Water Smokers
Small Water Smokers to Full Size Pits
 By popular request, we are expanding our pages to include a new section dealing with Water Smokers or Water Pan Smokers. These smokers range in size for those individuals desiring to create great barbecue without necessarily the investment of time or money in a larger unit which looks and performs similar to the more expensive wood-burning smokers.
Much of the information in our barbecue pages is universal and can be applied to both the conventional Wood Smoker and the Water Smokers. These pages are intended to point out where some of the differences lie and what works best with the Water Smokers. We will be updating these pages on a regular basis. So, if you find additional information is needed, come back and perhaps we will have added it!
The Basics of the Water Smoker
Water Smokers, especially the electric ones, are really great for allowing the master chef to put the meat in the smoker and just check on it every hour or so. Another reason these Water Smokers are becoming more popular is because many are less expensive than their Wood Smoker counterparts and require much less time maintaining the cooking temperatures.
We would first like to discuss the various components of the Water Smoker and how they differ from the Wood Smokers.
The Heat Source
Unlike the Wood Smoker, the Water Smoker is either electric or charcoal 'fired'. There is not the fire box located at one end of the smoker. Generally, the fire (for the sake of ease, we will include electric in the term 'fire') is located either directly beneath the meat, or adjacent to and just below the meat.
To obtain the best levels of smoke, use water soaked wood chunks near the sources of the fire. This fire causes the wood chips to smolder and circulate within the cooking chamber. This smoldering is actually small smoke particles being released from the wood.
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