One 20 lb turkey, and one 13 pound at same time???

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Good morning! I am wondering today what your take is to do two turkeys at the same time that are different weights. I had read back in some posts that two turkeys will fit on the WSM, so I think I may be ok as far as that goes.

I was thinking that if I put the 13 lb on the bottom rack, and 20 pound on the top rack, with probes in each breast, I should be safe. Does this sound right? I like to cook my turkeys around 250', not high like most of you do. Will this be an issue? I would like to cook them both through the night Friday. Thanks for all your time and info!!!
 
If they will fit, go for it. You're in for a long haul at 250 with 33 lbs. of meat, and you should reconsider based on two facts: You don't want poultry spending a long time between 40 and 140*-- search the term "danger zone". Secondly, the intent of low and slow cooking is to render fat and break down connective tissue in tough cuts of meat, neither of which applies to poultry.
 
Doug, thanks for the quick reply. The problem with my cooking at 250 is that is the temp where I practiced, before I realized most do them at 300'. I would certainly be welcome to cooking at a higher temp if someone could tell me how long it would take. At 250', it basically took 1/2 hour per pound. So I had planned for it to take about 10-11 hours for the big bird. I need to have them ready at 9:00 Sat morning. When should I start, if I cook at 300??? Also, could you tell me how many coals I should light, using the minion method?
 
I just smoked two 14lb turkeys this past Sunday. I fill the charcoal to the brim and started it with a weed torch (attached to a 30lb propane tank). The temp was at 389 degrees in about 20 minutes. Put on turkey on each rack and the temp dropped to 343 degrees. The turkeys came off in 3.75 hrs.

The turkey's were brined for 24hrs. I would think that it should take about 5 hrs for the big bird. The smaller turkey should be done in about 3.75 hrs. The key is to keep the temp between 325-350. That was what I pulled from the board and have always had great success with the five turkeys that I've smoked in the past.
 
If you run the higher temps in the smoker, you can go by the temp and time suggestions for oven roasting. Remember that brining will cause your bird to cook a little faster, so keep a watch on your meat temperature and don't let the breast go above 160. Replace the word "oven" below with "WSM" and you're on your way. I find that when smoking at the 325-340 range on either smoker, my birds are usually done at the lower range of the time limits, probably due to the brining. I've never smoked a turkey over 17 lb, though, as I prefer to use the 12-13 lb size when possible.


8 to 12 pounds................2-3/4 to 3 hours
12 to 14 pounds...............3 to 3-3/4 hours
14 to 18 pounds...............3-3/4 to 4-1/4 hours
18 to 20 pounds...............4-1/4 to 4-1/2 hours
20 to 24 pounds...............4-1/2 to 5 hours


Keri C
Smokin (and talkin' turkey) on Tulsa Time
 
Thank you all for your help with my turkeys. I ended up deciding to do what I knew would work fine, since it was for someone else. So I started at like 11pm friday, and ended 7am saturday. I know i didn't have to take so long, but you all really helped to reassure that 2 could be done at the same time. for anyone wondering, I did the 13 pound on bottom, and the 20 pound on top, and they finished at about the same time. I had target temp of 250' on top rack, which the WSM hit the whole time (of course). I pulled the turkeys when breast hit 163. Thank you very much for your interest and advice!!! -nick
 
Sounds like a great cook, Nick. You didn't tell us about their reactions when you took them in, though. They did appropriately "oooohh" and "aaahhhhh" over your cooking skills, didn't they? And did you take pictures? We like pictures!

Keri C, Still Smokin on Tulsa Time
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Nick M:
[qb] Thank you all for your help with my turkeys. I ended up deciding to do what I knew would work fine, since it was for someone else. So I started at like 11pm friday, and ended 7am saturday. I know i didn't have to take so long...[/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>Apparently, my call for the heeding of the term "danger zone"-- with 23 results from a search of this forum-- went largely ignored. I apologize for not better stressing its importance.
 
Doug, what makes you think your post went largely unnoticed??? I checked out the danger zone findings, and someone had written not to go over 4 hours in the "danger zone". So I checked my back logs, and noted that in each of them, the turkeys were out of the danger zone between 3 1/2 and 4 hours, depending on the average temp of my cook. So I simply upped my temps a little bit through the first coupla hours, and made sure everything was fine. Both turkey's were out of the danger zone at 3:43. I am not one that takes food safety litely, and I DEFINITELY appreciate your words of wisdom.
 
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