Howdy y'all,
I'm totally new to smoking, brining, etc. all this stuff. Just did my first post-seasoning smoke in my new analog Model 2. Full after action report follows (I know we have vets on this site...):
"Party packs" were BOGO at the store so...
4 chicken breasts w/ribs + skin
6 drumsticks
6 thighs
Made a basic salt+sugar+honey+black pepper brine (a little over one gallon in a 2.5gallon container. Tight fit but worked.
Also used dry rub - half got Miller's Dry Rub (anyone been to Belton, TX?) and half got my own homemade "Texas Masala" rub.
Put the breasts up top and the thighs and drumsticks on lower racks to let the fat render at higher temps. Used a thermoworks smoke and a dot for internal temp, temp on one of the breasts and one of the thighs.
Used two remaining blocks of the seasoning wood (about 2.5oz total), wrapped in foil and set 'er to 250.
Some white smoke but not more than a cigar would produce. The wood was pure ash at the end but I didn't see any of the ill-effects of the dreaded burp.
Pulled at 165 on the breast, at which point the drumstick was at 175 or so. Checked the temps on the other bird pieces after pulling and some were in the 150's, which was probably from cooling off, but I panicked and put everything back in for about 20 more min, fearing the worst and driest but preferring it to salmonella.
Everything came out super moist and smoky! Even the skin was decent, although rubbery. The chicken needed more salt, though.
Where I think I went wrong is that I only brined for about 90min and then on top of that I was very conservative with the rub because I thought 90min would have made the chicken too salty. I think a few hours and/or some more dry rub would have been OK. I also dry rubbed them right before putting them in the smoker, so maybe sitting in the rub in the fridge for a while would have also added some salt.
Next up I'll probably see if Costco doesn't have some prime rib or a small brisket!
