Water Bowl Puck Catcher

[SmokinLarry]

Is the water in this bowl used to put out the spent pucks or used to add moisture to the smoke tower?? If used for moisture could i place another water container on a rack. My water bowl is dry before 4 hours of smoke is complete.

[nsxbill]

The water in the bowl extinguishes the pucks, but also provides moisture in the cabinet.  I have tried to maintain my BS temps to about 210.  Water, of course, boils and goes to steam after 212 (Denver 201°).  

I have done smokes for 14 hours, changing out the water at 4 hrs and then smoked for additional 10 hours and still had water in bowl.  I get the bowl and the ashy water out so it does not leave that acrid mix in the smoker to taint the flavor of the meat.

Take a look at smoking temps and decide if you want to smoke at temps >212°.  If so, you are going to add water often - putting another bowl in is just another bowl of water that will go dry too.

Bill

[MallardWacker]

Call me a rebel here, I know this goes against conventional wisdom here but...  Folks all I do is fill the bowl once with hot water when I am letting the BS warm up.  I usually never use more than four hours of pucks and never refill the bowl even after a 14hr brisket smoke.  I have never had a problem with not having enough moisture.  I feel that you can have too much moisture in the cabinet.  The BS is not like any other smoker, some of the old rules with offsets and so forth almost demand you put in moisture to make things come out good.  Just my thoughts....

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[Habanero Smoker]

MW;

I kind of agree with you about the moisture, but my view is a little more unconventional. Water helps reduce the temperature in the cabinet. That is the main purpose for the use of water in water smokers. I do not believe that moisture in the air keeps meat moist, or prevents meat from loosing moisture.

On the other hand, I do keep water in the pan, because I am a little cautious. I am concerned that drippings will accumulate in a pan that has no water, and being that close to the hot plate, it may catch fire. I am not sure that this is a possibility, but I keep water in the pan just in case.

[MallardWacker]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Habanero Smoker</i>
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Water helps reduce the temperature in the cabinet. <hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

You are so correct.  If you ever notice something that has alot of moisture, like brined chicken, how long it takes some times to come up to temp?

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know.  But...

[minkybut]

One thing I do is use a aluminum baking pan in the bottom of the smoker in the Bradley pan. Do away with the round bowl. I can put more water in the baking pan when cooking a large piece of meat like a butt without having to refill that little round bowl. The larger pan with water in it also catches a lot of grease etc in the water which is easier to get rid of than dried up on the bottom pan. I just pre-heat the smoke for about an hour to offset all that water. 

[KyNola]

Minky,
Welcome and I know you are anxious to contribute but did you notice this thread you are commenting on is 7 years old?

Let me suggest you go to the "Introduce yourself" section.  Tell us all about you, what kind of smoker you have and where you live so we can get to know you a little.