Brining and smoking 18lb turkey

[mike schenk]

I ordered a 14 - 16 pound turkey. I get it today and it's an 18lb turkey. I'm planning on an 24 - 30 hour brine then letting it rest/drain about 8 hours. On turkey day I'm planning on smoking at 300° - 325° for 8 - 10 hours. Thoughts, criticisms, tip all welcomed

 

[mike243]

It wont take that long to smoke imo, keep a close eye on temps, The last 15 years or so I smoke for 90-120 minutes with heavy smoke then into a cooking bag to finish,

 

[SmokingUPnorth]

Like Mike said turkeys dont take too long. Especially at that temp. Good temp for the skin and watch out for the “danger zone” with one that big.

 

[civilsmoker]

If you are looking for a “Norman Rockwell” turkey experience I would suggested you remove a section of backbone like this….

Then roast/smoke it at 335 on the smoker rack not in a pan, it will only take about 3.5 hours plus or minus to get uniform skin, rotate the bird at the 1/2 mark and you may also need to wrap the wing tips at the 3 hr mark with foil…… here are the stats when I pulled the bird above…..

Oh and the finished shot….. this was a 20lb turkey…

Note how I truss the legs…… the key to this cook is the cavity air flow…it alowes the breast meat to rise quicker and at the right ratio to the legs and wings. I do all my whole birds this way now! I have done several 20 lbers this way with very similar and consistent timing…..PS the skin is crispy goodness!

Ps edit this bird was wet brined for 24 hrs as well

 

[02ebz06]

Another option if you are not going for the Norman Rockwell painting look, is to spatchcock it.
Will cook faster and more even.

 

[mike schenk]

If you are looking for a “Norman Rockwell” turkey experience I would suggested you remove a section of backbone like this….
View attachment 681545

Then roast/smoke it at 335 on the smoker rack not in a pan, it will only take about 3.5 hours plus or minus to get uniform skin, rotate the bird at the 1/2 mark and you may also need to wrap the wing tips at the 3 hr mark with foil…… here are the stats when I pulled the bird above…..
View attachment 681546

Oh and the finished shot….. this was a 20lb turkey…
View attachment 681544

Note how I truss the legs…… the key to this cook is the cavity air flow…it alowes the breast meat to rise quicker and at the right ratio to the legs and wings. I do all my whole birds this way now! I have done several 20 lbers this way with very similar and consistent timing…..PS the skin is crispy goodness!

Ps edit this bird was wet brined for 24 hrs as well

That looks awesome. Thanks for the information

 

[tallbm]

I ordered a 14 - 16 pound turkey. I get it today and it's an 18lb turkey. I'm planning on an 24 - 30 hour brine then letting it rest/drain about 8 hours. On turkey day I'm planning on smoking at 300° - 325° for 8 - 10 hours. Thoughts, criticisms, tip all welcomed

Hi there and welcome!

I think the guys have you covered.

I'll reiterate that your smoke will take less than 4 hours for sure.
I would suggest 325F smoker temp or higher. Chicken and Turkey skin want to be like leather if not cooked at a high enough temp or taking some time consuming steps to avoid leather skin.

As for your brine. You will never be too salty if you add your water weight + your bird weight and multiply by 0.0165 (1.65%) to get the weight of SALT you could use to be great flavor while NEVER being too salty for your bird, even if you brined much longer.

It helps to convert the weights to grams for simple math.
Best of luck!

 

[DemonPit]

All this smoked turkey talk has me wanting to smoke my bird vs in the oven. Mine is 22lbs. Going to try out Tony's Creole butter injection, and beer can chicken rub on the outside.

 

[pineywoods]

All this smoked turkey talk has me wanting to smoke my bird vs in the oven. Mine is 22lbs. Going to try out Tony's Creole butter injection, and beer can chicken rub on the outside.

If your smoker is running 325-350 there's not much difference in the smoker and oven other than the smoker gives it some of that great smoke flavor. The USDA says not to smoke a turkey over about 12 lbs HOWEVER they are saying that for a smoker running in the 225 degree range bumping the temp of the smoker up that 100-125 degrees puts the vessel temperature right in the same range and allows for bigger birds to be done.

