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**Red Man** · February 6, 2020, 11:29 PM

I do 40 minutes in a 22â€ kettle. 1/4 turn of the lid every 10 minutes, flip halfway through. One full Weber chimney of kbb, which doesn’t completely fill the vortex. You can’t really overcook wings, so cook them until you like the color.

**Andrrr** · February 7, 2020, 02:53 PM

Thanks all. Vortex is on its way here for delivery tomorrow. Now I gotta get some wings

**RichieB** · February 7, 2020, 03:44 PM

Congrats. Please post pictures of your 1st cook with it.

**gregtr1** · February 7, 2020, 03:58 PM

I have a 26' kettle with an EasySpin grate from SnS Grills. I put the wood on the grate above the Vortex. I have not had any problems with the grate. I usually follow Malcom Reed's technique and recipe in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpguAa21Rc8&t=326s

**Andrrr** · February 7, 2020, 05:12 PM

A stick of butter in that sauce so it's gotta be good. Any preference on putting them back on the grill after saucing to set it or do you toss and get to eating? Or sauce them while still on the grill? I'll probably try all 3 methods at some point

**Andrrr** · February 13, 2020, 01:15 PM

I'm a little behind here but thought I'd fill you in on my first experience.

I did a run on Sunday even though it was in the 20's, windy and snowing all day. I did a package of chicken wings with a full chimney of Weber briquettes on my 22" kettle and a little pecan. They were on the small side and I did not brine but I did put some Lawrys on before putting them on the grill. I ran them for 30 mins rotating the lid every 10 mins and they were looking great. At that point I could hear them sizzling even with the lid on and they looked awesome. This was the magic of the Vortex that everyone was talking about! I probed them with the thermapen and they were already mid 180's so I pulled them off, even though many of you said between 40-60 mins was your normal cook time. The pic is before I tossed them in some sauce. Turns out I've never had skin as rubbery and tough as this. So much so that I couldn't even bite through it so I literally ended up taking the skin off of every wing and eating everything without skin. It was SO disappointing looking at my plate of bones and full, beautiful looking skins especially since so many people rave about how they turn out! Given all that, I know it's not the vortex that's the issue, just that something wasn't right. Now my wife was the one that bought them and the only package they had left was one of those last minute clearance packages that were going to expire within a day or two so that could be the reason. It could be the chicken wasn't good quality (I'm really not a fan of Meijer) or I should have ignored the probe temp and kept them on another 10-15 mins. As much as I'd love to blame the chicken I'm leaning toward operator. Thoughts?

Then for dinner I fired it up again and made chicken drumsticks. What can I say, I was excited. Same setup and procedure but I cooked them for I think an hour and turned the lid every 15 mins. They were probing in the high 180's-low 190's so I pulled them. I didn't even try to check them at 45 mins because I was a little gun shy after the wings and wanted to make SURE the skin was nice and crispy. Honestly I was kind of amazed that they cooked that fast actually. This time the skin was much better but the meat was a little over done. Not bad, but not great. Next time I'll check them sooner.

I'm not at all defeated or disappointed in the product, just looking forward to executing properly and making some killer wings! Thanks in advance for any help.

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