Cooking Temp

[Guest]

Hi Everyone,

Is there a rule of thumb people fellow when figuring out how long to smoke your meat (chicken, pork, or beef)? (Weight x hours) Yesterday I cooked 2 butterflied chicken weighing around 4-5lb each. Both was brined and seasoned with a coat of rub. I burned one full chimmey and 3/4 fill of water. Temp was set at 250 degree and held fairly well with some temp fluxation because of the windy condition. After five and half hour the breast and thigh was still nowhere near done. Breast temp was 147 degree and thigh was 152 degree. It was getting dark and put the chicken in the oven. It seems like Im not giving myself enough to smoke my chciken. Im so used to grilling at high temp. Thanks ahead.

Richard

 

[Doug D]

When I used to cook chicken-- used to-- at lower BBQ temps, I would expect around 4 hours for the average size bird, but I would recommend saving time and trouble on your future poultry endeavors and cook at a higher temp, around 325-350*. There is no benefit to cooking poultry low & slow-- you are not trying to break down connective tissue like you are with brisket and butt.

For brisket and butt, anywhere from 1-1/2 to 2 hours per pound, but, every one is different-- always allow extra time.

 

[Guest]

Richard, the golden rule is "It's done when it's done". Sorry, that's not a lot of help /infopop/emoticons/icon_rolleyes.gif
From the comments on your post I can assume that you only used 1 chimney lit. It lasted 5 and a half hours? I'm having trouble with that. Do you have a thermometer? If not, get one and stick it in the dome so you can see the temp inside the smoker. I've used a cheap candy thermo and it works well enough.
My experience, (minimal) says you did'nt have enough fuel for the cook. Better to have too much and reuse than not enough to do the job.
My $.02
bob

 

[Guest]

Doug,

Thanks for your help. I will definitely try higher temp for my chicken next cook out. Question, with such a large chicken do you use water in the water pan or use it dry. I have a hard time getting the temp past 300 degree with all vents open. Do you think the water keeps the temp from rising higher?

Richard

 

[jeff lowe]

My suggestion is to do the chicken on the grill. I use my Weber Gold and cook it indirect at high heat skin side up and the skin comes out nice and crispy and the meat really juicy inside. I just put a rub on it and have coals on both sides with the chicken in the middle with a pan underneath. I take the chicken out at 150 degrees in the brreast. It goes up to 160 after waiting for a little while. Good luck.

 

[Guest]

Hello Bob,

I have a Tel-Tru Therometer on both my WSM hood. I also use the Polder probe to check my internal meat temp. I used one chimmey load fill to the MAX. At the end of 5 hours the coal was pretty much done. Nothing left to reuse.

Richard

 

[Guest]

Simple rule of thumb. More heat requires more lit coals. Sounds contradictary...
When low and slow, bringing the temp up is easier and better. When hi and dry, bringing the temp down is easier and better.
Have I lost it? /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif

 

[Doug D]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Richard Wong:
[qb]Question, with such a large chicken do you use water in the water pan or use it dry. I have a hard time getting the temp past 300 degree with all vents open. Do you think the water keeps the temp from rising higher?[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>That is correct-- a dry pan-- water or sand in the pan are used to help keep temps down. I usually use two full Weber chimneys to acheive higher temps (Weber chimneys are larger than the typical CharBroil or other no-name brands). Amount of meat and colder weather this time of year will also have an effect on being able to achieve higher cooking temperatures.