Beer can chicken

ANyone ever do this? Is it worth it? I've been threatening to try it for a while now. Any advice?

I've done it. It's as good as they say. The chicken comes out extremely moist and flavorful.

Yup...you get a nice moist bird. Just keep in mind that the beer isn't going to radically flavor the meat and you will still want to season (we usually jam garlic cloves and onion under the skin w/ herbs & spices).

Yep, I'd heard about the beer not adding flavor, and I'd probably find something for that. Just wondered if it was a gimmick or not. I have no canned beer so I'll have to stop at store beforehand...

Anyone ever try a real beer (not BMC)? Might make the cooking smell good at least?

You don't have to spend $$ on BMC beer. Fill an empty soda can halfway with a good homebrew. That's one thing to remember, step one is to drink about half the beer (you don't want to use a full can, I'm guessing it'll either boil over (you want the steam, not the liquid) or just because you'll be likely to spill it when you put it on or take it off the grill.

Homercidal said:

Anyone ever try a real beer (not BMC)? Might make the cooking smell good at least?

Click to expand...

We use homebrew all the time..just like the_bird mentioned, I use an empty seltzer can.

I absolutely love beer can chicken. I usually use 1/2 can of beer (I don't really think what kind matters) and add the following to the beer: garlic cloves, worcestershire sauce and cajun seasoning. I also dry rub the chicken and use an onion to seal off the top of the chicken and lock in all of the moisture created. It's the moistest chicken you will ever taste.

Here is my take: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=51095

I'm a recent convert to the beer can chicken, and have done four of them in the past few weeks! Not only does it come out amazingly good, the real beauty is that you can get it going and pretty much walk away. Grilling cut up chicken is a pain, the fat constantly drips and flares up, and you pretty much have to stay within arms length of it for an hour. But with BCC, the bird isn't over the flames/coals, so there is no chance of flareup. After half an hour I just spin the bird around and close the lid for another 30 minutes. Then I loosely wrap some foil around it (just to keep the skin and extremities from burning) and leave it until my thermometer indicates 165°.

I dry rub the bird inside and out, and the can gets a few oz of homebrew, a couple smashed garlic cloves and whatever dry rub was left over. Use whatever you like in the rub...I like ancho and chipotle chile powders, onion powder, salt/pepper, along with light brown sugar or DME for some spicy/sweet action. Check my gallery for pics.

A 50/50 solution of beer and your favorite BBQ sauce works pretty well. You can stick half a lemon where the chicken's head used to be to keep the steam/juices inside.