How Many Butterfly Half Chickens Can Be Smoked in a 22.5" in One Cook?

[Gene_N]

Hello All,

I reduced my smokes to 1 weekend/month but I load my 22.5" full (last smoke was 19 lbs of pork butt & 20 lbs of brisket), smoke, rest, food-seal into family dinner portions and freeze all of the meat. The kids enjoy that we aren't eating frozen processed chicken tenders, nuggets and patties all of the time.

I want to smoke, pull and pack chicken. I've avoided smoking chicken because it is less forgiving than butt or brisket. How many butterflied roaster halves can I get on a rack? I'm thinking 5 halves/rack then I follow the directions in the TVWBB Poultry section then I'm good to go, right??? I can use my Silver Genesis to cook the skin or just pull it off.

Should I brine? Doing that many will stretch the frig capacity but it's doable over a weekend. This will consume a day, I can then reload and do two butts.

 

[J Reyes]

I'm guestimaing 4 chickens per rack.. if you want to increase capacity the 22 can hold 4 racks.

 

[Dwain Pannell]

Here's a capacity ref: http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/wsmcapacity.html

I like to brine poultry. I really adds flavor in the meat.

 

[Bob Sample]

Why not smoke whole chickens and cut them after? You'll get more on.

 

[Stuart S]

Why not smoke whole chickens and cut them after? You'll get more on.

Yep, if you look in the link Dwain posted you'll see the awesome amount of whole chickens you can get on the 22.5. I'd cook them whole, forget about the skin, and cut up up once cooled.

 

[Wolgast]

Im with Bob aswell...And i have seen a post were you smoke 6/rack.(whole) I have done 5 with ease. A Brine will help with flavour/moisture. Chicken is cheap,goes well with everything,and works with all kind of rubs. And dont really care about cooking temp. Aim @ 300 +-25f. And i guess you will fill that freezer in no time.

 

[Gene_N]

Ok, I won't butterfly and will try 4 roasters/rack. I will brine and smoke for 4 hours then check meat temps. Check my assumption for meat yield:
Roaster - 6 lbs each x 8 = 48 lbs total. Subtract 50% for bones = 24 lbs pre-smoked. Subtract another 50% which will yield 12 lbs of packable meat.

This ought to be fun...

 

[Dwain Pannell]

Remember: no photos = it didn't happen! LOL

 

[Stone]

"(last smoke was 19 lbs of pork butt & 20 lbs of brisket)"

This was two smokes, right?

 

[Gene_N]

"(last smoke was 19 lbs of pork butt & 20 lbs of brisket)"

This was two smokes, right?

No, one smoke. Smoking a full brisket or 19 lbs of butt is an all day affair from start to finish which includes cleanup so I fill my 22.5 WSM and smoke 1x/4-6 weeks. I portion, seal & freeze 95% of my yield for future use.

 

[Gene_N]

Remember: no photos = it didn't happen! LOL

Ok, here are some pics. I smoked 6 Costco fryers (total purchase weight 30.16 lbs, $.99/lb), it took me 7 hours including cleanup. It yielded 11.93 lbs (39.6%)

1. Dressed (extra skin removed)

2. Wild Will One-Der-Ful Rub Added

3. On rack

4. Apple juice spritz @ 2 hours

5. First one (top rack) pulled at 4:00 hrs

6. Next two (top rack) pulled at 4:30

7. Bottom rack pulled at 5:15

8. Pulled (11.93 lbs)