Rotisserie Turkey?

[texomakid]

I've spun several birds. I love 'em but several have made good points here. I've got 2 drive motors - one uses 2 D cell batteries and the other is 110 AC. The Battery powered one will not pull a large turkey and I also use a counter weight to help balance it out (far right in the WSM pic.) I'm fortunate enough to have plenty of room in the WSM 22" and the Yoder 640. I can actually do 2 whole chickens at the same time in the Yoder.

If space for spinning is a concern, is Spatchcock an option?

I purchased the WSM set up from the Cajun Bandit and I got the Yoder set up from a guy on Ebay. Had to do a few mods to the Yoder but it was worth it.

I know none of this is apples to apples but hopefully you'll find a solution on your Weber Genius.

Rotisserie cooking ROCKS!

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

If space for spinning is a concern, is Spatchcock an option?

Not really with the Genesis 310. I've done spatchcocking before and I like the results with chicken, but I don't think there is enough surface area for a bird larger than 10-12 pounds. Demand for smoked turkey has increased over the years among our Thanksgiving crowd and I need to try to do a bigger bird.

I'll continue to be alert for opportunities to adapt my Genesis but I keep coming back to the probable need to get a different rig to rotisserie cook a larger turkey.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I put the two rotiessiere holders at right angles to each other, with the one on the leg end set to go into the breast and back. Doing this lets you get the thing balanced so the motor doesn’t strain.

Apologies, but I'm having trouble visualizing this set up. My holders have 4 prongs, two long and two short. Are you saying you orient the holders so that the long prongs are 90 degrees apart leg end to neck end? How does this help maintain balance? Again, apologies for being thick.

Thanks!

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I have spun mine on the weber kettle for the last few years, comes out great.

I'm thinking a weber kettle is the best option for me if I want to spin a turkey. How big of a bird to you spin? I'd like to try to spin a 16 pound turkey. Do you use the weber rotisserie kit or have you upgraded the motor?

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[JLeonard]

Looking at this from a totally different direction....What about doing two smaller birds if you have the room?

Jim

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Looking at this from a totally different direction....What about doing two smaller birds if you have the room?

Jim

Your suggestion prompted me to get up and take a couple of measurements.

The Genesis 310 is really a pretty small grill. It has three burners, laid out front to back. There are about 17.5 inches between the left-most and right-most burners, so to cook two turkeys "indirect", their combined length would have to be less than that, maybe 15 inches would work without getting parts of the turkeys too close to the burner. Perhaps more critically, there is only 5 inches between the burner and the rotisserie spit. That means the diameter of the turkey while spinning must be less than 10 inches, practically, less than, say, 9.

The smallest turkey I've ever seen at the grocery store weighed about 10 pounds. I may try to measure one of these small turkeys but I doubt if two would fit in the Weber. I'm also pretty sure a single 10 pound bird would be larger than 10 inches in diameter.

I appreciate the suggestion. Thank you! Meanwhile, I've been scanning the local grocery stores to find a boneless breast and a couple legs and thighs, as per chopsaw 's suggestion. I want to test that approach, but availability of turkey pieces is limited this time of year. I'm also scanning for used Weber kettles, preferably with the rotisserie accessory included.

 

[JLeonard]

Another thought.....A smaller whole bird and just a turkey breast? Just trying to give some ideas.

Jim

 

[chopsaw]

I'd like to try to spin a 16 pound turkey

The Onlyfire spinner 6013 for a Weber Genesis says it holds 40 lbs.
Is that the one you have ?

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Another thought.....A smaller whole bird and just a turkey breast? Just trying to give some ideas.

Jim

Another good thought. Thank you! I will look into some sizes

My group likes the dark meat, so with a small bird and a breast, I likely wouldn't have enough. I'd have to put a couple legs and thighs in the smoker anyway.

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

The Onlyfire spinner 6013 for a Weber Genesis says it holds 40 lbs.
Is that the one you have ?

Edited to correct: I actually have a OneGrill with a 13W motor and a 3/8 in. spit rod.

 

[chopsaw]

So are you saying it won't fit in the grill ?
If they spec 40 pounds it should do 16 .
Personally I'd have to try it before saying it won't work . If it works , get a used kettle anyway . Lol .
I'm trying to find a 3/8 shaft to fit my 310 .

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

So are you saying it won't fit in the grill ?
If they spec 40 pounds it should do 16 .
Personally I'd have to try it before saying it won't work . If it works , get a used kettle anyway . Lol .
I'm trying to find a 3/8 shaft to fit my 310 .

Yes. It won't fit in the grill. Sorry I didn't make that clear right away.

Edited to add: I double checked my rotisserie. I thought I had to OnlyFire but I actually have a OneGrill unit featuring a 13W motor. They don't say it's weight capacity, just that it's capable of handling "tough loads" and it does have a 3/8 in spit rod.

