Trouble with chicken and sausage

[natural]

Hi everyone... wondering if I could get some pointers.   I have a number 1 and have been using it for about a year.  I've had great results with ribs and pulled pork but not so much with chicken or sausage.  

I use a maverick et-733 and monitor both box and meat temp.  I use small amounts of wood when cooking as I don't like a strong smoke taste.  (2 oz) usually apple, pecan or hickory.   

I place my temp probe under the meat rack with a little clip that came with the maverick. 

What I'm finding is my internal temp of my meat seems to hit the proper temperature quickly (sausage at 168 was 1 hour at 235 today) but when I open it up, the outside of the meat still looks wet and is not browned up, like I've seen in pictures.   My maverick shows my temperatures are good inside the box (225-242).   I'm not preheating and I'm putting the meat on straight from the fridge.   

Chicken seems to have the same issue.  The internal temp is met but the skin is still pale and rubbery.  That's cooking it at max temp (250) and leaving the smoker in the sun to get a little extra heat.  I've tried different rubs to no avail.  I've added oil and even baking soda (or powder can't remember right now) to try and dry it out.  

Does anyone preheat there smoker or let the meat warm up?  It's the only thing I haven't tried.  

Any other thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks, Dan   
Windsor, Ontario, Canada

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[drains]

Hi Dan, to brown chicken skin or sausage, etc requires a higher heat setting than this smoker can generate. Top temp is 250 on the stock control. You would have to add an auber pid and do a bypass around the stock controller to get higher temps. There are many posts on this forum about this subject, do a search and you'll see what I mean. In my case if I want to brown something I just use my gas grill or the oven in the kitchen. Hope this helps.

[Limey]

Hi Dan, Dale is absolutely right. These are very tight smokers and with relatively short smokes you will not get browning. Chicken skin is always relatively rubbery out of the smoker. The solution to both problems is, obviously to not use a water pan, and then to pull a few degrees short of the desired IT and do a reverse sear on the gasser.

[gregbooras]

Just me, but I use a water pan in most every smoke.

The skin..... not really good for you anyways, so it just gets tossed. I keep the skin on to help keep the birds juicy.

Greg