BONDO NEEDS ADVICE...I was "TOLD" by my daughter that I would be smoking my 23 lbs Turkey for Thank

[bondo]

Dear Smoking experts, I have had a Smoke Hollow Smoker for over a year and my family and I love it.  I usually smoke large chickens and baby back ribs.  They think I'm good at smoking meat, so my daughter told me that this year, I will be responsible for smoking the 23 lbs Thanksgiving Turkey in my Smoke Hollow Smoker.  I have been surfing the internet for cooking time and temps, and it's all over the place.  I see posts saying you have to get the bird temperature to 145 degrees in 4 hours or the bird will be unsafe to eat.  I've also seen that you should smoke a bird that size for 11 hours.  I usually will smoke 2 large chickens at onece with Baby back ribs at 220 for 6 hours and that works great, but I'm nervous about a 23 lbs bird and the pressure of feeding 20 people on Thanksgiving day.....So, can someone share with me the best way to smoke a 23 lbs Turkey in my Smoke Hollow cooker including temperature and time span?  Thanks!!!  Bondo

 

[bmaddox]

You will get a lot of mixed answers on smoking a bird that large. There is a thread going on now with an article showing that long cook times on a turkey are safe so long as you get it to the proper temp. For a bird that big I personally would cut it in half then smoke it at 250-275 for 30-45 minutes per pound (each half will be around 11.5 pounds so it should take between 6 and 8 hours).