dry chicken

[irish34]

I am a new smoker and i am quickly learning that it takes much patience and to also have a back up plan for dinner. I seem to be having trouble with my meat getting to dry. I smoked chicken breast for the first time last wweekend and set the smker to 220 degrees and but a meat thermometer in  the chicken the chicken after 4 hours still had not come to temp of 180 buut was deffinetly done and very dry . Am i supposssed to use any water mist during cookking is the water in the pan for my pucks enough water ? i thought i had read with the bradley smoker the liquid does not escape the smoker so easily . also what is a good meat thermoeter and is it ok to put the thermometer directly on the rack to get try and get the acurate actual temp inside the smoker or do i need a special thermometer for that .
thankyou for any info.


Jason

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Irish34 and welocome to the forum.

When I do chicken breasts I take the internal temp to 155 or 160. 180 degrees is pretty high and may be a big part of them being dry. You could also throw some bacon on the rack above them so it drips onto the breasts.

As far as temp probes go most here use the Maverick ET73. It has 2 probes, one for the meat and one for the smoker. The other thing that's nice about it is it has a wireless remote you can use with an alarm so you don't have to be sitting right beside the smoker.

Mike

[Gizmo]

Welcom Irish,
In addition to what Mike said, you need to be careful of the probe placement within the bird or what ever you are smoking.  There are many bad problem locations such as the probe touching the bone.  I don't have a lot of experience in cooking chiken all the way in the smoker.  I usually finish on the grill or oven and I use a higher temperature.  So from my "in-experience" I think using too low a box temperature and trying to achieve such a high internal chicken temperature was the combination that caused them to be dry. 

To bridge a question you asked with Mike's post on the ET73, the probe for the box temp can be clipped on to the rack where the the meat is.  Be careful to not let the probe touch the meat, the rack or any other object in the smoker as it will alter its reading and accuracy.

Timing is the biggest unknown when smoking and patience is a virtue.  There are a few work arounds on time such as finishing early and using the Foil Towel Cooler (pre-warmed) or some other variation to hold over until you are ready to serve.  There are also lots of variations to acheive the same end.  You will get it nailed soon and never look back unless you left the beer there.   ;D

[KyNola]

I too only take chicken to around 160-165.  If you have the time, you might consider brining the poultry prior to smoking.  It really helps the moisture issue.  There are plenty of brine recipes on the site.

Welcome to the forum!
KyNola

[iceman]

I'm with KyNola on the brining issue to keep it moist. Boneless breast meat I pull at 155 and bone in legs/thighs I pull at 165.

[FLBentRider]

Welcome Irish!

The others have pointed you in the right direction, IMHO.

[DakotaGriller]

Another nice little trick that I like to do is to finish it off on the top rack of my grill.  I wrap it in tin foil, with a little wet marinade in the bottom and throw it on the top rack.  I turn the outside burners on low and the middle ones off.  Just make sure to leave a probe in it so it doesn't get overdone.  But, by doing this, you keep it cooking from the heat, the tin foils keeps the juices in and with the marinade makes it all the better.