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wittdog

Master Chef
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Apr 8, 2006
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I have a whole ham to smoke tomarrow and I was thinking about mixing things up a little.....I typically go with water in the WSM....but I was thinking about using sand.....or just crinkling up some Foil and doing it how the guru guys do it.....Any thoughts...
 
You'll get the same effect with sand as you do water cept if you are cooking on the lower grate too it will be hotter there. Other than that, not much of a difference.

I imagine foil will not "sink" the heat very well...guru is a different idea than doing it the regular way! ;)
 
Greg Rempe said:
You'll get the same effect with sand as you do water cept if you are cooking on the lower grate too it will be hotter there. Other than that, not much of a difference.

I imagine foil will not "sink" the heat very well...guru is a different idea than doing it the regular way! ;)
I'm thinking that becuase of the low temps (ambient air) that I might be able to get away with just foil...just thinking out lawd here...how much hotter will the lower grate be with the sand in the pan? Man you post something where you ask for opinions and you dont' get much of a response......You post something and you don't want opinions you get them :D
 
Dave,

I have been using sand in the pan for almost 3 years now. I abandoned the regular WSM pan in place of the Brinkmann Charcoal Pan, I filled it 2/3 full of play sand, then I double foil it with HD Alum Foil.

There may be a slight difference in temps from top to bottom grate, but nothing that should cause you major concern. After switching 3 years ago I charted the temp differences during a butt cook and found at their highest a 23º difference at one point where the bottom grate was actually hotter than the top grate. Throughout vast majority of the cook the temps were within 5-10 degrees of each other.

Gerry Schatte, from the BBQ Forum, takes alum foil and rolls it into 3 or 4 baseball size balls and puts them into the pan, he then foils over the balls leaving a depression to catch any drippings. He uses neither sand or water and has had fine success with his method.

The method of the Piedmont Pan, which I will be using tonight, where you bolt two of the Brinkmann Pans together leaving a 1/2" space between them also works well.
 
Brian,

You're right and I didn't mention keeping an eye on his temps on the way up because I thought he already knew that. But you are right, the WSM will get up to temp quicker with sand than water.

You want see it get up to temp quick try using that Piedmont Pan mod, last time I was up to cooking temps in 20 minutes.
 
If you are using the standard Weber pan it might. The Brinkmann pan sits lower whether you put water, sand or nothing in it.
 
brian j said:
also there are people who say a dry environment creates better Q.

I completely agree with that statement.. I started out with a ECB and when I got my first small offset I thought I needed that water... until one day when i had to be gone for a couple of hours and decided not to put in a water pan (because I didnt want it going dry) ... so i never put water in during the cook... it was my best Q i had ever done (to that date).. so from then on I skipped the water.

My WSM arrives today... it most likely will never see water in the pan.

.... unless.. maybe... just maybe.. I may see some added benefit when doing a turkey....

that is my $.02
 
I cook every way mentioned already depending on my mood, the food, and desired results. I say unless you are using the lower rack, forget the pan all together.

"I love the sound of melted fat hitting embers in the morning." "It smells like...... BBQ." :roll:
 
Finney said:
I cook every way mentioned already depending on my mood, the food, and desired results. I say unless you are using the lower rack, forget the pan all together.

"I love the sound of melted fat hitting embers in the morning." "It smells like...... BBQ." :roll:
doesn't that make clean up a pain?
 
wittdog said:
Finney said:
I cook every way mentioned already depending on my mood, the food, and desired results. I say unless you are using the lower rack, forget the pan all together.

"I love the sound of melted fat hitting embers in the morning." "It smells like...... BBQ." :roll:
doesn't that make clean up a pain?

Clean up?!?!?!? What is this clean up you speak of? :roll: "kidding"

It is a little more. But think of tha ash as cat litter. There's just some "clumps" in there. I wouldn't do it with a full chuck roll in there because there is just too much grease in those bad boys. Butts are fine though. You can tell by listening when the magic is happening.
 
I'm thinking sand in the pan....starting it a 2 this afternoon...checking it before work....and then letting it ride overnight...and it will be done tomarrow morning....or....starting it tomarrow morning...I'm guessing that this ham should take about 16hrs..the ham is 16lbs....
 
Ham all rubbed up and ready to go…I tweaked my rub this time it should be interesting to see what happens with the tweaking….

The Gator Clip I was telling BTGG about


Went with sand in the pan…and away we go…..
 
I'm confused by the whole ham thing.
What exactly makes it a "whole ham"?
In the pic it looks like a butt.
 
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