Want to smoke but concerned no time


 
Jeff Padell

Jeff Padell

TVWBB Pro
Both Saturday and Sunday this weekend I want to do some smoked chicken but am concerned I don't have the time. Both days I have to be elsewhere and won't be home until 3 pm. My wife likes to eat about 5 pm, although sometimes I push it to 6 pm.
I find that my chicken on the mini or the 22 takes about 2 hours and it takes about 40 minutes to get the charcoal ready to put on in the firebowl and then you have to let it stabalize, I usually figure that from the time I start until I am ready to put the food on is close to two hours. That would have me putting the chicken on at 5 pm.
If fact situations like this that happen more often than not have actually caused me to think about a propane smoker. It is the reason I use my Weber Silver B to grill on weeknights rather than the OTG as you light it and by the time you go in and get the food and bring it to the grill it is ready to go.

What do people find if you only have 2-3 hours from the time you get home until the family wants dinner on the table, what do you do?
 
Did you try telling her bbq is done when it's done?

Cut up the whole chicken into smaller parts and grilled them...add some wood chunks for added smoke flavor.
 
Oh I forgot to mention that I am talking thighs and drumsticks, and turkey legs, not a whole chicken.

"done when it is done" doesn't fly with her, she basically said "your done with anything you may want" (I wonder what she meant?) She likes things scheduled and at the same time all the time. Alot of my smoking I feel like I am in a competition, it has to be turned in at the right time.
 
I can get my OTS ready to cook almost as fast as my gasser. Light the chimney, go in and get stuff ready to go bring it out and dump my chimney, takes 15 minutes. 2 hrs to get the smoker ready to use seems kind of excessive.Light the chimney, Load the smoker with unburnt, add lit from the chimney, add the meat, put the lid on and set the vents.
 
I must be doing something wrong, I put the unburnt in the chimney, stuff it with paper but it isn't all ashed over for 30-40 minutes. Then I let it come up to temp and ready to go after another half hour. Maybe I need to keep adding paper as the initial paper burns up.
I will play with it this afternoon, we are having frozen pizza's for dinner, but will put a couple legs on my mini as a test.
 
If you cook the chicken at a higher temp 275-300 you should able to finish in time.

This is what I do on my performer. Get a chimney full of hot lit charcoal and bank to one side. Add chicken on opposite side of coals. After 30 min or so flip or rotate chicken. And another 30 min check temp on chicken if not ready rotate and or flip and let them go for another 15 min. Check temp again if you need more time let them go for another 10-15 min.
 
I am going to do a whole turkey on the WSM Monday as I have the day off and I am planning for a 5 hour smoke, although there I really want it at 325 degrees for a 10 pound bird. so it may well be only 4 hours, I have no idea, but I want to do a couple tests before Thanksgiving.

The next couple days I will do tests on chicken drumsticks. I have not been happy with the skin on my chicken, when I took the skin off after cooking the chicken tasted great, but the skin was bitter.
 
Two hours is too long. If the charcoal is kept outside it may be picking up moisture which would make it slow to ash over. Also, consider using starter cubes. They are cleaner, safer and more consistent than paper. Vent adjustments and air flow could be a source of the problem. White smoke, instead of a faint blue, can cause bitterness. Bitterness can also be caused by the binders in charcoal, such as Kingsford blue bag. If all else fails buy a fresh bag of natural briquetes. Crisp skin happens at 350+ degrees.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001AN7RGG/thevirtualweberb
 
I use 2 sheets of paper towel soaked with a bit of vegetable oil to start my chimney. Try lump charcoal.
 
Elaine W said:
Two hours is too long. If the charcoal is kept outside it may be picking up moisture which would make it slow to ash over. Also, consider using starter cubes. They are cleaner, safer and more consistent than paper. Vent adjustments and air flow could be a source of the problem. White smoke, instead of a faint blue, can cause bitterness. Bitterness can also be caused by the binders in charcoal, such as Kingsford blue bag. If all else fails buy a fresh bag of natural briquetes. Crisp skin happens at 350+ degrees.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B001AN7RGG/thevirtualweberb
Click to expand...

I have 3 chicken drumsticks that I am going to try today with no wood (no smoke) and see how they taste. I will also try to get to 350.

I keep the KBB in plastic trash bags outside, my shed wouldn't work, dirt floor, and my garage is very damp, tools seem to rust in there faster than outside. I will also try starter cubes, but since I get a daily paper and 3 weeklies I like the idea of free ( need money to pay for the new 14.5 WSM )
 
Jeff Padell said:
I am going to do a whole turkey on the WSM Monday as I have the day off and I am planning for a 5 hour smoke, although there I really want it at 325 degrees for a 10 pound bird. so it may well be only 4 hours, I have no idea, but I want to do a couple tests before Thanksgiving.

The next couple days I will do tests on chicken drumsticks. I have not been happy with the skin on my chicken, when I took the skin off after cooking the chicken tasted great, but the skin was bitter.
Click to expand...

A 10 lb bird at 325 probably won't take 4-5 hrs. I believe it will be more like 2.5-3 hrs.

Here's an article: http://virtualweberbullet.com/turkey6.html
 
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That sounds more like it, as it is not that different from the oven. The chicken drums are on the mini right now, curious to see how they taste with just KBB. Tomorrow I am going to use just straight Cowboy Lump.
 
Drumsticks were done in 1 hour, at about 300.

SO my concern was really over nothing, it all went faster than I remembered.

BUT I DID FIND OUT SOMETHING TODAY, my wife doesn't really like smoked foods, she said she doesn't mind smoked ribs, but no more than 3 times a year! Heresy!

Luckily my 3 boys and my daughter in law all like smoked foods!

Again that is why I made the mini and am buying a 14.5, it is perfect for smoking for 1 :wsm:
 
Here are two of the 3 legs I did, the other one evaporated on the way to the kitchen LOL

My wife tasted on and said she could still smell and taste smoke on it (so she didn't like it) but to me it was just about perfect. Maybe one small piece of orange wood or maple would be good, but there was no bitter taste.
After I took them off the mini I put some wood on it just to see it smoke!

 
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