First Smoked Whole Chicken

[thad62]

My first whole chicken has been in the smoker for about a half hour.  I got my OBS for Christmas and have used it about every week since then, even through the negative temperatures of winter.  I hear about people not being able to get their smoker very hot, but mine reaches 310 degrees pretty easily, and I just had to go out and turn the temp to less than 2/3 because it got back up to 260 degrees in about a half hour even with a 6.4 lb bird in it.  Back to the bird.

I got a bird that was already in a salt solution so I didn't brine it as I read this could make it overly salty.  I applied Famous Dave's Chicken Rub, stuffed the carcass with fresh chopped onion, lemon and apple, and I am using a beer can roaster.  I drank half the beer and put the bird in the smoker. Here's what it looked like when I put it in.  Doing 2 hours of applewood and keeping the smoker around 250 degrees.



Does anyone have any other tips for me.  I monitor this site frequently and kind of combined several things I had read about.

I'm going to cook it to an IT of 145 in the smoker then finish it off in the oven at 325 to get that deliciously crispy skin I've read about so many times, and get the IT up to 165-170.

[WoodlawnSmoker]

Looks like you're well on your way, tasty bird is my bet.  The only small suggestion I have is to be sure to check the temperature of the thighs along with the breast, sometimes I have found them to be different.  But I think you're going to have a good meal, looking good.

[thad62]

Here are the pics for after reaching 145 in the smoker, then after being in the oven to reach IT of 170.







Letting it rest before I slice into to sample  ;), looks and smells tremendous!

[KyNola]

I would suggest you remove the drip pan you have located on the V-tray.  I believe one of the reasons you are seeing the higher temps is because the pan is nearly completely covering the V-tray and trapping most of the heat underneath.  It is getting "super heated" and travelling up the back of the tower where the temp sensor is located.

If you want to use a drip pan, place it on the bottom rack of the Bradley where the heat will have a chance to travel up through the vents in the V-tray.  That's why they are there.

[thad62]

I would suggest you remove the drip pan you have located on the V-tray.  I believe one of the reasons you are seeing the higher temps is because the pan is nearly completely covering the V-tray and trapping most of the heat underneath.  It is getting "super heated" and travelling up the back of the tower where the temp sensor is located.

If you want to use a drip pan, place it on the bottom rack of the Bradley where the heat will have a chance to travel up through the vents in the V-tray.  That's why they are there.

Thanks, I will definitely make sure to do that next time, I don't usually do an extra drip tray but heard chickens can be extra messy and didn't want to do all the cleanup on the v-tray.

The chicken turned out great, super moist and tender, the skin was amazingly crisp and tasty, and the juice in the drip tray, combination of juices beer and spices, was absolutely to die for, like a great au jus for an expensive prime rib dish.