Beer can chicken on gas grill - pan or not?

[Dm76]

I have always just cooked a beer can chicken on my gas grill using a stand and letting it drip into the grill. I will be cooking one for the first time on my new Weber gas grill using an Amazen tube so that should come out even better. I am wondering if it is best to stand it up in a metal pie pan or something to catch the juices or just let them drip down like I have before?

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not a gasser, but when I do Beer can chicken in my kettle. I always use a stand with a disposable pie pan under the chicken to catch the drippings. Mostly its' for easy cleanup.

Chris

 

[schlotz]

Yup, a lot of grease come out. A cheap version which I usually do is to dbl fold a large piece of alum foil then bend up each side about one half inch so it can collect & hold the grease. Usually a nice a square 8x8" or maybe 9x9". Place alum collector on grill with chicken on the stand inside. When done, shut off grill and let the fat solidify. When solidified, fold up and toss. Voila!

 

[Dm76]

Thanks for the great ideas. Just to be clear, since I have not used the smoker tube yet, I will want to put that on the same side as the chicken (the side with indirect heat), right? What temperature do you usually get the inside of the grill up to? About 300?

 

[schlotz]

Usually run mine around 350º

 

[Dm76]

How does monitoring the temperature work on something like this with indirect heat? I imagine on the indirect side where the chicken is, the temperature at the grate is going to be different than up higher where most of the chicken is. Would I put a probe on the grate right next to the chicken and go by what that says? I have a 3 burner and had the left one on high but it only got up to 285 so had to turn on the middle one on low and that brought it closer to 350. I wonder if that messes things up since the middle burner is closer to the chicken and the probe.

 

[schlotz]

Try not to over think it. Just try to get the chamber somewhere around 350º. I happen to know that my built-in thermometer measures 25º higher than actual grate. So to basically run at 350º I adjust the right and left burners so it reads 375º. Frankly standup chicken can be done at a number of different temps. At the end its the IT you pay attention to, breast at 165º and thigh approx 175º. My grill is a three burner so the chicken is placed in the middle with that burner turned off.