I bet your water level is down slightly - but barely noticeable.
That particular cooker design has a very slow air exchange with the outside air so any condensate that comes off the water is hauled away at a very slow rate. Put another way: Once the air inside the CC becomes saturated with moisture then no more condensate can leave your water pan.
You could try putting a 1/4 inch deep water supply in the bottom of your pan to see if you can boil that off cooking a boston butt. If you end up adding water throughout the cook then keep records - pretty soon you'll know exactly how much water to start with for a long cook.
Last edited by Gizmo on August 29th, 2014, 5:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
And on the eighth day God created barbecue …. because he DOES love us and he wants us to be happy.
Current smokers: Egor (trailered RF) and Easybake (tabletop pellet drive)
With a reverse flow the water pan is mostly a drip pan, especially with the fire brick and steel barrier between the FB and CC. Most of the heat/smoke goes around it. On my vertical, a 6-7 hour cook wouldn't go thru more than a gallon of water or so and I use the water pan as a baffle plate/heat sink of sorts.
If it's tourist season, how come I can't shoot 'em?
Thanks for the info guys, I'll keep at it and get a few more cooks under my belt before I start to panic. I took a temp reading of the steel plate last night. The CC was at 275 and the steel plate was reading about 400. I've only done ribs and mac n cheese so far, can't wait till I get to try brisket
You might want to line your drip/water pan with foil or an aluminum tray. The drippings will make a mess of things and at 400 degrees the fat will burn off. I use the steam table disposable pans from Sam's Cub or Costco as they fit almost perfectly in my smoker. Another option is to add sand to the pan to act as a heat sink.
If it's tourist season, how come I can't shoot 'em?
And on the eighth day God created barbecue …. because he DOES love us and he wants us to be happy.
Current smokers: Egor (trailered RF) and Easybake (tabletop pellet drive)
I just used a enamal paint from the hardware store and a spray gun. I did follow all other recommended steps and used all the same brand of primer/paint. Insulation is just a fire resistant rated at 1500 degrees