Thanks for the replies - I have done plenty of turkeys and chickens on the weber before and had good results adding the woodchips in halfway through the cooking.
This time I put the woodchips in right at the beginning and wonder if that much smoke, before the skin has had a chance to cook, just turned it into a kipper.
The meat itself was nice and moist (fnarr) so the temperature (about 170 deg C) must have been OK.
I'll go back to adding the woodchips halfway through and see if normal service is resumed.
And, just for Beagle - I'll try to force a bit less wood into the hot bits and hope the bird doesn't get too brown on the outside