 

[clifish]

I'm thinking a weber kettle is the best option for me if I want to spin a turkey. How big of a bird to you spin? I'd like to try to spin a 16 pound turkey. Do you use the weber rotisserie kit or have you upgraded the motor?

Thanks for the suggestion.

I believe mine was about 16lbs, I just used the only fire kit from Amazon. tied up the legs and wing and used a counter weight. I tighten the thumb screws on the "forks" as they sometimes like to come loose.

I used charcoal baskets on each side of the bird with a foil pan in the middle, I have done it covered and also without the lid.

Amazon.com

or this one that comes with the charcoal baskets

Amazon.com

 

[chopsaw]

Not trying to push this at you , but had my 310 apart for cleaning . So I figured I would take a measurement . That's the spit from my Kettle spinner , but probably pretty close . If anything yours probably sits a bit higher with the brackets and the motor .
Set up like this there's 8 " tight . Leave the middle burner off and cover with foil . Figure a way to support a drain pan .

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

Not trying to push this at you , but had my 310 apart for cleaning . So I figured I would take a measurement . That's the spit from my Kettle spinner , but probably pretty close . If anything yours probably sits a bit higher with the brackets and the motor .
Set up like this there's 8 " tight . Leave the middle burner off and cover with foil . Figure a way to support a drain pan .
View attachment 698088

Excellent idea! Thank you!

I thought all along that if I removed the flavorizer bars to make more space, I'd have to remove the middle burner and cut off gas flow to it. I never thought I could simply wrap it in foil and just leave it "off". So yes, that creates almost 3 more inches of radius (just under 8 inches); with this arrangement, I could accommodate a 16 inch diameter bird. That's probably enough for a 16-ish pound bird but I'll do a little checking. A couple well-placed bricks would support the drip pan just fine. I really do think this approach will solve my problem, although I now have a couple of other very good ideas to pursue from this thread for Thanksgiving turkey as well.

(I almost pulled the trigger on a Weber kettle and rotisserie accessory an hour or so ago. That would have cost me about $250, so I've saved that money, at least for now. )

Incidentally, I checked clearance from the spit to the top of the cover, and it becomes binding at just under 8 inches as well. So I have just under 16 inches total clearance. It remains to check out the dimensions of a 16-ish pound bird.

Thanks again to everyone for the help and support!

 

[chopsaw]

Here's something else I do sometimes . If I get bigger birds ( chickens ) I'll use some type of produce in the cavity to act as a " spacer " to center and help hold the bird on the shaft .
It's hard to see , but there's an onion centered on the spit , then wedged into the cavity .
I've also used potatoes . For a turkey you could use a sweet potato , large onion , or even a bunch of celery .

 

[gmc2003]

I'm not sure if this applies to spinning a turkey, but I seem to remember that it's not advised to smoke any poultry over 12 to 16 pounds. I think it had something to do with safety, but I'm not sure. I'll do some searching and see if I can come up with the thread(s)

Chris

 

[PulledPorkSandwich]

I'm not sure if this applies to spinning a turkey, but I seem to remember that it's not advised to smoke any poultry over 12 to 16 pounds. I think it had something to do with safety, but I'm not sure. I'll do some searching and see if I can come up with the thread(s)

Chris

I'll let one of the experts here help with that. But, just to be clear, when I "smoke" a turkey, I cook it at 325-350 box temp until the IT is around 160 in the breast and 175 in the thigh. That's about how we cook them in the house, except outside, I use wood chunks to impart a smokey flavor.

I used to use my stick burner for turkey. With that, I tried to maintain 250 in the smoker and cook to the same internal temperature. I did it quite a few times and never had a problem, but stopped using the stick burner because I tended to ruin the skin and the bird often came out smelling and tasting like an ash tray.

I suspect if you tried to cold smoke a turkey, you'd have to be very careful. Cold smoking is over my head for a variety of reasons.

 

[gmc2003]

I'll let one of the experts here help with that. But, just to be clear, when I "smoke" a turkey, I cook it at 325-350 box temp until the IT is around 160 in the breast and 175 in the thigh. That's about how we cook them in the house, except outside, I use wood chunks to impart a smokey flavor.

I used to use my stick burner for turkey. With that, I tried to maintain 250 in the smoker and cook to the same internal temperature. I did it quite a few times and never had a problem, but stopped using the stick burner because I tended to ruin the skin and the bird often came out smelling and tasting like an ash tray.

I suspect if you tried to cold smoke a turkey, you'd have to be very careful. Cold smoking is over my head for a variety of reasons.

I'm pretty sure it only applies to smoking poultry with a pit temp of 225* or so. It was just meant to be a heads up post.

Chris

 

[johnmeyer]

Apologies, but I'm having trouble visualizing this set up. My holders have 4 prongs, two long and two short. Are you saying you orient the holders so that the long prongs are 90 degrees apart leg end to neck end? How does this help maintain balance? Again, apologies for being thick.

Thanks!