Room to stand turkey and have drip pan?


 
C

Chuck Schneider

New member
Hello everyone,

Executive summary;): Is there room to stand the turkey on the top rack and have a drip pan on the bottom in a WSM 18.5? I'm thinking that the turkey will be about 15 lbs. I'm also not sure if I should have any liquid in the drip pan to prevent the drippings from burning.

I just purchased my first smoker, a WSM 18.5! Very excited! I have never seen a product with such great reviews on so many different sites. I have never smoked before but I have done a fair bit of reading on this great site and watched a bunch of YouTub vids. After reading many of the posts and watching YouTube vids, I've decided that I will stand my turkey in the WSM to smoke it. I've been frying my turkeys for the past decade or so. This year I'm smokin'! So, my plan is to use the stand from my fryer to stand the turkey up in the WSM. I will also use my fryer pot to brine the turkey. I am planning on using LarryR's Jack & Maple brine recipe. I plan to smoke at around 325 degrees using the minion method. I also plan to use a mix of apple and hickory wood chunks sourced from Home Despot (yes, intentionally spelled incorrectly:) ). Is there room to stand the turkey on the top rack and have a drip pan on the bottom rack? I'm also not sure if I should have any liquid in the drip pan to prevent the drippings from burning.

Help and advice appreciated. My nephew and I are planning a test run this Sunday! I do not plan to season the WSM. Based on all that I've read, it is only necessary if you don't want the initial 50 degree higher temps.

Thanks in advance!
Chuck
 
Chuck Schneider said:
Is there room to stand the turkey on the top rack and have a drip pan on the bottom in a WSM 18.5?
Click to expand...
I never could come up with anything and stayed on the lower rack. I did elevate my turkey on a stand in the drip pan so that I could catch the drippings but not have the bird in the drippings. I have a photo, I'll have to dig it out.
 
Thanks for the quick reply ChuckO!

I thought of doing that but was concerned that it would prevent the smoke's flow through the turkey cavity, which I think is the reason you want to stand it up, correct? That and being able to do a larger bird.
 
Agreed, there is some reduced smoking benefits. The birds I have done do have smoke flavoring, but I go light on smoke by design anyway
 
Chuck Schneider said:
Can I put a disposable roasting pan in the water pan?
Click to expand...
I was at Ross & TJ Max, and I tried to find a stand (horizontal) that could go in a catch pan, and they don't sell the separate, they come with a roasting pan. They started at $20 and went up from there. A vertical stand works well, because the only thing that would be in the harvested drippings would be the end of the drums, maybe the birds butt. You could have a baster handy and suck out and drippings if it's getting full to the point of touching the cooking bird
 
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