Is there a consensus on crispy wings

Dawgtired

Going raised, but direct or indirect and what temperature? I can see low and slow rendering more fat and crisping them up. Then cranked up and direct to further crisping them? Just curious as I’m firing up the egg as we speak. Thanks everyone!!!

SciAggie

The answer - no consensus. Most threads like this have two popular opinions. 

Method 1:
375 raised direct. 

Method 2:
375 raised indirect. 

Most folks agree that dusting the wings with either corn starch or baking powder (soda? I use cornstarch) and letting them dry in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours is a good idea. 

20 folks may disagree with me though. Just putting this out there for your consideration. I’m a raised indirect guy myself. 

lousubcap

I have gone both ways (with wings only ) and after many cooks landed on the very raised direct (around 4" above the gasket line) method, flipping about one every 15-20 minutes or so.  Temperature on the dome around 350-400*F (wherever it settles).  
@SciAggie hit on a key component-the nekked overnight fridge dry.  Corn starch will help in the skin drying process.
Bottom-line:  Try different methods and see where you land.  
Remember- "There are no bad wings cooks, some are just better than others!"

mEGG_My_Day

I usually salt and let them sit on a rack uncovered overnight in fridge, then add rub and let sit on the counter till I get the grill going.  On the egg that would be raised direct at about 400 to IT of 180-190 flipping once about 30 minutes in.  If I’m using the hasty bake, they go into the rotisserie basket.  These always end up crispy enough for me.  Maybe spray with cooking oil or duck fat when almost done. 

If you want really crispy, you could try this method from ATK (I have not tried it, but it looks good)

https://youtu.be/5gFzJ3Q5E48

Botch

Method 3: Brine 8 hours, coat with self-rising flour (it has baking powder in it), and then brush with oil about halfway through cooking.  That's been my favorite coating so far; I haven't yet begun temp/direct/indirect experiments.  As the Captain said above, "There are no bad wing cooks".    

BSR

Used to think raised direct was amazing till I rotisseried them in a basket. Absolutely ruined any other wing I've had.

Elijah

I gave up on grilled chicken wings being like deep fried. The flavor of a grilled wing is better even if the texture isn't as good. 

Mikee

Dawgtired said:

Going raised, but direct or indirect and what temperature? I can see low and slow rendering more fat and crisping them up. Then cranked up and direct to further crisping them? Just curious as I’m firing up the egg as we speak. Thanks everyone!!!

I season the wings before putting them on the grill. I do mine indirect at around 240* for an hour or hour and a half. I am hardly ever in a rush to get the cook done and over with. I pull them off and coat them with hot sauce. In the meantime I remove the platesetter and get the dome temperature up to about 450*. Place the wings back on the Egg and grill them. It only takes a couple of minutes on each side to finish them off. Keep any eye on them as the skin is vulnerable to burn since the fat and moisture has already been cooked off.
While not always easy to get, I prefer getting the wings as a whole (all 3 pieces). Bend the tip back over the 'drumstick'. After the wings are cooked all that is needed is a knife to slice thru the skin between the drumstick and the middle part; then break the two parts using your hands. The end result is that it looks like a skilled surgeon separated the parts. The same applies for removing the tip of the wing from the middle part, the tip easily breaks off. Toss the tip and you are left with 2 perfectly separated pieces without and broken bones.

Dawgtired

Cook last night.... I didn’t have a lot of prep time since it took way longer than I thought to defrost them. Salted and put in fridge for about 2 hours. I added some baking powder to the rub I was using. Then indirect, raised grid at 450...skins were not crisping at all. So I went direct at 450 with grid still raised... nothing worked. They were OK but not the least bit crispy. Going to have to try something different or go back to frying.

Dawgtired

BSR said:

Used to think raised direct was amazing till I rotisseried them in a basket. Absolutely ruined any other wing I've had.

Was this on a Kamado style or a gas grill? 

StillH2OEgger

Let them dry out in the fridge before giving up on the BGE for crispy wings. It sounds like there were mitigating circumstances that might have been the culprit here.

BSR

Dawgtired said:

BSR said:

Used to think raised direct was amazing till I rotisseried them in a basket. Absolutely ruined any other wing I've had.

Was this on a Kamado style or a gas grill? 

On a large BGE with Joetisserie and Napolean basket. I've personally never had a wing cooked indirect that I liked. You can get pretty good results raised direct but they still don't compare to these.

Dawgtired

I have I have a Joetissire. Where does one get the basket?

BSR

Napoleon 64000 on Amazon. Recommended by a lot of people on here, I had a different one before but it wasn't near as nice

Dawgtired

How many wings will it hold and still get crispy? I usually cook enough that it’s a tight fit on the large BGE grill or half sheet pan. Also at what temperature are you cooking and for approximately how long? Thanks!!!

mEGG_My_Day

Dawgtired said:

How many wings will it hold and still get crispy? I usually cook enough that it’s a tight fit on the large BGE grill or half sheet pan. Also at what temperature are you cooking and for approximately how long? Thanks!!!

The amazon description says it will hold 4.5 lbs or about 50 wings.  

BSR

50 is definitely too many. I'd say 20 whole wings (wing and drum). 400 to 450 for temp but I'd be guessing on the time, maybe 30 minutes. They cook much faster than raised direct.