running Backwoods -dry method

billm · Nov 20, 2009

Im trying to get a definitive answer on what this entails? Foil the pan? remove pan and foil one of the cooking racks? Ive read several posts where people say they "foil" the pan but dont go into any detail on it.
Any Backwoods owner son here care to enlighten me?
Is this strictly for achieveing higher temps?

Roo-B-Q'N · Nov 20, 2009

I take the empty water pan, foil the entire thing inside and out and then fill it half way with clean playground sand. Then I foil the top to prevent alot of grease getting into the sand.

I use it mostly as a heat sink.

Porky · Nov 20, 2009

^^^^^^ What he said.

billm · Nov 20, 2009

guess i just dont understand where all that grease from the food cooking ends up going without the pan or with the pan covered

sfisch · Nov 20, 2009

If you take the pan completely out it would be like cooking on a UDS, the grease drips down and flares up and away. Depending on which Backwoods you cook on, the fire should be far enough from the food product to be a problem.
By foiling and putting sand in the pan its just like making a heat sink in a WSM. The grease drips down but is stopped by the foiled/sanded pan. Both are proven methods that theoretically should work in a Backwoods.

Scott

billm · Nov 20, 2009

thanks for the replies guys..!

TN_BBQ · Nov 20, 2009

billm said:
guess i just dont understand where all that grease from the food cooking ends up going without the pan or with the pan covered

It falls on the top sheet of the foil.

I've also seen where folks simply take a cooking grate and foil that thing up and place the foil covered cooking grate on the very bottom rung. It'll catch a fair amount of the drippings, but inevitibely some of the drippings do fall onto the dry water pan below.

I guess you could also use one of those disposable roasting pans to catch some of the drippings and just slide the roasting pan under the meat.

Getting a little off topic: If you have the diverter plate, you could probably remove the water pan altogether and let the diverter plate shield the meat from direct flames. I'd still put something under the meat to catch the drippings, but you could probably really get the temps up high using that method.

KC_Bobby · Nov 20, 2009

Last year we ran the Gator dry. Use sand as described above and foil it ... just leave about 1/2-1" from the top so you can have a lip around the foil to catch all the grease. Then refoil as needed.

I'd also foil under the sand. Not sure if it matters, but it might help with clean up if you decide not to continue with the sand.

I've wondered what people do that have fixed water pans ... how do they block off the drainage system so sand doesn't get clogged in the pipe? I guess laying a piece of metal over the opening would keep nearly all of the sand out.

The beauty of the sand is that it really allows the temp of to get back up quick after opening the door. That mass takes a while to cool down.

billm · Nov 21, 2009

doing a bird for my neighbor this morning..im going to just foil the top of the pan and see how it goes..just looking to get higher temps
see how it works out..thanks again all the assist

jpouchman · Nov 21, 2009

Bill haven't you gotten an answer yet? I have seen investigating this one! Just give it a shot of liquid smoke & stick it in the oven, it's only your neighbor! LOL

E Mellow · Nov 21, 2009

I actually had a conversation with Mike the owner of Backwoods about this topic mid last week. He designed the cookers to smoke with water and hes very passionate about maintaing the proper amount of moisture. After the 2 of us brainstorming a bit we came up with using a foil pan in the cooker. Today I have the water pan of my piglet lined with foil to prevent flair ups and I have a full foil pan of water. With that method I have been at 350* all morning. I use the same method with a half catering pan in the competitor. The temperature in the competitor seems to run away a bit more if you dont watch it close enough. I have only done this method a limited number of times so it is still in the tweaking stage.

billm · Nov 21, 2009

I understand what it was designed for. I normally cook with the water pan in place with water for low and slow. But I dont feel low and slow works for whole birds (especially ones in the 20 pound range) so I wanted to kick up the temps a bit. It worked fine.
It ran a solid 330 with just the top of the water pan foiled without water ...cant get any easier than that
Will I do this for every cook..no..but for the occasional whole turkey or chicken ..sure why not?

billm · Nov 21, 2009

jpouchman said:
Bill haven't you gotten an answer yet? I have seen investigating this one! Just give it a shot of liquid smoke & stick it in the oven, it's only your neighbor! LOL

Better yet you could have driven one of those eggs over for me to cook it on

....And you want to be my latex salesman!:-D

TN_BBQ · Nov 21, 2009

jpouchman said:
Bill haven't you gotten an answer yet? I have seen investigating this one! Just give it a shot of liquid smoke & stick it in the oven, it's only your neighbor! LOL

Yep.
I'm guilty of using the oven on neighbors (before i bought my backwoods)
It'll probably still be better than anything they can get anywhere else in town.

running Backwoods -dry method

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