Will this work?

[Backyardsmoker]

I did my chicken in a losf tin a few times. Definately was the best chicken I ever cooked. Took about 2.5 hours




Ben

[gunman]

I tried this out yesterday with limited success. Started off with soaked chips in foil pouch at about 250. The temp dropped to about 180 when the chicken went in and took a while coming back up. After an hour or so i opened the vents full and got the temp up to about 330 and over an hour later checked the chicken temp which was 120. I foiled and 30 mins later the internal temp was 144.
As we were hungry we finish off in the oven. The Smokey favour wasthere and was very nice.

So im not sure about this, maybe its too small or maybe because the top vent is right above the chicken it cooled it down. I think the jumbo joe may be more suitable. The bottom air vent I pur in didn't seem to make much difference.

[gunman]

I had another go at the whole chicken on the Smokey Joe this evening with much more success. I think I started off too cold for chicken the last time. I lit a whole portable chimney of coals and added them to the modified charcoal grate. I have a cage to keep the coals to the side with a small gap to keep them back from the chicken, I also placed a small foil tray of ale under the chicken.



Chicken was seasoned and brought up to room temp and then added to the BBQ. Lid went on and temp was around 400f but dropped to around 350f fairly quickly. I roasted it for about 2 hrs 15 mins at between 325 to 350. About 1hr 45 in the temp started to drop so I lit a few more coals in the chimney and added them, temp went up to about 375, so I closed he vents off a bit to bring it down.



The top vent is just above the chicken so it is easy to check the internal temp without removing the lid.



The chicken was done lovely, skin very crispy and meat very juicy, although the ends of the drumsticks were quite dark.





I'd like to do it without the foil tray but reckon it's needed to deflect the heat from the coals. Still, I'm happy that I can roast a full chicken when I'm away camping now.

[keith157]

Keep the foil tray It saves hours on clean-up as the juices are contained, and if sufficient and untainted by ash can be added to sauces etc.