First turkey on the WSM - Advice Needed!

[S Wagner]

I'm going to cook a turkey for the first time on our WSM. My parents donated an 18 lb. self-basting (injected) turkey for us to cook. My questions are as follows:

How long should I cook it? I've heard usually 20 min. per pound, but this would come out to 6 hours. Wouldn't this be too much?

To brine or not to brine? I've heard many success stories on this board from people who brine self-basting turkeys, but this being my first attempt, I don't want to mess anything up. Would it be safer to skip the brine and use a dry rub for my first attempt?

If yes to the rub, does anybody have any good rup recipes for turkey? I have a feeling that I wouldn't want to use my pork/beef bbq rub on a turkey!

Any help, suggestions, etc... that you may have will be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!

 

[JimS]

Hi S Wagner,

I did my very first smoked Turkey just a few months ago. I used the recipe here:

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/turkey3.html

I paid a lot more money that usual because I bought the bird at a local farm place where they fresh kill to order. So mine was "free-range" and alive that morning.

No injection of any kind.

My results were "good" but there were 2 problems. First, I used regular salt instead of Kosher salt for the brine. I have no idea why I did that...just wasn't thinking. So the bird turned out a bit salty. We put little or no salt in the gravy to compensate and that helped a lot.

The second problem was I followed the instructions and the bird cooked much faster than was suggested. I can't remember the exact details, but the breast meat was well past the recommended 165°...I think it was around 180°. So the bird was too dry. I *strongly* recommend you go buy a probe and use it. I didn't have the money to buy one, but after my turkey attempt was a disappointment, I went out and bought the Weber one. It's not perfect but it will due for now till next spring when I can afford to buy a better one.

Despite those two issues, we really enjoyed it.

Hope that helps.
Jim

 

[S Wagner]

Thanks for sharing, Jim! It sounds like you got a really good bird. If I had my choice, I would probably go out and do the same and buy free-range. However, I'm stuck with what I've got right now (self-basted).

I've heard people say both good and bad things about brining a self-basted bird, so I'm on the fence about which would be the better route.