Whole Chicken for the first time

[jomadav]

I have my 4 lb. chicken all prepped and ready to go in the fridge. I seasoned and injected it. On the smoker, I have a Brinkmann Square charcoal wil coal pan mod.  and sand in the water pan covered in foil with drip pan over it. Am using 2 dig. thermometers with an old-school oven thermometer dial inside. I m looking for any time and temp. tips before I dive in - and/ or wisdom on doing a whole chicken.

 

[mdboatbum]

How did you prep your chicken? Whole, spatched, halved or cut into parts? Are you doing beer can chicken?

Whatever the method, you are likely going to want to keep all 4 vents on your Brinkmann wide open. you want as high a temp as that little box will give you, 325˚-350˚.** I've never used the square Brinkmann with sand in the water pan so I'm not sure on it's effect. I know with water in the pan and a grill wok as a charcoal basket I've struggled to keep temps over 200˚ in the old single door square Brinkmann, so you may wanna think about dumping the sand and just running an empty water pan as a diffuser. The timing will depend on how it's prepped. Couple hours for whole, little over an hour for spatched, halved or parts. 4+ if you leave it whole and go 225˚.

**I'm not a fan of low and slow on chicken, hence the high heat recommendation.

 

[dog1234]

Smoker at 240 to 275 degres

IT of thighs at 167 its ready, make sure probe not touching bone

It will take about 2 to 2.5 hours, but make sure it reaches the right IT of the thighs. No matter how long it takes.

 

[jomadav]

All done. It took right about 3 hrs. I pulled it at 172 IT in the breast and let it sit for 10 min. Cooked perfectly. My smoker though, i was pulling coals out and re-adding coals - the temp would spike to 325 and then drop to 240 - i opened/ closed vents, went for a full hour without opening the fire box door. I cant get this smoker to "level out". It runs high right from the beginning .Beyond that, the chicken was perfect.

 

[bstrong27]

Try brining it...I started using a simple brine with a little lemon juice and they come out great every time.  I usually brine the day before, rub it the night before and smoke low.  I like 200 to 225 for 4 to 5 hours, great smokey flavor, nice hint of lemon and it the brine keeps it juicy, really juicy.