T-Day smoke with Q-view and timeline

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sprky

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
Jun 26, 2007
2,932
41
Hutchinson Kansas
Hey ya all I finely have time to post my T-day smoke
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This is mostly taken from my notes After the time line is the brine and injection recipe and the Q-view

11/17/2011

10:00 PM Bought two 25# frozen turkeys at wally world that were 8% enhanced. I put them in the cooler to thaw with a digital probe to monitor temp, and  placed on back porch. Had alarm set to go off if temp got to 39. 

11/18/2011

6:00 AM Temp in cooler 26 move cooler into house

11/20/2011

8:00 AM alarm on probe is going off temp is bouncing between 39 and 40, place 10# bag ice in cooler and put on back porch. 12:00 pm Temp in cooler down to 30, so back in house with it, open cooler lid for few min. 2:00 PM temp back to 35 so we are thawing again.

11/21/2011

11:00 PM Temp getting close to 39 add 5# more ice, figured they were coming out tomorrow to brine, so should be enough to hold temp.

11/22/2011

8:30 PM make concentrated brine after making 2 trips to store for missing ingredients
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.

9:15 PM Brine made place on back porch too cool. 2 hours behind schedule due to working late.

11:00 PM check brine temp wayyyyyy too hot yet 105 place in sink with ice water bath to force cool. should have forced cooled to start with.

11/23/2011

12:00 AM brine temp 45, out sink back on porch get turkey out cooler to clean for brine. Remove bag very little juice turkeys still frozen. place turkey in roasting bag place back in cooler, place cooler in bathtub, fill with cold water leave a trickle of water running to thaw turkeys.

4:00 AM turkeys thawed

4:30 AM turkeys all cleaned up in roasting bag ready to brine.

5:00 AM Turkeys in brine in cooler with ice. place probe between turkey bags, poked hole in 1 bag with probe tip 
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. run to store for more roasting bags. note to self keep extra set of bags on hand

5:30 AM try to remove turkeys from cooler in roasting bag with brine. Bottom gives out on other bag, figured that would happen. Place turkeys in sink. Grab large stock pot, large strainer, and small cooler. Slowly pore ice brine mix from cooler threw strainer, and place ice in cooler. 

6:00 AM Turkeys back in brine, in cooler with ice. Place pencil eraser  over probe tip to prevent bag puncture. Check probe in ice water to make sure it will still read correct temp. Still reads spot on just not as fast.
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 Place probe between bags and add more ice.

6:15 AM Call boss and tell him I am going to go ahead and take the day off, like every one else. He asks what changed my mind, and as I was explaining what transpired he busted out laughing 
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, and hes right its funny now, it wasn't at the time though. I was soooooooo mad.
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6:30 AM Time to grab a few hours sleep. 10 hours behind schedule now. Turkeys just won't brine as long not a major deal.

3:00 PM wash smoker racks and wrap pans in aluminum foil. 1 less thing to do tomorrow 

11/24/2011

9:00 AM Get turkeys out of brine place in sink and rinse well. Stand in sink to drain.

9:30 AM dry turkeys inside and out with paper towels, place on cookie sheet. cover with bagged ice and place 1 bag in cavity. 

9:45 AM make injection mix

10:00 AM fire smoker, with temp probe on top shelf.

10:15 AM reheat injection and  inject first turkey add temp probe to breast recover with ice packs

10:30 AM Inject second turkey add temp probe to breast recover with ice packs

10:45 AM  add smoking wood with few lumps of cowboy charcoal. Wood mix  2 chunks musket, 4 chunks of hickory and handful of apple chips.

11:00 AM remove ice packs and place turkeys in smoker. Smoker temp 300, Turkey temp 45 and 47, outside temp 48

11:30 AM  smoker temp 225, turkey temp 47 and 49, outside temp 48

12:30 PM smoker temp 235, turkey temp 73 and 69, outside temp 55.  Added 1 handful of apple chips

1:30 PM smoker temp 250, turkey temp 90 and 82, outside temp 57. replaced smoking mix, and added boiling water to water pan

2:15 PM smoker temp 250, turkey temp  116 and 106, outside temp 62 added some lit lump to chip pan to raise the smoker temp.

3:00 PM smoker temp 268, turkey temp 138 and 125, outside temp 65. swapped places with turkeys.

