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Rotisserie Tips

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    #16
    Well, the rotisserie is washed up and ready for two chickens I am going to spin for dinner tonight. The stainless spit rod on the OnlyFire rotisserie is very stout - no worry of that thing ever sagging with 2-3 birds on it! We will see how things go tonight... I did need to remove the grates to have room, and worry about room for a drip pan on the flavorizer bars. I think there is less vertical clearance on these Genesis II grills than on my 2002 Genesis model. I've not measured it, but eyeballing it it looks like less. And the newer style flavorizer bars are much taller.

    Comment


    • Willard
      Willard commented
      Editing a comment
      Adequate clearance was the issue I ran into with the E410 when I purchased the rotisserie around Thanksgiving. The design for the rotisserie seems like an afterthought by Weber. If you come up with an ingenious solution I’m all ears.

    • jfmorris
      jfmorris commented
      Editing a comment
      Willard, right now, I think I will be fine with a pork loin or roast. You are absolutely not going to spin a bird bigger than a 5 pound chicken on the Genesis II rotisserie, and it has to be trussed tightly. Last night, one of the birds had a dislocated hip or something that made it wider on one side, and it would hit the pan on every rotation. I ended up removing the drip pan, and the thicker parts of the bird ended up being in the area between flavorizer bars.

    • jfmorris
      jfmorris commented
      Editing a comment
      Willard I ended up liking the skin on the bird that had no drip pan better than the other one. The only drawback was more mess on the flavorizer bars and heat deflectors. It also finished sooner.

    #17
    I hope you have a good cook! I'll be surprised if you have less clearance than this.

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    • jfmorris
      jfmorris commented
      Editing a comment
      That looks good. We have some yellow squash and zucchini that needs to be cooked. I'll talk to the wife about putting it in a drip pan under the chicken. Do you leave the veggies in the entire time the chicken is cooking?

    • Attjack
      Attjack commented
      Editing a comment
      Not necessarily. I think you said you were going to have your two side burners on and the middle two off. So your setup is different. I gotta keep an eye on them since the veggies are so close to the flames. I also add the veggies in stages if the veggies are going to cook at different rates.

    • jfmorris
      jfmorris commented
      Editing a comment
      I think I have less clearance! The side of a 4.5 to 5 pound bird is brushing the foil drip pan on one of the chickens - I think its the one with the dislocated hip though...

    #18
    I'd say good luck, but ya got this.

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      #19
      Thanks Attjack and RonB - luck just might be needed, as dinner is running almost an hour behind schedule now! I work from a home office, figured it was a quick affair to wash up and rub down 2 fryers, stick them on the spit and get it spinning. WRONG!

      My first disaster was realizing I needed some sort of trussing. So, out comes the butcher twine, I wrap some string haphazardly around legs and wings, throw it on, come back 5 minutes later... to find both drip pans in a crumpled up heap at the front of the grill, with the bird legs and wings flopping all over the place, hitting the flavorizer bars.

      So... turn the flames off, cut all the string off, and rewrap things after looking at a couple of pictures on the internet. Doesn't quite work right as one bird came from the store with a detached thigh, so that leg quarter is flopping still. So, another wrap or two around. THEN, I realize nothing is hot. Out of gas! I grabbed the 20 pound tank from the Performer, which I use for the gas ignitor, and hook it up to the Genesis II, and we are spinning again with heat.

      I'm not happy with the way these 4.5 or so pound birds (2 pack of organic chickens that the wife bought) are brushing the pans sitting on the flavorizer bars, and next time around, I may pull those out and put the drip pans on top of the burner tubes. We'll see how the chicken turns out. I'm going to add some squash and onion to the pans when there are about 30 minutes left in the cook. And hope the chicken trussing didn't fail again in the meantime!

      I gotta find some better tips on how to truss a rotisserie chicken... in the meantime, we are spinning about an hour after I expected to be.

      Comment


        #20
        I need a Father's Day. So I can get grill/smoker gifts. Let's face it, you guys are tough to buy for. The stuff we (wives and family) think you need, like socks without holes in them, get accepted with a painful "grateful" grin.

        Gosh darn. I want a rotisserie like jfmorris got, except for my charcoal grill. That said, I am enjoying my piece of jewelry from my husband for Mother's Day.

        OK.

        Never mind.



        Kathryn

        Comment


        • Livermoron
          Livermoron commented
          Editing a comment
          So far, my wife's favorite Mother's day gift was the time I bought new tires for her car.

          You girls are hard to figure out...

        • fzxdoc
          fzxdoc commented
          Editing a comment
          Livermoron , that's funny. My Dad once bought a cement mixer for my Mom for Mother's Day. I guess it was the thought that counted.

          And Oops, jfmorris , you're right, but for me it's not less is more, it's more is more. Hahaha. 😂 Good thing I have an understanding husband.

          Kathryn

        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          I can only imagine in some alternative universe, where two passionate cooks go down to the bbq store eagerly giving birth to their next baby grill or smoker. They put us on a reality TV show called One More Smoker Plus 8.

