First smoke... Chicken!

We'll.... Here's the pics of what's happened so far.

I've read about the mods to be done for my particular smoker, and I'm certain that I'll do many, if not all, that've been suggested.

I didn't brine my chicken. I considered it and most certainly will in the future. However, this might sound ridiculous, but I wanted to simplify this whole process as much as I could... especially during these learning stages. In fact, my rub is very basic. The idea being that I wanted to taste the meat and smoke first and foremost to get an idea as to what I'm doing. I'll add steps after I get these basics down pat.

Well... If I'm gonna be completely honest about my first smoke then I feel like I've gotta lay out my mistakes out on the table. As a whole, however, I feel like things are still gonna turn out great. It goes like this...

I kept watching the meat thermometer and after only 2 hours the temp read 165 degrees. To my knowledge, this meant it was time to take the bird out. So I did. It looked and smelled incredible! I took it in to wrap it up, cover it in towels, and let it sit. But a little voice in my head told me I should check the temp again. While it was in the smoker I had the probe inserted where the thigh meets the body. This time I thought I'd better stick in the breast. I got a very different temperature at that point. It was just 125 degrees. So, having already opened the door to take out the bird and shutting off the propane, I just covered it in foil and put it in the oven at 225. The house now smells great and I'm sure it'll taste great too. Things didn't go exactly as planned but the I'm confident the final product will be good. The chicken is currently still in there so I can't give a final analysis as of yet.

So this is where I think I went wrong. I truly don't know what at temp the grill was operating. The gauge on the door never went above 150 degrees. I just didn't feel like I could trust it. My guess is that I inserted the thermometer probe in a place that wasn't giving me the most useful reading. Perhaps it was against bone? Maybe I would've had better luck going through the breast in the first place. Regardless, I feel like the best thing to do in the future is to work on getting reliable readings from both the smoker and the meat. I was kinda driving blind on this one so to speak. So, it appears that I'll be looking into new thermometers. I've heard good things about the Maverick 732. Apparently it'll handle both of my needs. Of course I'd be interested to hear what anyone else has to recommend.

So far this has been a fun learning experience. I'm looking forward to tasting the final product.
This is the bird and little drumettes shortly after coming outta the smoker and before going into the oven.