Sand vs Water on the WSM - Test 2 | Same Temp on both Smokers 

Thanks for taking the time to do another comparison. You always go above and beyond on your channel. Thanks for sharing😃

Hey T-ROY, thanks for bein so easy going on doin the same tests over again. That takes time and effort. Appreciate your great attitude, brotha.

T-Roy, you're the man! After last week I was about to stay a water only guy, but now it looks like the sand method might be the way to go for longer overnight cooks without having to worry about waking up too early to put on more charcoal. Perfect comparison taking care of all variables.

AWESOME VIDEO T-ROY!! This video came right on time. Watched it during my lunch break!! Keep doing what ya doing!!

Awesome Video T-ROY, thanks for listening and making this test with same temps!!!

Excellent video T-Roy. I have been watching your videos since I purchased my first smoker (WSM) last year, and I have to say they have been a huge factor in improving my cooking abilities. For those of us with neither the appropriate backyard or funds for an offset I appreciate you keep doing these WSM videos. There are so many variables in smoking: time, temperature, type of wood, amount of wood, water vs sand, injecting, spritzing/mopping, wrapping, holding, etc.. Everything factors in and it is extremely appreciated you take the time to run these comparisons to demonstrate the different results. This isn't just a BBQ this is a never-ending puzzle we're piecing together! And who doesn't love it! I think after experimenting myself and watching this video I will stick to water for shorter lean meat cooks like ribs and poultry, and my terra cotta saucer or sand for the long fatty cooks. Much appreciated.

Thanks Troy... I think you cleared a lot of things up with this test. These were two different type tests that were done. The first let us know the sand ran hotter and more efficient. This one let us know there very little difference in the final product. Thanks!

Hi T-Roy. I am new to smoking and just bought a WSM. Your videos have been very helpful to me. Based on them, I have decided to use sand in my WSM. I cooked my first pork butt for pulled pork the other day and it came out AWESOME! Based on your tests, it seems that using sand seems to help the smoker maintain a slightly higher temperature while maintaining fuel efficiency. I think I will be sticking with sand. Thanks again brother!

Great comparison! Gotta love those WSMs for keeping temps so steady for so long.

Great follow up video!!! Interesting results, thanks for doing this. Keep up the great work brother!!!!

Hey brother Troy! Great comparison with these cookers! Glad to hear Karen giving her thoughts! Great video brother! Much love

Excellent cook ! I really appreciate it! I've always wondered how much difference the water makes. Thanks for doing it!

Hey, T-Roy, excellent part 2, I concur with your attempts at reducing the variables. A few more ideas for you in the future should you try one of these experiments again (which I look forward to!): 1 - instead of counting things like charcoal or amount of meat, go by weight, it's MUCH more accurate, plus, it's a lot easier to weigh a couple pounds of charcoal than to count 200 x 2 WSM! 2 - May be nitpicking here, but one thing I noticed in both experiments (although this one didn't have the same results), one of your WSM was out in the sun while the other one was in the shade, I wouldn't be at all surprised if that factored into any heat variations you might have experienced the first time around. Just two ideas for you to ponder. Thanks for the quality video!

I really enjoyed this follow up from the first comparison. If you recall my comments from the last comparison, I am a die hard lump charcoal user (I buy 3 bags at a time, remove the large chunks for smoking and grill with the rest) as well as using post oak mini splits and peach wood chunks almost exclusively for smoking on the Weber Smoky Mountain. The sand method allows me to do this and the WSM is absolutely perfect for me and my style :)

T-ROY I went and picked up a WSM just from watching your videos, about to start my first rib cookout! Thanks for all you do! From Nanaimo BC

Hello T-Roy, thanks for doing the comparison videos. I'm listening to them as I do my own smokes. I use 3 pizza stones in my WSM with a foiled pizza pan as a cover, mainly because I'm not fond of the water cleanup. If I need to add moisture, I put a small foil pan with water on the pizza pan. I've listened to three of your videos so far, and will listen to more. Thanks for doing this.

Oh yeah, thank you for testing and sharing Troy.

Mimic the results I've had, much better on fuel and the temp comes up to cook faster than with water. Cheers as ever buddy

T-Roy....Great job on keeping it equal... I agree with you....Looked the same but the fuel savings was huge! Your smoker still had a piece of wood left.

