chicken failure

[Dave O (Alaska)]

I have been experimenting with different fuel sources lately since my options here in alaska are limited and will most likely completely disappear come winter. I tried smoking a brined chicken this weekend and didn't get the smoker up to temp before putting the bird in. i was using K blue and it took about a half an hour to get the temp up above 225. the chicken came out way too smokey, unedible. i only put one chunk of cherry wood in, do briquettes produce a smokier flavor than lump? sure seems like it in this case, I know chicken takes smoke faster but didn;t think it would make that big of a differnece. should i only use lump for birds or let temp come up first? I was hoping to make smoked turkey for thanksgiving.

thanks
dave

 

[Shawn Copsey]

How big of a chunk did you add? I normally cook four or five chickens at a time and use 5 or so smallish chunks. I've never been able to oversmoke chicken, but maybe that's just me. You could try throwing in some extra charcoal for starting off and getting the temps up and cooking the chicken faster. It will come out still moist and tender if you don't overcook it and the fast you cook the less smoke it will take in. It might just take alot of experimentation on your part to get it where you like it.

 

[Dave Russell]

Dave, sorry the bird didn't turn out for ya, and I can only suppose what the issues were. Was the cherry wood seasoned at all? I only use green fruitwood for brisket and butts, and the wood chunks for chicken don't need to be very large. Personal taste comes into play, so just experiment and find out what works for you. You might find that you prefer grilled chicken better, anyway.

K bb doesn't burn as hot as lump or quality briqs like Stubbs or Wicked Good, and I'd also ditch any heat sink like pizza stones or clay pot bases if you want higher temps. However, water in the pan is helpful in keeping the bone side of smoked chicken moist, and it also seems to "wash out" the smoke a little, so keep that in mind if wanting some low-n-slow smoked chicken. Cheap leg quarters are great on the wsm, and I load the cooker up so much that I usually just leave the vents open 100% for the entire cook. I like to really get the water in the pan simmering good for more vapor output and I'm smoking around 250*, and 275* is just fine if you can hit it. Just don't use more than maybe one third a pan, and use really HOT water. Be careful if you use boiling obviously, and did you see if you could find one of the plastic drums I suggested?
http://tvwbb.com/eve/forums/a/...0069052/m/7091030006 Just don't cut the entire bottom out like Milt and I did or it will eventually warp. I've got to pick up another one before it cools off, and they really do help keep temps up and conserve fuel.

Regarding any potential smoke flavor from the charcoal, starting your fire with an entirely lit top layer will result in a very clean burn... clean enough for very little, if noticeable at all smoke flavor from briqs OR lump, no matter what you use. Hope that helps, and better luck next smoke.

 

[Paul K]

Dave,

What was your target cook temp? Since you are correct that chicken takes on smoke more so than many other meats, you can up the cook temp and thus take the bird out sooner (and thus less smoke adsorbtion). A lower temp will result in more of a rubbery skin as you need higher temps (350-425) to crisp it up and many people prefer a crispier skin. I've found little differnce in smoke/flavor between lump and briquettes. For turkeys, I usually smoke around 375 with about 3 chunks of a fruit wood such as cherry or apple. The turkey comes out with a nice reddish hue from the cherry and not too smokey although that is subjective; just ask my wife!

Paul

 

[Dave O (Alaska)]

thanks for all the input guys. I think my problem was not enough lit coal on top. I usually light an entire chimney and dump on what ever i have in the ring. this time I tried the "20 lit coals" that I often see suggested on this site. I think that this was too little as my fire took a long time to come up to temp.
DAve, I did see a plastic barrel at sportsmans wharehouse a while back but it was about $70, i think i will build a plywood enclosure and possibly insulate it for winter smokes.

thanks again for all the help.

dave