because of a recent thread I decided I would open a thread with experiments on how I have tried to use the baskets and get heat I wanted
first experiment, Beer Can Chicken
target temp 375 f to 400 f for 90 minutes indirect heat
set up, 2 baskets, each basket has 15 Kingsford Blue Bag briquettes in half of them, a temporary damn was set up to hold the coals in place, And the inside vents of each basket are blocked. other set up is the area the charcoal grill not covered by the baskets are covered with foil.
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Anyway I started 15 coals a chimney and when they were ashed over I took 13 of them and put them in one basket and took the damn out
I then put the other two coals in the other basket and places a handful of woos chips on them, I then removed the dam and smkoe started almost immediately, so I added the chicken
next I closed the lid and it went up to 400, I used the top vent to control it and keep it no higher than 400
about every 15 minutes I would take a very quick look inside to check the baskets
the coals in basket # 1 burnt all the way across and was still going strong by 90 minutes
The coal in basket # 2 were not all the way across at 90 minutes but were very well lit and moving right along
the temp was easy to hold, only noticing a slight drop near 90 minutes
when I added a few chips I was putting them in both baskets
the vent was set up so it was between the baskets, not over either one
At 90 minutes the chicken hit 180 and was removed, it had a great color, was very tender and juicy and delicious.
review. with one basket going I do not think I could have kept the temp even during the entire cook, Setting up #2 basket allowed me to have the extra power of this basket to kick in later and was a great place for smoke chips.
I am thinking of doing a lower temp cook using a variation of this method next weekend,
I think this is the base experiment. that will work to be used to try other amts of coals etc and times