I Need Help With My Smoker

[Schlep]

Sorry if I have posted this in the wrong section, if I have please move it.

I just bought a Brickmann electric smoker and did a chicken on it using Bradleys briquettes. The chicken came out with a strong distasteful smoke flavour.

I used apple wood but have no idea how much wood you should use at the start and if you should keep the smoke going for the entire cooking time.

I used about 12 of the briquettes to cook the chicken, four to start and the rest one or 2 at a time.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[KC_Bobby]

I've never used the Bradley pucks, but I'm guessing that's a whole hell of a lot of them - 4 hat tricks to be exact. How large was the chicken and how long was it on the smoker?

 

[Schlep]

I've never used the Bradley pucks, but I'm guessing that's a whole hell of a lot of them - 4 hat tricks to be exact. How large was the chicken and how long was it on the smoker?

4 to 5 lbs about 5 hours

 

[PimpSmoke]

Don't know electric but that seems like a long time for a yard bird...especially if it was brined.



Rmemebre it doesn'nt need to be crispy, just to 140 internal I think, Joe correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh yeah, poultry takes the smoke like a sponge...be conservative until you get it down.

 

[Schlep]

Don't know electric but that seems like a long time for a yard bird...especially if it was brined.



Rmemebre it doesn'nt need to be crispy, just to 140 internal I think, Joe correct me if I'm wrong.

Oh yeah, poultry takes the smoke like a sponge...be conservative until you get it down.

The charts said 180 internal and the internal was juicy and great just the strong smoke taste.

How much wood do I use and do I use it through the entire time of cooking? As I think that was my problem.

 

[PimpSmoke]

Liike I said before...poultry is a smoke sponge...ya gotta be conservative.



Bad burn will give you the bitter taste too. Make sure you're burning blue, or you get soot, which is bitter on the meat.

 

[PimpSmoke]

I use wood through the cook. I start with charcoal and thats it. You have to make sure you're not choking the chicken....ha....with smoke.


A little goes a long way. Good draft ensures a good burn.

 

[nthole]

When you say smoke the whole time, you may need do a little research on smoke.

If you are seeing nice thick white smoke, white with a tinge maybe of gray, with a nice choochoo train look - you're doing things horribly wrong. This is exactly what I did with my first electric smoker with the same results you had.

You're looking for a little something the people here refer to as sweet blue. That is light, thin, whispy, almost non-existent smoke. I don't know much about those puck things, but I would think maybe one or two, broken into halves and chucked in over time would be enough. As for chips, soak maybe two cups of them in water for at least a half hour. Take a generous handful and toss them onto a piece of foil. Roll that up like an ear of corn and poke a couple finger size holes in it. Toss this into the smoker.

It's gonna seem like it takes forever to start smoking. And when it does it isn't going to seem like much. That's good. That's right.

My little electric really had trouble getting up to and holding a reasonable temp, so I couldn't ever do a pork butt, ribs or brisket on it. But it did well with chicken and terrific with fish. Get some lumps on that ECEB and then get yourself a WSM to start having some real fun.

 

[tkuehn5410]

I had an Electric Brinkman and used it til recently. Your problem lies in way too much smoke, and its the gray smoke, not the sweet blue that smells so delicious. I never used pellets but had the best results with about 3 fist-sized chunks at the beginning of the smoke, and add another one every 2 hours or so if they are burning. I would recommend to cut down the number of pellets.

Another possibility is installing a small ball valve to allow more oxygen into the bottom of the chamber to increase the wood consumption and burn and making sure the smoke can escape from the top of the smoker at a fair rate.

 

[Sawdustguy]

Yup, I think we have agreement, you oversmoked it. Now your punishment is to go to Cattle Call and properly introduce yourself.:wink: