Couple of Pork Shoulders Going in shortly. Elec. Smoker... water pan question inside.

[ms mayhem]

About to kick off a couple of shoulders in my modified Elec. ECB.  Half thinking of throwing unlit charcoal in the water pan instead of water.  Any thoughts on this?

 

[skull fish]

Well, from experience with the electric smoker, we dont want to but any fuel product in the water pan, the water pan is for drippings and moisture, such as beer, juice, water, etc. It will never get hot enough to smoke wood chips or even lump charcoal.

The heat source (coil) and being at the very bottom, is not near the water pan, Unless theres something Im not aware of, or a modification to speak about, I maybe wrong... On this site....Anything is possiable....LOL!!!!

I have used lump charcoal pieces in my wood chip tray, and it was a success. The key to this is not to over load the tray, or it will set fire!!!! smoking metal is not a good smell. LOL....!

 

[ms mayhem]

Well here I sit, temp nearing 180.  Since I use a 10" pizza pan for my wood chip tray just above my elements (added 2 el charcoal starters to the mix) all controlled by my thermocontroller... I decided to add a few briquettes a couple of times.  No fires, they just became ashen and then a pile of ash.  I put my chips right on top.  When it's all done, I'll let you know how it turned out.