Ok, so did my wings today and have lots of remarks....
Here is how I did them:
1) Seasoned wings with black pepper, salt, granulated garlic, applewood smoke seasoning and some canola-olive oil.
2) Placed seasoned wings in fridge for a couple hours.
3) Set up WSM with 3/4 chimney coals, 2 pieces apple wood chunks (1 small, 1 large), 1/2 chimney lit coals. No water pan.
4) Set up probes on bottom and top grates.
5) Waited approx 20 mins til temps stabilized (more about that later). Top vent open, 2 bottom vents closed, 1 open 1/2 way.
6) Placed wings on grates (flats on bottom grate, drums on top grate).
7) Let wings cook for 1.5 hours at between 245 and 280. Temps started around 275 for first hour and eventually fell to around 250 for last half hour.
8) Took of top and middle sections and put top grate directly on coals in bottom section for about 5 minutes to crisp.
9) Repeated with bottom grate.
10) Sauced 2/3 of the wings, with 1/3 Frank's Stingin Honey Garlic, 1/3 Bullseye Chicken and Rib. Left 1/3 plain.
Results
- The flavor of the skin was outstanding. Very smokey but delicious. Inside was as expected from any wing that is cooked well. A bit of a reddish smoke ring under the skin.
- Actually preferred the plain wings more than the sauced wings...disappointed I sauced 2/3 before I tasted how good the plain ones were.
- Some of the wings got some crispy skin, some didn't, others burned a bit as those damn coals are super hot....next time I would probably thrown them on the grill where the distance from the heat is a bit further...guess I need a charcoal grill now as I love the flavor the smoke from both the wood and the charcoal gives!
- The wife liked the smokey flavor too, so she isn't overly sensitive to smokiness.
Observations and Other Tidbits
So lots of things to say, that I expected and didn't expect...so here goes in no particular order....
- I am not sure if I should have put the flats on the bottom and drums on top like I did or vice versa.... When I put the flats on to start, the probe on the bottom grate read 450! Then put the top grate on and placed the drums on and the probe read around 290. Once I closed the lid, the temps slowly made their way to about 280ish....although it took a while so the poor flats were getting some pretty high heat for the first 15 minutes. Eventually the 2 temps settled in around 275 for almost an hour. Eventually, the temp differences reversed and the top grate was the hotter for the last 45 minutes and sat at around 260-265 while the bottom grate probe read 240-250. So there is about a 15-25 degree difference after time with the upper grate being hotter. This was all done with NO WATER PAN AT ALL IN THE WSM.
- The thermometer built into the lid of the WSM is pretty much useless. It read about 200-210 the entire cook. Should I be calling Weber about this? I guess it will be best to replace it with a 3rd party one eventually and dial it in to approx temp of top grate?
- I can't believe how much a smidgen of movement in the open vent changed the temp. I opened it up a bit at one point when the temps fell to 240-250 and the temps rose to 270 after just a minute or 2.
- I got smoked quite a bit putting the wings on the bottom grate to start. Not sure I loved that.
- The WSM 18 is very low. I felt like I was reaching down a lot. Also to put the grates on the bottom section right over the coals and work with the wings was hard on my back. Might need to make a platform for it.
- I would love handles on the middle section.
- I didn't bother to spritz. It was my first cook with the WSM and was a bit nervous to "play around too much".
- Putting the wings on the grate right on the coals at the bottom section in the end was probably a mistake. I burnt a bunch pretty good. Man is it hot down there! The wings got burnt in like 20-30 seconds.
- When I do wings again, I will probably run the WSM a bit hotter (about 300) and get the wings done quicker and just let them crisp up naturally....instead of dealing with the grates on the bottom section. I am sure chicken will turn out good at higher temps and that will be easy with the WSM and the vents. But this is all about experimentation right?
- Next time I do chicken I will probably just use 1 large chunk of wood or 2 small chunks. The 1 large/1small combo definitely imparted a strong smoke flavor...which myself and the wife loved, but I am sure there are some who wouldn't want that lingering smoke flavor in the roof of their mouth for a while after....
- It poured rain for like 5 minutes and the WSM didn't flinch.
- Quite a bit of coal left at the end...all white, but still in full form. Are these good for next cook?
- Wonder if I should have bothered to sauce the wings and return them to the grill or not?
- Probably could have used even less lit coal to start.
- Not sure if I should have had flats and drums reversed? But they all seemed the same in the end anyways...so probably no difference.
Overall, the WSM performed well, so I can't complain at all about the results and the performance. The built-in thermometer is a bit useless. I wish I had handles on the middle section. I wish the overall whole smoker was a bit taller / higher up. The side door didn't seem to let out any smoke at all which I was surprised at because it was all warped and I straightened it the best I could but not all of it was flush. Some smoke came out the bottom of the top lid, but that should seal up with time I hope. My probes worked well and working distance from the 2 components was great....nice to be able to monitor temps while watching golf in the bedroom.
Overall, I can't complain about the wings either. The smokiness of the skin was superb. The chicken was delicious. Any complaints I have are due to human error - burning some on the grate right on the coals and saucing too many of them as I preferred the plain wings and the flavor of the rub and the smoke.
The weather has cleared up for tomorrow (it was supposed to rain)...now hot and clear all day...so I will probably smoke some ribs or the pork belly burnt ends. Yay!
See pics below!
Got a vortex the other week and have heard great things about what it does to wings. The smoked wings sound delicious too!
