My first ever smoke was a turkey...

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healeydays

Newbie
Original poster
Jun 21, 2014
9
10
New Hampshire
I picked up a Charbroil 44 in. Vertical Propane Gas Smoker and decided to do my 1[sup]st[/sup] smoke for July 4[sup]th[/sup], but Hurricane Arthur’s rains skirted S NH and so I delayed the smoke till the 5[sup]th[/sup].  The victim of my first ever smoke would be an 18 lb turkey that was injected with creole butter and smoked using peach wood.

The weather was a dry 80 degrees and wind gusts of 25-35mph (stupid time to get a cook going).

I decided to split the turkey into 2 halves as with the winds, I figured I might have a fighting chance of a balanced cook.

I fired up the smoker at 11:15 to get it up to temp, and got the meat in the smoker at 12:05

Here are my numbers from then on:

Time

Smoker            temp

Bird temp
12:05​
252​
40​
12:30​
300​
53​
1:00​
290​
77​
1:30​
266​
90​
1:45​
293​
97​
2:00​
319​
108​
2:15​
325​
15​
2:30​
321​
122​
3:00​
318​
134​
3:15​
308​
140​
3:30​
305​
144​
3:45​
297​
149​
4:00​
305​
153​
4:15​
312​
157​
4:30​
291​
160​
4:45​
280​
162​
5:00​
299​
163​
5:10​
291​
165​
I covered the bird for 20 minutes, and carved what my wife called the best turkey she ever tasted.

 
Last edited:
Good point.  Not sure what was causing the more juices, the turkey or my wife drooling.  Seriously, the bird was extra juicy and the peach made for a light sweet smoke.
 
Wow! must of read up alot on smoking to do a whole turkey. Did alot of breast and Wife luved em'. Whole turk scared me. Have only done 2 in my experiences and were good. Will do more though. Brine is it!
drool.gif
 
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