My Goal This Sarturday Is To Smoke Chicken Legs...But I Have Some Questions...

Jacksonface9 said:

I was given a Brinkmann Smoke'N'Grill. I wanted to start doing this as a hobby as I love to cook and have a genuine love for Southern cooking and grilling. Anyway, I grabbed some Chicken Legs, Applewood Chips, Charcoal and a good brine. My plan is to brine the legs overnight and to soak the chips friday night as well. Saturday I wanted to begin the smoking process. Anyway, I got my grill in pieces, so looking at it, Im no 100% sure how to set this up. I was also advised to let the grill heat to 90 degrees before I put the chicken in. The minimum temp for smoking all uncured meat is 225*F. 90*F causes Rapid Bacterial growth and if you are talking 90*C (194*F) that is still too cool especially for Chicken.  But once I get this set up adequately, my questions are A) At what rate do i want the heat to rise during the smoking process? If you want nice crispy skin on that chicken, you should have no trouble getting that Brinkmann up to 325*F (163*C) B) How long do I smoke the chicken? You need to have an accurate thermometer and the Chicken is done when the Internal Temp (IT) of the thickest part of the Thigh gets to 170*F (77*C)C) How much charcoal/chips do I use? This would be hard to tell. Take a look at this info on the Minion Method, http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/85924/the-minion-method-explained-w-tutorial  and add chips as needed to get Thin Blue Smoke. If it is billowing White smoke you are adding too many chips.And finally D)How do I know when its done? As stated above the IT is most important. Also look for the joint to wiggle easily and when pierced with a knife the juices run Clear. Any Pink and you need to let it ride. At 325*F Legs will take 60-90 minutes.  Any advice on this would be helpful. I am finding mixed info all over the info and kinda feel like Im getting more and more confused here. Thanks, all :)

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Jacksonface9 said:

Thank you so much! Im gonna start mmy brine in a few hours. I was told that i should remove the chicken from the brine and let a "skin" form as they sit in the fridge for a while, to seal the juices in...is this true?

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