Whew!! got 8 birds-a-smokin'...bit of a temp problem


 
Status
Not open for further replies.
R

Ron F

TVWBB Fan
Well this is my second biggest cook ever. Got 8 birds on the WSM. Little more work than I thought. Took me 3 hours from prepping the first bird to getting them all on the WSM. Don't know if thats 'normal' or not but I think its a little too long. What I did(and didn't do)....Bought 4 twin pack Tyson roasters from Sam's. Opened'em all up and cut all excess fat/skin off all birds. Also worked my hand between skin/meat on all but one bird. Ripped the skin on a few birds(arrrggghhhh!). I used six different Dizzy Pig seasonings on six birds, mortons nature seasoning on one, and creole butter injector marinade on one(the one I left the skin intact on). I seasoned them between meat/skin and also on outside. Rubbed a bit of olive oil on the outside first tho. Used toothpicks to let me know whats what when all is said and done. So...does 3 hours seem excessively long? I didn't even wash or pat dry the birds as I just wanted to get them on. We'll see how they turn out I guess...

Temp problem..Used MM, let it get up to 250*. Put the chickens on and it went down to 185*. Is now up to 205*. It is climbing but very slowly. They've been on about an hour. I think the two main problems are:8 chickens = ALOT of meat/mass, and it's only about 45* here. I think I should have doubled the 'lit' charcoal with it being 45*. I'll keep ya'll posted...

ron
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Ron F:
I think I should have doubled the 'lit' charcoal with it being 45*. ron <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yep, probably should have. If you're grill-roasting (higher temps) you can skip the MM and start with all lit, if you're going a more low-slow route then more lit might be in order since it's cold there. (Is it breezy?) Not sure how many you started with. 3 hours is not long at all if you're low-slowing it.
 
I'm low-slowin' it but the 3 hours I was talking about in the above post is just the time it took me to get all 8 birds prepped and the WSM ready to go. The birds have been on now about 2 hours. Just stuck one with a probe, its reading 140* in the breast. Lid temp is at 240*, grate temp at 235*. I ended up adding about 20 more lit coals. Everything seems to be on schedule....

Ron
 
Ron.

Two things.First, you can prop open the door for a while to get the temps up and second at the low temps the skin will be rubbery to the point that it will be un-edible.

I suggest taking the birds out at about 150° in the thigh and finishing them in a pre-heated 450° degree oven .

They will have the smoke flavor and crisp skin.

Al
 
We'll I took your advice and pulled the birds so I could toss them in the oven for a crispy skin. First time I've tried this. Seems to be taking awhile for the birds to come up to temp. They actually lost a degree or two when I first put them in, and it took awhile for them to recover. I just put them in those disposable roasting pans and put them in the oven...should I cover them with foil??

Ron
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

 

Back
Top