British BBQ Society Forums

Hi,
I tried an indirect heat roast chicken last night.
Temp was ok (190°c) for about 45 mins but then started to drop so I opened up and added another few briquettes.
But of course, they take a long time to reach temp so for the next hour or so temp was between 120-140. Eventually getting up to 150.
Is it best to light the briquttes first in the chimney before adding for a heat top up or breaking them down a bit so they fire up quicker? Was using the BigK brand.
Any other advice on this topic appreciated.
Thanks M

What type of smoker are you cooking them in?

It's a Weber one touch kettle BBQ

One of your problems is the briquettes that you are using. If you use the superstore briquettes they are designed for quick lighting and short burn duration. I only use good quality briquettes - like Heat Beads or Weber BBQ briquettes. These take a little longer to get started but will give a good steady heat for many hours. I can get a good 6 hours from a single load of Heat Beads in the Weber.

190 C seems a little high for the chicken unless you were simply trying for a hot roast. I would crank the temperature down to about 125-130 C and then cook it longer until it reaches an IT of 85-90 C. It will probably take 2-3 hours.

When cooking you should also keep the chicken carcass open and empty- except for maybe a clove of garlic, an onion or maybe a quartered lemon. Were you using a beer-can cooker or cooking it spatchcock?

Anyway - my recommendation would be to get yourself some good quality briquettes and get that cooking temperature lower.

Thanks for the advice Wade. That's great.
So the Weber briquettes really burn longer?
Good to know. I think I was probably a bit skeptical about paying more for "name" fuel.
But in any case, I'm still interested in how people add fuel mid cook.
Do most add fresh, or get them started in the chimney first?

Whenever I've had to do that, I will light it first. Particularly with briquettes as I don't like the taste of the smoke they produce before they are properly lit.

S.

Sam, surely that depends on the briquettes. I use weber briquettes in the minion method and don't have a problem.

Yes very true derekmiller. I've never tried Weber or heat beads etc. only the cheap stuff.

I tried the minion method once with cheap briquettes and my chicken tasted the same as the briquette smell before properly lit.

I tend to use Big K restaurant lump in my UDS now.

S.

slemps wrote:Whenever I've had to do that, I will light it first. Particularly with briquettes as I don't like the taste of the smoke they produce before they are properly lit.

S.

Yes as mentioned above it is down to the quality of the briquette. Buy quality and you will be fine. Forget most supermarket brands unless they say they are designed for kettle BBQs - and even then only try one bag to see what they are like.

Heat Beads and Weber Premium briquettes have never been a problem for me when using them Minion method.

I thought I would would try and summarise the thread and as I'm a lumpwood charcoal user and observationally this might eliminate cost vs quality from the discussion.

So I think it works out like this

1) charcoal from softwoods will burn quicker and hotter
Less dense so more air
2) cheaper charcoal give an initial metallic flavour to food
Appear to have more volatile aromas so assume manufacturing/combustion has not driven off these components
(Aldehydes are present are generally associated with the odd flavours, organic compounds in wood).

So I tend to ensure that cheaper charcoal is started separately and I try to burn off the volatile components so the off flavours don't affect the meat. Just need to use more charcoal.

If I'm using pure rainforest charcoal then it just burns long and slow, 10+ hours and if I shut the vents it stops burning. I can then relight the next day.

The Weber brickets do the same, so I assume are from a dense wood and manufactured to drive off the volatile components. This just makes it more expensive to make.

You get what you pay for with charcoal.