Grilling chicken?

OK so I got 2 chicken halves, but have been sitting in a suace with some rub on them. I would like to grill them in my webber charcoal, from what I gather I want to use indirect heat with charcoal on the sides meat in the middle and the vents just about closed. About how long do you think it will take to cook? 30-40 minutes? Any tips?

Why are you eating a whole chicken at 9 am in the morning?

I am a propane type of guy but it sounds like you have the right idea. I cook with the chicken on the top rack with the lid closed/low heat. 30-40 minutes might be a little low as it takes about that long for me to cook wings this way. Than again all grills are different so YMMV.

Generally I like to do a dry rub and only slather with sauce for the last 15 minutes or so. Sauces high in sugar will burn too easily on the grill if left on for too long.

just read another post someplace that put it from 50-70 minutes.. I m good with steaks and burgers but everyone wants chicken

Use a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the bird, not touching the bone for true accuracy of done-ness. Bone-in should take at least 30-40 minutes for the smaller pieces, but they may need to be turned/rotated/shifted about on the grill space for perfection. Some marinades will cause more flare ups than others, so watch for that.

Why am I not eating a whole chicken at 9am?!

Heat grill to around 650 (sorry for you charcoal guys- taste the meat, not the heat!)
5 minutes each side
Lower to ~450, slather with BBQ sauce
10 minutes, flip, slather, 10 minutes
Let cool for 5 minutes

Eat, become known as the king of BBQ.

Use tongs, do NOT pierce the bird untill you are reasonably sure its done and verify w/ thermometer.

Next time, keep the chicken whole and shove a brewski up its rear to sit on and cook with.

so I would measure temp at breast? thanks for the tips..

The thickest part of each cut, but not touching the bone. When in doubt, remove it to a very low heat section of the grill and give it a few more minutes. Let the pieces rest under a foil tent before service or slicing, the temp will continue to rise and juices redistribute in the meat.

Another tip (for next time) is to brine the bird first, and I absolutely recommend beer can chicken if you haven't tried that. You can add your marinade to the beer too!
< wipes drool away >

Come on guys, you cook the chicken until the bone sticks out of the drumstick, might take between 1hr-90min. If you go to pick it up and the chicken wants to fall apart, it is done. Another indication is when the chicken gets close to being done the skin will be kind of sticky and comes away from the meat. What's a meat thermometer?

Check out a chicken a la diablo recipe also.

look for juices running out as a good indicator that its getting to be cooked on the inside. Yes, in general the breast is a good spot to check for temperature.

around an hour+ sounds about right for 2 chicken halves, are all the pieces separated or is it literally 2 halves bone-in? The more its cut apart, the faster it will cook.

If you want to keep your grill clean-ish, make a tray out of aluminum foil to catch drippings in the middle, since your planning on cooking indirectly, flare ups should not be much of an issue.

like bluej suggested, beer can chicken is pretty epic. that takes about an hour and a half to 2 hours depending on what temp you get your grill up to.

Dont listen to Osterkraut, he's giving bad advice (using propane!)

I love beer can but can't get it to fit under my webber - I would have to use my propane grill which hasnt seen light in 4 years.. Its 2 chicken halves bone in not separated pieces. thanks.

bluej wrote: Use tongs, do NOT pierce the bird untill you are reasonably sure its done and verify w/ thermometer. Next time, keep the chicken whole and shove a brewski up its rear to sit on and cook with.

Never done beer can chicken, but have heard good things about it. Another version I've heard about is to drink half the can of beer, add spices and onion juice to the remaining can, and shove that inside the bird...

JoeyM wrote: Never done beer can chicken, but have heard good things about it. Another version I've heard about is to drink half the can of beer, add spices and onion juice to the remaining can, and shove *that* inside the bird...

Yes, it is best to drink some of the beer, so that it doesn't boil over while cooking, and add spices or marinade to the can. We use an old cake pan, one that is shallow and round, wrap that in foil to make clean up easy, set beer can inside 'beer can chicken apparatus', and place prepared bird on top. I like to pat the skin dry, brush with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and rosemary, cover with foil and grill. Why am I not eating some chicken right now?! DAMNIT!

Here is the beer can chicken apparatus:

It makes moving the whole shebang a lot safer and easier when that mess is hot. Here is a bird we did with BBQ sauce:

now that looks good - id eat that at 9am

Chef here. Check your temp at the thigh, as it will take the longest to come up to temp because of the bone:meat ratio. You're looking for 165° in the thigh. Poke it in a couple different places at a couple different angles to make sure you're not hitting a bone.

Do you guys make your own BBQ sauce? Or have a preferred brand to buy?

Make it from scratch, or, if we are running short on time we will start with a basic store bought BBQ base and spice it up. Fully homemade is always better though. The above pic was made with Kraft Honey BBQ with added spices.

