British BBQ Society Forums

Hi guys,

Well I used the Excel 20 for the first time on Saturday to do a 1.5kg chicken. I had a bit of trouble getting the temperature up to 300F where I wanted to cook the chicken. (BTW what temperature should I be trying to cook Chicken at if I want to cook it for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours?

I used 2 kgs of Booker restaurant grade charcoal in the basket, with 1kg fully lit poured over the top.
Water pan was foiled but no water or sand,
I left it for 20 mins but it did not rise about 200F.
So I used my BBQ hairdryer and hit the coals with some air for 5 minutes. That brought the temperature to around 325F and then I stopped.

The bottom vents were fully open and the top too. The temperature then fell back to 250F after 30 mins and stayed there so I left it.

My question is do you think I need to use more charcoal next time? I used the full two stackers as I wanted to see what it was like even though I only cooked one small bird.

Thoughts?

The Pro Q's are designed to cook at 250f, the water pan is an integral part of the kit so by not putting anything in it you are kind of defeating the point of it.

Most people will put the wood straight on the coals, not sure what this silver box is you are refereeing to. With all meat its not about the amount of time you cook it, just makes sure its a safe temp before taking it off, its done when its done. Having said that 2 1/2 hours should be plenty for a chicken.

Also did you check the thermometer? they have a tendency to be off, out of the box. there is a thread on here which talks about calibration, just type it in the search at the top of the page.

Hi ,

Thanks for your response. I foiled the water pan and it was above the coals (sorry if I left that out)
I didn't want to put any water in as I heard that will make higher temperatures harder to achieve?
Should I add a few litres of boiling water next time?

The stainless steel box looks like a domino box with a removable lid and several holes in the lid to let the smoke out, its great.

Yes the thermometer is exactly right. I am very impressed with all my thermometers. I have a one from the Excel, one on ebay for the my oil drum, an instant electric, and a general meat thermometer and they all read exactly 100 or 212 in a heavy rolling boil pan, no adjustment required, I must be very lucky.

If the smoker is too big/not designed to be at 300F then that's fine I just wondered if I ever need maintain 300F would I be able to. I guess I would be I would need more charcoal to be alight at one time. Next time I would do lots more meat to make the use of the charcoal more worth it.

I cook my chicken on the Pro Q excel 20 and use the clay saucer method, the temp I go for is around 225-250 and takes about 4-5 hours to get to a internal temp of 170f. I you have'nt got one, I recomend getting a ETI thermapen http://thermometer.co.uk/
When cooking this type of BBQ, it might take longer but that just means thier is more time to have a beer while it's cooking.

On your next cook, why not try Beer can chicken http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xS6R2IzDI10 you will have some fantastic results

Eddie

Hi guys,

Thanks for your messages. Yes I am not worried about the temperature just interested as it was my first cook.
I agree beer can chicken does sound very appealing. I will give it a go next time.

Eddie - How much charcoal do you use roughly when doing your 4-5 hour chicken in the Excel? Just looking to see how much I might need as I have stocked up on 24kg of charcoal from Booker (incase the price goes up from £9 per bag) and Im wondering how many long cooks I can get out of it. I will have to try it and see I guess but Id like to know what your numbers are too

Thanks all


Alex

I tend to use the minion methodto start the Q http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcTxPMdMXN8 here is a short film clip to show how it is done. Getting hold of a can like that is quite easy, just go into a cafe or a supermarket cafe and just ask for a empty one.
I tend to get about three cooks out of a bag, if you get any fist size charcoal, put them aside and they are great to add after 3 hours to keep the temp up. just 3-4 pices should do each hour after 3 hours.

If you are finding it hard to start the chimley starter, get one of these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GAS-STOVE-POR ... 4157b87a92 Start the little cooker, place your chimley on top and wait for two minutes and your chimley will be alight at the bottom. simply take it off the cooker and put aside. Turn off the cooker and just wait for the charcoal at the top to heat up.

Regards

Eddie

I'm a WSM user rather than Pro XL however, never really had a chicken of that sort of weight take more than a couple of hours in a WSM running @ around 250f.

Would also agree that the smoker box is probably a waste of time - these tend to get used more on grills when operating at higher temperatures the purpose is to protect the wood from burning up too quickly - you shouldn't have that problem on a smoker operating at a low temp. I tend to bury a few chunks of wood in the unlit coals then add a few chunks on top of the lit.

If you use boiling water in the pan that helps the cooker come up to temperature quicker.

Beer can chicken is certainly worth trying (though a bit overrated imho), brining chicken I think is better.

OK that's good info, out of interest are there any foods out there that people normally cook at 300 or higher? I have heard a whole turkey might need a higher temperature to stop it from taking a ridiculously long time.