With St. Patrick's Day coming up, Corned Beef went on sale at the
local meat playground (Cattleman's Meats in Taylor, MI). A buddy and
I went Friday to pick up a couple of corned briskets and I also got a
hunk o' shoulder.

So today I woke up bright and early to make pastrami and pulled pork.
I have a Brinkmann Square vertical smoker with a Home Depot Stainless
grilling wok as my firepan and today was the day I was going to forego
the water in the pan and switch to sand.

It was a remarkably positive switch. I bought some playsand and
filled the water pan to about 1 inch from the top, covered the pan in
heavy duty foil and put a pie pan also covered in HD foil over the
middle.

When I fired up the coals, I left the bottom vents at 1/4 open, where
I usually run the unit with water in the pan. As it stabilized, it
was up around 300*F, so I closed the vents all the way (but it is
still not very well sealed). What a difference! The temperature
stayed between 260* and 275* and the coals lasted *forever*! I added
much less fuel than usual over the cook, and not having to add water
was really nice. I had a quicker than usual cook as well, 9 hours to
194* on the pork and 188* on the brisket. I expect to spend less heat
heating water, but I'll keep an eye on future cooks to see if they
really get quicker (my usual brisket/pulled pork time is 11 hours).

I am a believer in sand in the pan now! I expected more drippings in
the pie pan, but was happy to wrap the foil up and discard cleanly.

I am taking pics, and may find a way to post them.

Time to go eat!!!!

Rock