Chicken & Maple wood?

[Dlabrie]

I am going to do my first cook on my UDS. I plan to cook a whole chicken at around 350°. I have a lot of 2 year old maple and have chunked some of it up. I plan to put a couple of pieces in with the charcoal. I will rub the chicken with some oil and sprinkle with some dry rub. It will sit vertically on a BCC stand with a drip pan underneath. How does this sound? Am I missing anything? Here is a pict of the maple chunks (you can see the size relative to the bricks)as well as the supply.

I also have some Oak in the wood pile. Can that be used for smoke?

 

[lantern]

Maple is my favorite wood for anything that flies. And yes you certainly can use oak to smoke with.

 

[davefan360]

Never used maple. Going to try. And the size you have looks just right.

 

[nucornhusker]

Maple is good and oak is one of my favorites.

That's a serious woodpile. :jealous:

 

[IamMadMan]

Nice supply of wood. Maple will be fine with your chicken.

 

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

I use maple sparingly in lump charcoal with good results. Maple is pretty mild and chicken takes on smoke readily.

 

[Dlabrie]

Thanks everyone. This is the maiden voyage of my first UDS, actually of smoking anything. I figure I'll work my way up to a brisket.

 

[Dlabrie]

The chicken is in the UDS. I rubbed her with oil, sprinkled some seasoning on her, inserted 1/2 can of beer and stood her on the grill. Potatoes in oil and salt added as well. I started the coal in my home made chimney with a piece of birch bark. Sure did smoke:laugh:. It has been in for 10 minutes and the temp is only up to 217. I hope it climbs. I was hoping to cook at 350. I put about 10lbs of lump charcoal with 3 pieces of maple. If it doesn't go up, I may have to take it apart and put in a larger quanty of maple. I just looked again and it is up to 253 so maybe it won't be a problem. More to come....

 

[Dlabrie]

One hour into it and it looks like 298 is going to be the top temp. I wonder if I drill another hole in the cover If I could get it hotter.

 

[Dlabrie]

I opend her up, pulled everything out and the coals were only burning in a small section. So, I stirred them up, added 4 chunks of maple and put everything back together and the temp shot up to 375. Hope it stays there.

 

[cliffcarter]

Sounds like you're on your way to a successful cook.
That nasty smoke from your chimney is the reason I won't cook with birch.

 

[Dlabrie]

The meat of the chicken was great! The skin was tasty but not crispy. Probably because I couldn't keep the temp high enough. Any tips from the experts? The maple gave it a nice light to medium flavor. Next up.... a rack of ribs:-D

 

[lantern]

Only advice I can give is the temp needs to be at least 325 the whole cook to get crispy skin.

Looks good though!

 

[tpope]

I can't tell for sure... might need more intake air

 

[Bigbrett]

Can't tell from pic. Make another and I will come over and taste it for you. Lol.

 

[el_matt]

Good looking bird. Sounds like you need more intake. I have to shut mine down, almost completely, to maintain 270°F.

Matt