Chicken legs on a UDS

[dpeart]

I'm going to be cooking a lot of chicken legs this afternoon for a group of 15 or so teenagers. Yesterday I put them in Pop's brine and will season them with Simon and Garfunkel Rub prior to smoking.  There will be enough legs to completely fill both 22.5" racks in my UDS.  I plan to cook then ~300F to keep the skin crisp.  I've cooked them like this before and they turn out nicely. 

What is new for me is that I need both racks, I was able to cook them all on the top rack previously.  I've never had to use both racks before.  Will I need to rotate the racks to make sure the ones on the bottom don't over cook?  Anyone with a UDS knows, rotating racks isn't easy when they are loaded with chicken legs.  Hoping someone out there has done this before and can give me some advise.

I've also considered smoking at 275, to reduce the need to rotate, then finishing them on the grill to crisp the skin.  This would be easy enough to do as well.

thanks,

dave

 

[africanmeat]

wow Dave 15 teens .good luck .

 

[dpeart]

They came off without a hitch.  I didn't get any picts, because the kids wouldn't wait for picts.

My UDS had two cooking racks and a third rack right above the charcoal pan that I can put a water pan on.  I just covered that rack with foil, poked 5 holes in it with my finger and it worked great at keeping the bottom rack from burning.

I cooked them at 290F fora bout 1hour 10 minutes, till they hit 165F.  The half that I didn't season, I then covered in bbq sauce and caramelized on my gas grill.  No complaints and even had 20 left over that I vacuum sealed and froze for another day.

I used a full cup of salt in Pop's brine, and it was just a tad too salty for my taste, but I don't use much salt anyway.  Next time I'll use 1/2cup and I think it will be perfect.

dave

 

[big deck bb-jr]

Did you rotate the grates?

 

[dpeart]

Did you rotate the grates?

Nope, didn't need to with the foil shielding them.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Bet they were tasty.... WHB

 

[bigr314]

Sounds like everything worked out for you. Nice jib.