It's not the heat, it's the humidity

[Swine Spectator]

This may be a long-ish post, but I will try to keep it coherent:

I have long felt like my barbeque comes out much better when I do big cooks. The fuller my cooker is the better. I often have mixed results when doing small cooks. Now, it could be that I pay more attention and work harder when there is more on the line. Big cooks are generally for big crowds and I can't afford (financially or reputationally) to screw up.

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=731&pictureid=10187

However, I often wonder if there is something else. Does my cooker cook better when its loaded? If so, why? I did a cook on my Shirley a few weeks ago with one rack of babybacks. I could have used the WSM, but I just felt like tending a fire. They came out Ok, but not great. My currently thinking is that it may be due to the humidity level in the smoker.

If you have lived in the south, you are probably familiar with the phrase "It's not the heat, it's the humidity". We call it the "Heat Index" and the local weatherman reports it all summer. Scientists call it "apparent temperature (https://www.weather.gov/ama/heatindex)".

When you are hot you sweat and the evaporation of the sweat cools your body. As humidity increases, your sweat evaporates more slowly and you feel hotter. Look at the chart below (note that the actual temperature hasn't increased, it just feels hotter because your sweat isn't evaporating to cook you down):

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/picture.php?albumid=847&pictureid=13846

Is there an analog in cooking? I think so. We are all familiar with the "stall" where the temperature in our meat flatlines as liquid evaporates in the meat. Some folks wrap in foil or butcher paper to push through the stall by preventing the evaporative cooling.

Aaron Franklin strongly recommends the use of a water pan and also wraps in butcher paper. Myron Mixon's cookers have a water pan and I believe that he wraps in foil.

My current thinking is that when my cooker is full there is more humidity from evaporation and drippings and that may make for a better end product. I am going to experiment with a water pan on my next few cooks and see fi it makes a difference. I went to Restaurant Depot yesterday and bought a 4" x 21" hotel pan. Since my Shirley is a reverse flow, I intend to put it at the opposite end of my cook chamber from the firebox so that the additional water vapor it generates will flow across the meat.

Does all of this make sense? I welcome any thoughts the brethren (and sisteren) may have.

David

[Swine Spectator]

Addendum: I am hoping that this will also reduce stall times in my cooks.

[RickAllen]

Yes humidity / moisture is very important. This is why the WSM and many other smokers come with large water pans.

Smoke flavor is transferred to the meat through water vapor. It's the water that is allowing the smoke to flavor the meat with smoke flavor. As you can imagine, that same water is allowing the meat to absorb other flavors as well. The temperature of the meat is also important to absorbing smoke flavor. But once again it is also important to absorbing other flavors as well.

When you have a lot of meat in one chamber you get a kind of rotisserie effect. One meat is not directly influencing the taste of the one below it as in a rotisserie, but a similar effect thorugh water vapor in the cook chamber is doing a similar effect where the off shoots in water vapor are collecting and influencing the flavors of other meats in the chamber. Just as the meat is absorbing smoke flavor, it is absorbing other flavors in the cook chamber as well that are aerosolized and transferred through water vapor contact. Some old pit masters would throw onions, rosemary, and other things directly into the fire for two purposes, one to help draw in a crowd to buy the stuff through better smelling smoke, the other in the belief that the vapors given off also help to flavor the meat.

People debate either way if all of this is true. But if smoke flavor is transferred then it can be assumed that many other flavors are as well that could be aerosolized in the cook chamber. Humidity and spraying would obviously have a lot of impact in that process. As well, it can be assumed that everything in the cook chamber has a slight effect on everything else in the chamber. The bigger the chamber, the more moisture, and the more items in the chamber the greater this effect should theoretically be. However, it is also stated that these reactions mostly happen at the beginning of the cooking process and once the meat goes so far into cooking and a bark has been applied then less of these flavors are absorbed.

But there is a lot of debate and conflicting information on this. At this point you are in the area where many people have their own opinions on it, some based on science, others just based on conjecture, but both defended like their sisters honor.

[RickAllen]

Also, a water pan seems to have a greater effect the more the water is heated. This is why a slow and sear works well to add a lot of humidity to the cook chamber because the water is often boiling because it is right next to the coals and in between the fire and the meat. So putting a water pan on the coldest part of your gill may have of course the lowest effect on helping the cook chamber get humidity. Instead, it would make more sense to put the water chamber closer to the source of the smoke and heat. Also in these kinds of reactions the temperature of the water, what else may be in the water, the amount of surface area the water has etc all play a part. People also use beer and other things instead of just water.

I have no information in my books about what the best temperature the water source should be, whether boiling, simmering, or just sitting there at 250 like everything else. Maybe someone with more experience and knowledge can chime in.

[pjtexas1]

My best ribs have come off the shirley and I only cook 2-3 at a time. Filling the shirley with briskets I never noticed anything other than it seemed like they took longer to cook. Put me in the camp that doesn't believe water helps. I don't even use water in my cookers designed to use water. It's not that I haven't tried water. But I don't bash those that do. Sometimes just believing in a process or whatever gives you the confidence to cook a little better.

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[RickAllen]

My best ribs have come off the shirley and I only cook 2-3 at a time. Filling the shirley with briskets I never noticed anything other than it seemed like they took longer to cook. Put me in the camp that doesn't believe water helps. I don't even use water in my cookers designed to use water. It's not that I haven't tried water. But I don't bash those that do. Sometimes just believing in a process or whatever gives you the confidence to cook a little better.

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There are a lot of reasons why someone may feel that a water pan doesn't help. It depends a lot on how things are cooked.

1. Many of these meats already have a lot of water in them. So they lose a ton of fluids anyway when being cooked over a low and slow cook. So there may already be enough fluid on the meat to absorb smoke and other flavors without any needed humidity.

2. You may be in an area like I am in South Florida that already has super high humidity and adding a water chamber on the cold side of the grill may only be adding little more moisture than is already in the ambient air being sucked into the grill from the vents and added to the chamber from the meat itself.

3. Rubs, sauces, brines, etc all coat the meat and are already flavoring the outside of the meat. Any subtle flavor added by water vapor transfer are going to be secondary or overpowered by other flavors added to the meat.

4. It is stated that as the meat temperature rises it absorbs less flavors from water vapor contact, like smoke. So there is a limited window of time where these flavors can be added and they may certainly be overpowered or lost over time.

5. Smoke is a strong flavor and other subtle flavors like tossing onions on the coals may be completely lost when spraying the meat with apple cider or other sprays.

There are even more good and valid reasons why people state that adding water pans doesn't help. The science states that it is a valid reaction that is measurable. But whether the final outcome is even noticeable considering the rubs, injections, and sprays that are all used during or before the cooking process is another matter entirely. As well, lets not forget all the fluids and products added to a meat when it goes to wrap like parkey, butter, beef flavorings, brown sugar, honey, etc.

So the final outcome is often debated whether it helps or not. But the science explaining why it helps is sound. It's whether it truly matters to the final outcome depending on all of the other things that we do during cooking that is debated.

[Swine Spectator]

...Put me in the camp that doesn't believe water helps. I don't even use water in my cookers designed to use water...

I never use water in my WSM, but the drippings always sizzle.

I am going to test the water pan in the Shirley. If it doesn;t make a difference, I'm out $11 for the pan. I have wasted money on dumber things.

David

[pjtexas1]

I never use water in my WSM, but the drippings always sizzle.



I am going to test the water pan in the Shirley. If it doesn;t make a difference, I'm out $11 for the pan. I have wasted money on dumber things.



DavidI don't think water hurts anything and you'll never know if you don't try. It may be better than sliced white bread!

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