turkey brining

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chefmjg

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Mar 24, 2011
87
10
from york county va
I am going to brine a turkey already have the brine, and usually I brine it in a bucket. I do not have room in my fridge and was wondering if I can brine it in a stock pot. Just do not want the turkey to have a funny taste

                                                           Thank you mike
 
yes but you do need it to be cold -- use a cooler as a substitute fridge: load up the cooler with ice water and submerge the stock pot as far as possible in the ice water. Add more ice if necessary to keep the cooler very cold (definitely below 40).

If your cooler isnt big enough to do that, shift stuff out of the fridge into the cooler to make room in the fridge.
 
I have read that brining in an aluminum stockpot is not recommended. A stainless stockpot is OK. I use a brining bag to line my aluminum stockpot. 
 
Recently I started brining using 2.5 gallon zip-lock bags. I then can put them in the fridge without taking up a lot of space. Another plus is that you can remove most of the air from the bag. This makes it more compact and also uses less brine to surround the birds.

I have two 11.5 pounders going in the fridge right now, destined for smoke in the early morning. hopefully with Q-View.

Cheers
 
 
I use a lidded bucket and place it in a cooler, then put a 2-4 bags of ice around it. (This would be out in the garage.) Since the bucket is taller than the top of the cooler, I layer newspaper over the top, and finally fold a sleeping bag over the newspaper. Since you're only brining overnight or 24 hours tops, this keeps the turkey plenty cool enough.
 
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