Need Some Chicken Help

[3 j's b smokin]

I've smoke chicken before but decided to try and brine them after reading a lot of good things about it. The meat was very juicy but the skin was burnt. I'm hoping someone can help me figure out what happened.

Brine (for 4 hours)
1 gallon water
1/2 cup of salt
1/2 cup of sugar
2 table spoons of homemade rub

Took out of brine after 4 hours and let sit in the fridge for 2 hours. Put olive oil on both sides and rubbed with homemade rub which contained sugar and salt as well as a few other ingredients. Smoker was always running between 225 and 250. I checked them at 2 hours and the skin looked perfect. I checked them at 4 hours and it was burnt. Any thoughts on what could have caused this. The only thing I did different this time than I normally do is the brine and the fact that I put oil on before putting the rub on. I appreciate any and all feedback. Thanks!

 

[douglaslizard]

what type of sugar were you using brown sugar or turbinado sugar has a higher burn temp then regular sugar .could that be the problem?just my 2 cents

 

[waysideranch]

Try this , at every passing to the beer cooler check the smoker. In my case thats to often but hopefully you have that under control. Good luck.

 

[3 j's b smokin]

I used just plain white sugar in the brine and both brown and white sugar in the rub. Do you think it might just be too much sugar or should I look for a different type?

Scott, I here what you're saying so I guess I can just check it every 4th one to make sure I don't open the pit too much because I definitely don't have it under control either.

 

[douglaslizard]

i would use either brown or tur.and leave out the plain white also when my internal temp reaches 175 i dip is sauce and place skin side down in an aluminum pan and drop the house temp to 245.hope i have helped

 

[meat-man]

Well I don't know if this would matter or not but did you wash the birds after yo took them out of the brine? I don't know if that would matter, but I would say it was the sugar.

 

[3 j's b smokin]

Yeah, I washed them off for about 30 seconds after I got them out of the brine. This a rookie question but what is turbinado sugar versus just white or brown?

 

[oscarsroost]

Turbinado sugar is sugar in the raw, natural cane turbinado sugar from Hawaii, Grown in Maui, Hawaii,
On the island of Maui lie fertile tropical plantation. There the rich volcanic soil is warmed be the Pacific sun. fed by moountain waters, and cooled by friendly tradewinds, These are the perfect conditions for growing sugar cane, nature's own sweetener and it don't burn as quick as white sugar

 

[douglaslizard]

just look in the same section as you buy brown sugar and they should have some if it doesnt say turbinado then it should say sugar in the raw. oh by the way roost nice explanation .sounds like it came right off the back of the box.lol

 

[3 j's b smokin]

Wow, only one day on and I'm already learning a lot. Thanks for everyone's response. I will definitely start using turbinado sugar to see if that helps me avoid the burn. I have checked my probe and it's dead on with boiling water. I even have a digital one that I used to check the accuracy of the pit. I think what happened was I let the temperature spike a little too much at certain times when adding wood which probably contributed to the burn. I'll chalk it up to a few too many beers towards the end of the cook. Thanks again for all your help and I'll let you know how the next one turns out.