3:30 PM smoker temp 250, turkey temp 145 and 132, outside temp 63. opened smoke stack damper. note to self always check damper when you fire smoker.

3:45 PM smoker temp 270, turkey temp 150 and 141, outside temp 63

5:00 PM smoker temp 270, turkey temp 156 and 150, outside temp 58

6:00 PM smoker temp 270, turkey temp 161 and 159, outside temp 55

6:30 PM smoker temp 270, turkey temp 166 and 160, outside temp 52 pulled 166 turkey, and placed in oven to rest for a few min.

6:45 PM started carving turkey

7:00 PM smoker temp 285, turkey temp 168, outside temp 49. pulled turkey, covered with  foil  and placed in oven to rest.

7:30 Time to eat

10:00 PM carved second turkey. turkey temp was 148

.

 Poultry Brine

 
1 1/2 Gallon Apple Juice

1/2 Cup Kosher Salt
3/4 Cup Dark Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Morton’s Tender Quick
1 Tbsp Garlic Powder
1 Tbsp Onion Powder
1 Tbsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
1 Tbsp Celery Seed
1 Tbsp Pickling Spice (ground)

1 tsp Ground Cloves

Instructions

1. Place all spices in spice grinder and grind fine.

2. Place 6 cups of apple juice in a 4 quart sauce pan, add Salt, Sugar, Tender Quick, and spices heat and stir until completely dissolved.  

3. Turn off heat, cover, and cool to room temp. then ice bath to around 40 degrees 

TIP do steps 1-3 ahead of time to allow chilling in refrigerator. 

4. In a large stock pot, combine remaining apple juice with the concentrated brine.

5. Wash turkey inside and out, making sure you have removed the innards, and tail.

6. Place turkey in turkey roasting bag neck down.

7. Place turkey in cooler large enough to hold turkey and pack ice around turkey roasting bag.

8. Pore brine into turkey roasting bag.  Remove as much air as possible from turkey roasting bag and tie off.

9. Let turkey soak for 24-48 hours. 

10. Remove turkey from brine and rinse well inside and out

11. Dry turkey with paper towels inside and out. 

12. Inject turkey with  poultry injection.  

Poultry Injection

1 Package Zesty Italian Dressing mix

1/4 tsp Ground Cloves

1 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)

1 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1 1/2 tsp Celery Seed

1 1/2 tsp Pickling spice

1 Tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
4 Tbsp melted non salted Butter

2 Cups Apple Cider         

              Instructions

1. Place all spices, dressing mix, and sugar in spice grinder and grind fine.

2. Mix spices and Apple cider.

3. Heat Apple cider spice mix in microwave for 2 min on high.

4. Mix in melted butter.

5. Inject turkey all over using all the injection.

Q-VIEW

The feast or whats left of it any ways. I was behind on my smoking time so it was past time to eat when turkeys were done, so had to skip the before pics.
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The ABT's again whats left, I simply spaced off getting a before pic 
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This is what is left of a 25# turkey. Now you see why I must smoke 2. That's the leftovers I get, although some how some of the second turkey always ends up in mine. 
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MY 2 boys and I baked these pies since my wife the normal baker had to work. Crust got a bit over done, due to me missing an instruction she told me,I'm not the baker she is. Truth be told all I had to do was put the filling in and bake she mixed every thing up and placed in refrigerator.  When she saw the crust over done she asked why didn't you foil it like I told ya.
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Here is what the birds looked like out of the smoker, both birds were very close in color, and look at all that juice. 
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Even with all the snafu's and being behind in time they were EXCELLENT!! Every one raved on how much better these were, in both moisture and taste. I'm not sure if it's due to being injected as well as brined or what. I have strict instructions to not switch brine's again. However I told them I was going to change it just a tad by switching to pink salt instead of the Morton's Tender Quick, to reduce the salt. My mom and dad, are on a low salt diet, that I was unaware of hence the need to lower the salt. I have to get with Pops before Christmas to be sure my ideas will work, but that's another post for another time. Hope you all enjoyed this long winded post on my T-Day turkey smoke
 
Looks like you put together a wonderful meal!

                                     
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Looks great!!

  I like crunchy pie crusts!!

  Craig
 
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