1st Turkey on 22.5 WSM


 
K

Ken Lindner

New member
Hello All!!!

Doing a turkey on my 22.5 WSM for the first time this year (just got the WSM last December), any tips to getting the temp up to, and maintaining the 300-325 temp I'm looking for? Have done low and slow cooks with no problem, but this will be my first higher temp cook on it.

Thanks in advance for all the advice,

Ken
 
Full charcoal ring. Empty water pan. All vents open. Crack the lid if necessary. You should be able to hit 350 with no problem.
 
Don't forget to brine it. The JD, Maple Syrup one is great and an all time favorite here I think. I know once I found it I never looked back.
 
Ken Lindner said:
Thanks Todd. Full lit chimney of charcoal on top of full ring?
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I used the small chimney full of lit but the large chimney might get your temps up faster just because of having more lit charcoal.

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Scott S said:
Don't forget to brine it. The JD, Maple Syrup one is great and an all time favorite here I think. I know once I found it I never looked back.
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I second the brining.
 
Ken Lindner said:
Hello All!!!

Doing a turkey on my 22.5 WSM for the first time this year (just got the WSM last December), any tips to getting the temp up to, and maintaining the 300-325 temp I'm looking for? Have done low and slow cooks with no problem, but this will be my first higher temp cook on it.

Thanks in advance for all the advice,

Ken
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Ken Same boat here. Did a test cook the other night using a similar set up as mentioned above. It got to 350 but it took about an hour. To speed up the preheat, On thanksgiving i am going to do about the same but i am leaving the water pan out for the preheat phase to allow the cooker to come to temp quicker. I agree that at least a full chimney of lit (+/-100 briqs) is needed to start with unlit underneath to keep the cook going. I plan on the cook taking 3-4 hours from the time the meat goes on.
 
i've found that the easiest way to get temperatures up really high in the WSM is to not assemble the smoker after dumping in the burning coals. let the bottom part sit for 5 minutes before putting the other two sections on and it will burn nice and hot. did this the other day and was able to easily maintain 350-360 for the two or so hours in which i was smoking some turkey breasts.
 
Tim McG said:
i've found that the easiest way to get temperatures up really high in the WSM is to not assemble the smoker after dumping in the burning coals. let the bottom part sit for 5 minutes before putting the other two sections on and it will burn nice and hot. did this the other day and was able to easily maintain 350-360 for the two or so hours in which i was smoking some turkey breasts.
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Good Call Tim, I learned this the hard way during a test cook last week. high heat needs to breath a bit. Thursday i am going to start my warm up extra early to allow cooker to come to temp. think i will leave un assembled for a few minutes first and them leave the lid ajar for the early preheat to allow the mid and lid to heat up a bit faster.
 
Great advice everyone, thanks for everyone's input. Wish me luck!!!! Hoping the rain in our forecast holds off until the afternoon.
 
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