smoked chicken help

[Danny Shane]

This is the second time i'm going to try to smoke chicken.My first attempt was way too smokey and had alot if wasted charcoal left over. Can someone give me some advise on how much charcoal and how much wood to use i would like to do skinless breasts and a whole chicken with the backbone removed .Which way is better hot and fast or low and slow with chicken thanks inadvance to all who help

 

[Dan H.]

hey danny. When I butterfly a whole chicken to smoke I use the 18 incher (wsm) and use 2 or 3 chunks of wood buried about 1 briquet "layer" thick down (before I toss in a chimney of lit that is). Use whatever wood you like but fruit wood would be the mildest to start. I put it down there thinking that while the fires trying to heat up it wont grab/burn the wood till I have things under control temperature wise and combustion wize (or something...). I always read "wait till you got a cool blue, clean smoke". Well that wont happen till the inlet vents are drawing something somewhat similar or equal to whatever the lid vents ...uh are venting and chemical reaction...er. and the fire... well nevermind, it wont be stable for about 15-20 minutes, (I think of it like my wood stove in the house if that helps) so w/ the chunks down a little low they wont get burnt and/or smokin till the fire has already reached a cleaner exhaust and regulated steady burn. By the time temperature reaches stable, things should be pretty smooth and you shouldn't get any big poofs of heavy (bitter) white, smoke by the time it reaches the wood. And yes your chicken may be to warm to get a good smoke ring by then but I think smoke rings (or heavy smoke marks in some skinless places at least) make chicken look crappy anyway but its up to you. I re-evaluate this w/ other things i cook btw.
Also when I first started I would always keep adding wood, prob. shouldn't do that. The wsm contains so little wood very well.
I would go ahead and use more charcoal then you think you will need and choke the rest out when your done. They can be re lit next round.
I cook/bbq chicken around 270-285ish. lets see what everyone else likes when they chime in. Hope it helps.

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[BradH]

I am by no means an expert, having only smoked chicken a few times (just got my smoker a couple months back), but here is what I found. Low and slow makes for really tough chicken. I settled on 325 degrees for about 2 hours with the spatchcoked. Just be sure to check the internal temperature at about 1.5 hours...cook time varies by mass. To get that temperature, I use one chimney load of Kingsford competition poured over 2 chunks of peach wood (maybe 12oz). Apple works great too. I do need to prop open the access door at the half-way point to keep the temperature up. I also brine the chicken for two hours in salt/table sugar. You end up with fairly crisp skin, and very moist flesh. Really this is the same as I have done for years on the grill (temp, time, brine) and it has always worked great. As for skinless breasts...I can't help you there as I would only try it on the grill at a high temperature. I don't eat the skin, but I think you get better flavor and a more moist finished product cooking with the skin on and with the bones still attached.