I just got home with a new digital smoker. I'm doing things in a hurry, buy I seasoned the smoker, then decided I wanted to try a whole chicken for dinner tonight. So please tell me if what I have done will kill me or not! I pre-heated the smoker to 220F, then washed the chicken, patted it dry, then brushed it with a mixture of maple syrup and a chicken rub. It is a 3lb bird that I set to cook for 5 hours with smoke for 4 hours. I have noticed that the oven temp seems to wander downwards from 220F, then back up again...is this normal?
You ok.
I would bump up the temp for Chicken to 240 to 250*
Keep the top vent wide open.
cook to a safe IT temp.
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Thanks for the advice...I will go do that now!
4 hours of smoke is a LOT of smoke on a single chicken. Poultry is a smoke sponge. If you like a ton of smoke flavoring you're going to be fine but you might want to start with a little less time smoking.
KN is right on the smoke time.
2 1/2 to 3 hrs is plenty and your chick should be done close to the 4 hr mark,
but go by IT and not time.