Baffles instead of Water Pan?

[pinkmeat]

I have the ECB vertical. I have been reading through these chargriller sfb smoker threads going around and came upon this link in one of them discussing firebox design.

I also read a section on baffles. I was thinking, would this work better than a water pan or a sand filled pan to regulate and evenly disperse heat/smoke? The only other concern with this train of thought is restricting the airflow with the added baffles given the vent placement on the Brinkmann...? I dunno, I'm just thinking out loud.

All of these sfb threads are making me either want to buy a new smoker or mod the ECB...lol.

Here is the info I was looking at:
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/smokehouse-baffles.htm

 

[morkdach]

still like ole water pan maintains temp and catches drippings different sizes for different smokes

 

[gorillagrilla]

Meat , are ya dead set on electric ? Your mention of side fire box is confusing me a bit. Are you planing on putting a side fire box on a vert. or just using idea,s for baffles ? If ya can do charcoal I say build yerself a drum smoker, you wont be sorry. No baffels needed , no water pan.( be forwarned ,I have caught the drum fever BAD ,so a certain biased exists )I here you can go electric on a drum to.

 

[pinkmeat]

No, mine is the charcoal version. I do not intend to ever do electric. Kind of like eating ribs with a fork and knife, just not the same IMO.

I just know that in my smoker the pan is big enough that it kind of chokes the coals a little at times. The problem with moving it up to clear some airspace for the fuel is that you lose all of your cooking space.

I just thought that this was an interesting idea and didn't know if it would have any good or bad effects on the process. It would be easy to rig up.

 

[pinkmeat]

I just meant that all these folks improving their smokers is making me wonder if there is much room for improvement in mine.

 

[gorillagrilla]

Sorry ..P.M. , not sure where I got the electric part from

 

[earache_my_eye]

There's always room for improvement....I have an ecb charcoal smoker.....the R2D2 style....from reading your post, I gather that you have the square vertical smoker..(??)

I'm not sure who posted them, but I remember seeing at least one thread for the square vertical Brinkmann....something to do with a charcoal pan improvement.

L8r,
Eric

 

[pinkmeat]

Unfortunately, I have already done that mod, which did help tremendously. I am just looking for a little easier way to control heat on long burns like a butt or something. It gets old having to check the water every other hour and try to refill appropriately.

 

[morkdach]

water should never have to checked if so your running to hot i live in kansas was 108 week ago 14hr smoke still water and juice run bout 225 most of the time.

 

[richtee]

Hmm missed this... in my WSM, I have a grill covered in foil that goes where the water pan USED to. I may spray a bit of water on the foil early on in the smoke for smoke ring/moisture purposes, but that's all I use now. I'll wipe it down after a session, and get maybe 4 uses outta the foil before I replace it.

 

[pinkmeat]

That doesn't make any sense to me. I try to smoke ribs at 225 and butts at 225-250. Water boils at 212? So how could you not have to add more water?

Unless you've modded to a 5 gallon bucket or sometihng....

 

[pinkmeat]

How do the temperature compare without the water pan, a bit hotter I'm guessing?

 

[richtee]

Yes...but of course you have control over that with coal amount and draft control. It takes a bit of monkeying around, but then again, I rarely can hit over 300° with it.

 

[pinkmeat]

Did you poke some holes in the foil, or just let it seep up around the edges?

I have a Meco similar to the WSM style that I could try this on, but I would lose that lower cooking grate to do so. Is that what you've done?

 

[richtee]

No holes... well in the foil. Now... I drilled some .25" holes at 90° apart, and use ceiling suspension wire to add up to 2 extra grates as well. But why would you lose the lower grate? How is the water pan supported? I just replaced the pan with the foiled grill.

 

[pinkmeat]

On my model, the water pan and lower grate sit on the same screws, then there is one higher rack...basically the lower grate is an inch above the water level