First turkeys for the WSM

[Workaholic]

The oldest daughter, her husband, and 3 of the grandchildren came down for Thanksgiving. The wife wanted a big bird, like 25#, and I told her why not do 2-3 smaller instead. Then I talked her into me smoking them, to save room in the oven. So off she goes, with my instructions: we want them tall, not wide, so I can get them on the top shelf of the smoker. I was expecting 2 12-14# birds. She came back with 3, all 8-9#. Ok, so we have the right weight. And off I go to put them away.

Wait a minute... something looked funny on the label. Oh.... they're breasts. Bone in, skin on breasts. I believe they are sometimes called "hotel turkeys".

So, after a bunch of research, since I hadn't done a turkey on the WSM before, I decide I'm going to run hot & fast. Planned temp: 325-350.

Thawed them in the fridge. Last night I unwrapped them, drained off the solution & blood, and stuck them back in the fridge to air dry the skin. Got the smoker out where it needed to be, too.

This morning started off good, except I might as well be in a refrigerator when I'm outside. Damp and a balmy 34 out. Got out there to light things off about 9:30 or so. Still had left over lump from the last smoke sitting in the coal ring, so decided to leave it, and throw the lit coals on top. Lit off two weber chimneys of RO. Took forever to get it lit. Wasn't the charcoal, I dont think. It was a brand new bag, that had been in the house, since it was bought. So either I had bad paper for lighting it, or the weather was playing a bigger factor than I thought. Finally got them lit and in the ring. Threw almost half a bag more on top, and waited for it to settle in, with all 3 intakes wide open. The lump burned off fairly quickly, with me seeing temps at 420+. Seemed to settle in at about 320. So I go in and prep the turkeys, already flustered by things so far. Get the turkeys all wiped down with melted butter. Throw the rub on. Toss some rub on the cavity, too. And onto the smoker it went... temp didn't stay where I expected. Then it finally settled in... at 255. What did I do wrong? Was my thought. Nothing that I could come up with. And then I realized I hadn't put any wood on it. Rush in, grab my new bad of cherry, and throw some on. Kept the door open for a bit until the cherry started to take off, to try to keep the bad smoke from the meat.

Fought with the darn thing a bit longer. Lit another chimney and put it on. Up to 270. And 29 minutes later, back to 255. Lit another 2 chimneys. ( Did I mention they are taking forever to light?) By this time I'm out of RO regular, and onto Kroger brand, but verified it was made by RO. After the last 2 chimneys, it settled in at about 265. I decided that was good enough. I was tired of fighting the charcoal, trying to get a temp that wasn't going to happen today. With all the fighting I did with things, the thought of what else can go wrong today?

1 probe read almost 20 degrees higher than the other 2. I figure I just got it in the wrong place. And what else went wrong? I remembered, once I had them up to 120, that I had forgotten to inject.

Next post, the pictures I remembered to take

 

[Workaholic]

 

[Workaholic]

And yes, it seems I can't keep my finger out of the pictures

 

[TNJAKE]

They look good!

 

[Workaholic]

Lessons learned.

1. I suspect I would have been able to get the target temp if I hadn't used a drip pan. The skin turned out rubbery because of the low temp.

2. More wood. I think it would have had a smokier flavor with more wood. There isn't much of a smoke flavor to it.

3. Fill the ring about 3/4 full of charcoal before putting the lit on there. Might not have had to keep adding throughout the cook.

4. Not sure on the rub. Since the skin is rubbery, I don't actually know how it tastes on the bird.

5. Plan even more time into the cook, just in case. Turkeys went on about 1030, with an expected finish time of 130. Because of the lack of heat, it took an extra 2 hours.

More to come after I think a bit more

 

[TNJAKE]

You should gently pull the skin back and rub the meat under the skin.

 

[JCAP]

Looks good. Gotta enjoy the time out by the smoker.

 

[SecondHandSmoker]

You know what they say about the best laid plans...

But those breasts look they turned out nicely.

 

[noboundaries]

How full was the ash bowl from the previous smoke or smokes? If it was relatively full, that could have an impact on chamber temps by restricting flow of air and dropping of new ash. I've done high temp smokes in my WSM before with temps in the 20s and 30s with no problem.

