Smokin Saturday - Seeking Advice

[badmojoe]

I am having company over tonight and hope I am not making a huge mistake.  I plan to smoke a whole chicken and two racks of baby back ribs in the smoker at the same time.

Chicken - Brining for only 1.5 hours in Brown Sugar, Coarse Salt and Water - Smoke for 6 hours with bacon under (or over) the breast skin and maybe some rosemary, garlic and lemon half in the cavity.

Ribs - rubbed with the competition rub (slightly modified) from the recipe site, refrigerated for 15 hours, rest for 1 to come to room temp, smoke for 3 hours, FTC for 1-2 hours with apple juice, sauced then smoked again for 1 hour.

Should I put the chicken on the bottom, is it OK to do both the chicken and the ribs at the same time.  Can anyone poke any holes in my methods or offer any tips?

I have done a lot of reading and this is my 4th smoke in the new bradley.  The first three came out good but not spectacular mostly due to me not following the recipes exactly.  :)

I think, after I get everything in the smoker, that I will run down to the butcher and pick up a pork belly to start the brining process for bacon.  That is what I have been craving most.

BadMoJoe

[Mr Walleye]

Ribs - rubbed with the competition rub (slightly modified) from the recipe site, refrigerated for 15 hours, rest for 1 to come to room temp, smoke for 3 hours, FTC for 1-2 hours with apple juice, sauced then smoked again for 1 hour.

BMJ

It might just be a typo but I'm assuming you mean you are going to wrap the ribs in foil with AJ and put them back in the smoker for 2 hours as opposed to taking them out and FTCing.

When I do ribs I remove the membrane and rub them down, preheat the Bradley to about 260 degrees. Once I load the ribs I adjust the temp to 220 and I begin applying about 3hours of smoke for my taste. I usually have the vent at least 1/2 open. You will probably want to do a rack rotation about halfway through. Once the 3 hours of smoke is complete I let them continue for 1 more hour without smoke. Then I put them into a foil roaster, add a splash of AJ, cover with foil and throw them back into the smoker at 220 for another 3 hours. After this I will put them on the grill just long enough to sauce them. They turn out very tasty and tender every time.

The ribs above the chicken will slowly drip onto your chicken so you may not require the bacon.

You also indicated you are going to smoke the chicken for 6 hours. I'm assuming this is your guesstimate on total cooking time because you may not want to apply 6 hours of smoke.

Make sure you monitor the IT of the chicken and it will tell you when it's done.

Mike

[badmojoe]

Haha, you are right, I guess I am not doing the FTC but just the "F" with "AJ".  Good point about the drippings from the ribs.  I thought about that but wondered how much "basting" that would provide.  Sounds like it may be enough. 

Thanks!

[badmojoe]

Well the chicken was done in about 3.5 hours.  Only two hours shorter than the last time.  I don't know why it was done so quickly.  The first time I did a chicken it was 6 hours and that was the time I was told from another Bradley user.

Oh well, I am wrapping it in foil and will probably put it in the oven right before dinner to warm it up.  Ribs have been in their boat for about an hour.

[jeff_smoke]

The cooking time seems to be greatly influenced by the outside temperature and also how much other meat you're smoking at the same time. Winter will generally be longer smokes.