Newbie's first time smoking whole chickens...

J

jumperanger

New member
Hi all.. Jumper here.

I have been smoking for 10 years. I own a Traeger grill and wanted to purchase a new smoker. So I did my research, ended up with the top three, and chose the Smokin-It #3. Nice looking unit, well built. I did the breaking in step for four hours with two pieces of oak wood that I received from the company. The next day I was so excited I bought three whole chickens, washed them, seasoned them up, put three pieces of hickory wood (I even purchased the Amber PID controller) and set the temperature at 225 and the internal temp for 165. They cooked for about three hours and then the alarm went off on the controller...

When I took the chicken out they had a dark color to them, and looked over-smoked. Any advice??

Thank you.



 
The real question how did they taste.? I have found smoke tends to collect on the skin easily. I have done 4 chickens numerous times I use about 3 ounces of wood, if the skin appears to over smoked you could just discard as long as your flavor is there. Next time try about half the wood as see if that helps, the fun part is the experimenting with these smokers, good luck !!!
 
Hi Jumper, and welcome to the party!  We're glad you're here!  Jim's right about the amount of wood.  Most people with a smoker background in "traditional" smokers have a little more difficult time adjusting to just how little wood these smokers need!  When you tell someone with a pellet grill, or stick burner of some sort, to start thinking in mere "ounces," it's hard to believe!  If you don't have a digital kitchen scale, I recommend getting one - it really helps!

I find about 2 oz is plenty for poultry.  If you put 3 of the hickory dowels in (that came with the smoker), you probably had 4-6 oz of wood; way too much for chicken.  That would have been good for a pork butt, though!

You'll learn about the "less is more" theory on wood with your new #3!  Hard to believe, but true. 

Best of luck, and let us know how we can help!  Oh, and btw, we like pics of good Q around here! ;D
 
Thank you for the advice and warm welcome. The taste was okay. I did taste the smoke, but not too much of the seasoning, probably because I used it sparingly. I did use the three dowels of wood so I will take your "less is more" advice!  :D Thanks again!!

P.S. - Next time I will post a picture.. I plan on smoking a pork butt soon so I will let you know how it turns out with a pic!!
 
I smoked 4 chickens, about 5#ea, over the weekend. I have the SI 3 and an Auber.
Used Famous Dave's Chicken Rub.
Smoked at 225d until 165d. I used two chunks of Hickory, about 4oz.
The chickens looked plain ugly, black wet look. Taste, not bad, bit bitter.
I am thinking higher temp, maybe 250d next time and half of the Hickory.

What's the thoughts out there? Jumperanger? DivotMaker? Mnsmoker?

By the By, the Auber is fantastic. Did not Auto Tune, held smoker temps +- 2d. Awesome.

 
I think your plan for next time is good.

2 ounces of hickory and crank that Auber up to 250.

If you have the stock controller bypassed, I would even try to run it at 275.
 
Personally I wouldn't use more than two ounces for chicken.  Anything more will be too much for my liking. If you like crispy skin, you will have to finish by broiling near the end in the oven.
 
I'm with Smokster.  1.5-2 oz of wood for chicken and I only use Apple or Pecan (or other lighter woods).

I still haven't gotten good crispy skin on my chicken.  It's always rubbery and discarded.  But the chicken is really good.  I usually end up pulling it into big chunks (carving it with my hands).

I have a bypass and an auber.  My next smoke will look like this...

1hr at 200 degrees then the balance at 275-300 degrees.

If that doesn't crisp it up, I will try 280 degrees for the entire cook and try to keep my wood from flaming up.

If that doesn't work, I'm going chicken parts and finishing them on the grill.
 
Ive had good luck on chickens, light smoke, 250 for a few hours, I don't weigh my wood but I'm guessing 3-4 ounces or less. I go by the look on the skin the first few times it was way to dark so I cut back until it was more golden, and I brine over night maybe 12 hours.
 
I do use an auber but even before had good results on chicken, experiment with the amount of wood you use I sometimes still have to check myself as I want to use about twice what I really need.
 
Thanks, don't mean to take away from Jumper, but I was having the same results smoking whole chickens he was having.

Will try chickens again some time at higher cooker temp and a lot less wood, may even try brine.

Thanks all,
 
I almost always brine poultry - in the oven, grill, or smoke. They come out so juicy. I have some photos somewhere. I'll up them when I find them.
 
+1 on the brining. I always brine my poultry prior to smoking.

I haven't really brined for stuff on the grill/oven, but I can see why it would be good to do for these cooking methods as well.
 
I did chickens for my first smoke in my Model #3, they turned out great, typically I brine birds but was in a rush to cook something. I Spatchcocked three birds. That's splitting them at the backbone then laying them flat. Sometimes a small cut is necessary on the back side of the breast bone to get them flat. On Poultry I peal back the skin so I can get the rub directly on the meat. When you think about it skin is designed to be non permeable, I like getting the spices and salt directly on the meat. and a little extra on the skin. With a brine the flavor and moisture go directly to the meat. I ran them at 240 with 2oz of cherry to an internal of 175, they were super moist. Which was fortunate because I didn't realize I had failed to add a water pan until the birds were nearly done. Total cook time was 3.5 hours. I ran a cast iron skillet of beans on the top shelf for the entire cook time.
 

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Hey Brian, your birds/beans look delicious!

That is a good idea to pull the skin back and then apply rub.

I am curious how your skin turned out. Some have had problems with it being too rubbery.

I have smoked a lot of chicken in my previous smokers, but am guilty of not trying any in the Smokin-It yet.
 
Ha' I knew from reading old posts that the skin was not going to crisp. My Lab loved it. It had a lot of flavor but I was too lazy to fire up the broiler to try and crisp it . As I said the dog thought he was in heaven. The under the skin trick always works. if you grilling or oven roasting whole fresh herbs can go between the meat and skin. Sometimes you might have to pin the skin with a toothpick if it gets overly loose or gets a tear.
 
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