First Time Smoker- Beer Can Chix & Wings

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atlantayinzer

Newbie
Original poster
Dec 30, 2013
13
10
Hey Everyone,

Just got my MES 30 smoker for Xmas and did beer can chicken (from Jeff's book along with wings and smoked brocolli).  

My judges (my two kids and wife) were very pleased with the results.  I was really happy with how things turned out.  

Below is outline (along with pics) of the steps I took.  Any feedback from the Forum to improve the end product in the future would be greatly appreciated.

Ingredients:

Whole Chicken: 7.18 lbs

Wings: 8 Full Wings

1 Bag of Broccoli (pre-cut)

Homemade Honey Mustard: 4 oz honey, 1/4 cup spicy brown mustard, lemon juice

Brine: used the recipe in Jeff's book for the Turkey Leg

Rub: came from Jeff's book

Wood chips: Cherry

Beer:  Ginger Beer

Steps:

After putting the rub on the whole chicken and washing/patting down wings, preheated smoker to 250 degrees.



1:30pm: Put the wings on top rack, beer can chicken on shelf below.  For the giblets/neck I put them in tin foil along with the extra rub/olive oil used for chx.  


2:30 pm:  Temperature read 244 degrees and there was hardly any smoke coming out so I reloaded the wood chipper.

3:00 pm:  Temperature read 228 degrees and again reloaded chips for smoke

4:00 pm:  Temperature read 239 degrees.  Took chicken wings out and put them in honey mustard sauce and shook in container.  Put them on stove top and fried them up in olive oil until golden.  Placed them back in wing sauce and was ready to eat.  I also put tossed broccoli with olive oil, garlic, and borsari seasoning and wrapped in foil and placed in smoker. 




My son absolutely devoured the wings.  A huge honey mustard wing fan!


4:30 pm:  Checked chicken temperature and it was 153 degrees.  I had preheated oven to 375 and placed chicken in there for 20 minutes.  Covered with tin foil and cooked another 5-10 minutes until internal temp was 165.

5:00pm:  Took out brocolli.

Below is a pic of the bird when it came out of the oven.


Dinner portions along with the broccoli.


I really enjoyed it as the chicken was SO TENDER.  I wish I would have fried the wings a little longer on stove top and put broccoli in the smoker earlier but it was definitely a good meal to end the year.

Any thoughts/feedback are appreciated.

-Roman
 
Great first smoke!

My MES30 is a year old now.  It's awesome!  I love it so much more than my old ECB.  I still have yet to do the beer can chicken.  I have to remember to do one sometime soon.

If you are planning on doing any longer smokes like brisket or pork butt, I would highly recommend one of Todd's pellet smoke generators.  If you live in cold climates like me, you can also use it to smoke cheese and butter.  http://www.amazenproducts.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=AMNPS5X8

Happy smoking!
 
Roman,

Go to Todd's site A-Maze-N Products, I have both the 6" tube and the 12" tube and get great smoke from both. I just got 2.5 hours out of the 6" one.

~Joe
 
Joe and DJ,

Getting Amaze N Products is on my to do list as they sound great and get rave reviews.  I also want to get into some cold smoking and that seems the way to go.

I am still a little confused on what I need for the MES 30.  Do I get the tube(s) or that tray looking thing?  Also, would I need to buy some sort of torch to light it?  I did some AMNPS searches but still a bit confused.  All this is so new.

Thanks for the suggestions.

-Roman
 
 
Joe and DJ,

Getting Amaze N Products is on my to do list as they sound great and get rave reviews.  I also want to get into some cold smoking and that seems the way to go.

I am still a little confused on what I need for the MES 30.  Do I get the tube(s) or that tray looking thing?  Also, would I need to buy some sort of torch to light it?  I did some AMNPS searches but still a bit confused.  All this is so new.

Thanks for the suggestions.

-Roman
The tray looking thing is the AMNPS.  You want the pellet smoker(which can also use dust.)  It seems to fit perfectly in the MES30.  Here is a link to the first time I tried using it.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/137320/easy-stroganoff-ampns-test   You can see where I usually place it in the sixth picture.

It took me a little while to get used to it, but it works really well for me now.  Just make sure to keep the vents all the way open, and sometimes I'll pull out the chip loader a bit for more air circulation.  If you ever have any problems, you can get them answered here on the forum or directly from the man who sells them(great customer service!)
 
DJ- Thanks for the tips.  That stroganoff looks awesome.  I can't wait to try that recipe out.
 
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