So as promised, I ran a little experiment (strictly for science!) with roasting Beer Can Chicken in the Big Green Egg. The goal was to assess the competing claims that liquid in the can “does nothing” OR steams the bird from inside to some effect.
Informing the experiment–mostly for the “does nothing” faction–was this work by Thermoworks: https://blog.thermoworks.com/chicken/beer-can-chicken/ There, the conclusion was that the beer never exceeded 188F, and that there was more liquid in the can afterward than before. I found this conclusion suspect for several reasons, including that the cook was done on low (325F) indirect heat, and no provision was made to prevent drippings from entering the can. Nevermind, too that 188F water does give off some water vapor, as anyone who’s simmered at that level can attest.
Anyway, what I did was cut off the top of a 12-oz beer can, and put in it 150ml of water. The can went inside the Napoleon “infusion” gizzie, standing upright on the bottom pan, and inside the gizzie’s suppository end. I did it this way to make sure (a) the can wasn’t in direct contact with the bird; and (b) no drippings could get into the can.
The BGE was brought to 375F and kept there for the entire cook. I set the wire grid at the felt line for direct heat. A long Type K penetration probe was inserted through the mounted bird’s neck, through the cowling and into the water in the can. Then the whole assembly went on the grill.
I was shocked, frankly, by how fast the water heated. It reached 190F within 22 minutes, and then gradually rose to 200F over the next half hour. Then the temperature spiked to 206F. I pulled the bird at this point to assess the water loss , even though I knew the bird’s meat was not fully done (I was concerned all the water had boiled away).
When I weighed the water remaining in the can, there was 116 grams, meaning that in the short (1:04:00) cook, 34 grams had cooked away.
The bird went back on for another 45 minutes until done. Who knows how much more of the water would have steamed out if I’d just left it be. However, considering that liquid was already at 206F, the additional loss would have been considerable.
Our subjective take was that it was indeed more moist than conventionally-roasted chickens I’ve done.
I consider this question conditionally solved. This was done basically with the beer can standing on a thin 16" SS drip pan over direct, somewhat distant heat.
Next experiment will test the “does nothing” debate over whether BCC actually can impart aromatic flavor to the bird. I think I’ll use rosemary sprigs in the liquid, since most rubs contain garlic and onion.
