Interesting experiment....

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lancep

Master of the Pit
Original poster
Apr 6, 2016
1,421
359
North Mississippi
So someone posted an article in the charcoal smokers about using the  Top vent to control temp in the WSM. This flies in the face of everything I’ve learned over the years so naturally I was curious. Well as luck would have it, today was grocery day. Even better, the bagger at Kroger dragged my whole chicken across the rim of the cart producing a tiny perforation in the package. imagine my delight when I stuck my hand into a grocery bag full of chicken juice. Sure, I had to toss my jerk cheddar cheese in the trash but at least I had an excuse to smoke a chicken
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So, I lit half a chimney of coal and foiled the water pan. When the coals were ready I dumped them over a half full charcoal ring and threw four hickory chunks on top. I let that go with the lid off for about ten minutes to get the chunks burning. Put the lid on with one bottom vent open and the top vent open half way. I let that go a bit and brought it up to 250. Once it got thin and blue, on went the chicken. Pretty much clear smoke after about ten minutes so I was happy.


Checked an hour later and it was 120. so I opened the vents and brought it up to 300.


140, Almost there! Threw on some sweet peppers to top the salad and pulled at 165 in the breast and 180 in the thigh. And......


Yum!
 
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Flavor was great. Very juicy with just a hint of hickory. Also, the smoked sweet peppers on the salad were hit!
 
The revelation was using the top vent for control instead the bottom and it not tasting like crap..... Further investigation is required.
 
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