Monday, February 16, 2009

WSM / Brinkmann "Charcoal" Pan Modification

This is the first major modification that I came up with for the WSM cooker and I started using this great drop-in water pan modification in about 1998 for my overnight and contest cooking.

The pan is made by Brinkmann and is called a charcoal pan even though it is used for a water pan in their Brinkmann Gormet Water Smoker. The Brinkmann part number is 114-0002-02 and can be ordered from Brinkmann or found at several after market accessories type stores. Just be sure to get the correct "charcoal" pan and it will just drop into the cooker like it was made for it.

The WSM is sure a great little cooker other than the fact that it comes with a real rinky-dink water pan. The standard pan doesn't fit the cooker very well and the capacity isn't enough to allow a cook longer than just a few hours before it needs service. This nice little smoker is capable or running unattended for 10-12 hours on one fill of charcoal if it wasn't for the standard water pan.



The Brinkmann pan shown on the left in the picture has about double the capacity of the standard Weber pan on the right in the picture. The Brinkmann pan will hold about 2 gallons of water vs the standard Weber pan which holds about one gallon of water.



This picture shows the standard WSM water pan in the cooker and you as can see, their is plenty of room for a larger and deeper pan.



This picture shows the larger Brinkmann charcoal pan in the cooker and it does place the pan closer to the fire but in my 10 years of use, I can find no fault with this location in the cooker.

The larger capacity pan will help control the temperature and prevent spikes in the cooker much better than the standard pan especially in the heat of the Summer. The second advantage is that the cooker with the larger pan will run up to about 9 hours or overnight un-attended which make this modification great for contest cooking.

I just wish I had a dollar for every pan that Brinkmann has sold for this cooker!!

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