Turkey cooking


 
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Matthew Appler

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Hi all. I'm a relatively new WSM owner (merry christmas to me!)

I have a question. How do you get the smoker up to 300-350 for smoking a turkey? Do you merely leave the water pan empty?

I have read most all of the board and have been following this group for a while, but I haven't found a definitive answer to this question.

Thanks much,
-Matt
 
I use very little water in the pan when I'm trying to get the temps up.

Also, you need to open the bottom vents fully.

As far as charcoal goes, I dumped a full chimney of lit coals on top of a half chimney of unlit coals, then dump another half chimney of unlit coals on top. This worked fine for me on Christmas with a 17lb turkey. Took about 4.5-5hrs total.
 
That's pretty much the secret. Line the pan with foil to catch the drippings-- making gravy with them is an option. 2 Weber chimney fulls ought to get you thru most size birds on even the coldest day. If you use a probe thermo, be sure to wait until you're stable in your target range to insert it-- if you spike up over 400* you could nuke your probe. Of course, a 12-14 lb bird starting at 50* or so will do much to quickly bring your temps down into your 325-350 target.

At Christmas, 2 Weber chimney fulls brought me initially to 500* on a 45* day. My 10lb bird took 2 hours at 330-350, and left me with a chimney full of leftover coals.

Next time, I intend to put my turkey on while the temp is initially still above 450 and see if it doesn't help crisp the skin.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Matthew Appler:
[qb]How do you get the smoker up to 300-350 for smoking a turkey?[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>See Firing Up Your Weber Bullet for detailed instructions on 300-350*F cooking, specifically the section titled "Standard Method".

Regards,
Chris
 
For higher temp cooking, try using lump charcoal.
I still use the minion method with a small chimney of charcoal, and have no problem hitting temps of 350.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I can't wait to cook a turkey now.. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Chris, thanks for the reference into the board. I just missed that.

-Matt
 
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