I have one of those wire stands that I use for vertical roasting. It works well. I've also used cans with some success, but I usually dump most of the beer and also split the can into shreds so it can allow air flow.
6 hours for chicken seems way too long. works better when you run hot (325 - 350) indirect heat for a vertical (beercan) roast taking care not to burn the skin. At that heat, you'll be done in an 1 Hr - 1.5 Hrs. tops.
If you spatchcock it, same thing as above, but then give the skin side a sear over the direct heat when you finish cooking it to get a nice crispy skin.
Another couple things that I picked up along the way: Dry rub under the skin when you can and use a mayo slather on the skin before you apply your rub. Don't know the science, but do know it helps.
Some things I do for my Thanksgiving turkey that kind of plays into all this (should work for chicken, right?):
- Make a compound butter before hand (usually butter with some herbs like sage, savory and thyme mixed in, then formed, cooled and left to meld flavors while the next step happens). I usually make 2 or 3 sticks' worth;
- Brine the bird (for minimum 2 days, but usually 3 to 4);
- Pull it from the brine and rinse it off well;
- Soften up the compound butter, and then lather up the bird under the skin (leave big chunks of butter under the skin on the breast meat and thighs/drums). Reserve about 1/2 to 1/3 of the butter for the next step;
- Melt the remaining butter, and brush that all over the skin;
- Stuff the bird's cavity with goodies (for the TG turkey I use apples, cinnamon, onions, rosemary, sage and thyme);
- Roast her at high temp (500?) on the bottom of the oven for the first half hour or so, then lower the temp (350?) and move it up to the center till done.
Comes out with perfect golden brown, just crispy skin. The meat's incredibly moist and the flavor is out of this world. One year, I did one on the smoker in addition to the oven, but for the smoker I didn't stuff the cavity nor did I put butter on the outside of the skin. Instead, I layered bacon strips over the top of the bird. That was a hit.
Seeing this thread is making me want to give this kind of treatment a go with chicken.
