Insufficient Heat

[jeff_smoke]

Hi,
     I smoked two med chickens yesterday that took almost 7 hours to
reach 170 internal temp. Outdoor temp was between 40 and 55 later in
the day.  I opened the door once to cycle the racks.
During the cooking cycle, the unit only got past 212 degrees after maybe
five hours. I wouldn't mind the long cooking time, but even after brining,
the meat was less moist than I would like. That's the reason I brined to
begin with. The flavor is great; brined or not; but it seems based on what
I've read on other sites that you don't really get the moisture from the
water pan til you're past the boiling point of water.
Doesn't seem like much if any of the water evaporated. I can only attribute
that to the lack of heat from the unit.
     Aside from bringing the meat to room temperature prior to smoking and leaving the
puck heater turned on even after done smoking, what else can I do to
get the temps up or get moisture into the food? If I mop, then I drain heat;
so I'm guessing that's out.
     I wondered if there's an upgrade to a hotter heating element, like maybe
installing the one for the larger unit into the 4 rack?

     

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Jeff

When doing chicken you want to make sure you have the vent fully open, certainly for the first part of the smoke. Chicken gives off a lot of moisture and if your vent is not open enough the large amount of moisture in the cabinet will hold the temps down.

Most people leave their smoke generator on, even after the smoke portion is complete for the added heat it gives off. This does help maintain temps when the ambient temps are lower.

As far as putting a larger heater in there are a number of people who have done various different modifications. If I'm reading your post correctly you are wondering if you can upgrade the heating element to the 6 rack version. All the Bradley models including the 6 rack units have the same heating elements in them.

I'm in the process of doing some tests with two heating elements. If your interested in reading up on it so far here is a link. http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=8987.0

Mike

[jeff_smoke]

Hi Mike,
     I'll have to read the majority later on, but initial fuzzy scan looks interesting.
I've had a medical issue this past week, so I'm on pretty strong pain medication right now
and am not typing as fluently as usual, must less reading.
Be nice if a second element could be retrofit though depeding on the cost and
work involved. It might already have been said in the thread, but maybe that
would also negate the need for a fan. Lots of creative folks around here.
Thanks.

[Gizmo]

Jeff, what was the set temperature on your oven?

[Habanero Smoker]

Jeff;

I'm not sure what caused your temperature problem, but Mike has provided good advice. If you brined that should have kept the chicken moist. You may not have brined long enough (though some state some brining is better then none), or you may not have had enough salt in your brine.

Water evaporates at all temperatures, thought the evaporation is faster at hotter temperatures.

[jeff_smoke]

The temp was all the way up and I did preheat. I've read that sometimes you have to back it
off just a bit due to some issue with the slide switch. I hadn' t noticed that
method does anything on my unit. I tried it early on to see if it made a difference.
That day was the coldest I've smoked anything yet. I've attained temps up to 250
before and chickens had completed in four to five hours.
Seems the only differences were the outside temperature and the vent being
open more than before. I had read about issues with the condensation and decided to
open the vent fully. Seems most of the more experienced folks say to open the vent
all the way.
     I brined for about eight hours and I didn't note it above, but that did help.
I will likely brine unless I'm just in a hurry.
The chicken was a bit more moist than before, just not anything approaching juicy.
It's very tender and tasty, just not juicy by any stretch. I guess I'm looking for perfection,
because I gave one of chickens to my brother and his wife and he said it was one of
the best chickens he'd ever eaten. I agree with him; they come out so good with
the right rub and smoke.
      I used about 1 cup of kosher salt per gallon of water. I emersed the chickens and
then removed them and made a guess that the water was a bit more than a gallon,
so it's possible my guess was off. I'll measure next time to be sure. This is all the
more odd though because I read that brined meat cooks faster and this was
by far the slowest chicken smoke that I've done.
    If I simply get better results in warmer weather; then I'll just have to take
that into account and possibly smoke more fatty meat when it's cold.
I've read quite a few similar posts though, so I'm wondering
why Bradley doesn't offer a bigger heating unit, if only optional. I don't even live
in a cold area. I'm curious about folks in Canada. Would be nice if there were some
retrofit if somebody wanted one. Same question about the fan though. I wondered after
all these years and home-made retrofits, why they don't at least offer a fan as an option.
     Anybody do anything else to keep chickens moist, like covering with something?
I think I read about a wet towel or something and I understand that foil is out of
the question for some reason?

[Habanero Smoker]

Your brine mixture and times are the same that I use.

I'm not quite sure why your chicken is not as moist as you would like, but you can use aluminum foil to cover the breast in the smoker. The warning about aluminum foil is for not covering the "V" drip pan, or fully covering the trays, which could cause heat build up and possible damage.

I believe SD soaks cheese cloth in butter and drape it over the chicken. He does this to crisp the skin, but it may also be beneficial in keeping the chicken moist.

The 170°F temperature, is that taken in the breast or the thigh. I usually use the thigh, and take it out when the internal temperature hits around 162°F, or sooner if I'm going to crisp the skin in the oven or on the grill.