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Help, Smoked Chicken

bhugg
bhugg Posts: 317
edited November 2011 in EggHead Forum
I am smoking a couple of chickens today.  I plan on doing one vertically, beer can style, and the other laying down.  I was thinking of setting my egg to around 225 degrees.  The question is, if I am cooking two whole chickens that weigh around 10lbs together, how long should I expect them to be on the grill?
Large BGE Dallas, TX

Comments

  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102

    The same as one chicken. You would be better to cook @ 350º to 400º, there is no benefit to cooking chicken at low temps.

    Time is all about size and temp, most are about 3 lb, so likely about 90 minutes.

    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    some folks do chicken at 250 for a few hours (a buddy goes 5 or 6, believe it or not), finding (especially in the egg) that they get crispy skin and a texture they prefer.  i frankly don't mind chicken being a littl overdone.  thighs and dark meat firm up, and the egg keeps the thing moist enough that even breast meat that sails to 165 is still moist.


    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • You can sail way past 165 if the stand chicken is inverted

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • bhugg
    bhugg Posts: 317
    what do you mean by "inverted"?
    Large BGE Dallas, TX
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    edited November 2011

     

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    edited November 2011

    Legs and dark meat higher in the dome at higher temp, breast down near the grid indirect. Juices and fat run down into the breast. Usualy get  160 breast and 185 thighs. Very juicy.

    http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=971052&catid=1 

    Steve

     

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102
    Do you place it in a vertical holder through the neck hole to invert or ?
    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • Yes, You need to trim a little of the backbone out to get it started  sometimes.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102
    I hope to do one up and one down tomorrow, especially since I have read about the report that having liquid in a can makes no difference to the moisture content of the cooked bird. So, I just going to place an empty can up it's arse .... ~:>
    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • I should have been clearer. I use a vertical roasting stand, not a beer can. Don't think it would work with a can.

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102

    I guess my comment wasn't too clear ... I'm doing a legs up on a stand and another bird on an empty can to see if what they have been talking about is true ... that there is no difference in moisture with or without the beer.

    Should look funny if nothing else!

    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • Is this cook in preparation for your attempt to cook Bengal Tiger on the 25th?
  • Squeezy, i cooked chickens side by side, both on cans, one with beer.  No difference. 
    The Naked Whiz
  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102
    @The Naked Whiz ... Yes and that is why I must try it for myself. What I don't understand is that from the first time I did a beer butt chicken, the breast was noticably more juicy. Would it have anything to do with it just being in the vertical?
    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • Squeezy
    Squeezy Posts: 1,102

    The verdict at my house ... chicken was noticably less moist with the empty beer can, so for the meager cost of a couple ozs. of beer, it's going back in ...

    The inverted bird theory also failed at my house. Breast was cooked before the thighs, so won't be doing that again.

    Next, I will try the spatchcocked version.

    Never eat anything passed through a window unless you're a seagull ... BGE Lg.
  • DIXIEDOG
    DIXIEDOG Posts: 109
    I cooked a chicken on the Egg last weekend using a vertical rack, when I sliced into the breast juices flowed out of that bird like crazy.  The flavor and texture was so good I bought another chicken today to cook on the Egg this weekend.   It's hard to imagine the beer making a chicken cooked on the egg any more moist.
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    Over cooking is the only thing that dries out meat.
    A wet cooking environment does not do anything to preserve moisture. In fact, the wetter the environment, the more efficiently heat is transferred to the food

    Boil a thick bone in chicken breast at 212 for 15 minutes and it will be drier than one roasted at 400 for the same amount of time

    Bacon doesnt preserve moisture, water in a drip pan doesnt, foiling doesnt. Only over cooking drives out the moisture. Brining adds it, but unless you brine for flavor, it's really just insurance against over cooking



    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • IrishDevl
    IrishDevl Posts: 1,390
    I found that when I smoke a chicken that is 4lbs (250 degrees or so) it turns out amazing; crispy skin etc....  If I do the same with a roaster chicken (8lbs) the skin is rubbery.  So I always go 350 with larger birds.