Righty, so I’ve been looking at some recipes for Beer Can Chicken and really keen to give it a try.
But… our BBQ / Grill is an open one, without a lid.
Most of the recipes I’ve seen online require the chicken to be covered by the grill lid to maintain the temperature.
So my question is has anyone tried this over an open fire - either coals or wood?
I guess in principle it should work the same, but just take a while longer (3-4 hrs?)
Well, its a worthy goal – beer can chicken is really good. Having said that, I’m not sure it’s going to work on your grill. My guess is that you’ll end up with a chicken that’s burned/dried out on one side, and raw on the other. Maybe you could somehow make a tin-foil “cape” to cover the chicken, and retain heat?
We’ve done it over a campfire before. What you need to do is make a tent out of aluminium foil so the chicken can bake.
Temperatures at the grate are quite a bit hotter than temperatures a few inches up in an open fire. If I had to guess, I’d see there’d be a 200 degree temperature difference between the top and bottom of your chicken, so you do need to do something to even out that range. Foil should help out, but I would guess an inverted terracotta planter would work even better (although I have no idea how much heat these could stand). Be careful with how many coals you put in, as an open fire runs hotter and faster than a covered one.
Beer Can Chicken is meant to be cooked over indirect heat. No cover = no good.
You can try to approximate the use of a cover with a “tinfoil cape”, but be careful to move the coals away from underneath the chicken. Direct cooking a whole chicken, even in a cape, will result in overcooked outsides and raw insides.
You could opt for using a rotisserie over a low flame to do the cooking evenly, but you’d need some kind of power to keep turning it. And you couldn’t do the beer can thing then.
Another trick if you’re using charcoal is to push all the coals to the side so none are directly under the chicken, and place a small foil pan underneath the bird, surrounded by the coals, to catch the juices.
Unglazed terracotta can take the heat, and will work much better than tinfoil. My BIL makes smoked pork in a terracotta oven. (One pot upright with a hotplate in the bottom. Pan of soaked wood chips on hotplate. Replacement grill grate in lip of pot holds the meat. Inverted pot over top. Thermometer in drain hole. Cooks for 16+ hours.)
Thanks all - I like the idea of the terracotta pot as a mini-oven, might give that a whirl. 
Your BIL is Alton Brown? Awesome!
Also, you could do it in your oven. You don’t get smoky meat that way, but you still get a tender, juicy brown bird.
On a side not, someone told me to use a can of Coke or Pepsi and they loved the results.
I have not tried this, has anybody here used pop instead of beer?
MtM
Coke works best. This is anecdotal at best, but the chicken I ate was delicious, and the cook said Coke worked best. YMMV.
I cant believe no one has mentioned taking a cheap stockpot and inverting it over the chicken - making a mini oven/cover.
Give it a whirl.
If you are cooking uncovered, may I suggest that you spatchcock the bird.
If you then soak it in a brine for anywhere from 1-4 hours, it will be divine.
Basic brine*
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
A bunch of cracked pepper
1 gallon of water
1 large ziplock bag (1-2 gallons)
Heat about 1.5 pints of water and add salt and sugar to it. continue to heat until all the salt and sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat, and add the balance of the water. Use cold water for this, you can even add ice cubes. The object here is to bring the temp of the brine down, you aren’t trying to cook the chicken in the brine, you want the salt and sugar dissolved and the mixture as cool as possible.
Spatchcock the bird and put in zip lock bag. Add brine and seal. Place in fridge for one to four hours.
Drain, discard leftover brine, and season (no salt please) and cook 30 minutes on one side and 30 minutes on the other.
*You can sub in many other liquids for the water. Try using apple or orange juice for some the water. Use vegetable stock if you wish. Use beer if you wish. I haven’t had a bad brine yet.
Follow this recipe and people will consider you a grilling god.
I gave this recipe to Nic 2004 and he invited my wife and I to stay at his house for a week. 
Such is the power of the brine.
Then there are those who swear by Dr. Pepper. :dubious:
My preferred beverage is Celis White. Pour about half into an empty beer can, drink the rest while prepping. A bit lemony, a bit spicy, a bit herby. Numnumnum*. 
Mine are done in 45 minutes in a slightly modified Weber.
You gotta have indirect heat. You might get by by banking the coals off to one side, putting your liquid in a drip pan under the chicken, tenting with foil, and turning and rotating a couple of times. Improvise, adapt and overcome. Words to live by.
*Anybody got a good way to reproduce Homer Simpson’s grlalghglhgh?
I have to agree with this. I’ve never really been that impressed with the whole beer can chicken thing. Spatchcocking the bird is the best way, in my experience, of cooking it evenly and relatively quickly. Brining is always good insurance for moisture. I don’t generally brine whole chickens, but I will brine turkeys, chicken breast, and pork loin for less stressful cooking. With brines, it takes a bit more effort to screw up the meat. Follow Rick’s method and you will not go wrong.
Instead of using a beer can, I use this. I guess I worry a bit (probably needlessly) about the painted aluminum beer can. But this is stainless, so all is good. I’ve used beer, juice, and soft drinks and I don’t think that I could tell the difference. In the end, very little of the liquid seemed to have boiled away.
I rub the chicken with oil, then give it a dry rub (either Montreal Chicken or homemade). I’ve never had one turn out bad.
Does anyone know who invented this? I mean, who was the first person to think “Guess I’ll cook a chicken after shoving a can of beer up its ass?”
Had to be in the South. Our nation owes them thanks.
Here’s a web site where a guy did a taste test of beer can chicken using beer vs water in the can, and he couldn’t tell the difference between them. So it may just be the steam helps the meat stay moist and the type of liquid doesn’t matter much. Heresy, I know.
I have that one, too! It’s a more stable setup than the beer can w/ pie pan, and easier to pull out of the chicken.
I’ve used Zima, beer, and 7-up as steaming liquids, with lemons, limes and rosemary. (All different combos, of course!)