Smoking A Whole Turkey

[jsk53]

For what it's worth, I ended up not soaking the chips and it seems to be just fine. Each batch of chips smoke for close to an hour. I did hedge my bet and soaked some and tried them part way through and they took  a lot longer to start smoking. My opinion, even as a newbie is don't soak. Good luck. My bird will be coming out of the smoker in about 20 minutes. So far, so good!

 

[mikefletcher85]

 
For what it's worth, I ended up not soaking the chips and it seems to be just fine. Each batch of chips smoke for close to an hour. I did hedge my bet and soaked some and tried them part way through and they took  a lot longer to start smoking. My opinion, even as a newbie is don't soak. Good luck. My bird will be coming out of the smoker in about 20 minutes. So far, so good!

Did you put anything in the water/drip tray?

 

[jsk53]

I did put water in the water pan. No other ingredients. I filled the pan about half way and ended up using the remaining water and drippings to make gravy. Worked pretty well.

 

[mikefletcher85]

 
I did put water in the water pan. No other ingredients. I filled the pan about half way and ended up using the remaining water and drippings to make gravy. Worked pretty well.

GREAT! Thanks for the reply! Now that you went though the process, is there anything you would have done differently? I didnt think to do a trial run so if it doesnt turn out then there will be no Turkey for the dinner tomorrow, but I do have a ham that will be in the oven.

 

[jsk53]

Actually, the only real issue I had was keeping the temp in the smoker. The digital thermometer in the MES said one thing and my Maverick remote thermometer said something different. Overall, it went well and the cooking time was about what I had planned. If you get Jeff Phillips newsletter, he recently sent out a bacon butter rub which I used along with his traditional brine overnight.

I did not  soak the chips which I normally do for grilling steak etc and that worked just fine. In fact, I got more smoke than I thought I would.

The turkey turned out great and my wife was happy!

 

[scavenger]

Gonna go with quint and follow your path this year, first turkey, first winter smoke. Wish me luck.

 

[scavenger]

Brandon,
I have been smoking turkeys for a while, I always brine my bird and this is how i do it, i buy frozen birds and use a large cooler, add the bird water salt brown sugar and seasonall, close the cooler and allow it to thaw in the brine, as it thaws it seems to suck the brine into the meat, the next morning i wash the bird add a small amoun of rub and on the smoker it goes,i use a charchol smoker and add hickory chips that has been soaked in water, i add wood about 1/2 the cooking time, run the smoker at about 225, i pull the bird at about 170 and foil, it will contue cooking, also after about 3 to 4 hrs foil the wings and ends of the legs, our bird has never been salty, just dont over cook the bird, It is the best thing you ever ate, also keep the bird around 12 lbs. This year i am going to try Jeffs birning method using cranapple juce,  Good Luck

                            Happy Thanksgiving
                                 Quint

This is great advice for thawing a bird and brining, I' m trying my first turkey Christmas Day, no pressure!

Thanks

 

[captqinsofla]

Did my first solo smoked turkey this past Thanksgiving ( my dad had done them years ago and gave away as Christmas presents!).  I partially followed the brine/thaw method, letting a 12 pounder thaw for a day or so in the fridge before finishing it in Jeff's brine.  Went a little easy on the salt, but it was just fine.  Use my newbie Brinkman electric and a combo of Apple and Hickory, stuffing the cavity with sliced Macintosh apples, onions and thyme.  I didn't use injection because my needle disappeared!  Didn't seem to matter as I used a squirt bottle to get the liquid under the skin and into the cavity.  

My better half wanted to smell the turkey in the oven, so we compromised (always a good idea!) and I pulled it at 140 in the breast, foiling the wings, ends of legs, and breast, and into a 225 oven for the finish, up to 160, then tented and let it get to 165.  It was perfect!  The idea that no smoke is absorbed after 145 may be right.  Ours had just the right amount of smoked flavour without being too much, and the apples and onions were great in the turkey soup we made with the leftover carcass.

Enjoy!  Christmas dinner is going to be my first smoked prime rib.  Can't wait!

 

[darkfrost]

When I smoked my turkey, I did not brine, I only injected it and some butter on the outside. Put the smoke to it for 4 1/2hrs the wrapped it in foil and cooked it for another 7 to 8hrs until the internal temp was good on the breast.  Turkey came out great!  Used a  electric smoker, Cajun butter injection seasoning, apple wood, cooking temp about 220, for a 22Lb turkey.  It came out so good I'm doing another one for X-mas.