Beer can chicken and lump charcoal

[Duane Riggs]

I like crispy chicken skin. I know to get that on beer can chicken on the WSM I need to get the temp up.

Since lump charcoal burns hotter I thought about giving that a try. Has anyone out there tried that before on beer can chicken and have a technique to share.

I have never used lump before, does anyone have any tips and such for lump charcoal in general, like how much to use and such?

 

[Rob O]

Duane,

Here try this. It seems to explain things pretty well.

I'm going to have my first try at it this afternoon in fact. It's from the cooking tips Chris Allingham posts as part of this site.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/chicken4.html


Two other tips I received were 1) Remove the center sections of the WSM just before the chicken's finished and crisp the ski directly over the coals. 2) Try cooking it with sand in the water pan.

I used the direct crisping method with a duck a few weeks back and it came out pretty good. Be careful not to burn it. Haven't tried sand in the pan yet.

Good luck.

 

[Bryan S]

Duane, I use lump all the time no worries. When doing chicken leave the water pan empty just line it with foil. You want to get the temp up to at least 325 - 350 range 350 would be ideal. That way the skin will be crispy. Bryan

 

[Tony Serra]

I do butt can chickens with lump. No problem. Like everyone else says use a dry foiled pan to help get the heat up over 300*. I pull the neck skin over to cover the neck cavity and secure it with a skewer to help keep the moisture inside the chicken. What goes in the can is up to your taste. Fruit juice, beer, wine, spices etc.

 

[Tom Hinkle]

Paul Kirk's recommendation is to take the chicken off just before it's done and cook on a hot grill for about 20 minutes to crisp up the skin.