After having used both bullet water smokers and an offset for a number of years, I decided to try the Cookshack model 009. Thermostat control and no fire maintenance sounded really appealing! I was also very pleased with the heavy construction & quality of the Cookshack product.
Anyway, the christening took place last night. I brined two 3lb whole chickens, halved them and placed on the top rack of the Smokette. Set temp to 225 and had a cable thermometer in place to monitor internal temp of chix. I was not using an extension cord.
The Cookshack cooking guide suggested this might take approx 3-4 hours which sounded feasible to me based on my experiences with my other smokers.
At five hours the internal temperature of the chicken was only at 150 (and it had been stalled and plateaued there for over an hour.) It got too late and I had to work early the next morning so I pulled them and finished in the kitchen oven (abomination I know) until they reached 180.
In the end, I was really happy with the appearance of the birds, and the smoke flavor was just right! However, I am a little curious about the duration of the BBQ time.
My guess is that I would have been looking at 6 plus hours had I been able to ride it out. And that would be fine as I am used to 10 hour butt cooks, but I am just wondering if that is what others in the forum are experiencing for cooking times with chicken halves.
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