Appreciate the video T-Roy! I also have the Thermoworks Smoke. Mine almost always shows 15-25 degree's higher than the thermometer on the WSM. I've seen differences of up to 75-90 degrees. So at the very least, mine is way off. My first set of ribs was way overdone, and now I know why...because when it says 225, the meat is actually at 250-275 according to my thermoworks smoke. I think once have I looked at the WSM thermometer and seen the same temp as my smoke was reading. Again, thanks for all the great content! Cheers to ya!

fantastic video Troy! Glad to hear your like the Smoke because my wife is getting me one for my birthday lol. And you are spot on about not sweating a few changes in temp as the cook goes on. Every time i start sweating the small stuff during a cook I hear you say "We're just barbecuein' here folks" lol. Looking forward to the next video!

You nailed it Troy. Great video. Cheers.

Well...I guess you're going to have to keep having James coming over and testing different meats to settle the debate! great video!

Nice test. Read all the comments. Very interesting. Tks for the demo/test Troy

Nice information on the WSM T-Roy. I took out my water pan and have never looked back. My family and myself prefer the taste of fat dripping on the charcoal taste. I only smoke ribs with a water pan ,but I will use sand next time to see if I can get a better bark on my racks as opposed to a moist bark. We don't do the brisket and pork butts, my family goes crazy for whole chickens, tri-tip, bratwurst, and ribs. With no water pan our food comes out phenomenal. Thanks for the tip in the video as I will do that next cook for ribs. You keep making videos and I will keep watching my friend!

Another great video Troy! It seems like the water filled has the chance to hit the 220 temps where the sand filled seems to run slightly hotter. It does answer my question about the thermometer, thanks for that. You're really giving us backyard novices a lot of helpful and great advice. Not only with smoking and grilling but also just in the kitchen with Karen. Thanks for everything Brotha! Cheers

Hi, Ms. Karen..And, again love the show..

Fantastic comparison! Thanks for doing this on Troy.

Good comparison video between water or sand Troy! If your worried about fuel consumption, then sand sounds like the way to go on a WSM, and great point about winter time. People up north should take heed to that part of the video. Cheers brother!

I did this test in a bullet smoker with lumpwood (ProQ Frontier). Water, and then sand (I was always water until this point - spoiler alert!). With water, I struggle to get over 220f, but, it holds 210-220f beautifully. With sand, it's easy to go over 225, and hard to keep it under 230, but my FlameBoss it keeps it at 230 easily. Pit temp recovery after lid removal is WAY better with sand. No agressive temp drops. Coal usage is less, and chicken skin is crispy instead of chewy, Made no difference to ribs at all. I'm always a sand cooker now, unless I want to keep it at 210 or less, which is rare, if at all.

Thanks for sharing. Have a wonderful Tuesday.

Glad to see you tinkering with the WSM yet again! Karen was a great sport too. I enjoyed watching! - Jon

Thanks for doing this again Troy. I really noticed the smoke ring in the previous video using the water, but couldn't tell so much on this cook. I like the fuel efficiency using the sand. Did I miss how long the cook was? Great video and very useful information Troy.

Thanks for another Stellar video brother I'm one of those guys who have experimented with water ,sand and Bricks believe it or not I haven't found a difference in the taste or the texture of the food but I have found that using bricks or a terracotta plate evenly distribute the Heat and the fuel consumption is that a minimum. Cheers brother

Great video, thanks for it. I never thought about using sand in mine until I saw your first sand vs. water video so I was pretty curious. I do like the idea of better fuel saving but I think the WSM is pretty good as it is for the most part. I usually don't use water on my big meats but I do on the small like ribs. I think I'll stick with keeping the water pan open for use. Thanks again Troy.

Another great video Troy. Thanks for sharing it. Now you have me wondering if wet sand would give different results in fuel consumption. Something to ponder upon.

I remember you saying in another video you upgraded the fuel door on your WSM and it helped with fuel efficiency. Might that be the difference in why the sand cook had more charcoal left? Thanks for the content. Loving your channel.

Great video, T-roy.

T-Roy!!! Cheers to ya!! It's physics. Heat loss to evaporation. Water pans will suck BTU's like crazy. Love your videos!!

