Normally we spend Thanksgiving with my in-laws, who all live nearby. COVID-19 put the skids on that for so many of us. So I resigned myself to just making Thanksgiving dinner for the 3 in our household.
Thankfully, I was able to brine and then oven roast a turkey breast for my mother-in-law and take it over to her earlier in the week. No time to smoke that one, but she loved it anyway.
The plan today was to take out the 2 Butterball 4.75 lb boneless turkey roasts that I dropped into some brine last night. Did one substituting apple juice for water, and the other the same with orange juice. I've done the orange one in the past, which came out excellent, and wanted to see how they would compare. Each went into a 2 gal ziplock bag with 1/2 gallon of liquid, 1/2 c. kosher salt, and some herbs.
Since I know from past experience that these only take about 3 hours in the smoker, and we didn't have to be anywhere today, I slept in till 9am, took a shower, and planned on having these hanging in my trusty, 10 year-old MES30 by 10am. (The one on the left is the orange.) Hit them up with some BBQ Pit Boys Poultry Rub. Everything was going perfect.
Then I heard a soft click, and noticed the light was out inside my garage fridge when I went for something. Uh-oh. Been there, done that.
My big fridge conversion has a short somewhere inside, and trips the GFI in the garage when it starts heating. The MES30 just did the same. After a few minutes of tinkering to confirm what I suspected, and trying again, it seems my MES30 decided today was the day to give up the ghost. Ugh! Time to go to Plan B.
Got the cover off my GMG Daniel Boone, filled the hopper with a mix of sugar maple and apple pellets, and turned it on to heat up. While it isn't that cold here, it seemed to be struggling to come up to the 150° start temperature. So I put a welding blanket on top to help out; that seemed to work, so I set the temp at 325° and went inside to continue prepping. After a few minutes, I looked out the kitchen window and noticed more smoke than normal. Stepping outside, the GMG was billowing black smoke and spewing pellet embers out of the smokestack! I quickly tried the shut down procedure, but the fans seemed to just make it worse; so I pulled the plug on that idea.
Geeze, Louise! On to Plan C. It's now 12:30 pm, and I'm behind schedule. Whipped out the little Smokin' It Model 1, stuck in a chunk of maple, and since it's too small to hang, I had to pan both roasts. It's top speed is only 250°, so the last one is finishing up now, at around 5pm.
So now 3 of my 5 smokers are now down for the count, and I smell like a forest fire; I'll need another shower tonight. I'm eventually going to tear apart my fridge conversion, but I don't think it's worth it on the MES. The wife said, "Well, I guess I know what to get you for Christmas, now." So, I'm looking at Black Friday sales right now because I usually use the MES and/or the GMG to make bacon presents for family & friends for Christmas. Was planning doing that next week, so I'll need one right away to continue that.
THANKS AGAIN, 2020!!! YOU SUCK!
Thankfully, I was able to brine and then oven roast a turkey breast for my mother-in-law and take it over to her earlier in the week. No time to smoke that one, but she loved it anyway.
The plan today was to take out the 2 Butterball 4.75 lb boneless turkey roasts that I dropped into some brine last night. Did one substituting apple juice for water, and the other the same with orange juice. I've done the orange one in the past, which came out excellent, and wanted to see how they would compare. Each went into a 2 gal ziplock bag with 1/2 gallon of liquid, 1/2 c. kosher salt, and some herbs.
Since I know from past experience that these only take about 3 hours in the smoker, and we didn't have to be anywhere today, I slept in till 9am, took a shower, and planned on having these hanging in my trusty, 10 year-old MES30 by 10am. (The one on the left is the orange.) Hit them up with some BBQ Pit Boys Poultry Rub. Everything was going perfect.
Then I heard a soft click, and noticed the light was out inside my garage fridge when I went for something. Uh-oh. Been there, done that.
My big fridge conversion has a short somewhere inside, and trips the GFI in the garage when it starts heating. The MES30 just did the same. After a few minutes of tinkering to confirm what I suspected, and trying again, it seems my MES30 decided today was the day to give up the ghost. Ugh! Time to go to Plan B.
Got the cover off my GMG Daniel Boone, filled the hopper with a mix of sugar maple and apple pellets, and turned it on to heat up. While it isn't that cold here, it seemed to be struggling to come up to the 150° start temperature. So I put a welding blanket on top to help out; that seemed to work, so I set the temp at 325° and went inside to continue prepping. After a few minutes, I looked out the kitchen window and noticed more smoke than normal. Stepping outside, the GMG was billowing black smoke and spewing pellet embers out of the smokestack! I quickly tried the shut down procedure, but the fans seemed to just make it worse; so I pulled the plug on that idea.
Geeze, Louise! On to Plan C. It's now 12:30 pm, and I'm behind schedule. Whipped out the little Smokin' It Model 1, stuck in a chunk of maple, and since it's too small to hang, I had to pan both roasts. It's top speed is only 250°, so the last one is finishing up now, at around 5pm.
So now 3 of my 5 smokers are now down for the count, and I smell like a forest fire; I'll need another shower tonight. I'm eventually going to tear apart my fridge conversion, but I don't think it's worth it on the MES. The wife said, "Well, I guess I know what to get you for Christmas, now." So, I'm looking at Black Friday sales right now because I usually use the MES and/or the GMG to make bacon presents for family & friends for Christmas. Was planning doing that next week, so I'll need one right away to continue that.
THANKS AGAIN, 2020!!! YOU SUCK!
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