First Smoke on my WSM 14 and need some advice


 
C

Callin O'Farrell

New member
I just finished my first smoke on my 14" WSM and overall it went pretty well. I did 2 split chickens loosely following the Basic Barbeque Chicken recipe. I wasn't able to get the temp over 270 though. I'll list the details below, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

  • I bought the Compact Webber Chimney Starter and lit a full stack.
  • Once that was going I dumped it into the WSM, filled the chimney another 3/4 full, and dumped it in unlit.
  • Once the unlit coals were gray I put the chickens on.
  • All of the vents were fully open.
  • I was using the water pan, but with no water in it.
  • It was somewhat windy, around 10 MPH and I did not have any wind shield.
  • For about 45 minutes it stayed around 220. Then I lit another stack of coals and dumped it into the smoker.
  • When I dumped the new coals in the temp flared to 300, but then settled down around 270.
  • I finished the chickens there. They were tasty, but the skin was a bit rubbery as it didn't get hot enough.
 
10mph is not enough wind to be a big problem, imo.

I use a full compact chimney too; for hot & fast chicken on the 14 WSM. I fill unlit charcoal as full as I can. Every single stinking briquette man, I'll be stacking them around the water pan after assembly! You can always recycle what you do not use.

The tin can method works well for me. Another difference in our methods is it sounds like you are dumping unlit coals on top of lit. To me that seems backwards.

I use a foiled dry pan the same way you were - to catch the mess. Honestly, if I weren't getting good temperatures - would not bother me to run hot & fast with no pan at all.
 
No pan is worth considering. I’ve found decent skin tough to get in the WSM. Biggest thing I do that helps is to dry brine my birds for a day or two. That time in the fridge dries out the skin and helps quite a bit. I also try and pick a less fatty bird, the excess fat seems to keep the skin moist and more rubbery.
 
I think your issue on temperature was that you were cooking the same amount of chicken as in the recipe, but using less charcoal than is used in the recipe. Try increasing the amount of hot charcoal.

You'll never get the kind of skin on chicken in the WSM that you do on a kettle or gas grill, the cooking temps are too low. The dry brining and air drying in the fridge mentioned by Tye can help, but those aren't part of the beginner's recipe you tried.

If you have the luxury of buying what's called air-chilled chicken, buy it. (Look for that term on the package, it's chicken that is quick-cooled using cold air, not soaked in water during processing that waterlogs the skin.)

When I redo that Beginner's Chicken recipe, I will probably replace it with the Hot & Fast Chicken recipe where you leave the water pan out and cook the chicken directly over the hot coals.

But don't feel bad. I've cooked a lot of smoked chicken over the years that turned out just like yours. You eat the parts of the skin that are good, you discard the skin that's not, and still get to enjoy smoky, moist chicken under that skin. My wife likes to remove the skin, chop up the meat, and use it in all sorts of things.
 
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