Well, i picked up the smoker friday night and seasoned it saturday. Never used a smoker before.
I decided to do a beer can chicken. Picked up a 7lb. Took a few chugs of beer and shoved it in the bird. Got the smoker up to just a hair under 300 degrees and kept it there the whole time. I used a mix of apple and hickory chunks. Put the digital probe in it about an hour into the smoke. Took it up to 175 internal just to be sure. Whole smoke took 3 hours fifteen minutes. Also threw some beans on for about a half hour at the end.
Had some family over and they loved it. Turned out great i think. Was really juicy. The skin had an awesome smoke flavor to it. I sprayed it every hour with a lemon herb mix. I just unwrapped the bird and threw it in the smoker, no injections or marinating before hand.
I think the smoke was pretty good, a light bluish. Was pretty heavy and white for the first half hour then got nice and thin for the rest of the smoke. I think i am addicted. Already planning what to do next weekend lol.
Anyhow, looks good. I’ve passed the baton on the 300 gallon oil tank smoker, and the inlaws gave me their old single-serving sized one that I have yet to use. :tup:
So what’s the deal? Did you just burn wood? Or did you throw wood chips on charcoal?
I usually use a mix of lump charcoal and briquettes. I find the briquettes lasts longer and form a good ember bed. The lumpc burn hotter and maintain the temperature better.
As for the wood…I use chips soaked in water (or other delicious liquids) and then wrap them in a double layer of aluminum foil to make a packet. Poke some holes in the top and voila! This makes the smoke last a bit longer. Last time I also used some cherry wood, but that was because I was running low on charcoal, I find that the wood burns up too quickly though, at least for the +5 hours it took to do 4 shoulders
I just burned wood chips/chunks. This is a propane model and has the burner in the bottom with a pan above that for the wood. It’s much easier to maintain a constant temp with the propane vs charcoal. I got enough shit going on that i don’t want to be fucking with coals and temps every 15min. With this i only had to monitor it closely for the first half hour until the temp stabilized. Then it was check it every 45min to an hour and spray the bird down.
I’ll have to try that. My wood chips only lasted about an hour. The chunks lasted for the whole 3 hours. I think i’ll wrap the apple wood chips in foil.
Keep in mind that’s for all natural, organic, free range grass fed beef. Which is higher in omega 3’s than wild salmon. Crazy healthy. I’m sure we can find cheaper stuff.
A few bags of charcoal, a big pile of hardwood, a bunch of soaked hickory/applewood chips, drink & smoke all day, eat meat all night. :tup:
