# Smoking Two Chickens



## chicanuck (Jan 12, 2014)

Howdy,

I am new to smoking and just got Jeff's Smoking Meat book, I wanted to smoke a whole chicken but could not decide to try his Smoked Chicken recipe or Beer Can Smoked Chicken recipe.  So I decided to smoke both to compare, I brined both overnight, used his rub recipe with extra cayenne and smoked paprika.  I kept the smoker at ~235-240F for ~3 hours using the Maverick ET-733 (thanks to these forums), when the IT reached ~150F, I turned up the heat to ~350F for ~30mins and pulled the chickens out at 169F, I let them rest for ~20 mins before serving.  They were both a little salty but really juicy, my wife claims they were the best chicken she has ever had......I am a believer and might try his Duck recipe next weekend.

Thanks, Greg













Chickens Smoking.jpg



__ chicanuck
__ Jan 12, 2014


















Beer Can Smoked Chicken.jpg



__ chicanuck
__ Jan 12, 2014


----------



## dirtsailor2003 (Jan 12, 2014)

Nice looking birds!


----------



## chris4xgill2 (Jan 23, 2014)

So what differences (if any?) did you notice between the two methods? I have the same dilemma for next weekend. Not sure which method to try or if I want to do one of each.


----------



## chicanuck (Jan 23, 2014)

If I was only going to do one, I would go with the beer can method.  It was the juicier of the two, easier to carve and less mess.


----------



## chris4xgill2 (Jan 23, 2014)

Thanks for the insight.


----------



## hickorybutt (Jan 23, 2014)

Nice.

I smoked two chickens a couple of weeks ago.  The rub I used was a bit spicy, so I think I'll go lighter on the cayenne pepper next time.  But the meat was delicious.

Gotta love smoked birds!  And left over pulled chicken goes well with a lot of other dishes...


----------



## psycho dad (Jan 24, 2014)

Did you rinse off the brine? That may explain thesaltiness.

Great looking birds.


----------



## chicanuck (Jan 24, 2014)

I brined over night and rinsed the water from both birds, patted dry and liberally applied the rub from the SM book, then added an extra rub layer of cayenne and smoked paprika.  The beer can bird seemed more salty, not in a bad way but just more salty than I expected.  For my next bird experiment, I will reduce the amount of kosher salt I use in the brine.


----------



## dirtsailor2003 (Jan 24, 2014)

One thing to mention is that you don't need to brine or use the beer can in order to get a nice moist bird. If you are looking for additional flavor then brining or injecting will enhance the bird. If you are looking for alternative ways yo smoke chicken check out these couple of threads:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/...spritzed-is-the-only-way-to-get-moist-chicken

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/155201/huli-huli-spatchy-with-the-grand-finale-q-view

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/154228/smokin-hot-spatchy


----------

