How do you cook on both grates?

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Nick Prochilo

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Crusing, I never tried sand in the pan. But in general, I believe the top cooks a bit hotter than the bottom. I've always flipped my food from the top to the bottom and visa versa when using both grates. I always switch at the 1/2 point!
 
Captain Morgan said:
I think you will find nearly everyone agrees the higher you go in the smoker, the hotter the temps.
Unless you use sand. The radiant heat from hot sand makes the bottom rack much hotter than the top. The sand can be as hot as the charcoal is. Water in the pan makes the temp on the bottom rack much cooler than it would be without it. If you are cooking on both racks, water is the way to go. Or, do as Nick does (although Nick uses water) and make sure you rotate your meat.
Or you can do mods that get your lower rack much highr in you 'bullet' type smoker. I've got a rack that will sit only 4 1/2 or so inches from the top rack instead of my WSM's standard 8". That way the temps are almost the same. between the racks.
 
I agree Chris. I use sand. On the cook I did yesterday, the two on the top rack were not as hot as the one on the bottom. In fact, the one one bottom started to do that little bubbly thing in a few areas. I rotated mine half way through the "3" part of the 3-2-1 method. After that they were all on the top.
 
Brisket on the botttom, fat side down. Butts on the top. Put them all on at the same time. The butts will help keep the brisket moist as they cook. They will be done around the same time as the brisket also.
 
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