Need help w/ chicken parts on Weber Kettle please

[jjdbike]

I know this sounds like a super basic question and it may be. I will say that I have struggled to do chicken that I am pleased with on the charcoal kettle.

My wife is having friends over for her birthday, a total of 7 - 9 people. She said she wants me to do "barbecue chicken on the grill". I will do parts, e.g. drums, though and breasts 1/4s. I have a 22" Weber charcoal kettle. I have the charcoal baskets to separate zones. I do not have a raised shelf - grill grate for half, out would like one. I do not have a Vortex, but am open to buying one.

I am looking for advice from start to finish. I want this to be good. I'll slather w/ binder (Mayo) and rub (Meat Church Texas Sugar).

I figure I'll coat w/ sauce at end and tack it up on the grill.

Other than that, I'm looking for advice. Should I wet brine? Do I need to do 2 zones? Should I buy a Vortex? Like I said, I want this to be good.

Thanks in advance!
JD

[realdocBBQ]

After doing my first brined chikkin this weekend - I am a fan. I will brine as often as possible from now on. Then allow to sit open in the fridge to dry out the skin (after rub), cook hot and fast to crisp it up.

I did my whole bird spatchcocked on the pellet grill at 425 and it was great, skin was nearly crisp - some parts great, some were - ok. But if I had had the time and brined and then dried it out in the fridge, maybe added some additional steps, I think it would have worked out great. A slather of oil (or mayo), or maybe cornstarch or some of the other tricks, something like that.

But I definitely like the brining idea.

[HawkerXP]

We don't do all that mayo, rub, sauce stuff on our chicken. We put our chicken parts in a plastic bag or bowl with a bottle of Italian Salad, dressing and let set for at least two hours before cooking. Cook indirect with vents full open until internal temps are 160* for white meat and 175* for dark meat. I will spin the grate to put meat directly over coals to give the bottoms a little sear for a couple of minutes. Good luck!

[Mosca]

Came here to say this. I do 50/50 Italian dressing and bbq sauce, and I use Dinosaur original recipe if I have it. Because it's chicken, not beef, you can also just keep flipping it. One way is easier, the other way makes you look like you know what you're doing, the results are the same.

[klflowers]

This. I do chicken all kinds of ways but always come back to this

[RonB]

My thoughts:
Cook hot and fast for crisp skin. Wings can take 450° - maybe higher. They should take ~ 40 to 45 minutes. Thicker pieces need to be a bit lower temp - around 400°, and may take up to an hour. Wings will work at the lower temp, but check and pull when done. Glaze at the end for up to 10 min, but check at 5 min.
Any sauce or glaze with sugar in it will burn if left at high temp too long. I'm not sure about mayo.
I pull breasts at 158° because the temp continues to rise after pulling. Dark meat should go higher, (as mentioned above).
I cook a lot of wings using the Vortex and have found that 42 min with a full load of hot coals is just right, so I glaze with whatever around the 30 - 35 min mark.
Smoked wings dipped in Buffalo sauce make a great appetizer - just sayin'.
If you have time, try a cook before her birthday to get the timing right for your setup, and good luck.

[Bogy]

realdocBBQ A few months ago I bought a brand new 22" Weber performer, Vortex and SNS for less than $600. You can get a 22" Weber for a lot less, but my wife liked the look of the table, and insisted I buy a new one. Who was I to argue. I did not get a rotisserie, because I already have a PBC. And if you are going to use it for chikkin wings they aren't gonna work the greatest on a rotisserie anyway. But the Vortex on the kettle works great for chicken wings.

[realdocBBQ]

No, the rotisserie would be for full chickens and roasts and such. I don't use most of those social media platforms, so finding local stuff used is a lot tougher in that regard. I wouldn't want the 22" anyways, I'd likely want the 26" no matter what.

[jfmorris]

realdocBBQ don't get hung up on the rotisserie. While its nice to have, its also not that much different than doing the chicken indirect with the Vortex. I would get a Vortex and SNS before I would get a rotisserie.

There are very few options for a rotisserie on a 26" kettle. Just fewer accessories all around. But don't let that stop you if you want the space.

[jjdbike]

Thanks everyone here for the comments.

Remember, I'm doing these for 7 - 9 people, on my 22" Weber Charcoal kettle.

I'm not good enough w/ the kettle to set an exact temp.

Should I buy a Vortex for grilling these bone in, skin on chicken parts?

Best regards?
JD

[Mosca]

It will definitely work. The Vortex got its reputation as a "chicken machine" honestly. Have fun!

[klflowers]

I second the vortex vote

[bbqLuv]

Don't forget pictures and write up. Time and temp apply. Thanks in advance.

[Rod]

This was a couple years ago when I did this, but they turned out great. I did leg quarters on the 22 with a vortex. I could fit 8 of them on there. It was a tight fit and they turned out amazing. Grate temps were about 380-400. I did use a fan to help maintain 400ish. Took about 45 minutes to cook. Since then, I normally do just thighs with all vents wide open and no fan.

[jjdbike]

Thanks!

