Is 325 Degrees Enough To Crisp The Skin?

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grillmonkey

Smoking Fanatic
Original poster
Jun 15, 2014
850
80
Twin City, GA
They've been brined overnight, they're in the marinate right now. The plan is to start the smoker at noon, bring it to 325 degrees and smoke to an IT of 165-170. I'll be using the offset with red oak only. I'm hoping the 325 degree temp will be enough to crisp the skin without having to transfer it to the gas grill.

If it's not, let me know and I'll go hotter. I'm trying to find the balance between crisp skin, and remaining in the smoke long enough to capture that great smoke flavor. Last time I smoked at 275 degrees and the smoke flavor was perfect, but the skin was rubbery and needed crisping over the coals, which flared up because of the juiciness of the chicken. This is only my 2nd chicken smoke, so I don't have enough experience to know what I'm doing.
 
 
325° is the low end of where the skin will crisp up. If you can get a little hotter it will crisp up a little better but not much. You can also smoke lower the kick up the heat at the end. That way you get more smoke and then still get crispy skin.

Happy smoken.

David
Do you think 400 degrees for the last 15 minutes or so would do it? Say 275 to IT of 145, then 400?
 
That temp should get it done but put the chix skin side up in front of a fan for 1 hour. The more dry you get the skin the better it will be. Another trick is to Poach the chix in Boiling water for 60 seconds and then dry it. Works really well. If push comes to shove instead of the grill, pull 10° shy of your fav IT and finish in a 425-450° Oven. I do it all the time and no flare up...JJ
 
 
That temp should get it done but put the chix skin side up in front of a fan for 1 hour. The more dry you get the skin the better it will be. Another trick is to Poach the chix in Boiling water for 60 seconds and then dry it. Works really well. If push comes to shove instead of the grill, pull 10° shy of your fav IT and finish in a 425-450° Oven. I do it all the time and no flare up...JJ
The last time I followed your advice it turned out GREAT
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If you don't have a hour to dry the skin, use a hair dryer on low right before putting the birds on. It works great and only takes a minute or two to dry the skin out!
 
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