new owner has briquet question

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Hello.
Thanks for the great website. I bought my first Smokey Mountain Smoker last week and tried it out tonight with some temperature problems. I've placed a whole, butterflied chicken on the grill and can't get the temp higher than 175 F. It's about 65 degrees outside with a slight breeze but the grill is in a partially enclosed patio so I don't think the wind has much to do with my problem. I checked the thermometer and it is dead-on accurate. The only thing I can guess is that I didn't use enough charcoal. I used about half of a 10-lb bag because I figured that just one chicken wouldn't require much charcoal. Is that my likely problem?

As well, the owner's manual is telling you to put the charcoal grate on the middle level of the smoker and not in the base of the grill as I thought if you want to smoke the meat. Do all of you keep the charcoal grate and chamber in the bottom level of the smoker no matter what style of cooking you're using?

Thanks for the help.

Jeff
 
Rule number one is throw away the manual. The real manual is here-- this site.

Keep the charcoal at the bottom, use more briquets-- you need the heat energy. If you don't have a Weber chimney starter, figure on filling the charcoal ring 2/3 full (2 Weber chimneys-worth) and let it all get going well before assembling the WSM. When the chicken is done-- rely on your meat themometer-- close all vents, and the remaining coals will extinguish. Keep the leftovers dry and use them next time. Voila!
 
Welcome Jeff, rule one is really a great place to start!!
Go to the Tip's and mod's icon at the top of the page and you will find a variety of ways to fire up the WSM and see what temprature you are actually running at grill level. My favorite is a Poulder or Taylor thermometer with the probe stuck through a potato set on the grill. You then carefully run the attached cord out trying not to kink it too badly. This gives me an actual read inside my "smoker oven" with the top on.
 
Thanks for all of the help. Looks like I just didn't use nearly enough briquets. After 6 hours of the whole chicken cooking at around 180 F, I got tired of waiting and pulled the chicken off of the smoker. I was delighted to see that it was cooked well and was probably the best chicken I've ever had.

I'm cooking another chicken tomorrow and also bought some blue fish at the Asian maket.

Thanks for all of the help.

Jeff
 
Beware that, with poultry, you really don't want it spending any appreciable amount of time between 40 and 140 degrees-- the so-called "danger zone"-- where harmful bacteria can form. Even with the WSM, it's still best to cook poultry in the range of 325-250 rather than the low-and-slow range of beef and pork.
 
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