          Then I woke up to my current nightmare. NO you can't have another cooker until I get my next Gucci purse. Uggg....

        #21
        Well, I learned some lessons on yesterday's disastrous cook. Disasters include:

        - Inferior trussing resulted in birds flopping around and shoving foil drip pans into a messed up heap in the front of the grill. Shut it all down, wrapped more string around the birds while on the grill, turned things back on.
        - THEN, ran out of gas.
        - THEN, checked 20-30 minutes after changing gas tanks to realize grill was only 250 degrees - the regulator was in shutdown mode. Turned everything off, slowly opened tank, opened valves, lit it, got back to expected temp range of 350-450 with just 2 burners.

        1. Weber screwed up the design of the Genesis II, and having a rotisserie is purely an afterthought. Seriously, there is no clearance for any bird larger than about 5 pounds. Thankfully, on the E-410 you can fit 2 of them and still not be over the lit burners. If I had known it would be this bad, I would have asked for the kettle rotisserie, and not the one for the Genesis II.

        2. Trussing is important. It was an afterthought and a mess yesterday. Thankfully, youtube and the web had the info, and I know what to do next time.

        3. Browning is important. I liked the skin much better on the bird that had no drip pan under it to act as a heat deflector. I think next time, I will run the first 15 minutes of the cook with the center burners on low, no drip pan, then add the drip pan once the birds have a little more color.

        All in all, the birds were edible, the squash I cooked for 20-25 minutes in a drip pan full of chicken drippings was really good, skin sucked, but I will do better next time.

        Comment


        • Willard
          Willard commented
          Editing a comment
          It all sounds familiar. Maybe the rotisserie can be rigged to use on the kettle. Now that I think about it the bones on the rib roast caused a problem on each rotation. I think it was the roast and not the chicken that destroyed the drip pan.

        • Attjack
          Attjack commented
          Editing a comment
          Maybe you could have the middle burners on a bit next time? Or at least finish off the skin with them at the end of the cook?

        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          Attjack - yes, I plan to put the little burners on some at least part of the cook, without the drip pan, just to crisp things up some.

        #22
        I posted the same thing on your SUWYC post, but I suggest using a simple technique for trussing by Jacques Pepin. It works great on the rotisserie, I've never had a failure since switching to it several years ago....





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        • Attjack
          Attjack commented
          Editing a comment
          Tightly trussed and with ample clearance.

        • AverageJoe
          AverageJoe commented
          Editing a comment
          Here it is. I was hoping I would find the post easy enough that talked about trussing.

        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          That Summit sure has a MUCH MUCH better thought out rotisserie setup than the new Genesis II series. The Genesis II just has it way way too low. I shouldn't have to remove the grates to barely clear the flavorizer bars with a chicken...

        #23
        I just used a rotisserie for the first time on Saturday night and had the same issue with trussing. Did not expect it to take as long as it did, as I kept screwing it up. Eventually found that Jacques Pepin video and after some fumbling around got something that I considered "good enough".

        I was using a Cajun Bandit with a battery operated by motor on my Weber Performer. Clearance definitely not an issue with that thing. The charcoal baskets are in the front and back, mostly hidden in the photo below. Foil pan with potatoes and onions below the birds to cook in the drippings. Results were good, but should have been better. I didnt have a chance to let the birds sit in the fridge on a wire rack before cooking and I slightly overcooked them. But my 21 month old son devoured what I gave him, so I consider it a victory for a first attempt.

        I think this picture was about 30 minutes into the cook.
        Click image for larger version

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        Comment


        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          Yeah, in hind sight, I would have gotten the one for my Performer, and not my Genesis II, if I had known the clearance was going to be such an issue. Regardless, I'll make it work and use the new toy!

        #24
        On Friday I showed up and my buddy's house for dinner and he had a chicken on the rotisserie. I noticed he had the lid propped open with a brick and whole lemons shoved inside the bird. His plan was to spin it until the chicken started falling off the bone, "just to be safe" he explained. It was then that I took over the operation. I noticed his motor was on upside down and once I corrected that the lid was able to fully close. Fortunately, I slipped my thermopen into my pocket before I headed over. I pulled the chicken at the appropriate time and carved it at the table. The lemons did nothing as they were whole but the chicken was moist and tender.

        Comment


        • Troutman
          Troutman commented
          Editing a comment
          I had to laugh seeing you wipe out the Thermapen say, "out of the way, I got this !!", proceed to save the day, spin that TP around like a 6 gun and re-holster it.....with a smile on your face of course

        • jfmorris
          jfmorris commented
          Editing a comment
          Attjack I have done exactly that same thing. I've had my thermapen in my pocket a couple of times when going to eat at someone else's house - most recently at my Dad's, when I knew he was making steak. He likes his stuff well done cardboard style. I whipped out the Thermapen and told him when to take mine off (just over 135). I bought him a Thermapop for Christmas this past year.

        • Attjack
          Attjack commented
          Editing a comment
          I've been known to give thermometers as gifts too. I think my buddy I mentioned above just earned himself one.

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