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Large cook

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KGilma2018
KGilma2018 Posts: 120
in EggHead Forum
My wife's friend, asked her, if I would be willing to smoke some chickens for a baby shower at the end of July.  I'm considering it.  I have a large egg, with the smokeware grate stacker and would need to feed 25-30 women.  How many chickens would I need to feed them, assuming 5-6lbs whole birds.  I'd like to get this all done in one shot, 350* start cooking 6 or 7am and have it ready for them at noon.  I'm thinking I can get 6-7 whole birds on at once?
Franklin, TN
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  • Foghorn
    Foghorn Posts: 9,846
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    That sounds like an adequate (probably too much - which I always think is good) amount of chicken for that crowd.  I don't know exactly how easy/hard it will be to fit that many chickens on your equipment.  I'll let others comment on that.  Having done a number of large cooks I can tell you some of the pitfalls/principles:

    - You can fit more chickens halfcocked - than spatchcocked
    - You can fit more chickens (at least on one level) "beer can" or "sittin' chicken" style than halfcocked
    - when you load the egg up all they way to the edges, you can have airflow problems, but you only need a small amount of space on the sides in a couple of areas to get adequate airflow
    - a loaded egg will have more issues with temperature differences than an egg that has less meat on it.  Some of them will cook faster than others so a thermopen or other thermometer is really helpful.  You can pull the chickens off as they get done - or rotate them (the outer portion may cook faster than the portion of the chicken that is toward the center of the egg) or switch them around as needed.
    - At 350, it should only take 75-90 minutes if you are spatchcocked/halfcocked so doing two batches seems to fit in your timeframe.

    Good luck and take pics - so we know how it goes. You'll probably learn a few things from this cook that will be good to share with the rest of us.  And most importantly, enjoy the journey.

    XXL BGE, Karebecue, Klose BYC, Chargiller Akorn Kamado, Weber Smokey Mountain, Grand Turbo gasser, Weber Smoky Joe, and the wheelbarrow that my grandfather used to cook steaks from his cattle

    San Antonio, TX

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  • sabretooth04
    sabretooth04 Posts: 46
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    Agree, half cocked is good as you can move the chicken around easier.  Watch here on how to prepare.


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  • KGilma2018
    KGilma2018 Posts: 120
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    Thanks for the tips.  I might go spatchcocked, and 2 two batches of 3.  
    Franklin, TN
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  • lousubcap
    lousubcap Posts: 32,393
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    You can easily hold the finished chix in an aluminum pan in your oven on the lowest setting while you run another batch.   Just make sure the pan is well sealed.  FWIW-
    Louisville; Rolling smoke in the neighbourhood. # 38 for the win.  Life is too short for light/lite beer!  Seems I'm livin in a transitional period.
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  • KGilma2018
    KGilma2018 Posts: 120
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    lousubcap said:
    You can easily hold the finished chix in an aluminum pan in your oven on the lowest setting while you run another batch.   Just make sure the pan is well sealed.  FWIW-
    Thanks.   I've got plenty of those pans already. 
    Franklin, TN
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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
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    Get adj rig, slide guide, crossbar, oval grid plus rig extender with shorter crossbar and D grid and get spider with stone from cgs.   Then you can fit two whole birds on each level easily, i think spatch will work too.   Then you can tell momma it is her requirement that created the need to add bge capacity and you can cook it all at one time.


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  • westernbbq
    westernbbq Posts: 2,490
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    this was one mid level on adj rig on lg bge....couldve easily done main grate in basement and rig extender up top in attic and had the ones pictured on mid level
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