Seems to be a lot of birds getting done way earlier than planned. Some appear to be from first timers, but mine got done over an hour ahead of schedule and I did the exact same sized bird at the exact same temperature smoker, about 6 or 8 weeks ago.
What did I do differently? THIS time instead of brining overnight and then dry rubbing, I brined from morning to evening the day before, took it out of brine, slathered it with sage/garlic butter under skin and on the outside, and then let it sit uncovered in the fridge over night. Onions and apples inside same as last time (loose... not stuffed) and this time I added a handful of fresh thyme sprigs from our garden. THOSE made a wonderful difference. Oh wait... the OTHER thing I did different was no water in the water pan this time.
Anyways....
Before:
and after:
This went in at 8:30am and I figured it would take 4 hours and 30 to 45 minutes (last one same exact way was 4 hours 40 minutes). This one hit 165 in the breast in 3 and a half hours almost exactly. And that's after I ran out to the smoker and turned it down to about 230 degrees when I saw the bird at 140 already. AND I probed a couple places before pulling it to make sure I wasn't getting an errant reading.
Held it over an hour in a cooler after foiling and filling the cooler with towels to take up any air space. It was still too hot to handle when I was carving it.. Steaming hot. Burn-your-fingers hot when I was doing things like bending a leg to separate the joint.
RAVE reviews on the turkey..... but my stuffing needs work :)
What did I do differently? THIS time instead of brining overnight and then dry rubbing, I brined from morning to evening the day before, took it out of brine, slathered it with sage/garlic butter under skin and on the outside, and then let it sit uncovered in the fridge over night. Onions and apples inside same as last time (loose... not stuffed) and this time I added a handful of fresh thyme sprigs from our garden. THOSE made a wonderful difference. Oh wait... the OTHER thing I did different was no water in the water pan this time.
Anyways....
Before:
and after:
This went in at 8:30am and I figured it would take 4 hours and 30 to 45 minutes (last one same exact way was 4 hours 40 minutes). This one hit 165 in the breast in 3 and a half hours almost exactly. And that's after I ran out to the smoker and turned it down to about 230 degrees when I saw the bird at 140 already. AND I probed a couple places before pulling it to make sure I wasn't getting an errant reading.
Held it over an hour in a cooler after foiling and filling the cooler with towels to take up any air space. It was still too hot to handle when I was carving it.. Steaming hot. Burn-your-fingers hot when I was doing things like bending a leg to separate the joint.
RAVE reviews on the turkey..... but my stuffing needs work :)
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