first chicken smoke

[smokeybear]

Hey guys want to try my first smoked chicken.  Don't know what to do, if I should use a brine or a dry rub.  How long to smoke and how long to cook.  Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks!

[Saber 4]

You can brine or not, your preference, you can do a dry rub or add a sauce towards the end of the cook, your choice.

Most feel the skin is to rubbery and give the finished bird a quick trip in the oven or grill to crisp up the skin.

As for how long, cook it to a safe IT(internal Temperature) to kill any bad stuff and keep it moist.

You can do it whole on a rack, whole on a beer can style vertical rack, or spatchcocked, just make sure you keep water in your bowl to catch the drippings and don't let anything touch the back wall so you don't have a grease fire.

Keep your vent open as chicken is very moist and you don't want moisture trapped in the smoker to drip down on your food in a black rain. You can use foil covered bricks and/or boiling water in your puck bowl to help with heat retention and after the smoking is done you can replace the bowl with a 9x13 cake pan filled with boiling water, apple juice or your favorite beverage to help with moisture and flavor.

I'm sure others will be along with their opinions and methods, hope this gets you headed in the right direction. It can get confusing reading all the posts you can search up here so just read a bunch and pick the method that makes the most sense to your style of cooking.