First smoke also...


 
W

William Olmstead

New member
Following Brian's lead from another discussion, I am smoking my first bird today in my one touch silver. Keeping the temps steady has been a chore to say the least. I have been staying between 250 and 300. That is with the bottom vent mostly closed and the top vent 3/4 closed.

I used 6-7 briquets with the minion method and apple wood chips.

As I have seen in the past, it did not happen unless I have pics, so I will post my pics later.

--Keith
 
Get yourself a smokenator. They work great with a kettle. I have done many cooks with one. I have 2 of them and two WSM's and I still use my kettle with the smokenator if I only have a small amount to cook. I can get a solid 5-6 hours with no re-loading.
 
One question. How long should this bird take to cook? I have read 1 - 1 1/2 hours per pound, so my 4.8 pound bird will take 5ish hours? I am guessing a little less sense the temp is running a little warm.
 
first of all, you really got me confused with your name: William, butt then, you signed on your first post, "Keith".
OK WilliamKeith, always keep your top vent open 100%.
Control your temps by adjusting the bottom vents.
As Ryan has stated, a smokenator may help, I have not used one... I've heard good things about them and I've heard more bad things.
Doing research on it before the purchase is clever.

Getting back to the bird cook... Time is a measure, internal temperature, however, is most accurate!
You need to reach an internal temperature of at least 165 degrees F. (74 degrees C.).
All "sections" of the bird will differ... Marinating or brining the bird will benefit the flavour and the process of the cook.
Butt you're cooking it tonight... well...
watch your temps and I hope it's the best Chicken you have ever tasted! Good Luck!
 
Sorry, middle name is Keith. William Keith Olmstead I did add it to a brine this morning and took it out for a total of about 4 hours of brining, and have been cooking it since 1ish.

I just got a temp done on the breast at 175 degrees with my thermometer. I was expecting it to take longer than it did though, so now I have to wrap it up and let it sit for an hour till the wife gets home.

I did check it to put the probe in and it looks gorgeous. I will have pics.
 
Ok, all done and it is wraped up keeping warm in my oven. Below are some pics from it, kind of proud since it being my first smoke. I think I did pretty good. I did nothing to it except for the brine, which was water, salt, soy sauce and sugar.

The temperature finally calmed down around 270 about 2 hours in with a total cook time of ~4 hours for a 4.8 pound bird. I used WAY too much fuel for this cook, I swear if you look at the pictures I could have gone another 5+ hours with the amount of fuel I had.

Did some reading and I got 2 fire bricks from my local masonry for 1.30 each, they worked great. I used a glass Pyrex dish to catch the drippings and also had some water in it to level the heat out.

Some reason pics are not showing up, so here is a link to my set on Flickr.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9...s/72157626700358446/
 
OK WKO, Your Bird Looks GREAT!
You Weren't Worried, Were You?!
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Remember one thing while you cook: It's Only Food!
No one gets hurt if you over cook or burn or wreck the dinner.

Oh yeah, one more thing to remember while you cook: HAVE FUN!! and I'm sure you did today
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Welcome to our addiction.
 
You have not met my wife yet :-).

I work from home so I just worked while it was cooking. I can tell you one thing. I think this is going to be addictive.

--WKO
 
Nice job!
I used WAY too much fuel for this cook
Click to expand...
Better to start with too much then not enough. Once that beautiful bird came off, close up those vents and you'll be able to reuse most of it.
Especially with chicken, I wouldn't worry too much about controlling the temps that tightly. If it creeps up a bit (as long as your cooking to internal temps) the only downside is dinner might be done a little sooner then expected!
 
This is now my favorite thing to do. I am already thinking about what else I can gill. The smell in the air smells sooo nice. I have never had chicken so good, the dark meat just soaked up the flavor. My wife and kids ate it up.

Whats a good next meat to try out? Typically it is just me, wife and 2 small kids so getting a large peace of meat is just not economically sound. I was thinking maybe ribs, I think a slab will cover us. I also saw some turkey legs at the butcher shop, those sound good.

Man, soooo many decisions..
 
Get a smallish turkey, spread the lit coals to each side (yes, you can now use those mysterious
charcoal baskets)buy a cheap aluminum baking pan
put it, full of water, between the 'coals' throw on a bit of wood of your choice (i am partial to pecan).
Oil the bird internally, externally with evoo, salt and pepper to your taste, and let him go.
after about 3 hours or so, check meat temps, you want 165 or so in the breast. Pull him off, carve and let the compliments roll in.
 
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