Chicken disaster avoided and bonehead moment

[snadamo]

Thank goodness for plan B!

had a handful of chicken thighs and breasts to cook up for the 4th. Decided to use my backwoods smoker paired up with my fireboard drive setup. I removed the "heat deflector" plate to achieve 300+ temps, crispy skin and all. Well, it got to 300 so i threw the chicken on...I could not for the life of me get the temp above 250 after that. I moved the coals in a tighter space, added more left the charcoal chamber door cracked and everything. After an hour or so, I said phark it, lit a chimney full of coals and finished them off on the weber kettle. I will say they did turn out amazing! So, while I was visibly frustrated, dinner was delicious so it helped.

Later that evening I was shutting down the smoker and packing up the fireboard and fan. I decided to shut all the vents and that handy dandy fan door built-in on the fan........that I forgot to open :doh::doh::doh::doh::doh::doh::doh::doh::doh:. So basically it was churning away and not getting any oxygen to the coals.....I felt like a pharkin moron. Total rookie mistake; that I will most likely never make again. In all fairness, this was the 2nd time I've used this setup, but I was so concerned about food being ready on time I didn't really think about it.

anyway thanks for reading my babble...hopefully this helps someone else.

hope everyone had a great 4th of july extended weekend!

 

[ssv3]

At least they turned out great. It happens!

 

[Fooball]

Good that you can laugh at yourself and good that the food was great.

I pulled a bonehead move myself yesterday. Got interested in a tv show (cash cab) and didn't glance at my temp remote for a while.

When I did it had dropped to 190 in my offset. Opened the door, coal bed was gone due to the small pieces dropping thru the grate and my two splits were barely smoking, no flame.

Had to light a new chimney of charcoal and drop it in on top of the splits and add two more logs. PAY ATTENTION, DUMMY!!

 

[bowhnter]

That's more than once I have heard of the Weber to the rescue, myself previously as well.
Glad it all worked out.

 

[Learning to BBQ]

I've made more than my fair share of bonehead moves too Adam. Welcome to the club! :mrgreen:

Glad you got the kettle to bail you out and had a good meal!

 

[long haired hippie]

Kettles are good- Got my 1st one in about 1980

 

[Stingerhook]

Poop happens, glad it worked out Adam.

 

[LordRiffenstein]

Improvise, adapt and overcome.

Golden rule in BBQ and a sign of a true pitmaster, IMHO.

 

[Big George's BBQ]

The results were good and thats what matters most As far as bone head we all do it and will somehow do it again :grin:

 

[ronbrad62]

^^^^Amen^^^^

 

[snadamo]

Unfortunately I tend to learn things the hard way. However, it certainly leaves an impression on you. unfortunately no pics but I can assure we ate well

 

[Dweverett]

Been there and nice recovery! That’s really the sign of experience — being able to recover when something goes wrong (self inflicted or otherwise)

I had a bit of the opposite problem on the 4th. Was cooking Oakridge BBQ’s jerk chicken recipe — which is 50/50 oil and seasoning. Had the 26” kettle pretty loaded up and all that oil turned it into an inferno. I knew it was coming and was ready to choke it off etc., but I under estimated how much of a fire I was going create. Fortunately, other than a few that got a bit more char than needed, it came out great.

 

[bowhnter]

I’ve actually been thinking of getting a 26” kettle lately. I regret getting rid of my performer.

 

[Mike in Roseville]

I’ve actually been thinking of getting a 26” kettle lately. I regret getting rid of my performer.

The 26'er will make you forget about that Performer. I've had every size Weber (including a Ranch Kettle) and if I could only keep one, it would be my 26.75." The 26'er just does it day in, day out. Get a SNSXL to go with it and you'll love it.