Mini smoker chicken puzzle

Hi,

Can't figure this one out.

We're talking about a 5 lb chicken here.

Started out low and slow, around 250, for an hour or so. Temp started dropping. I think I used too few coals.

So I tossed the used coals out for a fresh start and put in a 3/4 full chimney to the SJS BOWL. Vent was covered and clear. The holes in the vent cover itself remained clear. The temp went up to around 325.

A couple of hours later (give or take) TWO internal digital thermometers went off.

They were set to go off at 165 deg. Each of them was in a breast. Neither probe was touching bone. They went off within a few minutes of each other.

Took the bird out of the smoker and put it on a plate. AND THE JUICES THAT RAN OUT OF IT WERE RED! I don't mean "pinkish," I'm talking bloody red. I'm mystified.

It looked great, brown crispy skin.

Anyway, I said screw it and put it in the oven at 350 and it's going to stay there until the juices run clear.

Do any you guys have an idea how or why this occurred?

Thanks

Mickey M said:

Hi,

Can't figure this one out.

We're talking about a 5 lb chicken here.

Started out low and slow, around 250, for an hour or so. Temp started dropping. I think I used too few coals.

So I tossed the used coals out for a fresh start and put in a 3/4 full chimney to the SJS BOWL. Vent was covered and clear. The holes in the vent cover itself remained clear. The temp went up to around 325.

A couple of hours later (give or take) TWO internal digital thermometers went off.

They were set to go off at 165 deg. Each of them was in a breast. Neither probe was touching bone. They went off within a few minutes of each other.

Took the bird out of the smoker and put it on a plate. AND THE JUICES THAT RAN OUT OF IT WERE RED! I don't mean "pinkish," I'm talking bloody red. I'm mystified.

It looked great, brown crispy skin.

Anyway, I said screw it and put it in the oven at 350 and it's going to stay there until the juices run clear.

Do any you guys have an idea how or why this occurred?

Thanks

Click to expand...

For your first issue, I always load up my charcoal basket full, even if I don't need to. At the end of the smoke I will close all vents to snuff the fire. After things cool down I'll dump the ash out and shake out my charcoal basket leaving the unburnt charcoal in the basket and add new to that. If I'm doing a super long smoke 8+ hours I'll start with all new charcoal. The method I use for lighting my Mini is to torch it through one of the side vents. Depending on my target temp I can have the smoker up to temp in 5-10 minutes.



As for the chicken doneness, are you confident that the therms you used to check the temps are accurate? One of my older therms that I used to used were off by 10°-15°. I always test my probes when I first get them to see how accurate they are. Simple test is to boil water, and put the probe tip in. You should be close to 212° I figure a few degrees off is close enough. 5°+ degrees off is a concern and should be logged so that you can do the math and make the adjustment. My current therms iGrill are spot on accurate. I do periodically check them just to make sure they are still accurate.

I cook all my birds to 165° and never have had that problem. So i would start by testing the therms then go from there.



165° notice the juices, clear. This bird was smoked in the Mini using Cherry and Pecan with the Mini running @ 350°.

Case is the Jedi Master, do what he says and you'll have great cooks