Great video brother! That meat looked terrific I mean that bark,WOW!!!! Cheers brother, -Kent

Fascinating stuff T-roy. I think they key here is relative humidity. The water bath cooks in a very humid environment, the sand in a very arid one. I think the "juiciness" test might be a little misleading - pork shoulder has a fairly high fat content and the low and slow effectively renders the fat through the meat, and because temps are consistent, results should be consistent. However, if water content were important, like in say chicken or leaner meat, I would expect much greater evaporation to happen in the arid smoker, and you would notice a greater variation in results. Brining might help minimise the difference. Regards from Wimbledon.

those look amazing man, great video. Cheers brother

Hi Troy, man from the bottom of my heart I appreciate you doing this! I've used those ceramic briquettes like JB for roughly the last 2 years and have been wondering if I had been drying my meat out or anything and this has out my mind at ease! Thank you again buddy for doing this for us! did you happen to notice if there was a difference in smoke ring? Have a wonderful day!

Nice demonstration.

Great Follow Up T-Roy. The results were unexpected. I thought the WSM with the water would be more moist. I live in the North East so I will definitely try the sand during the winter months because as I'm sure you know the cold weather sucks the heat right out. Thanks again for the video Troy!

This was great info! I just got a used 18.5 WSM doing ribs today!!! Using Heaven Made It's Incredible rub today!

Great follow up Troy. I have done both and come to the same conclusion.. Smoke on brotha!

Troy, I always use a water pan cover. When it's colder temperatures I put nothing in the water pan in the summer I use water to keep temperature spikes down when I open the lid.

It makes sense to me. Water is easy to get in the pan and easy to dispose of, but ultimately to me it seems like you're dealing with thermal mass, not really moisture in the air. The water works great until it reaches its boiling point (212 F at sea level, lower at higher altitudes). Then it takes a lot of energy to always be converting it into steam (thus more charcoal used). The upside of sand is that it doesn't have a limit as to how hot it can get (at least at smoking temperatures). So it can act as a thermal heat sink, stabilize temperature, and do it throughout the entire cook without evaporating and expending energy. The moisture loss difference between the two is negligible, as you demonstrated. Thanks for the great cook, I was very interested in this experiment.

Thanks for doing this comparison. I think I'm switching back to sand. Plus it is easier to hit temperature at 10degrees in the winter.

Troy, another awesome video brother. Interesting about the smoke ring. Why do you think the water gave a more prominent smoke ring??

Good experiment Troy! Think about "but it's a dry heat". You probably cooked the water pan ribs more since the moist air transferred more heat into the meat (or properly; transferred it faster). And you used more fuel converting water into vapor as well. On a larger cook (like a brisket) I would think the times would differ a bit when cooking to a specific temp in the meat. With the smaller cuts you were using, the time difference would have been minimal. But that might also be why the water pan ribs didn't seem as juicy. Really great work brotha!! Cheers!!

Thx ;) I knew you were gonna try and see. I was sure it would be saving fuel

I just watched your second video on sand vs water. I love your videos. I would like to see if you put a pot of water on top of the sand. I love to cook outside, but I don’t get to as much as I want to. Please keep up the great job.

Hey Troy! I'm a big fan, and really enjoy all of your videos! After watching all three of your videos on the water vs. sand test I noticed that it appears that the sand WSM seems to be more fuel efficient than the water WSM. I did notice another difference between the two smokers. The sand WSM has the upgraded stainless steel door, and the other has the original door. I have the upgraded door and I believe it does make the WSM more efficient by holding in the heat, and therefore allowing the charcoal to last longer. Do you think this could have helped the charcoal in the sand WSM last longer? Keep up the great work! Thanks!

I'm thinking of trying that on my Weber kettle with the charcoal baskets on either side of the sand.

Good vid. I switched to ceramic briquettes along time ago in my bullet smokers. I just didn't see much difference in the final product. The one big difference is that if you're not using a temp control device and you overshoot your target temp, with the briquettes, it's hard to get it back down because they hold heat so well. So when I first got them some 10 yesterday ago I really learned to zero in on specific temps with my smokers. Now I used gurus so I don't worry about it.

