Hello all,
I'm new to the "sport" of smokin. I've been reading a great deal on SM. So i decided to make some beer can chickens at the station the other day. Brought in the the Bar-B-chef offset, got some charcoal and some hickory chunks... Doing good so far. No time to brine so I set the birds on top of some cans and holders. i put some OJ and water in the cans, lemon pepper on the outside. Lit the fire let the coals burn down slightly. Droped the birds on when the temp hit 300. I threw in the birds and handful of hickory. The temp stabilized right at 225. I had to add some more chunks and coal after about an hour. Right about hour 2 i got a call and had to leave...Damn... Got back in an hour or so. Total cooking time 3hrs. I did a temp check at the thickest part of the breast and it was 180 :cry: I knew the damage was done. The birds looked good on the outside. I let them rest for around 15 minutes. The bird's fell apart and smelled good. They had a good smoke flavor but the meat was dry. The white was the worst. Not inedible but not worth the time. I know what i did wrong but I did not think that a whole chicken would cook that fast on a smoker 6lbs. in 3 hrs. Maybe my temp spiked when I had to leave. Oh well I will do better next time.
I'm new to the "sport" of smokin. I've been reading a great deal on SM. So i decided to make some beer can chickens at the station the other day. Brought in the the Bar-B-chef offset, got some charcoal and some hickory chunks... Doing good so far. No time to brine so I set the birds on top of some cans and holders. i put some OJ and water in the cans, lemon pepper on the outside. Lit the fire let the coals burn down slightly. Droped the birds on when the temp hit 300. I threw in the birds and handful of hickory. The temp stabilized right at 225. I had to add some more chunks and coal after about an hour. Right about hour 2 i got a call and had to leave...Damn... Got back in an hour or so. Total cooking time 3hrs. I did a temp check at the thickest part of the breast and it was 180 :cry: I knew the damage was done. The birds looked good on the outside. I let them rest for around 15 minutes. The bird's fell apart and smelled good. They had a good smoke flavor but the meat was dry. The white was the worst. Not inedible but not worth the time. I know what i did wrong but I did not think that a whole chicken would cook that fast on a smoker 6lbs. in 3 hrs. Maybe my temp spiked when I had to leave. Oh well I will do better next time.
