Water Panzzz

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mr500

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Dec 30, 2009
281
12
Auburn Al
I heard some of you putting hot water in the water pan as opposed to cold. Im assuming this has to do with the heating???
 
HOT water is simply to speed up the process of getting the water to start to evaporate and or boil faster is all I use it for...

I'm starting to use as many water pans as I can. They are a good thing to use over 'hot spots' in horizontal cookers
 
In cold weather - using he WSM in temps in the 30's and below I use hot tap water. When the weather warms up I am going to use cold water from the tap.
 
Use this caution on water pans: when heating up the smoker in cold weather, don't add hot water or else condensation will form all over inside the cooker and drip out of every orifice imaginable. This is due to the cooking chamber being cold and the steam collecting on the surfaces. It can get pretty messy with a well-seasoned smoker.

I add cold water when first getting started (with a gasser), then, I add cold or hot depending on what the temps are running when I need to top off the water pan. If using a vertical gasser especially, the temps will peak as the pan runs dry and continue climbing to some extent, so I'll add cold to offset the spike.

With charcoal fired, I leave the water pan out until I'm ready to smoke, then add hot water, otherwise you're burning quite a bit of charcoal just to heat the water.

Eric
 
Keep in mind that attempts to regulate temp with colder water are only temporary.

If you add cold water, then it's going to absorb more heat until you get to an equilibrium temp. With charcoal, you'll have to give the coals more air to keep your temp, but once the water comes to an equilibrium temp, your cooker temp will overshoot and you'll have to choke back the coals to keep the temp down - and choking coals is never good.

If you add boiling water, you'll start at near equilibrium, your vent settings won't be off track, and it will be much easier to keep the cooker temp steady.
Regulating the temp in your cooker should be done primarily at the heat source, not with water.
If over-condensation is an issue, just pre-heat the smoker dry for a while, then add the boiling water.
 
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