British BBQ Society Forums

New to BBQ but as thought I'd have a go at cooking a whole Chicken on the BBQ last Sunday.

I'd bought the Weber trial smoking sets and thought I'd have a go at seeing if I could get a smoked flavoured Chicken.

I'm using a Weber e310 Spirit so se it up for indirect cooking with only the outer burners on. I placed the smoke box (Hickory) in the back left corner on the flavorizor bars pre heating the grill on full until the smoke started to flow.

I placed the chicken directly on the grate in the middle with a drip tray underneath and cooked at around 190oC turning it around as opposed to over a couple of times to try an expose it evenly to the smoke. Cooking time was approx 1 1/2 hours and confirmed it was cooked with a meat thermometer.

When time to eat it was nicely moist and cooked. It tasted great but I can't say it had much of a smoke flavour.

When cooking I could smell the smoke and at times could see it escaping from the back of the Weber. Could it be that I had the smoke box at the wrong place allowing the smoke to escape at the back before getting to the chicken. My thoughts are next time to put the box at the front middle as the gap between lid and BBQ is smaller and the draft should pull the smoke over the chicken.

Or am I expecting too much with gas grill.

Alan.

You could try placing the smoker box (you mean the foil ones?) directly on the grate closer to the food.
Don't ever block the vents on a gas grill though, in an attempt to keep the smoke in.

Try it without moving the chicken around. It should cook evenly without rotating it. By opening the lid you are allowing the smoke flavour to escape.
Try using smaller chips that are thouroughly soaked, but keep the lid closed as much as you can or all the hard work i.e. smoke escapes.
You should be able to smoke on your bbq, but as most people will tell you it's a learning curve for perfect BBQ. Everyone has a bad day (or month in some cases ) just make a note of what you did and what changes you make. Good luck in the future and keep the lid closed

Yes I was using the foil boxes, they look like a take away box but with holes in it.

I tried not to open the lid too much but being new I wanted to make sure it wasn't the chicken burning so probably opened more than I should.

Thanks for the comments I'll have another go before too long.

AlanL wrote:Yes I was using the foil boxes, they look like a take away box but with holes in it.

I tried not to open the lid too much but being new I wanted to make sure it wasn't the chicken burning so probably opened more than I should.

Thanks for the comments I'll have another go before too long.

Use homemade foil pouches they are easy to make and use (and cheaper) poke plenty of holes in the top and you should be alright and remember to soak your chips for a couple of hours to ensure they smoke not burn.

I did soak the chips for about 45mins the instructions said 30mins, so by the sounds not long enough. Next time I'll definitely do it longer, overnight if I think of it.

I keep my chips cut small soak them overnight and leave in water just shaking the excess off before adding to the charcoal, a tip I picked up from the Butt Rub Team at Rudgewick (thanks again ) and it hasn't caused me any problems. They will never get waterlogged to the extent they won't smoke.