Ahhh, success!

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Had 20 people over for Thanksgiving, first time we have hosted, first time I have cooked turkey (grill or oven), and only 4th cook on my WSM. 13.28 lb honey brined for 16 hrs, 325-350 for 3 hrs, soaked oak chips. Turkey looked great, minor burn on one wing tip, came unpegged, smelled awesome, moist throughout! Thanks to this website and all the advice, I made the correct purchase (WSM), and used the right tecniques to pull it off! Thanks again to Chris and everyone who has posted!

Don Gibson
 
Congratulation /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif

Here's my first smoke turkey, we did enjoy it, but not as successful as yours.

Turkey Preparation Pre-smoking

fresh turkey(14lbs.)
wash and remove giblets
refrigerate overnight

Smoker Preparation

10 lbs Kingsford slow burning briquette
4 good size dry apple wood chunk
Minion method
full ring briquettes
15 pcs briquettes for starter at the center
Waterpan with about 2 cups of water

Turkey preparation

unbrine
rub with salt, pepper, and thyme

Cooking

Turkey on top grate
1st half,
smoker at 250-275*F lid temperature
smoke for 7 hrs.
all vents open
2nd half,
add 20 pcs briquettes
add 1 dry apple wood chunk
smoke for 2.5 hrs at 275-290*F lid temp.
all vents open

Weather condition
a little sun, mostly overcast
no wind, slight breeze
temperature around 75-80

Result

Turkey came out dark brown
well done, a little bit dry but tasty
skin not crispy but not so bad either
nice smell and meat comes off easy from the bones

It would have been perfect if
the meat have been a little bit juicy
the skin have been a little bit crispier

Any idea to improve the result? /infopop/emoticons/icon_confused.gif
 
Nick,

If I read correctly, you did not brine the turkey? I bought a butterball thinking it was "enhanced", but after getting it home, found that it was not. I used the honey brine recipe, although I did not detect any flavor in the meat, I believe it was helpful keeping the meat moist. Any comments about the flavor from the honey brine from someone who has done it? Also, I cooked my turkey at a higher temp throughout to help crisp the skin, a lesson I learned with a couple chickens this past week. I am a beginner, so I'm not sure what effect this might have, but I coated the turkey with olive oil prior to rub, again at 2 hr mark, when I went to apply at 3hr, the turkey was finished. Probably beginners luck! My only disappointment was the lack of extra flavor from the brine.

Don Gibson
 
Yeah, I didn't brine the turkey thinking that I'm going to slow smoke it anyway and it would be moist. I'm not really a believer for brined meat. I kind of prefer the natural taste with a little bit of spice. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

But, maybe, a little olive oil would have done the cripsy skin trick /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Nick,

Did I read your post correctly? You smoked that turkey for 9.5 hours? If so, that's why it was dry.

I don't believe turkey is helped by low & slow cooking. Next time, cook it hot and fast, 325-350*F. You can minimize the dark color by using cheesecloth.

Regards,
Chris
 
I second that. My bird came in at exactly 3 hours, shooting for 325-350 at the grate. You can see a pic of it, at a little past the halfway mark, on my website, Cook #6. A fine looking bird if I do say so myself, and even better tasting. It was a winner.
 
I brined my 22 lb turkey for three days, removed ,rinsed and rubbed and wrapped in palstic for 24 hours. At 8:00 am put turkey in smoker using lump coal and apple wood. Kept temp about 250 with water in the pan. At 1:20 pm the breast was 165 degrees and the legs around 180 degrees. Everything was just like candy good. Skin was tender, breast was juicy.

Dan L
 
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