First Smoke - Chicken breasts - FAIL

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whiskey ryan

Newbie
Original poster
May 13, 2015
16
12
Hey guys. Last weekend I tried to smoke 4 chicken breasts. It was an epic failure. I smoked them for about 4 (+/-) hours at 250 with mesquite logs. The temp briefly went up and down a few times due to this being my first time but i feel i did a pretty good job of keeping it at 250. The instructions i was following said to pull them off with an internal temp of 160. I could not get these damn things above 130. It was getting late and i needed to pull them off so i shredded them up and cooked them in a pan. They were really tough though. They didn't feel like i thought they would after 4+ hours of cooking.

What the hell did i do wrong? Why couldn't I get that internal temp up?
 
I did a bunch for the 1st time last weekend too. They stalled around 135 for a while, then climbed to 160. Took about 4 or 5 hrs at 230 or so. What are you using to monitor the smoker temps?
 
I did a bunch for the 1st time last weekend too. They stalled around 135 for a while, then climbed to 160. Took about 4 or 5 hrs at 230 or so. What are you using to monitor the smoker temps?
I'm using the gauges on my grill.  I guess it's possible they could be off but it's not like i have some cheap budget smoker (Oklahoma Joe).

So your saying the chicken breasts just spiked all of a sudden?
 
Most gages aren't accurate that come with smokers and grills. They didn't spike, they rose nicely then stalled out. After the stall they climbed at the same rate.stalled for like an hour it felt like.
 
Hey Ryan, if you able to, remove your thermos and do a boil test to see where they are at.

I made the mistake of believing the one that came with mine.
 
I'm not sure if the can come off. Ill have to check later.

How do you do a boil test? Just boil water and seen if the gauge comes to 212°?
 
Yep - dip the gauge in boiling water. Try smoking them at a higher temp, I usually keep the smoker at 300°F when doing breasts or turkey. 

Late!
 
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