Going for my first cook, wings and thighs. Any help would be great.

[NDKoze]

It is Excalibur BBQ Smokehouse Seasoning:
http://www.waltonsinc.com/p-3518-smokehouse-bbq-no-msg-163-lb.aspx
http://www.waltonsinc.com/p-3470-smokehouse-bbq-no-msg.aspx

This is my go to seasoning for all things pork and poultry. I buy this and most of my other sausage seasoning and supplies from www.waltonsinc.com. I actually buy this stuff by the 5lb bag. But, they sell it in the smaller amounts via the links that I have listed above.

I don't think I have gotten anyone else here to try it yet, so I am not sure if I am alone in loving this stuff or not. But everyone who has tasted my ribs, pulled pork, and poultry has given it rave reviews.

[Pork Belly]

i think turkey thighs are the best cut of domestic poultry. I have little or no use for white meat, i only cook it because my wife likes it.

[NDKoze]

i think turkey thighs are the best cut of domestic poultry. I have little or no use for white meat, i only cook it because my wife likes it.

Big +1 with you there Brian. I am a dark meat fan all the way. This is why I love wild turkey or even goose when I can get them (It has been some time since I have had either).

Where many buy frozen boneless chicken breasts, I buy frozen boneless chicken thighs. They have these at Costco and I would much rather have the thighs than the breasts.

[DivotMaker]

I do all birds at 250 there is nothing gained by low and slow on poultry.

+1!  Poultry is definitely the "3 H's;" High, Hot and a helluva lot!

[Killjoy]

Sorry it took me so long to Repost.
I cooked the chicken at 250 checked the after 2.5 hrs. The therm prob was to big and wasn't reading properly. They need to make different size probes for smaller proteins. They were about 145 so I finished them off in the oven for another 20 min. Then broiled them for about 5 to crisp the skin. The were cooked perfectly nice and juicy. Brine is diffidently the way to go , but the smoke flavor wasn't real prominent. So not sure if I should use more wood, I used 5oz of hickory.  Any thoughts? I'm sure with more aging of the smoker that will help with flavor. Also naybe if I smoked them about another 30-45 min. But after opening the door, it was so cold out, I figured that the SI3 cooled down to much.

[NDKoze]

I am really surprised that you didn't have enough smoke. Usually 3 ounces is the max for poultry smokes.

Technically, the tip of the probe is where the temperature is taken from. So whether the probe is 6" or 2" only the tip measures the temp.

For dark meat like thighs, I like to get to a final temp of 170-175. So taking to 165 in the smoker and then finishing off under the broiler would be my recommendation for the next smoke.

I think some extra time in the smoker will help with giving a more prominent smoke flavor.

[paidin]

Nice!  I have only been able to smoke one thing on my smoker.  I do plan on smoking some chicken.  I was planning on doing exactly what you did, which is smoking until almost done and finishing in the oven to crisp the skin.

I do, however, plan on bypassing the thermostat and using the PID to cook chicken at 325 degrees.  best of ALL worlds!  yeah baby!

If you want to live on the edge and dont want to spend money on the PID, you can run the bypass with a switch and let your maverick tell you when to switch the thermostat on or off to maintain 325ish temps to smoke chicken with crispy skin.  A simple alarm setting on the maverick for low and high temps will accomplish that task.

[DivotMaker]

I do, however, plan on bypassing the thermostat and using the PID to cook chicken at 325 degrees.  best of ALL worlds!  yeah baby!

Your smoker won't hit 325 before the chicken is done...been there, done that!  Takes quite awhile to get the temp that high, and a 2-3 hour cook won't get it, in my experience.  Personally, I stopped chasing the dream of getting crispy poultry skin in an electric smoker, and my life is so much more stress-free! LoL!

Seriously, the best reason for a bypassed smoker is not to get crispy chicken skin - it's more about control.  The bypass cuts out the "middle man" stock controller, which I believe throttles and limits the ability of the Auber to precisely control the element.  Passing through an analog controller, with its limits, is an unnecessary step, imo.

[Killjoy]

I had the tip in the middle of the biggest thigh. But after about an hour or so I was getting a temp reading much higher then it should have been. So I figured it was false. When I checked them at the 2.5 hrs mark. The temp reading was like 180. When I checked them with a hand temp prob. The temp of the chicken was about 145-150.

Yeah I thought I would have much more smoke flavor then I did. I mean you could smell the smokiness, but there was hardly any flavor of smoke.
I ordered some hickory, apple, and cherry from fruitawood yesterday. So I'm going to mess around with those flavor's and try adding a little bit more wood on the baby back ribs I'm smoking this weekend.

I covered the top of the smoke box and lined the bottom with foil , but the clean up on smoke box was more then I expected. It kinda touches the bottom of the smoker. Had a bunch of baked on crustiness on the bottom and sides. That had to be scrubbed off. Is this normal?  I figured I would make a small foil ball to place under it. So it would keep it from touching the bottom.

By the way I love this site. Looks like there's a lot of just plain good people here. The camaraderie is awesome! 

[DivotMaker]

Thanks for the comments on the forum, Paul!  Glad to have you with us!

Some of the bigger smokers smoke boxes are kind of heavy.  You could probably try bending the rails upward a bit, or your little foil ball might work.  I've had the burnt black drippings on the bottom of mine a few times, but it's usually only on long smokes with lots of drippings - not chicken.  The smoke box doesn't have to be spotless; just take a putty knife to know the black stuff off and move on...not a big deal.

[Barrel99]

I get that also on my smoke box bottom. Just take a metal paint scraper and it will come off pretty quickly.