Thanksgiving Turkey Success

[cjclemens]

This year marks my second attempt at Turkey in my home-made UDS, and my first major success. To give credit where credit is due, I got the general idea of how to do it from one of Malcom Reed's videos on How to BBQ right. I did the overnight brine, cajun butter injection, and dry rub. The big difference was that I was using a huge, 24# turkey. I've seen a lot of mixed opinions on what size turkey you can smoke. Lots of articles say you can't smoke anything bigger than 15#, but I've seen some people post that, if your cooker can keep an appropriate temperature, you shouldn't have any problems. Since I'm still a novice with the UDS, I did have a little trouble keeping the temp pegged in one place. Temp bounced between 350 and 375 - most likely because I messed with the controls too much. Anyway, 5 hours later, breast temp made it to 165, and I pulled it off the smoker for a short rest. Long story short, when I sliced into the breast, juice went everywhere. It was the most moist and tender turkey I've ever had. Unfortunately, due to current events, we only had a couple guests over to share it with - but everyone was impressed (especially myself). The only real problem that I ran into was that, in the last 30-45 minutes of cook time, I had trouble keeping the temp at 350. Even with all dampers wide open and at least 1/4 basket of charcoal left, it was struggling to maintain 315. My best guess is that the volume of drippings coming off the turkey might have doused part of the fire. I wasn't 100% confident that I'd be able to maintain a high enough temp, so I ran it without a baffle or drip pan. I may have to experiment with that for my next cook.

 

[jcam222]

Sounds like you nailed it. Gotta post up the pics! We like the food porn.

 

[JLeonard]

SOUNDS like a great bird. But to echo jcam222 without pics did it even happen? LOL, just messing with ya. I love when a cook turns out right.
Jim

 

[SmokinAl]

Good Lord, I would sure love to see some photo’s of that turkey!
Al

 

[tag0401]

Reveal the turkey!!!!! It sounds great.

 

[cjclemens]

I wish I had some photo evidence of this one. Unfortunately, I was so busy with other chores that I never got a chance to snap some pics before the wife had it carved up and ready to serve. I'll be sure to come armed with hard proof next time.