First smoke in Proq Excel 20

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Mullsey
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:05 am

First smoke in Proq Excel 20

Post by Mullsey »

Hi all,

Just about to embark on my first smoke and christen my new Proq.

I am starting off with a whole chicken and I have a few questions.

1. how much fuel I should use
2. what might be the best wood
3. how many chunks I should I use

Look forward to hearing your thoughts.
the dane
Posts: 975
Joined: Mon Sep 17, 2012 2:23 pm

Re: First smoke in Proq Excel 20

Post by the dane »

Never used a pro Q, but would be the same as a Wsm.
Fill the charcoal basket up and use the minion methed.
Lump charcoal is the way to go. And smoking woods 1st time maybe 1 or half a chunk! My first cook i used 3 chunks, my wife said it tastes like bushfire! I now use only apple or cherry chunks, and maybe a few hickory chips. Its fun
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Bronson
Posts: 71
Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 11:17 am

Re: First smoke in Proq Excel 20

Post by Bronson »

I have a Proq Frontier, you will find for low and slow cooking/smokjng Heat beads are the best to use in it but if your going to roast the chook then use either charcaol or heat beads. Also use the water pan with water in it if doing doing low and slow, if you have not tried smoked meat before then best to use only a small amount so one chunk of hickory and one of apple, if you only have hichory use two smaller pieces.
For pulled chicken it takes approx 4hrs and in my Frontier when fully loaded with heat beads I can get 10hrs at 225-250f. So do the minion method but as soon as it is cooked shut down all the vents and the fuel will go out and can be used for your next cook.
I will be smoking a chicken today and will put some photos up with how I set up my smoker.
Davo
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Re: First smoke in Proq Excel 20

Post by Davo »

Appologies to those who are quoting low n slow for chicken on the Pr-Q, however if you do low n slow on chicken, you will end up with rubbery skin, so you're best to cook at a higher temp than the usual low n slow.
I suggest around 275-320F or around 150C. This is still under roasting, it'll still absorb the smoke flavour and you'll end up with much firmer, crispier skin.
I always used heatbeads in a WSM so I'll use this as a medium and i suggest if you're learning live fire, to go with heatbeads first for consistency before you try with lump.
When I cook chicken, I use the smoker like a Drum smoker with no water-pan, the fire is far enough away to worry about flare-ups or burning your chicken, not only the juices from the chicken will help smoke itself, if you chuck on 1 chunk of apple wood or Hickory or use soaked wood chips wrapped in foil thrown directly on the coals, you will get a nice but underpowered smokiness.
You place in about 3/4 chimney of lit coals ( I use a full chimney's worth), don't worry about the minion method at this point (if you're not sure about the minion method, just let us know and you'll be guided) and place the lit coals in the charcoal basket, place on center stack then top food grate, place chicken on and close the lid with all vents open to give you maximum heat. If you find the heat is getting over 150C, then close the bottom vents to about 25% open so that'll restrict the airflow to the coals.
The temp fluctuation won't be instant but it'll happen.
That will be enough heat from the coals to cook the chook and then some...probably around the 2-2.5 hour mark.
That temp range between 275-320F is BBQ range, a bit more than the smoking range of temps but not hot enough for actual roasting with moister results, as I said, if you use the pan and go for smoking range only, you'll end up with rubbery skin that isn't worth eating but the flesh will be awesome. You'll need the chicken to come up to around 275C internal heat minimum to ensure the chicken is safe to consume. Stick a temp probe in the joint between the thigh and body of the chicken to ensure the temp. The thighs will take a bit longer to get the temp right but they won't dry out.

Anyway, that's just my 10 cents worth on the way I do chicken on the WSM.

Cheers

Davo
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Bronson
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Joined: Tue Sep 05, 2017 11:17 am

Re: First smoke in Proq Excel 20

Post by Bronson »

How I setup my fire pit in the pro q. They are 2 x clay pavers and used an angle grinder to trim for fit, I have found by using this method 1/ I do not use as much fuel 2/ The smoker temps is stable, 225-230f for hours.
That fire pit was filled around to just over half and this is what is left after 4.5hr smoke at 230f.
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As Dave has pointed out low and slow or pulled chicken (samething) is not like roast chook the skin does not get crispy and can taste very smokey. When I do low and slow it is for use on bread rolls and any left overs go onto pizzas or taco's. This is some of the left over chook from yesterdays cook.
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20170919_154832-768x768.jpg (111.05 KiB) Viewed 7693 times
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