10 lb Turkey On The 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker

Pre-Thanksgiving 10 lb. turkey on the 18.5" smoker!  I seasoned it with Weber's “Kick'n Chicken” Seasoning and injected it with chicken broth. The skin was sprayed with vegetable oil.  I probably should have tied the legs to make it look nicer, but it really doesn't seem to have affected the overall cook.

While I did a brine, it wasn't in it for more than 3 hours.  A quick decision to do a smoke today meant I could not do the standard 24 hour brine.  It would have been better tasting if it was brined longer though!

I put some celery sticks in the cavity.  You can see it in the top photo.  The top photo was taken at 2.5 hours into the cook. The pit temperature was averaging 285 degrees.

This turkey is dinner for my family.  I’ll have just a little for now, but the rest will be spread over the next week for my meals.  I'm still on a diet, you know!

The middle photo is the finished product after 4.5 hours of smoking time.  It was wet and drizzling outside with an outside temperature in the upper 30's.  Even so, I was able to keep the pit temperature around 285 degrees and at times it hit 300 degrees.  The skin was crisp but could have been better.  A higher temp could probably solve this.  Next time, I'll brine it properly to get more flavor into the meat, but at least the turkey was not dry.  Still, it could have been better.  I'm happy with it as a first attempt at smoking a turkey, but I think had I waited a little longer for a clearer "thin blue smoke" before putting the turkey in the smoker, the turkey would have tasted better.  This turkey had a bit of a creosote taste to it.  This can happen if you put meat in a smoker too early before the coals have a chance to stabilize during the initial burning stage.  I won't make that mistake again.  Best to wait before putting on your bird!

Overall, the turkey came out decent for a first attempt at smoking a big bird.  I'll do better next time.

The bottom photo is the pull tab off of the Kingsford Professional Competition Briquet bag.  It's a "badge of honor" to get these off without tearing them!