Easier cleanup

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prudentsmoker

Member
I just got 4 silicone baking pans that I bought on Ebay. I put them on either side of the wood box. They are short enough to fit under the "roof" so that they catch anything that drips. When needed I will just throw them in the dishwasher. I do not think I will have to mess with the foil or wipe the bottom again, although that remains to be seen as I just got them today.

I really think Steve should consider getting them custom made for a more precise fit.

On a side note- I put in a frozen Cod filet (Sam's) with a little Slap Ya Mamma and some cherry and smoked 1 hour on parchment (sorry Divotmaker) and it was really good.
 
prudentsmoker said:
I just got 4 silicone baking pans that I bought on Ebay.
Click to expand...

On several post it has been said that we need to have our pan touching the wood box so we get it hot to help the moisture.
I wonder if this will be a problem if you are using them for your water/juice or whatever?
 
I would love to see a picture of how you have this set up.

Regarding the parchment paper, I think most would agree that using it with fish is probably a pretty good idea.

I think where Tony (AKA Divotmaker), and others (me included) have different preferences is on the larger cuts of meat like butts, briskets and ribs.

We know you like your parchment paper and I say more power to you if it works for you.

Really interested to see how your silicone pans are configured in your smoker.
 
It seemed to me that I got the same amount of smoke as before. I even thought the pans could double as water pans, but did not feel the need to try it with the fish.

I just ran them length wise. They really fit nicely.
 
Let us know how they work out.  Not sure if they'll catch everything on large cuts/long smokes; I usually have burnt drippings covering most of my foil on the bottom.  Also, not sure how they'll heat, should you use them for a juice pan.  Silicone insulates, and doesn't conduct heat, so your liquid may not get hot enough to produce any vapor...just a thought.

Oh, and I think the parchment is probably great for a fragile smoke like fish! ;)
 
As to the volume- as I recall they are 5WX10LX3H each and their are four of them. By my calculations that is 600 cubic inches. Again according to my calculations (which may be off as I am over 60) that is enough to hold more than two gallons. As far as getting hot enough, they are used to bake in.

This brings up another point, O Wise One, do we have guides for how much water to add?

Another point, if I may be so bold, thanks for cutting me slack on the parchment. One thing, which you probably already know, it make removal really easy, as I can just drag it out. And they sell it at Dollar Tree!
 
prudentsmoker said:
As to the volume- as I recall they are 5WX10LX3H each and their are four of them. By my calculations that is 600 cubic inches. Again according to my calculations (which may be off as I am over 60) that is enough to hold more than two gallons. As far as getting hot enough, they are used to bake in.

This brings up another point, O Wise One, do we have guides for how much water to add?

Another point, if I may be so bold, thanks for cutting me slack on the parchment. One thing, which you probably already know, it make removal really easy, as I can just drag it out. And they sell it at Dollar Tree!
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Like I said, the heat thing was just a thought.  So I guess they're some type of hard silicone?  I'm just unfamiliar with this type of pan, so I was just thinking out loud.

As for the "O Wise One" comment...lol.  ;D  Good one!  How much liquid to add?  Enough so it won't dry out during the length of the smoke!  Really, not trying to be smart, but I guess I never really thought about the amount.  I use a mini-loaf pan, and fill it 3/4 full.  I'd have to measure the amount, but you get the idea.  Enough to not cook away over 5-20 hours.
 
I just wanted to make sure there was no danger of having too much. As for the silicone, it is floppy and while I have not tried it I am sure one could cut it with scissors.

I will be all too happy to report back when I do a more serious smoke. Should be in the next couple of days. Having said that, I stick by my comment that this is something Steve should look into.
 
prudentsmoker said:
I just wanted to make sure there was no danger of having too much. As for the silicone, it is floppy and while I have not tried it I am sure one could cut it with scissors.

I will be all too happy to report back when I do a more serious smoke. Should be in the next couple of days. Having said that, I stick by my comment that this is something Steve should look into.
Click to expand...

