second time smoking w/qview and some questions

[packerfannate]

I made most of the modifications to my Brinkmann smoker that are listed at this site.  They are surprisingly easy and my daughters and i even had fun doing it.  I was able to get the temperature much higher and the chicken legs I smoked were done in about 2 hours.  Here is the qview.  the picture is a little blurry.

Questions....

1)  I got the temperature up to 275, which I read was good for chicken because it tends to dry out the longer it stays on the smoker.  My question is, this would be too hot for other meats so how do I reduce the temperature?  The only modification I did not make is to drill the holes in the dome and attach a piece of sheet metal, is this for temperature control?

2)  The chicken was fantastic, however the skin was pretty tough.  Is there a way to keep the skin from taking on the texture of jerky?  Should I take the skin off next time?

All in all this was a much better smoke than the first time around.

 

[mole177]

for the skin, folks say you can sear it after smoking on a grill or oven, take it to 450-500f for a couple mins.

the skin should crisp.

i think others have tried brushing butter on it every so often in the smoker. (can't recall where or if this is true.)

 

[smokinstevo27]

Easiest thing you could try would be reducing the amount of coals you start with. Its better to start with not enough and add than it is to try bring temps back down.

 

[papagreer]

Glad to hear that you did some of the mods on your Brinkmann. makes a huge difference. 

1--275 is good for chicken but a little too hot for other types of meat that really benefit from the low and slow cooking. There are a couple of things that you can do to get the temp where you need them. The minion method works really well..search the forum for it. That also allows you to have a longer burning fire. Another thing is start off with less charcoal. Did you use a full chimney at the start? If so, i would use a half chimney and the minion method and you should see the temps settle in around 225-230 or so. A freshly modded smoker will take some getting used to and to see what works and doesn't. 

The mod on the dome is more of an exhaust mod then a temperature mod. If you did the charcoal pan mod with the holes and the metal slider, this is more for temperature control because it allows you to control the airflow to the charcoal, thus making it get a lot of air and burn hotter (and faster) or cutting the airflow back and letting them smolder. 

2--The skin on the chicken was jerky like because of the lower temp, one thing that you can do is throw it on the grill for a couple minutes to crisp it up after you pull them from the smoker. 

Sounds like you had a nice 2nd smoke and the chicken looks great. You are off to a great start and keep it up. You'll have that thing dialed in really soon. 

Chris

 

[mballi3011]

Well your bird legs looks good and it's a good thing to get your girls into it too. Now for your question. 275° is alittle on the low side for chicken. I smoke mine at 275° to 325° and I usualyy keep my smoker at 300° and that is for to crisp up the skin. I don't like the searing thing. Now I haven't had the problem of tough skin on any yard bird that I have done.