First time smoking a turkey. Need some help please!

[herm]

Hi all, I have been smoking meat for about a year but have never smoked a turkey. I have a couple questions if any one could help me.
1. When and how long do I add smoke?
2. What temp do I start at, I have read on here to start around 280-300 deg. is that about right?
3. The turkey is about 22lbs, (MUCH larger than I wanted) so I am guessing about 7 hours till it is done?
4. I am aware of getting the turkey out of the danger zone of 140 deg. I think I read on here to have it above 140 within a 3 hour time of starting. Is this correct?
Thanks for all of your help. Any other tips and hints would ba a big help.

 

[SmokinAl]

I keep the smoke rolling the whole time.
280-300 is perfect.
I spatchcocked on that size & smoked it at 280 & it only took a little over 3 hours.
You have 4 hours to get it above 140, but at 280-300 you will get there easily.
Pull the turkey out when the breast hits 157, then after a short rest the carryover cooking will bring it up to 165.
Al

 

[cmayna]

Herm,
What type of smoker are you using? I'm spatch cocking another bird on Xmas day. Will be done on the weber, hot and fast at 325-350 for 3 hours max. Yeah, a 22# bird would not fit on my weber spatchcocked. Mine is 15# this time.

 

[smoking gun]

That's a BIG turkey for smoking. Al has a good suggestion to spatchcock it along with his other suggestions. I would also brine it if you can, and remember to get your rub under the skin on the meat. Injecting is also a good way to get flavor inside. Good luck!

SmokinAl! good to see you still around my friend!

 

[kit s]

herm...never done one quite that large, but I would recommend doing a brine .In the brine solution I recommend using #1 insta cure or pink salt. Can find a good brine calculator of diggingdogfarm.com. It is great tool to get proper ratios.
The insta cure (nitrate) will pretty much kill or retard bacteria development (birds chicken or turkeys is about only items that i smoke where i use insta cure don't like the pink salt ) . I also loosen skin and inject. I also use a meat thermometer inserted to watch meat internal temp. For me, i pull turkey out when it reaches 160.
Don't know how much time you have before doing this project, but the brine method does take a couple days at least.
kit

 

[herm]

Herm,
What type of smoker are you using? I'm spatch cocking another bird on Xmas day. Will be done on the weber, hot and fast at 325-350 for 3 hours max. Yeah, a 22# bird would not fit on my weber spatchcocked. Mine is 15# this time.

I am using a Master Built XL propane smoker. The racks are 15 1/4" wide and 22" long. I just measured the turkey (still in the wrapper) and it is 10" wide and 12" long so I am hoping it will fit. My wife bought the turkey and didn't know we should have gotten a 11 to 14 lb instead of a big one.

 

[herm]

Thanks for the quick replies! I won't have time to brine the turkey so I will do that the next time. Yea this is a big turkey, my wife bought two turkeys at Thanksgiving one to smoke and one for Thanksgiving day. We get a house full this time of the year. She didn't know to buy a smaller turkey for smoking.
What is Spatchcook? and how is it done? I have never heard of this. I can see there is a lot to learn here. It looks like I should do my turkey this way?
Thanks again for all the help!

 

[jbfromtennessee]

spatchcock is basically removing the back bone and flattening out the breast for more even and shorter cooking time.