Weber smoking newbie needs help

[MikeRocksTheRed]

Also note that poultry really soaks up the smoke flavoring.  When doing a chicken two fist size wood chunks or 3-4 smaller chunks will do the trick.  If you are looking to try a 225-250 degree smoke, a pork loin (loin, not tenderloin) is a good meat for learning on.  It will only take 1.5-3 hours depending on how big it is.  It's a fairly inexpensive meat.  You won't get a great bark that you would look for when doing longer smokes, but like I said its somewhat forgiving, cheap, and isn't a super long cook.

[Domj]

Is it necessary to wrap the wood  chips in aluminum foil.. ?

[Darko]

No. I just sprinkle them on the coals.

[LightningBoldtz]

Is it necessary to wrap the wood  chips in aluminum foil.. ?

Contrary to Darko, I like using a foil pack, i think it controls the amount of smoke and makes it last longer.

[Domj]

In all seriousness, I just happened to browse the burger throw down recipes yesterday . It just made me drive to the store by some patties, deconstructed them and reconstructed with the my favorite mixture, and throw it on the hot charcoal....JUICY !
This is what the site made me do.... Gosh I just love this site

[Darko]

That's the wonderful thing about this place. You'll get lots of different ideas, none are wrong, just different. All are going to the same end. Good food made on Weber Kettles.

[EricD]

What I like to do:  The night before I'll prep the bird with Lots of butter, cover the whole bird even shove it under the skin.  Then coarse salt and a rub (depends on the mood- usually Simon and Garfunkel, but lately Weber's Kickin Chicken been getting the call), sometimes a cut lemon and sage leaves in the cavity.
Day of cook: Snake method with KBB- 3-2 layer.  Whiskey barrel chips sprinkled on coals.  run at 275-300. 
While grill gets to temp, I chop an onion, celery stalk, and carrot and throw it a foil cooking pan with the giblets.   The pan goes on the charcoal grate directly under the bird.  (sometimes I put some stock in there too.)  I put the bird directly on the grate, breast side up
When bird gets to temp, pull it.  While resting I take the foil pan out, strain the chunks, and boil for 5 minutes...add some corn starch to desired thickness for some awesome gravy.

[Domj]

Interesting ...........like darko says "lots of great ideas... None are wrong "

[ramsfan]

Always remember that you don't want to "smoke" poultry in the same sense that you would smoke ribs, brisket, pork butt, etc. (ie. low and slow) You want to ROAST poultry at about 350-375 IMO with light smoke added. As other have mentioned, you do not want to hit poultry with a lot of smoke. Very little smoke for flavoring is all you need. Poultry of any kind really soaks up smoke in a hurry and you can ruin it pretty quick with too much smoke. Poultry is much different than beef or pork in this sense.

Also make sure your lid vent is over your food and opposite of your fire. If you're not getting high temperature you might have the lid vent positioned over the hot charcoal and all your heat is going straight up and out the top vent without getting to the food over on the other side? Also, invest in a Maverick remote thermometer if you don't already have one. That way you can see precisely what the temperature is inside the cooker at all times. Good luck.