 

[cornman]

First off, that turkey looks delicious and if the family was happy with it, that makes it all worth it.

You kept saying that your WSM was having trouble holding temp. I’m thinking if it was cold and dry outside that is going to draw the heat out relatively quickly. Also adding that much meat to your smoker is going to eat up a bunch of heat especially early on. I agree that if there was a considerable amount of ash, that could be a factor too. Just things to ponder...

In the end, you were able to produce some nice looking turkey and that’s what’s important. Smoked turkey is tough to beat, great job!

 

[Workaholic]

How full was the ash bowl from the previous smoke or smokes? If it was relatively full, that could have an impact on chamber temps by restricting flow of air and dropping of new ash. I've done high temp smokes in my WSM before with temps in the 20s and 30s with no problem.

Don't know yet. Forgot to close the exhaust earlier. I'll have that answer tomorrow. Keep in mind this is a 22" WSM.

 

[Workaholic]

Thank you for all the kind words. I made sure that the bowl was empty before I lit her off. The wife willingly ate the skin. I'm not a skin person, though. She said it had a bit of a sweet taste to it. Everybody liked it and said they could taste the smoke, however I couldn't. Did come out nice and juicy, though. With any luck, I'll have time before I go to work, to check the ashes. Will report on that when I have the answer to that question.

 

[Workaholic]

Alrighty. Just went and checked. Even after me accidentally leaving the exhaust open for a good hour after closing the intakes, ashes are only piled to about an inch and a half below the charcoal grate. At this point, the only thing I can do is guess it's one of a few items:
1. 25+ pounds of turkey soaked up a lot more heat than expected.
2. Having the drip pan in there was a more significant heat shield, and most of the heat went straight up the sides, and out the vent.
3. Somehow, despite buying the charcoal from 2 different stores, almost a month apart, I wound up with 2 bags of bad charcoal.

At this point, looking back at things, and knowing I struggled to even get the chimneys lit, I believe it's a combination of 1 and 3. 25+ pounds is a lot of cold mass to put on there. And I think I got charcoal that wasn't that good. Considering that while it was burning off the left over lump at first, with the drip pan in place, it was hitting 400+, I dont think the drip pan was a factor. No matter how many lit coals I had in there, it would eventually settle right back to 250-270, and then happily hum along. The only thing I can do, at this point, is wait for my next smoke, and see what the results are.

I do know, the last smoke was lump, and despite the different sizes pieces, i didn't have much problem controlling the temperature, and was able to run a fairly steady 225 or so for the entire time. I do know at first I thought I was having problems with the temp, but it eventually settled in after an hour or so.

There is one other possibility that I just thought of. This was only my second smoke on her. There is the possibility that she just hasn't settled in yet, since she's still almost brand new. I do have another smoke already planned, but it's at least a week and a half away. We shall see what it brings.

 

[Workaholic]

Lessons learned, continued.

6. Smoke wood. Don't forget to mix it in with the unlit charcoal. Putting it on top of the lit coals as an afterthought makes for white smoke.

7. Heat sinks are not necessarily needed. A water pan/drip pan, empty, provides a baffle for the heat, so the smoking is indirect. Might have to look into a diffuser to take the place of the water pan for certain items, like poultry.

8. If the next smoke or two of hot & fast have the same issue with heat, may need to consider lump for hot & fast smokes.

9. Might consider getting lighting cubes for a faster & more efficient way of lighting the charcoal.

Random after action thought. Once the charcoal started to light, it wasn't just white smoke I was seeing come off the chimneys. I wish I had taken a picture. The smoke was a deep dark grey with a dark yellowish tinge to it. Not sure that's the right way to describe it. Never seen that before with charcoal. Wondering if perhaps the 2 bags of charcoal actually did come from the same batch, despite different locations of purchase, purchased almost a month apart, and one being the Kroger brand, the other being the RO red white and blue bag. Also wondering if perhaps the that these bags came from either had something extra that they had been exposed to, or if perhaps they had too much binding agent, or something. This is the first bad experience with RO I've had. Never had a big issue like this before.

 

[SmokinAl]

They look darn good from here!
Al

 

[noboundaries]

I have hundreds of smokes on my 22.5" WSM, so let's see if any of that experience helps. After reading through your "lessons learned," I don't want you throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Conditions: 34F. Brrrr. Wait, it's 35F outside as I type. Brrrr. Yes, a low temp can impact WSM performance, but that's not your complete issue.

