Smoke/heat deflector question...

JD McGee

New member
Good morning folks...I am curious if anyone has cooked without the drip pan installed and how well the standard heat deflector distributes the heat and smoke. I like to cook in pans and am thinking I would get more smoke without the drip pan under the bottom grate...
Cheers!
JD
 

squirtthecat

New member
I've never tried it, but I think it would get REALLY hot right there in the center. The heat deflector sees temps upwards of 1000° dead center.
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
dont do it...JD you are team of the year but pans suck. just saying. Maybe on a wsm....but let the smoke work around it....
 

MAK DADDY

Moderator
it could distort other areas that shouldn't see that much heat as well as potentially burn off your powder coat.
 

JD McGee

New member
Ok...I thought I was done here...but me being me...it ain't that easy. I hear ya'll but I still think I can modify the heat deflector by adding a diffuser plate to it that will distribute the smoke and heat efficiently. I'm talking a bolt on plate that will funnel the heat and smoke to all areas of the grill so as to eliminate any hot spots...thus allowing me to cook in pans without the drip plate. I get that the heat is most intense above the fire pot...so is the heat on a WSM or UDS...and I have modiied and or built a dozen of them. Hey...I'm a toolmaker...it's what I do...lol!
Cheers!
JD
 

KyNola

Member
Modify the heat deflector and you will void your warranty. MAK spent a lot of money designing, testing and redesigning every single component of the MAK.

Besides, the MAK already has a diffuser plate. It's called the solid drip pan. ;)
 

JD McGee

New member
Modify the heat deflector and you will void your warranty. MAK spent a lot of money designing, testing and redesigning every single component of the MAK.

Besides, the MAK already has a diffuser plate. It's called the solid drip pan. ;)

I will make no changes that will void the warranty...there are existing holes in the diffuser plate that will work just fine. MAK has designed and built a fine product...but as in any tool if it does not work the way I want it to...I modify it to do so. Picture a funnel...now picture a candle directly below the spout...where is the heat going? Directly up the spout...if you plug the hole in the spout...it goes up the sides...if you add holes in the sides the heat goes through the holes and up the sides. The trick is to place the holes in the funnel so as to allow the heat to flow through evenly...
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
I would get my sea legs first...but its your grill....Both matt and I have told you special super secrets...you are insisting on cooking in a pan because that worked in a WSM....as soon as you cook to your cookers stringths you will sleep like a drunk child.....
 

JD McGee

New member
I would get my sea legs first...but its your grill....Both matt and I have told you special super secrets...you are insisting on cooking in a pan because that worked in a WSM....as soon as you cook to your cookers stringths you will sleep like a drunk child.....

I understand where you are coming from Sterling...I had a great conversation with Matt the other evening where he was very generous in his advice and tips...however...that is what works for him...not me. As you well know cooking in pans on the comp circuit is not new...several of your top teams (even legends) do so. I need the smoker to fit my style of cooking...if it will not or if I can not make it do so...I have no need for it. I would imagine any pellet grill manufacturer out there would love to tout the virtues of a product that can do so. I can also imagine such a product would sell very well...
Cheers!
JD
 

Big Poppa

Administrator
whatever.....I hope it works for you. I sent you an email..... SOmetimes a cooker doesnt fit a cooks style....
 

HoDeDo

New member
Pellet smokers due to the intense heat, from the high BTU pellet, and forced air, act much differently in that diffusion than any plate you may have built for a WSM. Cooking in a pan doesnt work well for a few of reasons:

1. you restrict airflow in the pit: If you had a glass front on that pit and could see what happened to the burn in pot and the flame signature when you start loading pans in, it would shock you.... but every square inch matters. pan lips are the enemy. The pits were designed to have forced air move through (and out) of them. You need a large pit, and most likely a vertical to make that fly.
2. because pellets burn so efficiently, they produce the cleanest smoke around. Therefore you need to allow the surface area of the meat to be fully exposed to the smoke, not buried in a pan - or you will get a very weak smoke profile. The forced air plays in here as well, again. You have a small blast furnace going. Air is moving into (and out of) that pit at a brisk pace. IT doesnt lumber around the pit or stagnate, as air does in WSMs, eggs, and the like. Even with a 10 CFM pit boss on it, you wont push air like a pellet cooker does. In a WSM that smoke stays around longer, so you can get away cooking in a pan....