In the pic you can also see the toothpicks we used to keep the wings up close to the bird to keep them from flopping out over the edge of the pan and getting singed before the rest of the bird was done.

Care to divulge the make-up of an ECM homemade BBQ sauce?

Gotta try this beer can chicken thing.

JoeyM wrote:

bluej wrote: Use tongs, do NOT pierce the bird untill you are reasonably sure its done and verify w/ thermometer. Next time, keep the chicken whole and shove a brewski up its rear to sit on and cook with.

Never done beer can chicken, but have heard good things about it. Another version I've heard about is to drink half the can of beer, add spices and onion juice to the remaining can, and shove *that* inside the bird...

The version i like to do is:

Intend to make beer can chicken, buy some cans of beer. Start drinking beer while prepping bird.

Realize you've drank all the beer, make normal chicken.

Be too drunk to taste this chicken.

Feels good, man.

I second everything EastCostMojo said in her post above about beer can chicken prep. Thats pretty much the way I do it. I baste it a few times with the olive oil while on the grill, it really helps get the skin crispy as it cooks. Often times Ill just mix whatever seasonings along with the olive oil.

I tuck the wings into the birds "armpits" to keep them from just hanging there.

FWIW, a beer can chicken barely fits on my weber, in fact most times it will touch the lid slightly. Beer can chicken dont care. Experiment with what you use in the can too. Sometimes Ill just use a can, and add a better beer to it, or Ive even used soda like A&W and Dr Pepper. Havent tried Orange soda yet but want to.

For something to try for flavor, this stuff is pretty awesome. Sometimes grocery stores have the kit with the injector, I've seen it at Gander Mountain stores also. http://www.cajuninjector.com/

I kind of want to try and do a beer can turkey with a Fosters beer can. Just because. But I would need to get some sort of spacer ring to raise the lid of the weber. Easiest way to get one of those is buy the rotisserie kit. At that point you have a rotisserie so why bother with the beer can?

I will first say, if you brine your bird first it will be so incredibly juicy you will swear you have just tasted a bit of heaven, no matter what your sauce (or rub) is. Brining is easy, it just requires planning as you need to do it a few hours before cooking prep.

Brine: in a non-reactive container (not metal) that is large enough to hold the bird, mix 1 gallon cold water and 1 cup kosher salt. Stir until salt is completely dissolved and add bird. Cover and refrigerate for about 3 hours. Remove bird, rinse under cold water, pat skin dry and set aside.

BBQ Sauce: (This is a family secret so don't tell anyone )

2/3 C Butter
2/3 C Chicken Broth
2 TBS Lemon Juice
1/3 C Cider Vinegar
4 TBS Tabasco
2 tsp Worcestershire
1 TBS Sugar
1 tsp Salt
Cayenne and Crushed Red Pepper Flake to taste - that means a whole lot
Flour to thicken

Put all the liquid ingredients and the butter in a large shallow pan and slowly bring to medium heat. Add spices and stir. Add flour to thicken. I like the Wondra stuff in a cylinder for gravy makin'. It has a coarser grind and doesn't tend to clump at all.
Here's a pic:

I've done the beer can chicken without the expensive stainless chicken holder; just put a can up his butt and go low and long. Also done it that way on a smoker.

Grilling? Low temp and give it a few tablespoons of a quality beer every 15 minutes, keeps the meat moist.

Dan

I don't know where you're shopping for beer can chicken apparatus Dan, but I believe we paid about $2 for ours.
Totally worth it.

Thanks for the armpit tucking tip Failboat, I will give that a try next time.

I Go more by feel than time on the grill (squeeze with tongs.) Same goes for steaks. In the oven, it's 350-375 for 45 minutes, then either kick the broiler on or toss in a skillet to get a nice browning on the skin. Never done me wrong, though I'd rather have my chicken a little on the "over done" side than anywhere berkeleying near the "underdone" side.

I once left a Hooters (not a big fan of their wings, but I wasn't driving) after I showed them the bloody insides of a drum twice, and they still berkeleyed it up the third time and said "I'm sorry sir, there's nothing we can do about that." Nothing you can do? How bout cook the berkeleying chicken instead of trying to kill me!!!

Oh, and check out Paula Dean's "Chicken w/Aunt Peggy's Grilling Sauce." It has made us berkeleying heroes on more than one occassion. Sauce consists of Peanut Butter, Worcestershire, Lemon, applied liberally toward the end, and is berkeleying amazing.

Also, I do my wings on the grill, and once a year or so, will do them with a sauce made with garlic, aged sherry vinegar (this E36 M3 is expensive, but is also no berkeleying joke,) lime, and cilantro. They are yard-on good.