British BBQ Society Forums

Webers dont need seasoning, grill from box fresh. Enamel does not need a thin layer of burnt grease to be non stick or fight off rust.
Dry Chunks, but soak chips if you have chips. Foil pouches are for gas bbqs.

The thermometer on your performer is good enough to measure the temp in the cooker, you dont need a thermapen to do beer can chicken!

Light a fire, cook some meat!

Thanks bencops.

I just assembled it so I'm ready to roll!

A medium size chicken should take what... About 90 mins? What temperature should I be aiming for?

Just check it's done by sticking it and checking for clear juices?

Do you recommend using the two Weber grates and cooking in the middle or putting all the charcoal on one side and the bird on the other?

Any other tips for my first cook!?

Paul

The weber will settle nicely to to the temp its designed to run at (keep the bottom and top grates open), normally in the 180-200 Deg's c. Indirect is best for beer butt chicken, use both grates, with the charcoal either on the one side or on the outer sides of the bottom grate. Then make sure the chicken (placed on the top grate) is not taking direct heat when you put the lid on. See http://www.weber.com/weber/grilling-tip ... ct-cooking for the indirect method . When the chickens juices run clear, it will be done! It should be done (depending on the size) from about 60mins to 80mins

So I had a successful weekend as far as first attempts go!

Eased myself into it yesterday with a few burgers, sausages, and chicken kebabs. And that went well so I had a go at beer can chicken today!

Here's the before and after pics...
It was very nice. Juicy but I think I overcooked it, was on the grill for about 100 minutes and was a fairly small bird. I was paranoid of poisoning the family! I've got a refurbished Thermapen coming from eBay next week so I will be more confident about getting meat off at the right time.

My lid thermometer never went above 160 C, even when the briquettes seemed to be raging hot. They were Weber premium briquettes (I bought them before the advice of steering clear coz of the horrible yellow ash!) and I had 20 in each basket as per the suggestions in the manual. Both top and bottom vents were fully open, it was a warm afternoon, and it was sheltered from the wind. Does this temperature sound right? If I did want hotter how do I achieve that, just use more briquettes?

Thanks to all that have helped getting me up and running, I'm a bit rabbit-in-the-headlights! I'm so glad on the steers from this post towards getting a Weber kettle, I would have blindly gone out and bought a rubbish horizontal offset smoker otherwise. The Weber was definitely the right choice for me and I can definitely see myself getting a bullet smoker in the future once I really get cookin.....!

Not sure what to try next, but am itching to do some more!!! Any suggestions on some straightforward things for a newcomer like me???

With chicken it's much better to over cook than under cook from a health point of view, however you're right the thermapen will ensure you get the best results. That does sound a little cool to be honest I would of expected higher, have you checked the lid thermometer in boiling water? Good first effort though, it will only get better too

Glad it all worked out, ribs would be the next stage, buy them in racks rather then cut individually. Have a look at Toby's video on prepping ribs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGnsZ7opLew to give you a good idea. There is a series of these videos which will be listed in youtube. There are a whole lot of useful guides to ribs as people have photographed their cooking process.

JEC - No I haven't checked the lid thermometer in boiling water, I'll try and do it this week. Does it just unscrew to get it off the lid?

Keith - I LOVE the soft and juicy fall-off-the-bone baby backs you get in decent american restaurants! We have had decent ribs before from Waitrose in Stevenage High Street, cooked in the oven though...

Meant to say - yes it does unscrew.

The temp on the lid therm is influenced by whether it is over the coals or other an indirect area. More coals would get hotter but my experience is that the weber briquettes are not overly hot though would expect them to be above 160c

Great they never seem to have them when I go I end up in Hitchin, usually when the farmers market has been cancelled . Check out the video from Toby and then sit back, grab a tea or coffee and search the topics for "baby back ribs". There's 201 hits.