Part 2 was also fascinating. It seems that the result of both is that water is so dense that it sucks more energy out of the charcoal.

i loved the follow up! Way to go Troy!!! #KeeponBBQn

that was a very nice comparison

Hi Karen what a great video we enjoyed watching. Thank you have a great day. you are too funny.

nice comparison video Enjoyed it, thank you

T-Roy , Thanks for the feed back, excellent! Karen, sorry for having you to endure this test again :) but it had to be done ;)

That was fun to watch and appreciate you doing the leg work for this test. Much more efficient as I expected it to be. Any way to minimize fuel consumption is alright by me. It means longer cooks with less maintenance. Makes me wonder if there is a real benefit to using water. Do you think it might make a difference in your offset on something like a brisket cook? I imagine you'd get a better more flavorful bark while dry cooking and adding flavor with a spritz over letting the steam keep them moist.

Troy, how are you brother?! Give my best to Miss Karen. A while back... maybe a year of more, we talked about water vs. sand/my lava rocks/JB’s ceramic briquettes. And I told you without water I had a hard time keeping my temperatures down below 235 F., especially when the water was hot. So, I was rolling with water in my pan for about a year. During the winter I started running my 18.5” WSM with my water pan 2/3 the way full of Lava Rocks (Because I have so many of them) and putting the foil over the top of them, and I got excellent results. Well, back in the early Spring, when our weather in the northeast started warming up, I decided to try running my WSM with the Lava Rocks.... because JB’s said what once you have your WSM “Seasoned right” with a coasting of creosote over the shinny porcelain enamel, it would be much easer to maintain temperatures without water. Just to be safe, I did some cooks with Pork Butts and Chicken.... and sure enough, JB was right. Now I’m doing my Briskets without water also. So yeah, it’s my opinion that Professor JB’s was quite right. As you know, I had an Offset smoker, and I loved my BBQ that come off of it, and loved maintaining the fire, working the dampers and all, but these days I just fine if very heard to sit by my smoker all night for 12, 14 or 16 hours, which is why I now use my WSM for all my long “Low & Slow” cooks. So I really enjoy your WSM videos are lot, especially these type of WSM experimentation... I learn new things, and/or verify my findings. Some say the flavor from an offset is better, some like the water smokers. I say neither is better, just different... and generally, I get moister more tender meats off of the WSM more consistently... simple because it’s a much more forgiving Smoker. But when you do the cook right on an offset, man it’s some kinda fine! Now, what I’ve tried lately on some smokes is use some Lump mixed in (about 1/3 to 1/2) with my Kingsford Blue, and with some wood... and cooking at 275 and above for Pork, Turnkey & Chicken and the flavor is much closer to the flavor I got with my Offset. And about the placement of my wood chunks, I place them in-line with the vents just like you, but next time place yours closer to the center. When I dump my hot charcoals in the fire ring, my chunks are half covered or just touching the hot coals... this way my meat are get the smoke right away, and there is no wood left in the fire ring by time my meat reached an internal temperature of 140 F.... because after then, the smoke from the wood chunks is really not doing any good, because the meat won’t take any more smoke at that point. I find it’s a much more efficient way of using the wood chunks. Give it a try and let me know what you think. And last... the thing I find most beneficial about not using the water in the water pan, is as JB always said, the fact I get longer burn times. With my 18.5” WSM and my Lava Rocks in the water pan, on just 12 lbs of Kingsford Blue or Royal Oak Charcoal Briquettes, I can maintain 235 for over 18 hours. Over night this past Friday, I just did a 4 Butts in my on 12 lbs of Royal Oak Briquettes... kept my Pits temp at between 225 and 235 F. for 14 hours, then opened my vents bring the temp up to 265 for the last hours... all on just a 12 lb load of Charcoal Briquettes. That’s what i love about my WSM, and the fact that I got 6 hours sleep during the cook... lol All my best my friend, and blessing to your and Miss Karen...

I absolutely love my Thermoworks Smoke, but I have a much cheaper smoker. I'm looking forward to getting a WSM.

will have to give it a try. I often wondered about using Lava rocks mixed in with the charcoal for fuel efficiency. Have you ever tried it?

If you ever need to borrow another WSM 22” for a test, I live in the Austin area, let me know! 😃 I have one that only has one cook on it so far. I even have it with a River Country thermometer lol. It would be nice to meet ya and get some behind the scenes tips n tricks. I’m a complete noob in bbqin. Take care man. Love your videos.

Cheers Troy.. Excellent video. I was on the fence about using sand but i think after this I am going to try it. I have a questions on Temperature management. I cooked some ribs on my WSM 22 and had an extremely hard time getting the deck temp below 250. My Maverick and dome gage were almost the same. I had 3/4 pan of water, minion method on the coals, and 2 of my lower vents closed completely and the third only open the width of a bbq skewer, 1/8 inch. No wind, great sun, open area. Any ideas how to get the temp down? Thanks and look forward to future videos.

