A few questions

[TNJHubert]

I've been reading through posts quite a bit, mainly about smoking whole chickens, and I have a few questions.

Smoke the whole time up to 165. Is 165 the internal temp, or the temp of your smoke.

I notice alot of people smoke chicken at 325, does that allow enough time to get the smoke into it?

How long do you smoke it for?

Do you brine AND season? Or one or the other?

I notice some people smoke them in the disposable turkey trails with foil over it, and some don't. What's the difference?

Split the chicken before smoking, or don't split and why?

Thanks!

 

[tallbm]

I've been reading through posts quite a bit, mainly about smoking whole chickens, and I have a few questions.

Smoke the whole time up to 165. Is 165 the internal temp, or the temp of your smoke.

I notice alot of people smoke chicken at 325, does that allow enough time to get the smoke into it?

How long do you smoke it for?

Do you brine AND season? Or one or the other?

I notice some people smoke them in the disposable turkey trails with foil over it, and some don't. What's the difference?

Split the chicken before smoking, or don't split and why?

Thanks!

Hi there and welcome!

165F is the internal temperature (IT) of the chicken meat, breast in this case.
You will have the smoker temp at a higher temp to cook the chicken so that it hits 165F IT.

Now people say to smoke chicken and turkey (poultry) at 325F or higher because the skin comes out leathery and/or inedible at smoker temps lower than 325F. If you are smoking skinless chicken like bonless skinless breasts or you simply remove the skin from your chicken then you will have no issues smoking at lower temps than 325F.

How long do you smoke? The answer is always smoke to IT not time. The safe IT for chicken (poultry) is 165F.
At 325F a 4-5 pound chicken cooks up up in a couple of hours or so. Apply smoke the entire time. Cook time vs smoke time are two different things to keep in mind though people often don't distinguish the difference.
Yes the chicken cooks quickly so apply smoke the entire time. I use what is known as the A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker (AMNPS) to generate my smoke and it allows me to apply double smoke so that is what I do for quick smokes like chicken.

I personally brine and then season.
You can always just throw all the seasoning into the brine to be more of a marinade than a simpler brine. I personally like adding the seasoning to chicken after the brine to ensure it is seasoned well, with the exception of adding salt. If you brine that means you use salt for sure so no need to add more salt after brining.
I only brine whole birds and white meat chicken. Dark meat doesn't seem to need it and always comes out juicy for me.

I smoke chickens using a vertical roaster pan or a roasting rack that fits in a disposable aluminum pan. Chicken/poultry gives off a lot of juice so having a pan to catch it all and use the drippings to mix back in to pulled chicken is helpful. Plus it keeps the smoker from getting super messy with all the drippings.
I wouldn't cover in foil because if you cover it then you will get no smoke and chicken cooks up way to fast so all the smoke you can get is important.

Splitting chicken is a preference. Cutting the back out of the chicken and splaying it out is called Spatchcocking the chicken. People do this so the chicken cooks evenly all over rather than the breast taking longer than the thighs. One thing to know is that doing so will also mean the chicken cooks even FASTER lol. This can come in handy with Turkey as well since they are larger.

Phew! Ok I think I answered it all hahaha.

Now to me the most important thing about smoking chicken is making sure you smoke at 325F or higher so you don't get leather skin, or just remove the skin all together.
Next is to brine whole birds and/or white meat. I use a simple salt and water brine. I don't go more complex. I brine whole birds for 24 hours and breasts for 12-24 hours.
Finally, I apply double smoke to get the smoke flavor I desire and I use a stronger woods or wood combo. I like to use my Hickory/Cherry/Maple blend at 50% and then I add pure Hickory for the other 50% of my wood usage. I wouldn't go all 100% apple or cherry, etc. I would stick to a 50% Hickory or Mesquite plus milder or any weaker wood after that.

Let me know if this makes sense :)

Best of luck!

