Just Placed On The Grate
One Hour Into The Cook
Two Hours Into The Cook
My second turkey of the season was smoked in the 18.5" Weber Smokey Mountain Smoker. It was a 17 lb turkey whereas the first turkey smoked almost two weeks ago was 10 lbs. I did not make a Turkey on Thanksgiving Day since my nephew provided it for our family party. He smoked it in his Traeger grill and also bacon wrapped it.
This time, I made sure the grate temperature was at least 325 degrees before putting the turkey in the smoker. I also made sure that I had a "thin blue smoke" rather than billowing white smoke. I kept the temperature of the smoker around 325 degrees for the majority of the cook. The ambient temperature outside was in the upper 40's. There wasn't much of a breeze outside, so the wind was not a factor. The air vents at the bottom of the smoker were at 3/4 open with the top vent fully open.
Like last time, I used Kingsford Professional Competition Briquets which burns a little hotter than the regular "Original" briquets without having to use lump charcoal. I did not put water in the water pan this time. I just foiled the pan and put it back in the smoker. The water pan in the smoker adds humidity and also regulates the temperature of the smoker for a lower temp. By eliminating the water, it allowed for a higher temperature in the smoker and I also did not notice a problem with the humidity.
A nice tip I learned from a member of the Facebook group, "Fans of the Smokey Mountain Smoker" was to mount the grate probe UNDER the grate instead of on top of the grate. It worked GREAT!! By just flipping the clip over and mounting it under the grate and inserting the probe into it kept the probe out of the way of the bird. Perfect! This turkey took up almost all of the space on the 18.5" grate, so mounting the probe underneath was a huge benefit. If you look closely in the photos just under the drumstick, you can see the probe and the edges of the clip. I'll be mounting the grate probe this way going forward for all future cooks.
I seasoned the turkey again with Weber's Kick'n Chicken seasoning but also added Rufus Teague Meat Rub sparingly. I also injected the turkey with Food Club's Chicken Broth. In addition, I brined the turkey this time for 12 hours before attempting to smoke it. 24 hours would have been better, but I wanted to cook the turkey and didn't want to wait. For the benefit of the skin, I sprayed the turkey with Vegetable Oil cooking spray so that the skin would brown up and stay crisp. I also did not stuff the cavity of the turkey this time. I didn't have anything to stuff it with, so I just skipped it. Stuffing the cavity is supposed to make the cooking more even due to the turkey having more mass, but I again, didn't notice any difference.
The finished turkey turned out great!! The higher temperature made a huge difference. The breast was very moist as was the dark meat. It didn't take as long as the 10 lb turkey that I cooked before. Having that higher temperature made for a faster cook even with a heavier bird and kept the skin nice and crisp too! I stopped the cook once the internal temperature of the breast hit 167 degrees. The temp in the thigh was at 175 degrees. Total cook time was 3 hours, 45 minutes. I think this is the way to smoke turkeys going forward.
This time, I made sure the grate temperature was at least 325 degrees before putting the turkey in the smoker. I also made sure that I had a "thin blue smoke" rather than billowing white smoke. I kept the temperature of the smoker around 325 degrees for the majority of the cook. The ambient temperature outside was in the upper 40's. There wasn't much of a breeze outside, so the wind was not a factor. The air vents at the bottom of the smoker were at 3/4 open with the top vent fully open.
Like last time, I used Kingsford Professional Competition Briquets which burns a little hotter than the regular "Original" briquets without having to use lump charcoal. I did not put water in the water pan this time. I just foiled the pan and put it back in the smoker. The water pan in the smoker adds humidity and also regulates the temperature of the smoker for a lower temp. By eliminating the water, it allowed for a higher temperature in the smoker and I also did not notice a problem with the humidity.
A nice tip I learned from a member of the Facebook group, "Fans of the Smokey Mountain Smoker" was to mount the grate probe UNDER the grate instead of on top of the grate. It worked GREAT!! By just flipping the clip over and mounting it under the grate and inserting the probe into it kept the probe out of the way of the bird. Perfect! This turkey took up almost all of the space on the 18.5" grate, so mounting the probe underneath was a huge benefit. If you look closely in the photos just under the drumstick, you can see the probe and the edges of the clip. I'll be mounting the grate probe this way going forward for all future cooks.
I seasoned the turkey again with Weber's Kick'n Chicken seasoning but also added Rufus Teague Meat Rub sparingly. I also injected the turkey with Food Club's Chicken Broth. In addition, I brined the turkey this time for 12 hours before attempting to smoke it. 24 hours would have been better, but I wanted to cook the turkey and didn't want to wait. For the benefit of the skin, I sprayed the turkey with Vegetable Oil cooking spray so that the skin would brown up and stay crisp. I also did not stuff the cavity of the turkey this time. I didn't have anything to stuff it with, so I just skipped it. Stuffing the cavity is supposed to make the cooking more even due to the turkey having more mass, but I again, didn't notice any difference.
The finished turkey turned out great!! The higher temperature made a huge difference. The breast was very moist as was the dark meat. It didn't take as long as the 10 lb turkey that I cooked before. Having that higher temperature made for a faster cook even with a heavier bird and kept the skin nice and crisp too! I stopped the cook once the internal temperature of the breast hit 167 degrees. The temp in the thigh was at 175 degrees. Total cook time was 3 hours, 45 minutes. I think this is the way to smoke turkeys going forward.
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