WSM, sand, and radiant heat

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Finney

Master Chef
Joined
Jan 4, 2005
Messages
8,563
Location
Savannah, GA and Somewhere near Lexington, NC
I think it was Bruce that did a test cook a while back that found that the temps eventually even out and become the same. Others have said that they never do. It's usually not a big problem either way and if you want, you can flip your meats during the cook.

Buy 'play ground' sand sold and home improvement stores and I think it has all been sterialized. Alton Brown does his in the oven. You need high heat to actually sterialize the sane=d so the WSM probably isn't the best place to do it.

I use water, sand, an empty pan, a pan with aluminum foil in it, and somethimes no pan at all. Experiment and decide what you like and want to use. Treat the pan and it's contents just like another tool in you BBQ arsenal.
 
JamesB said:
I've used sand in my WSM since day one... I have no problem cooking on the bottom rack either. If I'm using the lower rack, it is usually just for butts or briskets. When doing these, I just put the fat cap down toward the sand.

Don't have an answer for ya about sterilizing the sand... I just went out and bought a bag of playground sand from the Depot...

The biggest trick to using sand is to bring to temp of the WSM up slowly. It's difficult to get the cooker to cool back down after you've had it too hot for your cooking conditions... You can't just add cold water to the pan...

Also, be sure to cover the sand with 2 layers of heavy duty foil prior to the cook..
James.

Good point on the foil. If you don't do that, you are in big trouble. Hot fat and hot sand make for a big mess.
 
I use sand and never had burnt food problems when using both racks...you can switch positions half way through if you are so inclined...but I don't!
 
Burnt Food Dude said:
I was reading (I forgot where) about someone converting a Weber kettle grill into a smoker. He used a pizza stone as a buffer between the coal and food. Maybe that would work here also?
I think Bryan S. was gonna try that a while back but on his WSM... :) Did I miss the results?
 
James, thanks for the drawing. I have been having trouble on my kettle and this may help!
 
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