Brining will add moisture and flavor to your chicken creations. Simply brine your chicken(s) in cold tap water for 1 hour prior to the "Basic Smoked Chicken" method described previously. A basic brine can be created by mixing 2.5 quarts of water with salt- either 1.5 cups of kosher salt or .75 cups of table salt. Try to incorporate as much salt into the cold water as possible by stirring vigorously. You may also incorporate sugar or other ingredients into your brine for additional flavor. Let the chicken rest in the brine for 1 hour. Remove the chicken from the brine, rinse, pat dry and follow the "Basic Smoked Chicken" method described previously.

This chicken will be more moist and flavorful than a chicken that is not brined. It also will allows you protection if you cook your chicken for too long- which of course will never happen if you have an electronic probe thermometer inserted into the bird at the 3 hour mark (I need to write this on the blackboard 50 times).

Also make sure that the brine stays cold during the brining period by using cold tap water and placing your brining contraption in your refrigerator or cold ice chest. If neither of those is an option dump ice cubes into the brine along with your bird and let it sit on the counter. The whole point is to keep the bird chilled during brining. If the brining environment warms it can increase the chances of nasty things happening to your bird, the same way leaving it on the counter all afternoon would.