 

[TNJHubert]

Yay! You answered them all! Everything makes sense other than the wood part. You mix 50/50 strong/mild, and if you add anything after that use a milder wood? We have the mes 30, just got it actually and still have to season it. It's our first time smoking and we don't have the amazn maze yet, so I think you have to add more chips every 45 minutes or so. This will be my first time smoking anything and I'm doing it this weekend. I'm pretty excited but nervous. I figure a chicken is cheaper to ruin then a prime cut of beef, or any of the elk I have in my freezer.

 

[tallbm]

Yay! You answered them all! Everything makes sense other than the wood part. You mix 50/50 strong/mild, and if you add anything after that use a milder wood? We have the mes 30, just got it actually and still have to season it. It's our first time smoking and we don't have the amazn maze yet, so I think you have to add more chips every 45 minutes or so. This will be my first time smoking anything and I'm doing it this weekend. I'm pretty excited but nervous. I figure a chicken is cheaper to ruin then a prime cut of beef, or any of the elk I have in my freezer.

I didn't do a clear job on explaining the wood part. Here goes another shot :)
For chicken or fast smokes I go at least 50% of a strong wood. The other 50% could be anything else you want, strong or mild. I just recommend at least 50% of a strong wood at a minimum for your chicken smoke.

So you could do 100% Hickory if you like. Or 75% Hickory and 25% Apple, or 50% Hickory and 50% Maple, etc, etc. etc.

When doing longer like 6-8hr+ my personal preference is to NOT roll hard with Hickory, it makes things start to taste to much like bacon for me. So with a 8-10 hour bacon smoke I like to roll 70% Apple and 30% Hickory. You will figure out your preferences on longer smokes as you get more smokes under your belt :)

I am 100% in agreement that chicken is the way to practice and learn, it is cheap and it makes some damn good eating!
With your MES 30 you may find that the max 275F temp of the smoker may not give you edible chicken skin.
A cool first test for you would be to buy a small pack of chicken quarters and a split bone in chicken breast.
Remove the skin on half the split chicken breast and on half of the chicken quarters you smoke. You will see how drastically different they may turn out or how similar they may turn out.
Also this little test would allow you to brine the chicken breast and not brine the leg quarter/dark meat and see how the dark meat is naturally juicy and how the chicken breast matches the dark meat in juiciness when brined :)

With chicken you can experiment over and over and over with great results! Every time I make a modification to my smoker I basically practice with a whole chicken smoke hahaha. Doing so made me wonder why people don't smoke more chicken, it comes out soooo good.

Finally I would recommend you getting a vertical chicken rack or two. I have all of the following racks:

Double vertical chicken rack that converts into a roasting rack:

cuisipro-roast-dual-rack-1041.jpg

• tallbm
• May 3, 2017

30232341571354p?$478$&qlt=85

• tallbm
• May 3, 2017

Single chicken or Turkey roasting rack, it is tall and handles turkeys well where the double wrack doesn't handle a turkey well at all in the vertical position:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRy1123EWBU3naCsohk3y5BQkYP6LrZk

• tallbm
• Apr 11, 2017

Rib rack that can flip and work as a roasting rack, the jury is still out on it's feasibility as a rib rack to separate mutle racks of ribs:

DSC_0483[1].JPG

• tallbm
• Aug 3, 2017

I find all of the racks handy but I like the dual vertical chicken rack because chicken is so cheap and when smoking meat for some people 1 chicken is never enough :)

Oh also here is my Franken MES40 with mailbox mod and AMNPS.

2zflemo.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

2j17cdd.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

33fbwvn.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

Let me know if this all makes sense and Best of luck with the first smoke! :)

 

[BCPhelps]

I didn't do a clear job on explaining the wood part. Here goes another shot :)
For chicken or fast smokes I go at least 50% of a strong wood. The other 50% could be anything else you want, strong or mild. I just recommend at least 50% of a strong wood at a minimum for your chicken smoke.

