My 2nd smoke on a MES30 might be a 14 pound turkey for Christmas

[gen0]

  I have cooked  Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners, for a decade, for family and clients who are staying in my small RV park and bungalows.  Plus another 20 years in Illinois before I moved to Mexico.  I can humbly say I do a pretty good bird. 

  The past 10 years I have used a 3 burner gas grill to cook up to two turkeys, depending on the amount of people on site.  This year it looks like a turkey and either a ham or a pork loin is the menu.

   I want to use my new MES30 to light smoke the turkey but I am a bit scared because of timing. We usually have drinks and appetizers around 2 PM and sit down around 3 PM for the meal.  Will I have enough time to do this if I get the bird  in the Smoker by 7 AM?

  Should I give it a light smoke for 2 or 3 hours and move it over to the gas grill to finish it off?

 

[red dog]

You should be O.K. I usually do turkey in my MES as hot as it will go, 270. Last turkey I did was 12lbs and it took about 6 hours. Start as early as you can and crank that puppy up. Some people will move to the grill at a higher temp to crisp the skin but I don't. I baste about 3 times with a mixture of butter, apple juice, and spiced rum. That seems to keep the skin from getting leathery. Don't stuff the bird. That will slow things way down.