What you have right in your assumptions.
1. 25 lbs of turkey is a big heat sink.
2. Your ash pan was NOT too full.
3. Burying wood chunks in the charcoal is correct. Doing so allows them to pre-heat and burn cleaner, often with no white or grey smoke, or very little. Plus, they flavor the meat over a longer period of time.
4. More wood. Eh, depends on what wood you're using and if you have water in the water pan (we'll get to the water pan later). I always dry smoke and bury 6-8 chunks of hickory, oak, or any nut/fruit wood in my cold pile. If you ever try mesquite, use half as much wood.
5. Loading your fire ring. You'll develop your own process, but you're on track.

What you have partially right.
1. Heat sinks are not necessarily needed, then you mention baffles like a drip pan. So, understand, a heat sink is water, bricks, clay, sand, or any other material you put in the water pan. Yes, the meat is a heat sink, too, but much tastier than the smoked bricks or sand.

The WSM is designed to mix the air. Still, the outer edges are hotter than the center, and the lower grate, if the empty water pan is left in the smoker, will be 5-15F cooler than the top grate. The top grate is hotter under the vent by as much as 50F. One solution is to rotate your lid 60 degrees or so every so often. I've tested everything mentioned.

And, I've got to go. Kids and grandkid are about to walk through the door. I'll come back later.

 

[Workaholic]

On heat sinks, I was referring to filling the water pan with sand, bricks, lava rocks, etc. Heat sinks, in my opinion, are good for carry over, especially on an offsets, from opening the door. When I had an offset, I used them with very good results. The only time I can see a heat sink being needed on a WSM is to slow a temp drop when you run low on fuel. A baffle on the other hand, is just something to keep the meat from being directly effected by the heat. Filling the water pan with sand does both, provides a baffle from the direct heat, and provides some carry over for opening the lid, such as is needed for mopping.

Regarding the lesson learned from the wood. It's more of a reminder for myself and everyone else. That was a screw up on my part, not mixing in the wood. This time I used cherry (first time using it). I do think I'm on the right path with filling the ring. For this type of cook, next time I'll be trying it. Fill the ring, bury the wood, then 2 lit chimneys on top, put her together and see where it settles in. The way I did it this time of putting the 2 lit chimneys in and then topping off with another 2 chimneys of unlit, and then wait for all to ash over, I got from the weber virtual board. I'm fairly sure there's a better way, as you burn off more charcoal than needed before putting things together that way.

I'm aware that the exhaust has a higher temp right under it, but was not aware it was that much. I do try to make sure it is not directly over the meat. I haven't tried moving it during the course of a cook. I may try that during my next one. Thank you for your input so far. I appreciate it, and am all ears for any further input you may have.

 

[noboundaries]

Okay, you're definitely on the right track. Two bags of bad charcoal...possible. Charcoal will absorb moisture, especially in a high humidity area like Kansas, but I don't think bad charcoal was the problem. Lump will definitely burn hotter and cleaner, but keep reading.

You wrote: The way I did it this time of putting the 2 lit chimneys in and then topping off with another 2 chimneys of unlit, and then wait for all to ash over, I got from the weber virtual board. I'm fairly sure there's a better way, as you burn off more charcoal than needed before putting things together that way.

You just identified your problem. Lit charcoal has to transfer heat to the cold charcoal. To do so effectively where you are trying to control chamber temperature with air flow, the hot charcoal needs access to all available air to burn cleanly and effectively. Adding cold charcoal on top of hot charcoal not only restricts the available air to the hot coals, it transfers heat WAY too quickly to the cold briquettes, cooling the fire. Whoever suggested that tip above is...I'll stop there.

Lighting cubes definitely work better than straight paper. I've started using a cut up pressed paper egg carton (cut a 4 egg section), and one paper towel with a little cooking oil (new, used, or old) lightly drizzled on it. Burns hot and starts a chimney better than straight paper. I was never crazy about the cubes. BUT, don't use too much oil or you get a LOT of black smoke, which doesn't hurt anything in the chimney but it isn't pretty.

The baby's still in the bathwater, giggling and smiling.