Got 2 gobblers on now....

[Ron F]

Yep, smokin' away. Ended up injectiing one with lawry's lemon pepper marinade and then rubbing it inside and out(and under skin) with Tones lemon pepper. Injected other one with Creole butter and rubbed with a cajun spice inside and out(and under skin). Will be frying a third that mom has at her place. Gonna leave the fried bird nekkid. First time doing the lawry's injection thing, we'll see how it goes.

I got one probe in each turkey breast, and I stuck a third to monitor grate temp. Grate temp probe is just off-middle(cuz of Turkey, duh!)and about an inch under the top grate. Grate temp is at 265*, lid temp is at 325*. That's a 60* difference!! This will be my family's first Q'ed/smoked turkey, don't think they'll ever go back to an oven!

Man, I forgot to take pics. I'll try and get some of the finished product...

ron

 

[John H.]

I'm planning to do the same tomorrow, but I still don't know what temp. to shoot for. Alton Brown recommends 250 degrees for about 7 hours, where the tips on this site recommends 350 for a shorter cook time.

I'm also wondering about using an injection and if so which one.

 

[Larry Wolfe]

John,
I do mine at 250* as Alton recommends! Turn out great. The only fall back from doing them at 250* is the rubbery skin!

 

[Ron F]

Turkey's turned out great. All were moist and delicious. Family preferred the cajun and fried birds over the lemon pepper bird tho they liked the lemon pepper too. The cajun and fried were also my personal favorites. Ya just can't go wrong with a fried bird!

Another thing I should mention. I used Taylor probes(from Target)to monitor breast temp in each turkey, and one to monitor grate temp. When the breast temp hit 163 I took the birds off and then checked with a instand read probe. The instant read probe read 178*(ouch). I was worried that the birds would be a little dry but they were fine(prolly from the injecter). I just wonder why my probes read low like that in BOTH birds. The probes are all calibrated and work fine, so I'm still a little confused on this. Also, while my lid temp gauge hovered around 345*, the temp at just under the top grate was around 275*-285*. My lid temp gauge sticks about 4" down into the WSM. So I'm just wondering...ideally, when a recipe says to cook at 250* for say 7 hours, wouldn't that mean that the temp in and around the food should be at 250*? To hit 250* at the grate(where food is being cooked) you will need a higher lid temp. Just curious is all....

ron