How many beer can chickens will fit on a 18.5 WSM?


 
J

john johnson

New member
I have volunteered to bring my 18.5 WSM over to a friends house tomorrow and cook beer can chickens for everyone (about 8 people) as we carry 150 sheets of sheet rock upstairs in his house and start hanging them. He's in the process of adding two bedrooms and bath to his attic. Anyway, as I have never done any BCC on my WSM, I don't know just how many birds will fit... I was hoping for 6 (3 on top, and 3 on the lower grate). Is this possible or should I make plans to only cook 4?
 
John,

Don't recall the size of these birds, but they were beer butt chicken. As you can see, I could have fit a third easily on the top rack, and maybe even a fourth... could probably fit three on the bottom no problem. This is was on an 18.5.

http://s815.photobucket.com/al...current=100_0530.jpg

Also, just FYI, I learned a lesson on that first chicken cook on my WSM: I kept them fairly low and the meat came out great. The skin was inedible. Next time, I'm going higher heat.
 
You could get 8, depending on size. I've done 4 3.5 pounders on top with a bit of extra room. Probably at least 4 more on the bottom.

Agree with high heat. You want at least 300.
 
I was planning on using the recipe for BCC on the main page, but it calls for 225-250 for about 4 hours... should I go 300 until I reach 165 degrees?
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by john johnson:
I have volunteered to bring my 18.5 WSM over to a friends house tomorrow and cook beer can chickens for everyone (about 8 people) as we carry 150 sheets of sheet rock upstairs in his house and start hanging them. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Whoa whoa whoa ... you're going to be hauling sheet rock AND cooking?!

Hmmm ... how many would fit would all depend on how many HE is going to buy ... along with the several cases of everyone's favorite brew.
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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by john johnson:
I was planning on using the recipe for BCC on the main page, but it calls for 225-250 for about 4 hours... should I go 300 until I reach 165 degrees? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

It just depends on how you feel about skin. If you go 225-250 the meat will be super juicy and wonderful and extra nice cold the next day... and the skin will be absolutely inedible. Start raising the temps and the skin has more of a chance of crisping but the meat's not quite as good. It can be very good, just not quite as good.

I tend to do it at 225-250 or 350-400 depending on if I'm in a skin mood or not and who I'm cooking for and if I think there will be leftovers.

I haven't found any real advantage to starting at one temp and finishing to another but I haven't spent a lot of time playing with that kind of technique.
 
POST COOK REPORT:

OK... 6 bcc's fit perfect on a 18.5 WSM. I probably actually could have fit 8. The only problem I ran into was that the top grate was pushing into the top of the birds that were on the bottom grate.

As far as the cook went... I tried to keep the temps ranging from 300-350 and they were done in about an hour and a half. Only problem was that they were ready before we were, so I wrapped them in foil and put them in the oven to keep them warm. Once we ate, the chicken tasted GREAT, but by sitting in the oven wrapped in foil for three hours, the skin had turned a little rubbery. I tasted the skin when I took them off the smoker and it was crispy.

All in all, everything turned out great. Everyone loved the chicken... and the beer. It was a great way to end the day as everyone was tired of hauling and hanging sheetrock.
 
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