terra cotta pot?

[onedragon221]

Thinking about using a large terra cotta pot as my fire pan with a wire grate? My thinking its holds the heat better, its sits higher in my ECB, and being its sits higher in my ECB, its better in windy conditions...

Any thoughs?

 

[raceyb]

It is my belief that you will not get the airflow you need. As the heat rises, the draw from underneath will be strong to replace the air, however most pots I have seen have small drainage holes.

I guess the only way to know for sure would be to try it out and let us know. If it is wind you are concerned about, from what I've read on here, the only single way to combat wind is with a wind break. You have to prevent the wind from disturbing the air in the cooker. The only smoker on the market that i know of that does this by itself is the WSM.

 

[rickw]

With all due respect, the WSM is also affected by the wind. I found this to be true on my second cook. Until I moved the smoker out of the wind my temp would not get much over 200°. Once moved it was good to go.

 

[raceyb]

Thanks for clarifying. It was the only charcoal smoker i could think of at the moment that was sealed on the bottom with 3 vents. I was wrongfully assuming you could close the vent facing wind and leave other two wide open.

 

[herkysprings]

This does work with the WSM. Since my smoker is enclosed on 3 sides, I position two vents in such a way to limit any wind that can get to them. I adjust these 2 vents the most on windy days, and leave the 3rd vent either closed or only open a touch.

However if you have wind in such a way that it affects 2-3 vents on the WSM, then yeah, you are gonna need a wind break.

 

[rickw]

If your smoker is enclosed on three sides wouldn't that be similar has having a wind break? That's how I built a wind break for mine, enclosed on three sides.

Next time it gets windy take your smoker out in the open and see how it runs.

 

[raceyb]

What he means is the same thing I was saying I believe, the WSM is sealed on the bottom and has three vents. We simply close the vent facing wind direction and leave other two open. If wind is steady, the WSM does well in wind without a break.

I don't think he meant his smoker was surrounded by three walls.

 

[rickw]

Could be, if so I misunderstood. What I know is when I was using mine in windy conditions it didn't fare all that well till it was taken out of the wind. I can only speak from my experience.

 

[raceyb]

And you are probably right. I just visited the Virtual Weber Bullet and found some very easy and cheap wind breaks that they recommend and demostrate here

 

[rickw]

The first one that is pictured that is made of wood is just like what I made.