I don't know if this would work or not but...

[steve-o]

I was looking at a book my brother gave me 'Barbecue Secrets' by Ron Shewchuk. It has an idea to avoid rubbery skin on chicken.

"For crispy-skinned chicken, fill your water pan with sand instead of water, and add a layer of foil over the sand to catch the drippings. The sand moderates the heat and the dry chamber helps crisp the chicken skin."

The book is about general smoking not a Bradley smoker but I assume the logic is the same. Just curious if anyone has any thoughts about that.

[smoker pete]

I would not do what Ron Shewchuk suggests in my OBS.  The water in the pan among other things is used to extinguish the used bisquettes.  Having them drop unto foil that is being used to catch drippings would not be a good thing to do.  I know nothing about the book you mention steve but there are major differences with barbecuing chicken and smoking chicken in a Bradley smoker.

[OU812]

Ron is smoke/cooking with a Weber smoker cooker that has a huge water pan directly above the heat source and by putting sand in the pan rather than water works like a heat defuser keeping the heat along the sides of the smoker and with the foil on top of the sand you are catching the drippings.

Been there done that.  ;D

With the Bradley you want water in that little pan not only to extinguish the bisquettes but to catch and dilute the drippings.

If you want crispy skin you need to finish of on the grill, oven or a fryer, I use TBE to finish and get prefect skin every time.

I use to use an oil fryer but TBE is so much more efficient.

TBE is The Big Easy, which is an infred oilless fryer, works almost the same as an oil fryer but without the hassle of dealing with all that oil.