Is there an easy way to figure...

[stevnjohn]

I have a 21 lb turkey and I want to figure to try to figure out approximately how many hours it'll take to smoke it at 240 degrees. Does anyone have a formula for a way to figure this out? Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

Steve

 

[pops6927]

Are you curing it first?  Or just smoking it?  if just smoking it, you want to make sure you don't exceed 4 hours to get it to 140°; otherwise 'bad' bacteria (like botulism) can form and rapidly multiply and land your party in the ER.  It is that serious.  You would be better served to bake it, either in the oven or smoker, at 325° - higher temp, shorter time.  I cure my turkeys prior to smoking and cooking which greatly retards bacterial growth, allowing me to cook at 225° for about 8 hours or so.  If not cured, then bake at min. 325° until reaching 160° internal minimum.

 

[pops6927]

You should not attempt anything bigger than 13 lbs. in the smoker at that temp.

 

[dirtsailor2003]

As Pops said that big of a bird is going to require higher temps to cook it safely. Another alternative would be to half the bird or spatchcock it.

A general rule of thumb at lower cooking temps is 30 minutes per pound.

 

[nicodemus]

Beer butt turkey, if it can be done with chicken why not. I made my first one five years ago works great. I use an electric smoker hickery chips. Inject the turkey, place fluids in a tall wide mouth mason jar heated up. By heating your fluids it reduces your cook time and can heat a 20 lb bird at 225° to an internal temp of 140° in less than 4 hours. I always put tin foil over my breast for first 4 hours to keep extra moist. Never open smoker until you reach 140° internal. May be a little off the forum topic but turkey always turns out great for me.

 

[stevnjohn]

I'm going to brine it first, is that like curing it? Thanks for the advise, I'll definitely cook at a higher temp. If smoke it at 350 degrees what would be a good rule of thumb for mins/pound. I will also cook it to internal temp of 175 degrees, to insure it is fully cooked. 

Steve

 

[stevnjohn]

I'm going to brine it first, is that like curing it? Thanks for the advise, I'll definitely cook at a higher temp. If smoke it at 350 degrees what would be a good rule of thumb for mins/pound. I will also cook it to internal temp of 175 degrees, to insure it is fully cooked. 

Steve

 

[pops6927]

No, there is flavor brining and curing brining.  One just adds a flavor profile while the latter cures the meat like hams or bacons.  Here are my two curing brines:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/a/pops6927s-curing-brines-regular-and-lo-salt

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[h1]Pops6927's Curing Brines - Regular and Lo-Salt[/h1]

By: Pops6927

Posted 10/27/14 • Last updated 10/27/14 • 2,003 views • 0 comments

These are my Curing brines for pork, beef (corned and dried), poultry, and so on.

Regular Curing Brine:

1 gallon of clean water

1 cup plain, regular non-iodized table salt

1 cup sugar or sucrolose

1 cup brown sugar or sucrolose equiv.

1 tablespoon of Cure#1

Lo-Salt Curing Brine:

1 gallon of clean water

½ cup plain, regular non-iodized rable salt

½ cup sugar or sucrolose 

½ cup brown sugar or sucrolose equiv.

1 tablespoon of Cure #1

mix in food-safe container, stir until clear.

Add meat.  Do not add different species of meats, but you can add pieces of the same species.

Refrigerate 1 to 21 days, depending on thickness of meat. 

Up to 2 inches, 1-10 days.

2 - 4 inches, 5 - 15 days, may require injecting to cure from the inside-out as well as from the outside-in.

4 inches and larger.  15 - 21 days, requires injecting.

Injecting - use a Morton's injection 4 oz. manual injection pump with the Broadcast needle.

morton_meatpump_LRG.jpg

• pops6927
• Oct 27, 2014

morton curing-needle_sm.jpg

• pops6927
• Oct 27, 2014

or equivalent.

Brine can become frothy (ropy).  It has both salt and sugar in it.  It also is inputting curing ingredients into the meat and oozing out blood and plasma.  Just dump the brine and make up fresh and continue curing should that happen.  Make sure you keep it at 38° - 40°.  

Weigh down meat into curing brine with half-filled ziploc bags of water on top.

No further mixing or stirring required, let it cure until done.  Meats will come out of the brine wish a distinct grayish look.  This is normal.

Cure #1:

I use this as reference:

Cure no 1.jpg

• pops6927
• Oct 23, 2014

Computing equivalency, for 100 gallons of curing brine, you add 24 lbs. of curing salt to 100 gallons of water and mix.

That is .24 lbs, or 3.84 oz. of curing salt to 1 gallon of water maximum.

My recipe calls for 1 tablespoon of curing salt to 1 gallon of water.  A level tablespoon is .88 of an ounce.  Heaping is approx. 1 ounce.  Either is fine.  Neither comes close to the maximum amount allowed, but just enough to do the job.  Curing at Maximum, plus with injection, requires 48 hours of cure time maximum.  This process uses less than one third the curing salt and a longer curing time to tenderize and flavor the meat.

You must cover the product until it floats off the bottom of the container, then weight it down to stay submersed in the brine, leaving no area to be exposed to air.  You must keep at 38° to 40° until curing time is over.  Remove from brine, put or hang in smokehouse or smoker.  I personally go from refrigeration to heat with no wait time myself.  There is different thoughts, whether to allow a pellicle to form or not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pellicle_(cooking)

A pellicle is mainly, to my knowledge, allowed to form on fish prior to smoking.  We were only 30 miles from Salmon River in Pulaski, NY, a very well known salmon run.  We had many bring us their salmon to process and usually allowed a pellicle to form  But, pork and beef are not tender like fish.

Anything I have left out or any questions, be sure to PM me!  Don't hesitate!

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The curing brines contain CURING SALT #1 - a mixture of 93.75% plain salt and 6.25% SODIUM NITRITE, which changes the chemistry of the meat into a cured product.  You cure plain pork into hams and bacons; otherwise you have just cooked pork.  My curing brine recipes are ¼ the strength of the maximum allowed by law; curing longer with a milder curing brine yields better flavor and a more tender product.

Flavor brining just adds different flavors to the meat, it does NOT chemically change the meat like a curing brine does.

 

[pops6927]

The best rule of thumb is your thermometer and a log book - anything to write down your smoke to record your results and modify it on your next one.