Beer Can Chicken

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deannc

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Jun 13, 2010
1,153
24
Cradle of Cue, NC
Didn't find a turkey in time for this weekend so we settled for double bag of yardbirds from Sam's.  What a beautiful day in the Carolina's for smoking!  

Cleaned them up and brined for 12 hours in Slaughterhouse Poultry Brine By Tip Piper of Hillbilly Vittles

Pulled from the fridge, rinsed and dried off with some paper towels.  Before putting on the can I plugged the neck with onion.  I only had one can stand but things worked out and realized a stand really isn't even needed.  

Once on the can I injected under the skin a mixture of 1 stick of melted butter, a splash of apple juice and a tablespoon of Jeff's Rib Rub.  Found a nice heavy stainless steel injector by Butterball at Lowes a couple weeks ago for $9.99.  Love it compared to the plastic one I had and most I've seen like this are $20 to $30.

Brushed the skin with EVO and sprinkled with Jeff's Rib Rub and into the GOSM at 270* with some hickory chunks.  At about 2 1/2 hours the internal temp hit 165*.  Pulled from the smoker and rested for 30 minutes before pulling and serving.  Sorry I didn't get any pictures once I started pulling, the hands were busy and my photography wasn't helping today because I had to do something with that mug of beer at 11 a.m. and she still wasn't happy with that 2 1/2 hours later! lol  Of course it didn't help that one mug leads to another!!

These birds turned out soooo moist and the taste was fantastic and my best chicken yet!  Even at 270*, the skin was still soft and not crispy.  I thought about bumping up the temp over 300* or putting them in the grill for a few minutes to crisp the skin up, but I didn't this time.

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Used a couple skewers to keep the wings tucked in and a couple toothpicks to pull the skin back over the ends of the breast.

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I don't think it was really necessary but I spritzed (apple juice 4oz and vinegar 2 oz) once at about 1 1/2 hours in when I added a little more water to the pan.

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All ready for picken and pulling!

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That's really a vampire guest waiting and worshiping the golden goodness! 

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Looks good Dean. I've done many a beer can chicken and have found that if I smoke them spritzing is a no no. The temps are just too low. The way I crisp the skin is to simply finish them on the grill at a high heat. Sometimes I just do them on the grill at 350 for about an hr. You can make little foil packs of smoke wood if you want to add a little smoky flavor.
 
Beer Can Chicken is one my favorites!!

They Look Great!!

I'm not a big fan of leftover chicken, so I make chicken salad out of the leftovers.

Todd
 
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Nice Birds you have there. You have to love a smoked bird.
 
Looks Great Dean!!! 
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Nice looking birds!

No rules in NC about torture, or do they have back pain, and your trying acupuncture on them? 
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Bear
 
that looks good

Originally Posted by rbranstner  



looking good. 

Originally Posted by adiochiro3  



great job!  I like to crisp up the skin too.  I like the injection find too!
    Thanks guys!  adiochiro3, the injector is definitely worth the $10...nice and heavy etc.
 
Looks good Dean. I've done many a beer can chicken and have found that if I smoke them spritzing is a no no. The temps are just too low. The way I crisp the skin is to simply finish them on the grill at a high heat. Sometimes I just do them on the grill at 350 for about an hr. You can make little foil packs of smoke wood if you want to add a little smoky flavor.
     Thanks...unbelievably these were first beer can birds.  I've grilled a many and for some reason never gave this a shot. lol  Thanks for the information I'll probably finish them on the grill next time to give that a shot.  

 
Beer Can Chicken is one my favorites!!

They Look Great!!

I'm not a big fan of leftover chicken, so I make chicken salad out of the leftovers.

Todd
     Thanks, Todd.  Smoke bird is one of favorites too.  We bought a rice cooker at Sam's over the weekend that we tried yesterday too.  So we're given some chicken fried rice a try this evening.

 
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Nice Birds you have there. You have to love a smoked bird.
      Thanks, Mballi...they are great...they always take on flavoring so easily and are such an easy smoke. 
 
 
Looks Great Dean!!! 
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Nice looking birds!

No rules in NC about torture, or do they have back pain, and your trying acupuncture on them? 
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Bear
     Bear, thanks!  As smokinstevo27 said, we have no torture rules here! lol  After they survived the 12 hours of waterboarding I figured I'd stick'em to see if that'd make'em given up the Colonel's secret recipe.  The one bird had some poor posture so he's lucky I didn't stick one down his back! 
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     Bear, thanks!  As smokinstevo27 said, we have no torture rules here! lol  After they survived the 12 hours of waterboarding I figured I'd stick'em to see if that'd make'em given up the Colonel's secret recipe.  The one bird had some poor posture so he's lucky I didn't stick one down his back! 
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Those are great looking chickens. Beer can is my favorite chicken cause if you do 2 of them you get to drink a whole can of beer so both cans are only half full
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Those are great looking chickens. Beer can is my favorite chicken cause if you do 2 of them you get to drink a whole can of beer so both cans are only half full
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     Thanks, Scarbelly!  LOL....yes sir, 2 chicken minimum for all future smokes!  Even if it did send me to the doghouse early, at least I got to set by the smoker and enjoy the rest of the 12 pack! haha
 
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I'm attempting my first beer can chicken tomorrow. I didn't have time to brine it so just have dry rub on it for a few hours. From what it seems cooking it at high temp is key because I've cooked wings 3 times and they came out rubbery every time no matter what I changed. I tried crisping them on grill for 5 minutes after but didn't do anything like I'm cooking the beer can chicken with baby back ribs,
 
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