How much time to add for two birds? - electric smoker

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dcope

Newbie
Original poster
Jan 1, 2016
4
0
Chattanooga, TN
I have a Masterbuilt electric.

I’ve smoked a turkey for the last 2 years — it absolutely ridiculous how good it is

Due to my job and funky schedule, I haven’t been home for Thanksgiving nor Christmas for the past ten years.

So two years ago, my wife and I started having a Thanksmasirthday (my birthday is 11/15) get-together with friends and family. Well, it practically doubled last year.

Anyway, short version - I’m going to smoke two 12 lb birds this year. And I’m wondering how much longer I should plan to add to my cook time (usually 6-6.5 hours on 225 for one bird).

My gut says 3 hours. Of course, I always cook to internal temp — but since we’ve got 16 people coming this year, I need to know when to get them in the smoker.

Will also be doing 3 1.5 lb Herb & Garlic pork roasts on my Weber.

Anyone have a clue? The Google had a lot of suggestions for chickens....but not multiple turkeys. I would imagine this has been discussed at some point, but I’m far to lazy to click through all the previous threads.

Thanks for your time,
Dave
 
No extra cook time needed. You may need more recovery time after placing the birds in to get the pit back up to temp due to the mass of cold meat. Other than that cooking time would be the same. Both birds will be done when each one reaches an IT of 165°
 
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I think DS hit the nail on the head.

With the MES and 2 birds your biggest issue will be recovery time BUT 225F isn't hard for the MES to recover. 275F with 2 birds now that is a different story.

Also it is reported that if you spatchcock (cut the back out) then the birds should cook faster and more evenly.

Going to 275F for your Turkey smoke will not hurt anything so if you are really pressed for time just smoke at 275F. At the very least let the smoker get to 275F and when you add the birds I bet it drops to 190F so that way you can recover to 225F in no time.

If you kept a 275F temp the entire time I would bet money the birds cook in 4 to 4.5 hours or less.

Best of luck! :)
 
So glad I posted the question.

My plan is:
  • Heat to 275
  • Add birds
  • Adjust temp to 225 once it recovers to that point
  • Use my 6-6.5 hour time set after it gets to 225
I would rather not change it up since there will be 16 hungry people here....

Thanks for all the help.

D
 
Now the turkey on the upper most rack may take a little bit longer than the lower turkey. But that is a common thing with vertical smokers. Just wanted to point that out.
 
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New plan adjustment:
  • At the 3 hour mark, I will increase temp to 275, rotate the racks once there, and reset my “timer” and temp once recovers to 225.
Dave
 
Aside from recovery time, adding more mass to an oven can definitely affect the cooking time due to how it can alter and reduce convection. In a convection oven, the impact is not that great. But in a cooker that relies on natural convection, it can vary a great deal.
 
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