Trying out Weber's Expandable Rack on my 18.5" WSM, looking for useage tips


 
Jake Wilson

Jake Wilson

TVWBB Fan
A while back one of the members roasted a few chickens on his WSM using Weber's expandable smoking rack for the WSM. I was looking for his post doing a search and couldn't find it. IIRC he had great success, but no plating pics? Anyways, I bought some hooks from the Pit Barrel Cooker people to hang my chicken with...the plan is to put this chicken on later today. I'm going to get some sleep first and who knows when we'll get the meat on the rack...probably before sunset

So I have a few questions...

I'm going to guess it would be imperative to use a barrier between the coals, lit wood chunks and the chicken. I've yet to use the water pan on my 18.5 WSM but I have been using the heat deflector covered in foil, placed where the water pan is supposed to reside. I'm thinking if I didn't use a barrier, the fat from the chicken would drip on the coals and wood, starting unwanted flames...yes/no?

I don't have a hand held thermometer, yet so I was thinking about using the food probe of my Maverick ET-732. Each chicken is 4 lbs., the plan is to cut each in half and hang 4 half birds...is there enough meat on these birds to insert that food probe...if so, where to insert the probe? IIRC I should be looking for 160 degrees in the breast and 175 in the thigh, or are those numbers off? I've always grilled chicken w/o the benefit of using a thermometer but I'd like to use the Maverick food probe if that is at all possible

This is the package of hooks that was sent to me, along with a jar of their rub

14678843767_3ec1feb46a_b.jpg


As for the wood I plan to use for this cook...I have both red (Live Oak) and white (laurel Oak) oak dried and split form our woods I cut some time back, + a bag of hickory chunks I picked up from the grocer last run there...I was thinking of maybe using a little bit of all three, and thought I'd try the Pit Barrel Cooker's rub on these birds

Any guess as to the time frame of this cook? I believe the other fellow (referenced at the beginning of this post) ran his WSM with the middle section's door off, to gain more oxygen to produce more cooking/roasting BTU's...does that sound like a good plan...running it w/o the door?

I'll take pics and post them here on this thread as I'm putting this together later today...off to hit the sheets :)
 
Here's a cpl chickens I did PBC style a while back: http://tvwbb.com/showthread.php?52995-Roasted-Chicken-hung-PBC-style-in-the-WSM

Notice I removed the water pan and food grates. There were no flames with the lid closed. That's the whole idea behind PBC style cooking: cooking straight over live coals where the fat drips onto the fire to flavor the food.

I did not run without the door but I did this again yesterday and cracked the lid a bit until I got up to temp. I used a metal skewer between the lid and center section but remove it when I got ~350*F lid temp.

I didn't use a constant read therm (e.g. Mav). I put the chicken on and waited an hour and used an instant read to see if I was at final temp. I was 160 degrees in the breast and 175 in the thigh in 1 hr. I would not use a constant read during the cook. I'd be concerned with burning the probe wire. You could use it after one hour like an instant read to see if you're done.

I believe there's a distinct advantage of using the WSM with PBC style cooks. I've read that the PBC stays hot a long time but I can close my vents and shut the fire down within a cpl hours saving the unused charcoal for later cooks.

Here's yesterday's cook:







 
Last edited:
Thanks for posting the pics and the link to your other cook Dwain...it's all solid information, and beautiful looking results! Okay, so I wont use the shield for indirect cooking...I was concerned if the chicken hung low enough, they might get burnt, now I'm using the 18.5" WSM where you use the 22"...I believe there is some difference in height, concerning the middle section, but I'll roll with the birds over live fire

BTW, I noticed you referenced the Smoke book...I have a copy of the same book, and believe it or not, I used the same brine recipe you did though I grilled my birds that time on my conventional grill. That said, IIRC that recipe called for a brine length of several hours. I let them go much longer (can't recall how long...maybe 2 or 3 X's as long)...the birds tasted a tad on the salty side, so I was going to try that brine recipe, next time...with the suggested brining time, instead of going over. Other than that, the brined birds were noticeably moister and had a nice garlic taste, but then I used more garlic than was called for=:-)

While on this topic...here's the link

http://www.amazon.com/Webers-Smoke-...08896&sr=8-1&keywords=weber+smoke?tag=TVWB-20

But go through Chris's link first (site owner) so he'll get some spiff off the sale. For the $15 price, this is a bargain, what with all of the various recipes and information. I just wanted to throw this out here, a testimonial of sorts concerning this book...I didn't know what I was going to get (substance) buying this book, was and have been pleasantly surprised with all of the info packed within the pages
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top