# Rotisserie Smoked Chicken - Using All My Toys At Once



## johnmeyer (Jan 24, 2016)

I like rotisserie chicken. I like smoked chicken. Why not do both?

I got the idea for this shortly after I got my AMNPS a few months ago. I had seen people using it _*inside *_their gas BBQ, but it didn't seem right to me to place this into the heated chamber. After all, the AMNPS can smoke on its own for cold smoking, and putting it above the gas flame is almost certainly going to overheat the pellets and make it burn too fast.

So, where to put it? Well, in my old Weber Genesis gas BBQ, I thought perhaps I could put the smoker down into the drip tray, and have the smoke travel up from there. As you will see, the idea worked, and worked perfectly.

I won't spend much time on the recipe part of this. I simply brined the chicken for 90 minutes, and then applied some rub I had on hand. Pretty much any rub will do because the real star of this performance is the juiciness provided by the rotisserie process, combined with the flavor of the smoke (I used hickory).

Here is a picture of the overall layout (yes, the chicken is too small -- it's all Safeway had that evening).













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__ johnmeyer
__ Jan 24, 2016






As you can see (lower left corner) I have already started the AMNPS, using only the heat gun.













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__ johnmeyer
__ Jan 24, 2016






I need to upload a short video tutorial of how I use just the heat gun to start the AMNPS. With pellets, I have found that I can start the pellets faster, and have had no problems with them going out, once I figured out how to start the chips using only the heat gun, without any torch. Using just the heat gun you not only can light the pellets, but you can give ALL the pellets a nice pre-heat and drying out.

Note that the BBQ drip tray is pulled out and is lying on top of a trash bin. The AMNPS fits perfectly into the bottom of this tray. I scraped out all the old crud, down into the trash bin, before putting the AMNPS into that tray. Here is what the AMNPS looks like, in the BBQ drip tray:













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__ johnmeyer
__ Jan 24, 2016






The AMNPS gets all the air it needs, and is not affected by the intense heat of the flames, the way it would be if you put it next to the food, even if it was not directly over the flames.

To keep the chicken fat from dripping directly down onto the AMNPS, I use a drip pan under the chicken. I'd use this anyway, even without the smoker in the main Weber drip pan:













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__ johnmeyer
__ Jan 24, 2016






Then, here is the Weber drip tray and AMNPS, pushed in about halfway into the BBQ.













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__ johnmeyer
__ Jan 24, 2016






As soon as I pushed it in the rest of the way, the smoke you see going up the outside of the BBQ instead traveled up through the BBQ.

Like all my rotisserie cooks, I turn off all but the front burner (this old model has the burners front, back, and center, rather than right to left). I adjusted the gas output until the BBQ chamber temperature stabilized at 300 degrees. I cooked this small chicken for about ninety minutes (which is why you saw so few pellets in the AMNPS).

I stupidly forgot to take a picture of the final result, but the chick looked absolutely marvelous, and tasted better than any rotisserie chicken I've done since I got the rotisserie back around the start of the millennium.

What would I do differently the next time? Only one thing: more smoke. Each row of the AMNPS burns for a little less then three hours. I knew the chicken would only cook for about 90 minutes, so I filled 1/2 of one row. However, the BBQ doesn't contain smoke quite the same way my MES does, and therefore I need more smoke. So, next time I'll fill _*two *_half rows in the AMNPS and light both. If that isn't enough, I'll light three 1/2 rows.

I hope this gives people some ideas!


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## schlotz (Jan 28, 2016)

Wow, you still have that original Genesis running! I used one just like that for years until I went to a summit.  Excellent mod btw.


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## schlotz (Jan 28, 2016)

dupe - removed


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## johnmeyer (Jan 28, 2016)

schlotz said:


> Wow, you still have that original Genesis running! I used one just like that for years until I went to a summit. Excellent mod btw.


Yupe, still humming along. Over the years, I've replaced the flavorizer bars with stainless; replaced the grates (twice, I think); replaced the burner connector (that routes flame between the burners); replaced the drip tray (the one that is holding the AMNPS in the photos above); added the rotisserie; and cleaned out the gas line spider guard when some spider decided to spin his web inside the gas lines and cut off the gas to one burner. I've also gone through three covers. However, all those repair parts and mods probably cost a grand total of $140 over twenty years. Definitely worth it.


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## SmokinAl (Jan 28, 2016)

Great job John!

Your very innovative in your thinking.

I have a Genisis & will have to give this a try.

Thanks

Al


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## dirtsailor2003 (Jan 28, 2016)

Nice smoke! We love using the Minitisserie. Pork roasts, chicken, anything that will fit on the spit!


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