How to keep meat from being dry??

[halfevl333]

I have a Big Chief Smoker I just got.  I know they are not made for fully cooking/smoking meat, but are used to add smoke flavor to the meat so you can cook it in an oven (or possibly a grill..I haven't figured out how to do that yet)..  I smoked a whole chicken and it turned out pretty dry and later I tried to smoke chicken parts (cut up chicken) and it also was pretty dry.   I did as the book that came with the smoker said, I brined the chicken and smoked it for two pan fulls of wood and then finished cooking the chicken in my kitchen oven.  It had good smoke taste but the whole chicken was a little dry, and the parts were VERY dry.  Should I add some water to the drip pan in my smoker when I smoke the meat to make things a little moister?  Should I add liquid when I finish cooking the chicken (or other meat) in the oven?  And what do I do if I finish cooking on my gas grill?  I have a charcoal grill but not sure the coals will last long enough to cook the meat fully, not to mention, how do I keep the meat from getting dry on the charcoal grill??  I want to cook chicken (whole and parts), ribs (beef and pork) and roasts (beef and pork) in my smoker and finish in one of my grills...   This last weekend I went to a Craft Fair and bought some rub to use...not sure on using that but figured I would do a trial and lots of error to get it right...

The instruction/recipe book that came with the smoker is pretty limited and vague so need some help figuring out what to do...

Any suggestions would be helpful...

 

[daveomak]

Half, morning...  Do you have a good thermometer to use in your smoker ??? That is a must....  Maverick 732 will tell you the temp of the meat and the smoker at the same time... About the brine... was it somewhere close to 1/2 cup Kosher salt per gallon of water ?? You can replace some of the water with chicken stock, add onions, celery etc....   place chicken in the brine in the refer for 1-2 days....  Have your smoker up to temp and smoking.... Rinse and dry the chicken and add chicken for 2 hours to the smoker..... Have your oven or grill up to temp (375 deg) and put the bird in for 45 minutes...  Your Big Chief smoker will probably operate in the 150 deg range which is perfect for making jerky and smoking fish...  It will start the cooking process on the chicken and get it's internal temp ( IT ) up to 100 or so....  The high temp in the oven is to crisp the skin and get the IT of the bird up to 165 deg in less than 1 hour.....  

If you have a scale, weigh the salt for future reference.... salt all weighs differently when measured... 1 cup Kosher does not weigh the same as 1 cup pickling salt... They are exactly the same chemical make up.... one is flaky and one is granular....  The two Kosher salts on the market do not weigh the same.....  The members of the forum are here to help in any way we can....    Dave

 

[halfevl333]

Cool will try out your suggestions...  

The recipe I used from the manual was:

1 Qt water

1/2 cup non-iodized salt

1/2 cup white sugar

 

[flash]

Answered on your other post. To add, I never brine.