 

[pineywoods]

I ordered a 14 - 16 pound turkey. I get it today and it's an 18lb turkey. I'm planning on an 24 - 30 hour brine then letting it rest/drain about 8 hours. On turkey day I'm planning on smoking at 300° - 325° for 8 - 10 hours. Thoughts, criticisms, tip all welcomed

When figuring brine times you need to consider the amount of salt in the brine the higher the salt content the shorter the time of the brine. how much salt is in the brine needs to be considered as tallbm related.

 

[indaswamp]

This thread just proves to me I don't know it all and there is always something to learn!

Note how I truss the legs…… the key to this cook is the cavity air flow…it alowes the breast meat to rise quicker and at the right ratio to the legs and wings. I do all my whole birds this way now! I have done several 20 lbers this way with very similar and consistent timing…..PS the skin is crispy goodness!

Thank you civil! Makes perfect sense!

 

[civilsmoker]

I’m just going to add this because it’s another option for flavor and not the above presentation….. if you want a large smoked bird you can part it out, ie breast (either whole or 1/2s) the leg/thigh and then the wings. If parted out you can smoke a very large bird and as parts you get more smoke and brine is a shorter time….it also takes less time to smoke…..

This is how we are doing our bird this year with a CC temp of 235….. this does leave rubber skin but I’m going to pull it and in the oven to make cracklin….. an example of the slicing….

If you haven’t guessed we are really mixing it up this year!

 

[civilsmoker]

This thread just proves to me I don't know it all and there is always something to learn!


Thank you civil! Makes perfect sense!

You are welcome, I also do this for smaller birds as well.

Pulled at breast 160 drunks and thighs 180…. With the rest they come out perfect temp……these take 90 ish mins

 

[gmc2003]

The boys above have given you some sound advice. 300 to 325* is perfect turkey heat. Just remember not to overthink things. Keep it simple and enjoy the journey.

My very first turkey. Cooked on a 22" WSM at 325* with a couple of small hickory chunks.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Chris

 

[radioguy]

High Temps....burn lotsa wood. Dry that skin, then dry it again. Rub with olive oil or vegetable oil. Never use butter as it contains water and doesn't brown as good.

RG

 

[tallbm]

If you are looking for a “Norman Rockwell” turkey experience I would suggested you remove a section of backbone like this….
View attachment 681545

Then roast/smoke it at 335 on the smoker rack not in a pan, it will only take about 3.5 hours plus or minus to get uniform skin, rotate the bird at the 1/2 mark and you may also need to wrap the wing tips at the 3 hr mark with foil…… here are the stats when I pulled the bird above…..
View attachment 681546

Oh and the finished shot….. this was a 20lb turkey…
View attachment 681544

Note how I truss the legs…… the key to this cook is the cavity air flow…it alowes the breast meat to rise quicker and at the right ratio to the legs and wings. I do all my whole birds this way now! I have done several 20 lbers this way with very similar and consistent timing…..PS the skin is crispy goodness!

Ps edit this bird was wet brined for 24 hrs as well

Great info! I do my birds on a vertical roasting rack so I think I get that good airflow as well, but never thought twice about it. Cool to see how I lucked into it now understanding how you do it on a bird that lays down :D

I’m just going to add this because it’s another option for flavor and not the above presentation….. if you want a large smoked bird you can part it out, ie breast (either whole or 1/2s) the leg/thigh and then the wings. If parted out you can smoke a very large bird and as parts you get more smoke and brine is a shorter time….it also takes less time to smoke…..

This is how we are doing our bird this year with a CC temp of 235….. this does leave rubber skin but I’m going to pull it and in the oven to make cracklin….. an example of the slicing….
View attachment 681574
If you haven’t guessed we are really mixing it up this year!

Mmmm nice idea on the rubber skin to turn it into turkey skin cracklins!!!

 

[kamogawa]

Newbie to the forum and thanks for having me. I want to smoke a 16# turkey on my Brinkman charcoal water smoker( I know, pretty caveman type smoker but has served me well in that I have never ended up with dry or burned meat). I am considering dry brining the turkey whole for 12 to 24 hours followed by Latin America style spatchcocking then smoking using my lower rack for the leg and thigh section and the upper rack for the breast. Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

 

[912smoker]

Never brined but great advice ^^^.
I always inject and spatchcock.
Gotta try it next time!

Keith