Good comparison, but have never cooked those to 195, looked kind of tough. 165-170 is as high of an internal temp as I go, makes for a tender, juicy cut. Keep up the good work.

So not a lick of dang difference! Really interesting cook, thanks for trying this experiment again. What do you think was different between the first test and this one? Always enjoy watching ya!

Hey T-Roy great video! I wonder why the Texas Best Rib Rub isn't listed on Heaven Made Products website???

Nice video!! I still feel on an overall cook the water pan method is the safer way to go.

Nice comparison brotha. I kinda figured if you cooked them at the same temp they would turn out pretty much the same way. I sure wish I was there too brotha.

Great video... I am thinking that the H2O would allow you to hold a lower temp. In my experience, I have noted the with sand on my WSM 18 that the lowest I can get the smoker to run is about 250-255. As you had the WSM with the H20 set with two vents slightly open, assuming closing off one would allow a lower temp, down to 255-230 range.

if I recall correctly, your WSM had more Sun exposure in the 1st video, I wonder if that had a difference on the Temps? just when I thought the debate was done....lol

you did mention that James cooker had two vents open, whereas your cooker had one vent barely open...would that have made difference in the fuel expenditure.....its really not a big deal, but as you said the sand was more efficient and you could continue to cook other products with the remaining fuel.........could be a good thing to know if your cooking for a lot of people.......good job bud... best comparison I have seen in a long time....

i have the wsm 22.5 and im wondering where you purchased the stainless cover? Awesome video!!!

Here i was warning every one about th cyberspace virus and i caught it, put 2 pc down. AWESOME. Thanks for your cooking blogs, cheers brother

Have you tried ceramic briquettes?

Awesome!!! Would have thought water in pan would have given more moisture- guess not!!

Hey Brother Troy! Your viewers speak……... you listen……. and reply very quickly…..Wow that was fast! Folks will be happy with this one, I'm sure! Bottom line…….. both are the same…. with the difference being fuel consumption. Smoke On! \m/

Nice, t-roy delivers.

Hi, Troy. What's the best tip for simmering your BBQ? Have a good day, good buddy.

how does this stack up to the ceramic blocks that JB uses.

Why is the sound ahead of the picture? I noticed it more on your Q&A videos.

Great video buddy, i did buy some of the Heaven Made products Texas Best Brisket Rub and It's Incredible Seasoning. I did try out the Its incredible on some fresh corn on the cob with some butter and put it in the pit to steam in tinfoil wow its amazing

Interesting. I would have expected SOME difference between a bowl of water and a bowl of sand. But it makes sense that the water was less efficient. They originally put the water in there because evaporative cooling keeps the temperature "low n' slow" even when the fire is a bit hot. Basically it's a swamp cooler set to 212 degrees. If you have the skills and time to keep the cooker at the right temp manually, then sand/bricks/nothing is going to take less wood to keep the same temperature.

Just out of curiosity; in future cooks on the WSM, will you use sand or water? Do you see yourself using sand more frequently now?

Nice

Troy you covered my interest from the first video comment I made. Now, what made you have one bottom vent open on your WSM and two bottom vents on James' WSM? Curious minds want to know :-)

hey t-roy do you think the reason why your coals burnt slower is because you only had one vent open when james was two.great vid thanks again

Interesting results ! I'd love to try the Heaven Made Rib Rub, but it's not on their website...I'll keep checking back, maybe it'll show up soon.

My boy! T-Roy! I just noticed your WSM lid handle. You know the wooden one. Where did you get it?

What if you mix sand and water together in the pan, what would happen?

All men's need to know how to cook like you

Great video, thx What if you put in wet sand ;)

would the extra vent open on the water grill change the moisture leaving?

Now the question is whether sand in the Slow n Sear will have a similar affect?

So if sand is more fuel efficient, and you could reuse the same sand for multiple cooks, and the meats were extremely similar, and this is a run-on sentence. Then, therefore sand seems to be the logical economic choice. If the water smoked meat had a slightly better smoke ring then it is probably possible to improve the sand meat's smoke ring by adding a few more pieces of smoking wood at start up.