Black bird?

[MikeSF]

I have the 18inch ism. This is the second turkey smoked on my WSM. Temp was 320 give or take. The bird was 14lb. I brined it for 24 hours then injected the bird and rubbed on oil and seasoning. I was thinking about 4.5 hours but it was done in 3 hours 20 minutes. The skin was black and split open over the breast. I know that sugar can cause some blackness on the skin. The brine had 1 cup of brown sugar, molasses, and honey. I probably should have covered the legs about 2hours into the cook, but what about the split skin? What would cause that? thanks!

20181214_141946 by mikesgm, on Flickr

 

[CaseT]

brown sugar, molasses, and honey.

Sugar is the cause. I no longer and haven't for years used sugar on poultry.

I prefer to dry rub poultry. 2 tablespoons kosher salt mixed with 1 teaspoon baking powder. This is enough for a 12-14 pound bird. Apply liberally to the outside and inside of the turkey. Add any other seasonings you like except sugar. Place the bird on a drying rack over a roasting pan and place in the fridge for 8-24 hours. Remove and cook. You wont get black wings or legs, but the breast skin may crack a bit.

If you use sugar again definitely look into foiling the extremities at some point.

The worst turkey I ever cooked I wet brined and injected in a sugar heavy brine. Deep fired it. Meat was fine but the skin was darker than yours ans inedible.

 

[JimK]

What kind of smoke wood did you use? I find that cherry imparts a dark color. Any smoke at all will get you a little darker, but cherry really does it a lot.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

It may be the light, but that looks ok to me. How'd did it taste? That's the important part. The skin a lot of times will split. I've heard of various ways to avoid that, but it's mainly a presentation issue.

 

[timothy]

It may be the light, but that looks ok to me. How'd did it taste? That's the important part. The skin a lot of times will split. I've heard of various ways to avoid that, but it's mainly a presentation issue.

Me too.
Rubbing with oil can cause the smoke particles to stick and turn blackish if you don't have a clean burning fire at the beginning.
Tip I learned on Turkey 101 was to drape the bird with buttered cheesecloth.
Sometimes the skin does separate if you rub a compound butter underneath or not. Pinning the flap with toothpicks helps and also basting.\
HTH and the bird looks good!

Tim