So you could do 100% Hickory if you like. Or 75% Hickory and 25% Apple, or 50% Hickory and 50% Maple, etc, etc. etc.

When doing longer like 6-8hr+ my personal preference is to NOT roll hard with Hickory, it makes things start to taste to much like bacon for me. So with a 8-10 hour bacon smoke I like to roll 70% Apple and 30% Hickory. You will figure out your preferences on longer smokes as you get more smokes under your belt :)

I am 100% in agreement that chicken is the way to practice and learn, it is cheap and it makes some damn good eating!
With your MES 30 you may find that the max 275F temp of the smoker may not give you edible chicken skin.
A cool first test for you would be to buy a small pack of chicken quarters and a split bone in chicken breast.
Remove the skin on half the split chicken breast and on half of the chicken quarters you smoke. You will see how drastically different they may turn out or how similar they may turn out.
Also this little test would allow you to brine the chicken breast and not brine the leg quarter/dark meat and see how the dark meat is naturally juicy and how the chicken breast matches the dark meat in juiciness when brined :)

With chicken you can experiment over and over and over with great results! Every time I make a modification to my smoker I basically practice with a whole chicken smoke hahaha. Doing so made me wonder why people don't smoke more chicken, it comes out soooo good.

Finally I would recommend you getting a vertical chicken rack or two. I have all of the following racks:

Double vertical chicken rack that converts into a roasting rack:

cuisipro-roast-dual-rack-1041.jpg

• tallbm
• May 3, 2017

30232341571354p?$478$&qlt=85

• tallbm
• May 3, 2017

Single chicken or Turkey roasting rack, it is tall and handles turkeys well where the double wrack doesn't handle a turkey well at all in the vertical position:

images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRy1123EWBU3naCsohk3y5BQkYP6LrZk

• tallbm
• Apr 11, 2017

Rib rack that can flip and work as a roasting rack, the jury is still out on it's feasibility as a rib rack to separate mutle racks of ribs:

DSC_0483[1].JPG

• tallbm
• Aug 3, 2017

I find all of the racks handy but I like the dual vertical chicken rack because chicken is so cheap and when smoking meat for some people 1 chicken is never enough :)

Oh also here is my Franken MES40 with mailbox mod and AMNPS.

2zflemo.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

2j17cdd.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

33fbwvn.jpg

• tallbm
• Jan 8, 2017

Let me know if this all makes sense and Best of luck with the first smoke! :)

How did you attach the mailbox to your smoker? Do you have any more pics?

 

[daveomak]

Since this is an old thread, I will jump in here....
How I did the Mail Box mod...
I do slide the chip tray back on the element for heat distribution... thermal mass.... that's 3" dryer ducting... and 3" elbows.... and legs on the AMNPS...

 

[tallbm]

How did you attach the mailbox to your smoker? Do you have any more pics?

Dave covers the fact that the 3" elbow joint connects to the EMS as an exact fit in the 3" hole the MES chiploader goes in (and is removed from).

In the picture I had my mailbox mod attached to the side of the smoker with good strong magnets.
That worked up until the day I had a flame up on my pellets and then the heat from the flame demagnetized the magnets making them just sticks of metal hahaha.
I then took the ruined magnets and then glued + taped them to the opposite side of the mailbox so they would work as legs and they are holding up my mailbox mod to this day, along with the fact that the 3" elbow joint holds up that side of the mod with no problem. The combo of legs/feet and the joint in the hole hold everything up for me now hahaha :)

I recommend you just make legs/feet and avoid the magnets or you figure out a way to make velcro tape work and survive sticking through a flame up which will LIKELY happen at some point in time. :)

 

[BCPhelps]

Thank you for the information.

 

[TomKnollRFV]

Just going to toss out that for solving that rubbery skin you can use a low broil setting on the oven to crisp..or just take a blowtorch over it quick.


Another cheap and pretty much fool proof thing to get practice on is Pork Butts.