Question about drip pan and drippings

[Drayken]

I'm hoping for delivery of my smoker tomorrow. I am planning to do ribs and then pulled pork this weekend. I have a question about a drip pan INSIDE the smoker, not the bottom one. Does anyone put a pan on a shelf below the pork butt, to catch drippings to reuse as a sauce or anything? It won't "block" the smoke, right? Or would those drippings just burn since they'd be slowly dripping into a hot, dry pan? Lastly, would this help with no mess on bottom of smoker, if the pan is right below the pork butt?

 

[old sarge]

I  don't recall reading any posts about using a drip pan inside the smoker but then there are thousands of posts in this forum. You can use the search feature and look; I don't use an internal drip pan but I do use a small loaf pan with water set next to the wood box for moisture.  If you want to use an internal drip pan give it a shot.

 

[Grampy]

As Sarge said give it a shot and see how it works. Only thing I see is that it might possibly increase your cooking time because you are placing a barrier between your heat and smoke source.

 

[NDKoze]

For the smaller smokers like the #1 and #2, a drip pan can cause issues with temperature accuracy because it is altering the flow of air in the smoker so that it is not hitting the internal temperature probe in the way that it was calibrated for.

For the #3's and larger, an internal drip pan (as long as it is not too big) has not appeared to cause as many problems.

 

[Walt]

No problems in a #2. The key is to use a reasonable size pan. If the footprint it too large it could interfere.