Will I have to add more fuel during my Cook?


 
J

John_H

TVWBB Member
I'm cooking a 21lb turkey and plan to have about 2/3 of the charcoal lit and about 1/3 on bottom unlit. So my turkey will likely take 5 or 6 hours to cook. Because so much of the fuel is lit at the beginning will I need more fuel at any point? Temps will be between 25 and 35 during the cook with wind not being a problem. I primarily do butts (minion) and ribs so I'm unsure about if I will have to add more fuel. Also, someone in another post said their 20 pound turkey was WAY to big. Should I have bought a smaller bird? Thanks in advance for all your help. This group is great.

John
 
I'm the one cooking the 20 lb'er right now. I started with a completely full ring, almost to the point of overflowing. I then pulled charcoal off the top, enough to fill my chimney, lit it and dumped it back on top of full ring after it was starting to ash on top. So, I had a completely full, overflowing ring to start with a full chimney making up the top part. This is in a 22.5 WSM. Our weather is a sleet/snow mix, 34 degrees, 25-30 mph winds and my WSM is completely exposed to wind. I do have a canopy on top to keep moisture off.

I fired up WSM around 9 and added turkey at 9:50. It has been sitting at 325-350 most of that time with bottom vents: one closed facing wind, one almost all the way open and one 50%. So, it has kept temp for 3 hours so far. My bird is at 145 degrees in breast 2 hours 10 minutes in.

I say all that because your's may compare to mine in size and fuel esp. if you are using a 22.5. If my bird takes more than 3-3.5 hours, I will probably have to add some coals on top to keep temp. But, we will so.

hope that helps. Check my thread titles "first turkey this morning on my week old 22.5" for pics and updates to compare.
 
I have a 22 lb bird and I don't think it's too big. I did a 23 lb bird last year and a 20+ lb bird the year before, and a... Well you get the idea.

I always fill the ring with unlit and dump one large chimney of lit on it. That way I don't concern myself with the issue of adding charcoal. When the cook is complete I close the vents to snuff the fire and reuse the unspent charcoal on the next cook.

My recommendation: remove the doubt. I hope this helps.

Happy Thanksgiving!
 
I have a 20 lb bird in the brine but I only have a 18 inch WSM... is that going to be a problem? I probably should have checked it before it put in the brine huh? :p
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top