Turkey for me and turkey for you


 
J

J Curran

New member
My wife and I are throwing a pre-thanksgiving dinner in a few weeks for about 25 people and I have signed up to smoke 2 turkeys. The questions I have are what size turkeys will fit on each level of grates and is it 15 min per pound for the combined weight of the turkeys or do I do it based on one turkey since they will be cooking on separate level/grates and will be the same size? Thanks in advance.
 
It's an 18 inch WSM and from what I understand the temp should be 350. This is my first crack at this so please let me know if this doesn't make sense. Thanks
 
J I think you will have difficulty getting your smoker to reach 350 with that much meat in it. The time to cook will be what it takes to reach safe internal temps. A single turkey around 15 lbs will range in the 3 1/2-4 hours by the time it rests but the meat acts as a heat sink and so two turkeys will certainly hold back temps. I'm not sure how much that will add to your cook time. You will never get there with water so you need to use a dry pan or saucer or both depending on your style and you will also need to lift the lid or open the fuel door from the bottom to get the air flow for increasing the temps. Those are some of the considerations. Catching or deflecting drippings is another consideration for the bird on top. You don't have to cook at 350 and my guess is you won't for a while during this cook so..no crispy skin otherwise I don't see why it could not be done but I would not go over 12 lbs a bird. Just my thoughts on your post.
 
I am obviously much less experienced than you so I need to dumb this down. Do you think 2 -12 lb birds would work with water in the pan? Would they hit 350 degrees? If so, what would be your bed quess for cooking time, 6 hours? I have never used the dry pan technique, would that be ok since the turkeys will be brined?
 
I've never cooked two birds at the same time like you want to do but I use a clay saucer as do many others on this site. I have used water too. I have pushed my smoker to temps where it would not go based on 3 to 1 venting with a water pan. You see with the water pan it is the heat sink and water never gets hotter than the boiling point so when you add the meat load I don't think you can generate enough heat to get you where you want to go. I'm not saying you can't cook two turkeys I'm just saying you can't do it the way you intended and the cook time will be greatly extended.

If you go dry pan then your only heat sink is your meat and there is nothing else holding the smoker back except the venting which if you open the lid, say an inch in one spot it will help get your temps up. I would not use the water pan. Brining is fine. The turkeys will still be moist but I don't know how long it will take you to cook the two. Maybe somebody else on here has that experience. I cook my chickens and turkeys with a clay saucer, no water and they are moist. I do high heat but I have added a second dome vent to increase air flow which get the temps up. Before that I laid a big spike across the top of the mid section to get the lid up and create more airflow.
 
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Can't thank you enough. Have another idea. What if I get one larger turkey and sit it upright on the lower grate. Of course I'll would remove the top grate in this application. Does that make more sense for using the water pan?
 
If I'm understanding your question, even with one turkey you shouldn't try to cook over 275 with water in the pan. Be sure to foil the top of the pan to catch drippings with some air space so they won't burn.
 
J, you can certainly cook a single turkey BC style and use the water pan if that's what you want to do. Like Dave says you will be limited in your temps so the cooking time will be longer. The turkey should turn out fine. Two weeks ago I did a 17 lb bird just the way I showed you in the p/m. No water pan. I'm not sure how much bigger you could go as the wsm runs hotter around the outside of the water pan so you would not want part of the bird in the hot zone. Maybe 20lb but keep the wings in. Personally I would raise the bottom grate up 3-4 inches just to get some distance from the water pan. I made a middle setting in my wsm just for BC turkey. People on here have used soup cans setting them on the lower grate for that purpose but make sure if you do that you open both ends.
 
Thanks again for all the input. Before these posts I thought that you HAD TO cook with water in the pan. I will try and stay around 17 lbs and my take always are 15 min per pound (approximately), might need to prop the lid open a little to keep temps around 350 and will foil the pan to catch drippings and make sure there is an air space between the foil and pan so the drippings don't burn. Only question left are what does BC style stand for? Thanks
 
Beer Can. I don't use a beer can but I have a rack I use for turkey and I have racks for chicken.
 
Ok I'm back with 2 questions. Believe it or not, I can only find up to a 13 lb turkey which isn't big enough for 20 peoele so what if I scale it back and get two 10 pounders? Would they be small enough of a cook to allow the smoker get up to temp? And at 15 min per pound (approximately) would the cooking time be based off one turkey (2.5 hrs, 10 lbs total) or two turkeys (5hrs, 20 lbs total)? Jeff
 
Do you have a kettle? If so do one big one on the WSM and the other on the kettle, or do as I do, one inside in the oven (stuffed) and one outside on the WSM or OTG. 15 mins a pound is fine for the indoor appliance, but you're cooking outside, and around here it's getting windy and cold which stretches out any cook. And no you don't double or triple the cook times based on the amounts, but as mentioned it takes longer for the WSM to come up to temp more-so if it's a crappy day.

Good luck!

Tim
 
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