Lets see how the testing goes.  The only reason I mentioned the heat-transfer properties is because I have silicone oven mits in the house.  I can hold 500° cast iron pans with no problems, so I was worried that the 250° smoker wouldn't penetrate that great insulation.  The liquid will get heat from above, due to the box heat, though.  The reason I like a metal pan for liquid is that it rests against the smoke box, and transfers heat to the liquid quickly.  But, I may be wrong!
 
Well I tried to do it with just water and my new Auber had temperature swings from 216 to 232. I thought it might have something to do with the pans, so I took them out and still had huge swings. I have been on the phone off and on all day with an Auber engineer, changing settings like mad.

Anyway, it is still swinging after the last change and they have gone home for the day. I have a conference in St. Louis this weekend and will not be able to call them until Monday AM.
 
prudentsmoker said:
Well I tried to do it with just water and my new Auber had temperature swings from 216 to 232. I thought it might have something to do with the pans, so I took them out and still had huge swings. I have been on the phone off and on all day with an Auber engineer, changing settings like mad.

Anyway, it is still swinging after the last change and they have gone home for the day. I have a conference in St. Louis this weekend and will not be able to call them until Monday AM.
Click to expand...

Tried to do what?  Maybe we can help...
 
I just tried to see how much water would be consumed with using the silicone pans, but when I noticed the huge temperature swings I decided to focus on that.

The Auber guy did not seem very keen on auto-tuning. Kind of surprised me. He did say that they had done their work with the #2.
 
OK, I see.  First, the Auber guy is a techy, not a user.  lol.  Yes, they've done testing with the #2, but as a user with well over 100+ hours of real-world use, and testing different features, I can't disagree more with him about the autotune!  The Auber comes programmed for the characteristics of the Bradley smoker, not the SI.  They are vastly different, not only in element size, but characteristics of how the controllers operate.  You need to Autotune it to the SI.

I believe your first error was trying to autotune with just water inside.  I still believe the silicone may be insulating your water; did you put the meat probe in the water to check the temp?  When you autotune, you have to simulate actual cooking conditions - that means a good heat sink (like bricks or sand, to simulate the meat load).  This is the same problem as checking the temp during seasoning:  An empty smoker (and water in insulated pans) will be all over the place - that's a fact.  There is nothing inside the smoker, except hard surfaces, to absorb and slowly release the heat.

Next, did you download the autotune instructions, and follow them?  If you did not, I highly recommend you do so.  Use the method that absolutely works, don't try and reinvent the wheel.  That means set the smoker up the way 99% of us use it - foil on the bottom, foil on the smoke box lid, a good heat sink (3-4 bricks or a few pounds of sand in a metal bowl), and a metal loaf pan with 3/4 water.  Set the program on the Auber, activate the autotune, and turn it on.  This works; I've done it many times, with different smokers and different Aubers.

If you follow this method, you'll have success.  Let me know if this doesn't work.

Here's the instructions post:

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1869.0
 
I had done the autotune earlier, I was just experimenting with the water. I did not see anything about bricks though in the Auber instructions. Regardless, I will try it when I get home on Sunday. Thanks.
 
prudentsmoker said:
I had done the autotune earlier, I was just experimenting with the water. I did not see anything about bricks though in the Auber instructions. Regardless, I will try it when I get home on Sunday. Thanks.
Click to expand...

Sorry - I should have been more clear.  The Auber instructions read like stereo instructions.  We've developed a guide just for our smokers.  Go to this link, and download the pdf file attached.  It can also be found under "Instructions" at smokin-it.com.

http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=1869.0
 
Five hours later, it finally auto-tuned! I am thinking for the test that I will leave the bricks in, remove the metal bread pan and put the 4 silicone ones back in on the floor. I will put 2 cups water in one pan and a probe. I will monitor for at least 2 hours and plug into Excel.

Does this sound adequate?
 
Sounds reasonable.  I just wanted you to do an autotune with the smoker set up in a configuration that has proven itself, before experimenting.  I wouldn't run the autotune again, with the silicone pans, but just run a program with the probe in the water.  I'll be very interested to see what temp the water gets up to!
 
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