Smoked Turkey thighs and drumsticks on a pellet grill

[MauleGuy]

Looks like we are having a Zoom Thanksgiving around here. Over the past several years I have been cooking Turkey hind quarters on my pellet grill (currently Louisiana Grills L900). We use a seven spice brine overnight then put the quarters on at ~225F looking for about 170-175F internal temp (tricky measuring with all the bones). The turkey has always come out really tasty and even vegetarian sister in law will eat turkey from my grill.

Drill this year is I again get to cook the Turkey (BTW no one in family really likes the breast meat which is the reason for the quarters) and then folks come by and pick up turkey and dessert and we all meet virtually. Not really what we would prefer but we really would like to see Thanksgiving 2021 so there it is.

This year butchers could not get quarters so I am doing Drums and Thighs.

Any suggestions on cooking temp or temps? I tried boosting the heat to 350F last year for the last 30-45 minutes to crisp the skin but did not seem to help that much. Also I know the drumsticks are going to cook faster than the thighs but have never cooked them separately before...any thoughts on timing difference?

I have been complaining about the temperature spread between the right and left of the L900 (~20-30F) , but think I will use it to my advantage this time and put the drums on the cool side.

Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

 

[tallbm]

Looks like we are having a Zoom Thanksgiving around here. Over the past several years I have been cooking Turkey hind quarters on my pellet grill (currently Louisiana Grills L900). We use a seven spice brine overnight then put the quarters on at ~225F looking for about 170-175F internal temp (tricky measuring with all the bones). The turkey has always come out really tasty and even vegetarian sister in law will eat turkey from my grill.

Drill this year is I again get to cook the Turkey (BTW no one in family really likes the breast meat which is the reason for the quarters) and then folks come by and pick up turkey and dessert and we all meet virtually. Not really what we would prefer but we really would like to see Thanksgiving 2021 so there it is.

This year butchers could not get quarters so I am doing Drums and Thighs.

Any suggestions on cooking temp or temps? I tried boosting the heat to 350F last year for the last 30-45 minutes to crisp the skin but did not seem to help that much. Also I know the drumsticks are going to cook faster than the thighs but have never cooked them separately before...any thoughts on timing difference?

I have been complaining about the temperature spread between the right and left of the L900 (~20-30F) , but think I will use it to my advantage this time and put the drums on the cool side.

Any wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Hi there and welcome!

I smoke my turkey and chicken at 325F the entire time and get edible skin and often crispy skin as long as I dont cover the meat before serving. Once covering steam builds up and uncrisps the skin. Go higher the whole time for pretty much ensuring crispy skin.

I run an electric smoker and use the AMNPS tray so I can control heat and smoke seperately. If you have a pellet tube you can do the same thing.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Nice safe way of having a family dinner. I go with tallbm.

Warren

 

[HalfSmoked]

Thanks for the like tallbm it is appreciated.

Warren