First UDS build and first smoked chicken

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vvet762

Newbie
Original poster
Aug 5, 2014
11
11
Fort Wayne, IN
I just built a UDS this past weekend and tried my first EVER smoke. I have pics but don't know how to post them.   I had a 5 pound supermarket chicken and put it in brine over night and then smoked it yesterday at 275-300 for three hours.  No rub. No Sauce. No wood.  Just used Kingsford original.   It was disgusting!  It had such a strong smoky odor and taste we couldn't eat it.  My wife is giving me the evil eye for spending money on a can that she said poisoned her.  She hates smoked meat but I like it so please help!  How can I get just a little smoke taste that we both can tolerate?
 
I'm confused on how it could be to smokey.. as you stated you didn't use any wood.... just curious.. how did you start your charcoal ??
 
This is the set up I have.  The 55 gal barrel has 3 inlets at the bottom with 3/4" nipples.  One nipple has a 18" black pipe with a gas valve on it for adj airflow.  The lid has four one inch holes that I am currently using flat magnets to cover.  My basket is an 18" charcoal grate with 10" high steel mesh that is tied on with stainless steel wire.  I started the fire with my chimney and loaded the hot coals into the basket after about 20 min burn.  The basket already had about 3/4 bag of unlit Kingsford briquettes.I looked at a post from May 2014 started by Smoking Pipes.  When I did my seasoning burn I sprayed about half a can of canola oil around the barrel and lid.  The burn off may have not been long enough to get rid of the oil and I got white smoke from it when I was cooking the chicken.  So I think I will have another burn off Saturday (a long one) and try the ribs on Sunday.  I am going to try and post a pic of my smoker.  

 

It worked!.
 
Vvet , sorry your Bird came out toxic
icon_eek.gif
. Try letting your coals burn to let the smoke become 'Light and Bluish' and add some wood to get the smoke flavor . A generator like Todd's AMNPS would do you good , and get a lite smokiness you want . . .

after the next burn , just play with the unit and 'Log' your results in your "BBQ log" . A great wat to improve your skills ... have a bunch of them . . .and still record my cooks.
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Have fun and . . .
 
I wiped all the extra oil out of the smoker and burned 3/4 bag of Kingsford briquettes and let it burn all night.  It started out at about 400 deg and by the next morning had burned to ash.  So, Saturday I put a rub on my St. Louis ribs and fired up the UDS.  I think my first mistake was filling the chimney 2/3 full of briquettes.  The barbeque was about 375 deg and took about an hour to get back to 275 and never got below 266. I used the new Maverick 733 temp so I think the temps were correct. Two hours on the grate then 1.5 hours in foil and about 45 min in the kitchen oven.  I had to move inside because thunderstorms came through too soon. Thought I had all vents closed but forgot one in the rain and had and inch of water in the bottom of smoker.  Ribs weren't too bad.  Kind of tough and the meat never did pull back off the bone.

I think next time I will put just 8 to 10 briq. in chimney to keep the temps down.  All three lower vents were closed off and the from valve was 75% closed.  
 
One thing that has me puzzled is the height of your rack. It appears to be very close to the lid, if you're using the drum lid. Your meat is right up in the smoke mass, and if the smoke is bad that's not going to be good. I'd set the rack around 8" down from the top if using the drum lid. It also appears that a few more exhaust holes would benefit you too.
 
 
I wiped all the extra oil out of the smoker and burned 3/4 bag of Kingsford briquettes and let it burn all night.  It started out at about 400 deg and by the next morning had burned to ash.  So, Saturday I put a rub on my St. Louis ribs and fired up the UDS.  I think my first mistake was filling the chimney 2/3 full of briquettes.  The barbeque was about 375 deg and took about an hour to get back to 275 and never got below 266. I used the new Maverick 733 temp so I think the temps were correct. Two hours on the grate then 1.5 hours in foil and about 45 min in the kitchen oven.  I had to move inside because thunderstorms came through too soon. Thought I had all vents closed but forgot one in the rain and had and inch of water in the bottom of smoker.  Ribs weren't too bad.  Kind of tough and the meat never did pull back off the bone.

I think next time I will put just 8 to 10 briq. in chimney to keep the temps down.  All three lower vents were closed off and the from valve was 75% closed.  
Remember you have to have air flow. Play with it. Buy a couple of bags of charcoal and some chicken leg quarters. About the only way to mess up chicken is for it to be raw or bitter from to much or bad smoke.

Happy smoken.

David
 
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