[radiodome21]

I’ve never used a vortex and don’t own one. Not sure if I’ll get one either. I have the SNS kettle and SNS insert. I’ve done hot and fast and low and slow. Hot and fast I went up to 375 ish and low and slow I was at 250 for an hour or so and then turned the heat up by opening vents and the putting some pieces on the direct side too.

If I wasn’t confident in my temp regulation then I’d probably buy a vortex and go with that. It’s cheaper than the SNS insert and fast and hot will be, quicker. Plus it sounds like your going to have a lot of chicken to grill so I’d lean towards the fast and hot too.

[Reds Fan 5]

We smoke chicken on 26” Weber kettle with SnS, KBB, and either pecan or apple. Memphis dust for the rub. Dry brine on baking rack in refrigerator. Smoke indirect at 325-350 degrees. Don’t sauce on cooker, have sauce as table condiment.

I ask our butcher to split a whole chicken and I smoke halves. Easier to move around than a spatchcocked bird or individual pieces. Generally good results. We aren’t skin eaters so much so I don’t sweat crispy skin so much.

A good alternative is Hey Grill, Hey’s smoked boneless, skinless chicken breast. That calls for a wet brine. We’ve cooked it once with great results, especially for a first attempt.

I am one of the few here who is not enamored of grilling/smoking wings. Too much effort when a quick call to the bar down the street takes care of it.

Good luck with your chicken cook!

[Dadof3Illinois]

My 2 cents.....if you already have the baskets you can use them. Just line them up back to back in the middle of the grill, layer some foil around it like in Rod post above to force the air up through the charcoal and you will get some darn high temps, which is what you need IMO for chicken.
I have a vortex and love it, but i've also done the same thing just using the baskets. If I'm doing chicken with skin on, I like to dry brine over night and get the skin as dry as possible. Get the kettle running as hot as I can get it, cracking the lid can get me over 650 degrees, give the chicken a light spray with some pam or other spray oils and coat with my favorite rub. Cook to your desired doneness (white or dark meat) and when the skin is crispy....usually anywhere between 30-45 mins. Now if you want some BBQ chicken...the last 10 mins or so give them a couple light coatings of sauce and let it get tacky before adding more.
But honestly, everyone has their own personal way of cooking things...part of the fun is practicing and having trial runs until you figure out what everyone in the house likes.
Good luck and have fun....oh and make sure you get the wife something nice too....LOL

[TripleB]

Buy a Vortex. It is a roasting machine. One of the best purchases I ever made. In fact will be using my Vortexs (using two kettles) to roast chicken thighs this weekend for 10 people. Never been so easy.

[Davek8282]

check out this recipe from Sheila Ann. Would work well for wings, drums and thighs

https://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/recipes-technique-food-cooking/poultry-chicken-turkey-and-duck-recipes/1256834-thai-style-chicken-wings

[FireMan]

I know nothing of the vortex, cept it appears ya cook pieces & parts & not a whole chicken. With an SnS you can cook parts & whole, 2 & mebbee 3 depending. Dry brine 24hrs or so, no sauce, save it for later on the side. I make my own rub, a take off of Meatheads Simon & Garfunkel sorta & add a decent amount of New Mexico Hatch chili powder. I pat it with water before applying the rub. Load the SnS up & let her rip. Last one had the cripsiest skin I ever did have.
Oh, spatchcock the bird, then you don’t have to worry bout which piece comes to which temp. It all comes out just fine.

[Old Glory]

Dry brine with a rub. Set up grill for indirect/Two zone cooking. Let it get to 350-375. Cook indirect until done. Crisp skin over direct heat careful not to burn it. Sauce and quickly quickly quickly quickly heat sauced pieces over direct heat. Most times we just have BBQ sauce on the side because it burns so easily. A good rub is enough for me. Though the Alabama White Sauce is truly amazing stuff.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recip...-sauce-recipe/

[jfmorris]

jjdbike I really do recommend the Vortex for doing truly good BBQ chicken with indirect heat. It's worth the $35 or whatever it costs. I run all vents WIDE OPEN (top and bottom) on my 22" Weber kettle and get truly great results.

I just tried the same thing this week with my SNS on my SNS Kamado, and feel that while it worked, the Vortex on the kettle gives me higher heat results. If you have a SNS, you can run wide open on that for the chicken, and crisp skin over the fire at the very end, but be careful - you can burn chicken skin super quick.

The other way I like to do chicken, and do FULL GRILL 1 ZONE DIRECT GRILLING is with a set of Grillgrates for the Weber 22" kettle. Those block flareups from fat dripping on the coals, and diffuse heat, and in the case of chicken, I get a nice amount of char with the rail side, and I brush on BBQ sauce and such towards the end of the cook. If I didn't have those, I would use the Vortex, but you lose the center of the cooking grate. I run wide open on chicken when using the Grillgrates as well.

[Old Glory]

Interesting. Will have to try the Grill Grates method. My go to is the Vortex or other indirect method to "roast" the chicken on the grill using it as an oven. Works great in a Pellet grill just crank to 375 and the whole cooking surface is indirect. There is some conductive heat from the expanded metal cooking surface but you can take advantage of this and flip the pieces to crisp the skin.