New to smoking and have no equipment yet but it's on the way!

[pennstater2005]

 
Welcome to the forum Pennstater and I'm sure you'll enjoy smoking meat! I got into smoking about 4 years ago and this forum has been invaluable since I found it. Nice looking chicken, check out one of those "beer can chicken" recipes, they sell stands all over the place but with a little ingenuity one can be made with a coat hanger and beer can or something. It was first smoke and still my favorite way to cook a chicken.

Thanks.  I actually have a stand for the chicken I have used on my grill before but I forgot all about it.  I will say laying the chickens directly on the grill left some nice grill marks though!  

Welcome to the BEST forums you'll find on the net (your new addiction) ... Chicken looks great.. how did you and the family like them ??

Thanks for the welcome.  Family loved them.  It wasn't overly smokey which I was worried about because my kids are picky but they thought it was delicious.  I think the brining helped retain moisture which must have helped because I smoked them for about five and a half hours!  They were bigger birds then I wanted but all that was left fresh at the store.  One was almost six pounds and I ended up having to finish it in the oven.  

 

[tbrtt1]

Penn, 

Bird looks great. 5 1/2 hours is a long time to cook a bird. But if it came out good then great. 

One thought that comes to mind: maybe your smoker wasn't hot enough. In your pick you have the probe lying on the grate. That may have given you a false reading since grate would be hotter that the ambient smoker temp. Next time dangle it between the grate so it hangs down a little. Or use a crumpled up piece of foil to pinch it and secure it to the grate. Anyway, just a thought. Maybe those were just some stubborn birds. 

 

[pennstater2005]

 
Penn, 

Bird looks great. 5 1/2 hours is a long time to cook a bird. But if it came out good then great. 

One thought that comes to mind: maybe your smoker wasn't hot enough. In your pick you have the probe lying on the grate. That may have given you a false reading since grate would be hotter that the ambient smoker temp. Next time dangle it between the grate so it hangs down a little. Or use a crumpled up piece of foil to pinch it and secure it to the grate. Anyway, just a thought. Maybe those were just some stubborn birds. 

Never thought to dangle it between the grates.  Not sure why I laid it on the grate

  I was having some trouble maintaining the temp on the smoker but it worked out after awhile.  My wife said it was more like 4.5 hours not 5.5 hours but it definitely took longer than I expected.  I wanted a 4-5 pound bird but all that was fresh were the bigger nearly 6 pounders!  

 

[JckDanls 07]

If you do dangle it down through the grate... just make sure it's not under the meat where drippings will land on it... that will throw off the reading as well... another way to do it is... take a small potato and cut it in half... stick the probe through it and then set the flat side (cut side) on the grate right next to the meat (an inch or two away from it) ...

 

[pennstater2005]

If you do dangle it down through the grate... just make sure it's not under the meat where drippings will land on it... that will throw off the reading as well... another way to do it is... take a small potato and cut it in half... stick the probe through it and then set the flat side (cut side) on the grate right next to the meat (an inch or two away from it) ...

Good tip, thanks JckDanls 07!  I'm off work this Friday and am going to try a pork butt.  I kept wondering why my WSM thermometer temp was so far off from the dual probe temp 

 

[pennstater2005]

I'm going to try smoking baby back ribs tomorrow.  I got the Brinkmann rib racks and a rub I found at Lowe's.  It's the Three Little Pigs rub.  I liked that the main ingredient was brown sugar versus salt.  It had way less sodium overall than other rubs.  

I was going to try smoking today but scattered thunderstorms are predicted all throughout the afternoon and I don't feel like messing around with that.  Tomorrow has less of a chance here in western PA.  

 

[chopsaw]

The 14 " wsm is so much fun . Yours should have the rubber groment in the side to stick a temp probe in . Should be a slot , and a single hole . 

 

[Bearcarver]

Welcome Pennstater!! 

From another Long Time Home-boy Penn State Fan!! 

Bear

 

[pennstater2005]

The 14 " wsm is so much fun . Yours should have the rubber groment in the side to stick a temp probe in . Should be a slot , and a single hole . 

It does have the grommet. I used it for the whole chickens I did on the first smoke. Learning experience though as I laid the temp probe on the grate. Don't ask me why [emoji]128563[/emoji] I'm going to put 4" casters on it today to make it more mobile.

Welcome Pennstater!! :welcome1:

From another Long Time Home-boy Penn State Fan!! Thumbs Up

Bear

Thanks Bear! One guy from Penn State taken so far in the draft.

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks Bear! One guy from Penn State taken so far in the draft.

Yup---Gotta watch out for Tampa Bay now!!

Bear

 

[pennstater2005]

Bear
I saw in your profile you're a Flyers fan. Now I'm disappointed [emoji]128540[/emoji]

 

[Bearcarver]

Bear
I saw in your profile you're a Flyers fan. Now I'm disappointed [emoji]128540[/emoji]

Sorry about that---I'm not really a Flyers fan----I'm a Homer---I don't really follow Hockey.

I root for all teams close to home. Quakertown, Penn State, Nova, Temple,  Phillies, Eagles, 76ers, etc, etc.

This way I don't have to buy a Motor Home to root for the "Home Team". 

Bear

 

[chopsaw]

Just saying I use the single hole to check smoker temp .

 

[pennstater2005]

Just saying I use the single hole to check smoker temp .

Oh I got you now! Sorry took me a little extra time [emoji]128512[/emoji]

 

[pennstater2005]

Rainy day so good time for this:

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• pennstater2005
• Apr 29, 2017

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• pennstater2005
• Apr 29, 2017

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• pennstater2005
• Apr 29, 2017

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• pennstater2005
• Apr 29, 2017

All in all about twenty minutes. $20 in four inch casters from Lowes and rubber washers and nuts. I did have to buy bigger bits for the drill. Definitely makes it easier to move. Handles next [emoji]128513[/emoji]

 

[Bearcarver]

Nice Job!!

That'll make her move around a lot better!! 

Bear

 

[pennstater2005]

Thanks Bear. I'm not super handy either so this is definitely doable for just about anyone.