3. finally, you get the infrared/radiant heat -- part of your color, and smoke signature, come from the deflector itself. It gives off infrared heat that helps brown/color up your bark, it bounces that energy around the cook chamber, so you get nice even consistent bark. BUT, the real flavor comes every time the juices drip onto the very hot shield, and vaporize. The smoke from that really adds flavor to the meat. Each drip is a new flavor bomb. Using pans means you miss out on all that flavor production.

So parting comments... Good BBQ is 100% about how the fuel, air, and meat mix in any given cooker. Because each has it own strengths and weaknesses, different methods excel in some styles of cooker and not in others. I've cooked on Kingfishers, OK Joe's, Stumps, FEC, CS, WSMs, Eggs, Trash cans (not a brethen UDS, a Snail UDS hot cooker), Jambo, MAK, Yoder, you name it.

You dont try to mold the cooker to a set style of cooking, you have to figure out how best to cook on the cooker. I have had offsets that dial in and love 215, and others that like to run 275. I cook with the cooker, not trying to find a way to get it do something it doesnt perform well at. I wouldnt use a cookie sheet for something I would rather do in dutch oven.

Learning how to cook on all the different kinds of cookers is what makes it a challenge. Once you understand how air, fuel, and chamber (meat) work together... you can cook on anything. But I definitely cook different on a WSM than I do on a MAK and I cook different than that on a Yoder pellet, or even two stick burners. Take a Frontiersman vs. a Jambo. The Jambo cooks top down, the Frontiersman is bottom up. Heat enters the pit differently, and treats the meat differently. In a Jambo you could cook in pans and probably feel ok, they are getting the radiant heat from above, but I wouldnt do it on the Frontiersman.

So net/net... pellet cookers use the dripping to help build smoke profile, and the radiant heat and forced air create a much different environment in the cooker than any other style of cooker. You may find a way to get flow to happen with pans in the cooker, but the flavor simply wont get there. you dont have all the elements you need to get the flavor if your meat is in a pan.

Hope that helps...
 

JD McGee

New member
I yeild to the Master Pellet Head! Lol! Thanks Andy! Makes sense once I think about it...basically a reverse flow vertical or stick burner is condusive for cookin' in pans as the heat/smoke is forced down over the meats. The wsm and uds can get away with it because the do not burn as clean and the smoke hangs around longer...cool! Now...my problem is...how do I cook 2 butts and two briskets on the MAK simultaneously without affecting the bark on the lower meats? (My reason for using pans)...perhaps a drip pan of sorts under the top shelf?
JD
 

HoDeDo

New member
I yeild to the Master Pellet Head! Lol! Thanks Andy! Makes sense once I think about it...basically a reverse flow vertical or stick burner is condusive for cookin' in pans as the heat/smoke is forced down over the meats. The wsm and uds can get away with it because the do not burn as clean and the smoke hangs around longer...cool! Now...my problem is...how do I cook 2 butts and two briskets on the MAK simultaneously without affecting the bark on the lower meats? (My reason for using pans)...perhaps a drip pan of sorts under the top shelf?
JD

Pork fat rules brother. You put the butts up top to drip on your briskets. No pans, so that you dont impact the airflow/convective nature of the cooker. You probably keep your corn separate from your peas on the dinner plate too huh :) The brisket bark will not be effected one bit. At least it wasnt in Mesquite last year :) We're going to probably try to repeat (it never works) but we may come west and give it our all. We'll see you there!
 

JD McGee

New member
Pork fat rules brother. You put the butts up top to drip on your briskets. No pans, so that you dont impact the airflow/convective nature of the cooker. You probably keep your corn separate from your peas on the dinner plate too huh :) The brisket bark will not be effected one bit. At least it wasnt in Mesquite last year :) We're going to probably try to repeat (it never works) but we may come west and give it our all. We'll see you there!

LMAO...you got me pegged! Thanks Andy...you're a good egg brother! Good luck in Mesquite!
 

JD McGee

New member
Ok...I gotta share something...a couple of very cool things just happened here today. First of all Andy chimed in and explained what happens in a pellet smoker...this may seem trivial to some but for a top competitor such as Andy to take the time to "teach" a fellow competitor how to use a smoker is amazing! The second thing that happened is that Sterling sensed I was not a happy camper with my new MAK...(I think he was talking to Matt)...and offered to refund my money or exchange it for a different type of smoker that better suited my style of cooking. He also said I could wait till I came down to his neck of the woods to drop off the MAK. Folks...we're talking next May! There is nothing better in our crazy little hobby than fine people like Andy...and Sterling! Gentlemen...my hat is off to you both!

BTW...I 'm keeping the MAK and learni g how to use it properly! Time for this old dawg to learn a new trick or two!

Cheers!
JD
 
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