Here's a pic of the eight birds we did for the 4th up at the lake! We were using my Dad's BBQ Grillware Vertical Smoker, which is identical to mine. The top 4 were done with just some of dad's rub, the next 2 were brined with limes and lime juice and a little worchestershire added, and the bottom two were marinated overnight with buttermilk and a little salt and pepper.
They were carved and set out separately for the gang that came up to the lake, and the buttermilk chicken won hands down, with the brined chicken behind it.
I was kind of nerveous about it, because the other half of the menu was Uncle Wallace and 30#'s of his ribs smoked over pecan wood... Uncle Wallace has forgotten more about smoking, grilling, frying, and cooking in general than I know to begin with. His ribs were awesome (sorry, no pics though - the Corona intervened and kept me from documenting this properly), but I got enough compliments and pats on the back to feel good about it.
The thing I was really intrested in here was to see how packing 8 whole chickens in the Grillware smoker would turn out. The internal temp difference from the bottom 2 to the top 2 was never really more than 10 degrees off, so cooking time was pretty uniform. It definitely gets hotter up in the top of that smoker - the internal temps of the top birds were always higher than the bottom birds.
Overall a great day with fireworks, family, friends, BBQ, beer and a beautiful lake. An absolutely awesome 4th!
They were carved and set out separately for the gang that came up to the lake, and the buttermilk chicken won hands down, with the brined chicken behind it.
I was kind of nerveous about it, because the other half of the menu was Uncle Wallace and 30#'s of his ribs smoked over pecan wood... Uncle Wallace has forgotten more about smoking, grilling, frying, and cooking in general than I know to begin with. His ribs were awesome (sorry, no pics though - the Corona intervened and kept me from documenting this properly), but I got enough compliments and pats on the back to feel good about it.
The thing I was really intrested in here was to see how packing 8 whole chickens in the Grillware smoker would turn out. The internal temp difference from the bottom 2 to the top 2 was never really more than 10 degrees off, so cooking time was pretty uniform. It definitely gets hotter up in the top of that smoker - the internal temps of the top birds were always higher than the bottom birds.
Overall a great day with fireworks, family, friends, BBQ, beer and a beautiful lake. An absolutely awesome 4th!