300° are not too high.

Looked at JJ's web site, looks like most of his pits are traditional offsets. If you have tuning plates or a baffle, you could just use a throw-away foil pan on top of the tuning plates/baffle, put it on the firebox end af fill with your favorite liquid - apple juice is my go to.

i am pretty positive that you wont rust the steel as long as its protected. and place a foil pan on top of the tuning plate, or use sand instead of water. I use sand in my WSM (pain to keep adding water)

Peter B said:

I like the foil pan on top of the tuning plate idea. It doesn't take away cook space and I don't fill the bottom of the cooking chamber with liquid.

Thank you very much for this.

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UR Welcome. Until recently my pit could be set-up as a traditional offset with spaced tuning plates or as RF with a solid baffle plate. I used the traditional offset configuration for chickens & turkey's to get the skin crispy, but also used the foil pan idea for an AJ pan to try an keep moisture in the pit - seemed to work pretty good. I've since decided to rebuild my pit as a dedicated RF and I'm in the middle of the rebuild now. That all said, as you get more time on your pit and learn fire management through trial and error, I think you will find just managing the fire will give you resuts you will be proud of without a water pan. Good luck!

. I was cooking at 275/300 i

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Those are normal BBQ temps. Waterpans are for ECB's. Do you know what the difference is in cooking at Normal temps Vs just above jerky making temps??? More Sleep and a Moister Product. As much as I can't stand that White haired Ga Boy with a an attitude He's won more Beauty Pageants cooking H&F than anyone cooking at 225.:doh:

Bludawg said:

Those are normal BBQ temps. Waterpans are for ECB's. Do you know what the difference is in cooking at Normal temps Vs just above jerky making temps??? More Sleep and a Moister Product. As much as I can't stand that White haired Ga Boy with a an attitude He's won more Beauty Pageants cooking H&F than anyone cooking at 225.:doh:

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Agreed. 275ish is prime in my offset. Q comes out better at that temp than 225.

IMO 225 is a very low temp for bbq. Personally I prefer 250-275 for pork and beef, 300ish for chicken. Try it and I bet you won't go back! Good luck

J-Rod said:

IMO 225 is a very low temp for bbq. Personally I prefer 250-275 for pork and beef, 300ish for chicken. Try it and I bet you won't go back! Good luck

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I used to smoke at 225 and after messing around at 250 for a couple cooks, I am a firm believer this is the proper temp. As you said, "once you go 250, you won't....." errr you get the idea :biggrin1:

As for the chicken, I like to start it at about 310 and bring it down to about 280 for the rest of the cook

Just takes a little time. Try this thread and see if it helps:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/showthread.php?t=149614

Bludawg said:

Those are normal BBQ temps. Waterpans are for ECB's. Do you know what the difference is in cooking at Normal temps Vs just above jerky making temps??? More Sleep and a Moister Product. As much as I can't stand that White haired Ga Boy with a an attitude He's won more Beauty Pageants cooking H&F than anyone cooking at 225.:doh:

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+1
my vault likes to run 300-310 with just a 3/4 ball valve open cooking dry and no guru, so i let it. your food gets done quicker and its moister. 225 your just heating the food to death. yeah ol myron....... i had been to a couple cookoffs in my day and saw people cooking 275-350 but i always thought low and slow 225 was the only cook temp till i saw him on tv and winning lots of trophies and talkin about "why do in 12 hrs what you can do in 5-6 hrs and make a hell of alot better product?" so i started migrating my temps up and food just started getting better and better and before you know it, i can cook a brisket @350 and still make a super awesome product. 300 is still the bees knees to me and 350 for chicken. once you find the temp your pit likes to cruise at, thats the temp you need to cook at. its so much easier

It just sounds to me like you need to start with a much smaller fire. I have a cheap offset and I start with about a half a chimney of coal and a large split or maybe two small ones. If you are using charcoal as the primary fuel you may want to go to wood. The problem with the charcoal is that it has the potential of too much igniting at one time, even using the minion or similar method. The reason is that an offset needs more constant airflow than an Egg or a WSM and in order to keep the thin blue smoke that you want you have to leave the dampers open for ventilation whereas the smaller verticals or ceramic cookers are more suitable for charcoal and are capable of running with less airflow. So try starting with a little coal for a quicker bed of coals with a split or two and then feed a split as needed (about every 45 min. seems to be the consensus) to keep the temp steady. Just keep the fire small and hot so that every time you add a split it combusts. The result will be a steady temp without having to choke down on the intake and the nice blue stuff coming out of the stack, which of course should be wide open. Good Luck!:-D P.S. I always cook with a water pan. The humidity it creates evens out the temp in the cooker, helps smoke to penetrate the meat and helps preserve moisture.