Can't get WSM hot enough for chicken

[revkab]

A coupla summers ago, I built a large, direct heat, wood-fired grill to do this sort of thing. I often build a wood-fire on one side, do a quick brown (flipping often), then move to the indirect side, let the cook chamber temp to rise to 450* - 500*, and finish. Superb results, well-rendered skin.

I've tried several times to do chicken on my WSM 22.5, and I can't get it hot enough to crisp the skin the way I like it. I've tried thighs on both the upper and lower grate with no water pan. I've tried dumping only fully lit charcoal into the pan, and I've tried minion.

Yesterday I did three whole birds, about 6 lbs each. Put them on the upper rack with an empty water pan. I was afraid to do them without the pan because of the amount of drippings from three birds. I filled the ring about 3/4 with a combination of leftover and new KBB, then dumped about half a chimney of lit KBB on top, opened all vents wide open, and waited patiently for the cooker to come up to temp. About 300* F was all I could get during the pre-heat. When I put the meat on, the temp recovered slowly. I reached a peak temp of 284* F about 1 1/2 hrs into the cook, then it declined slowly. It was about 270 when the birds finished at about the 2 3/4 hr mark. All of the vents were fully open the whole time.

The skin was better than I had achieved before, but still not really crispy the way I like it. I love the low and slow pork and beef that I cook on the WSM, but I've pretty much reached the conclusion that it is just not the right rig for chicken.

Anyone have better luck getting theirs hot enough for chicken?

 

[Steve S]

The water pan does a very good job at limiting your airflow. For most things I cook on my 22.5 I run all my vents wide open much/most of the time. Even then, I typically only get 250-275 with the pan in (no water, I never use water...I just cover with foil).

Yesterday I cooked two butts at 350-400...plenty of grease dripping, but I had a plan. To reach those temps I could not use the water pan, but I still needed to catch as much of the drippings as possible & still be able to get enough airflow to reach my desired temps. To do that I put hotel pans on the bottom rack directly under the butts. A full pan is too large to fit, but I grabbed a 1/2 pan and a 1/4 pan and they fit fine. I had my butts centered on the top rack, and just put the two pans directly under then. This left large spaces to the sides of the pans for plenty of airflow, and as much direct heat as I could get.

I would try something like the above scenario. Even if you don't catch all of the drippings, you will catch most of it. A little drip onto the coals is ok. But I can guarantee you that your temps will easily go higher than where you are now.

I've used a heat gun (blow dryer would work) to get more colas going and hot before letting it settle in when the UDS was being stubborn or I was in a hurry. It might be worth a shot to get the WSM up to temp before you put the chicken on.

 

[Cook]

As stated a few times...the exhaust is a big issue with getting temps up. If you're serious about the WSM, you may want to fit a small stack around the exhaust vent. I've seen this in some pictures before. That may help increase the draw. A second exhaust would likely help further.

 

[longwayfromhome]

Scratching my head on this one. Basically you've done a minion burn similar to what I'm doing; main difference is using lump instead of briquettes. If I run mine with the air vents the way you have them set, I'll be lucky to get 260 F.

When I start I have all 3 inlets open, the center section in without pan or grates for 5 mins to get draft going, then put in the pan, whichever racks I am going to use, plus the dome lid, then bring back up to speed (5 mins or so) then add meat, get back up to temp then adjust inlets to cook temp. It takes an hour or so to settle in properly and get rock steady, as the fire spreads out.

 

[ChrisBarb]

This is so not my experience with my WSM. I have hit 375 and maintained it, as well as low as 225 and maintained it both with little to no effort. Maybe using a DigiQ makes difference? It really shouldn't though.

 

[ChrisBarb]

dp..

 

[ChrisBarb]

How much unlit charcoal did you put in the ring before you dumped in the full chimney of lit coals? Lump or briquettes?

Thanks.

Chimney was 3/4 full of lit briquettes.

 

[Monkey Uncle]

Chimney was 3/4 full of lit briquettes.

How much unlit charcoal did you put in the ring?

 

[ChrisBarb]

How much unlit charcoal did you put in the ring?

It was packed pretty full. No water pan, either. Just a small foil pan on the second rack for drippings. Outside air temp was about 90, if that matters.