First cook- chicken wings

Billyeggman

Hi all, first cook complete on the large egg! I used perdue frozen sections, with some different meat church rubs (first time trying that too). I used some with honey hog bbq, honey hog spicy, snd deez nuts pecan rub.  I got the grate temp to around 400ish, with some apple wood chips scattered through the coals.  Since I don't have the plate setter yet, I threw a drip pan on top of the fire ring and put the grate on top of that. 

Some observations: 

the wings were still mostly frozen when I put them on, and the grate temperature dropped from 390's to about 240-250 and stayed there for 45 minutes. I had to open the bottom vent (screen still in place) all the way and the daisy wheel slots were open (but cover still over the top if that makes sense) and brought temp back up to 380-390.

-total cook time was 1 hour 20 minutes.  This may have been too long, but when I probed one of the wings with my thermapen it read  170 but blood came out, which made me worry.

-there was a huge discrepancy between the dome temp and the thermoworks air temp reading- the dome thermometer was like 100-130ish degrees higher.  I thought I calibrated the dome thermo properly, but apparently not.

-most of the rub came off, maybe because the wings were frozen when I applied? Not sure, maybe I should just add more.

-the wings themselves were very good, maybe just a touch dry, but needed more rub for sure (still very tasty though!)

-all in all it was a success. Can't wait to get my plate setter, and I've got to get better at figuring out how to control and stabilize the temperature. 

Thanks for reading! Any suggestions are welcome!

Jstroke

Congrats on popping the cherry. Now go check your thermometer. And yes those frozen wings dropped the temp. With thawed wings it will be less severe. However, don't chase temps. Just let the egg equalize and get the food warmed up. I like to rub my wings and let them air dry a bit before cooking. But more rub on top after you sauce is good at the end as well. 

NorthPilot06

Looking good...+1 on not chasing temps. The ceramic is a slow beast. If you let the egg warm up a bit more you'll see less fluctuation when you open the lid / put on food.