First Rotisserie Turkey - Need Advice


 
John Sp

John Sp

TVWBB All-Star
Hello All,

I would like to get some suggestions for my first attempt at rotisserie turkey. I want to use my new Weber rotisserie attachment for the 22.5 Gold. I bought a small bird (13 lb) and plan to make a tune up run this Monday so I will be ready for the main event on TG. I plan to brine the bird and I want to adapt my Herbed Chicken recipe (unless someone on here can give me a better plan). Some specific questions I have include:
  1. Which brine to use? I have had success with a basic salt, brown sugar, and peppercorn brine in the past but the apple brine recipe on here looks pretty good too. Would the apple and herbs I plan to use compete?
  2. I plan a two sided indirect cook. What is your estimate of total cooking time for a 13 lb bird? How often will I need to replenish coals?
  3. I plan to add some root vegetables (carrots, turnips, beets, etc.) to the drip pan. I am considering removing the pan temporarily to save the fat for gravy and then returning it to cook the vegetables. Does anyone have experience with cooking vegetables in this manner? Any tips?
  4. I would appreciate any advice you can provide on any aspect of cooking turkeys in the Weber kettle.

Regards,

John
 
I've not done a turkey but have done two 6 lb chickens with a centre drip pan and heat on either side. That works really well. I'm thinking around three to four hours but of course depends on your temp. Make sure you have your counterweight set and the turkey is trussed. I've thought about doing a turkey but been shy because of the uneven load. I've never thought of doing veggies in the drippings. Not sure if I would like that.
 
Thanks for the input Gary. I had great success with chicken on the rotisserie so I'm hoping it will translate to the turkey. I am making the brine as I write this - still haven't decided if I will use the compound herb butter from my chicken recipe or not. Good advice on the counterweight. I will have to trial and error that...
 
As far as time goes, it totally depends on the temps. If you do it at 325, it's the same time as doing it in your kitchen oven. Lower temps-->a little more time. Higher temps-->a little less.

Remember, just because you're doing it in a WSM, the food is still cooking "in an oven". Temps in the WSM work the same as in your kitchen oven :) All you're doing is adding smoke in some form (other than burned food ;) ) in the WSM which you can't in the kitchen.
 
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I'd really like to know how you make out John. Like I was saying I'd like to try one but I have to admit I'm pretty happy doing them HH in my WSM using a BGE turkey stand. My main concern would be the load on the rotisserie motor, with the chickens I just turn one up and one down to counterbalance and then the counterweight handles any offset required.
Good luck.
 
Thanks Len. I will shoot for about 325-350 (I'm still learning my grill so that will be a good test for me). I plan to run it for about 1.5 hours and check temp in the thigh to gauge progress. I will adapt as I go after that.

Gary - I am planning to take pics and show every one what happens - good or bad... I have used the same method you described for chickens (inverting one to balance the spit) and it went very smoothly. Hopefully I can use my counterweight effectively to minimize strain on the motor. I am going to hit the bird with a little apple wood smoke at the beginning and then to finish (mostly for color - the likes a more traditional bird for the TG table).

My bird has been soaking in brine for about eight hours. I plan to pull it at 24, rinse it, and dry it thoroughly with paper towels then into the fridge to air dry for several hours. I figure I will truss it, spit it, and then will rub it with some EVOO and dust with SYM (Slap Ya' Mama). I am planning to ice the breasts for about 30 minutes before adding to the cooker. Any last minute advice will be appreciated...

Regards,

John
 
...nope not from me your already 2 steps ahead so go for it! I would really like to know what the rotisserie motors are capable of?
 
Update with Pictures

Hello All,

The results are in! I learned a lot and had a couple of disappointments but on the whole I am very pleased with the outcome. First the process and then some observations/questions:

I brined the turkey using the Apple Brine recipe from this board.


12 lb Bird After 24 Hours in Brine and 2 Hour Air Dry in the Fridge
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I stuffed a couple of cut up apples inside and then trussed the bird. I coated it with EVOO and then lightly seasoned it with Slap Ya' Mama (SYM) and garlic salt. I also soaked a double handful of apple wood chips in the brine. Then I iced the breasts for about 30 minutes.



Trussed and Seasoned


Icing the Breasts
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I set the fire for two sided indirect cooking, counterbalanced the bird, and added the apple chips. I started it at about 400 degrees for 20 min. Then I choked the fire down to 350.



Start of Cook
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After about 1.5 hours I checked the bird and added some charcoal as my temp was tailing off to around 325. The internal temp of the breast was about 135 (a bit high I felt). After another 45 minutes I pulled the drip pan and poured off most of the fat. I added a medley of root vegetables (carrot, parsnip, turnip, and garlic) to the pan and returned it to the grill.


Mid Cook - Root Vegetables Added
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At 3.5 hours I pulled the bird. Breast temperature was 178 and thigh temperature showed 170. I discovered the root vegetables were not nearly done, so I held the bird in a 170 degree oven covered in foil while they cooked for another 30 minutes in the grill.



Finished Bird (or so I thought)
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While carving I discovered that the thighs were still pink. I removed the breasts and wings and returned the dark meat to the oven for about 20 minutes at 350. We ate the white meat for dinner and saved the dark for leftovers.



Plated
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Results:

The Good:


  • The bird had a wonderful flavor and was very juicy as a result of the brine. The family really enjoyed it.
  • I did not have any trouble with the spit being unbalanced. The motor handled it with ease.

The Not So Good:
  • The skin was disappointing. It was leathery rather than crisp. I had hoped the initial high temp would help to counter this but it did not.
  • I waited too long to add the root vegetables - they were not done - I need to add them sooner next time.
  • The thighs were not done when I pulled the bird. If I had left it on longer, the breasts would have dried out. Icing the breasts was an attempt to lengthen the breast cooking time to allow them to finish at the same time as the thighs. It is possible that the thighs were still slightly frozen (I did not have several days to defrost the bird).

What I will try Next Time:
  • Instead of smoke I will try a compound butter with traditional TG spices (savory? sage? tarragon? garlic?) under the skin. Hopefully the extra fat will aid in crisping the skin.
  • I will probe several locations in the thigh to ensure I have a good temperature reading.

Questions:
  • Any ideas on making the skin crisper?
  • How can I get the thighs and the breasts to finish at the same time?

Regards,

John
 
Hi John, glad to hear your plan worked, sounds like it just needs some tweaking. Are you sure the thighs were under cooked? They do get pink from wood smoke and 170 is the number as long as your in the joint. They would have continued to cook in the oven while the bird was on hold too. As for the skin you need to stay around the 325-350 so not sure about that.
 
Thanks Gary,

I don't think I got the probe deep enough. The thighs were definitely undercooked. This was after resting in the 170 degree oven for quite a while. I only used the smoke to impart some color (which worked great) and kept the temp pretty high for most of the cook which is why the leathery skin baffles me. I wonder if spreading the coals out over the grate and rotating the bird over them for 10 minutes or so with the top off at the end of the cook would have helped...

Regards,

John
 
John,

I usually cook at 375 degrees to get a bit crisper skin. And when I use my WSM, I separate the thigs / drumsticks and cook them on the lower grate and the breast / wings on the top grate. Seems to work better that way as I can leave the thighs on a bit longer. Don't know how you would do this on rotisserie.

Ray
 
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