Thanksgiving turkey was so good, I'm smoking another one

[turick]

Hi all, Thanksgiving was the first time I smoked a turkey and it was incredibly good. Made the best stock I've ever made from the carcass for some soup!

Anyway, I'm getting ready to smoke another one tomorrow. I'm using a MES + AMAZN pellet tray. On the Thanksgiving bird, the skin turned out pretty much inedible. I'm wondering if it's even worth leaving it on at all... If I remove it, will the meat just get that much smokier? Or does the skin protect the meat in some way and keep it from drying out? I think I've heard that before but it doesn't seem like that bit of loose skin would really prevent moisture from leaving the meat.

 

[T2timmy]

Ive always smoked mine with skin on. Dont see why you would take it off. It def holds in the moisture.

 

[turick]

Well, I have to take it off after I smoke it because it doesn't get hot enough in my MES to make it crispy. So it's gotta go either before or after the smoke. Just wondering if anybody has any experience with removing it and how it effects the turkey.

 

[T2timmy]

I cant speak to that.. but you could always throw it in the oven or on a grill at higher temp to crisp the skin up. I turned my smoker up to 350 towards the end to crisp up the skin.