We'll have a contingent of 15 for Thanksgiving this year - Mrs Papi wants an extra bird to make sure everybody rolls out the door horizontally. "Think you could do it on the smoker?" She says. Well shoot, of course! Big news since the only thing she usually enjoys off the smoker are ribs and ABTs, and the occasional pork loin. I'm stoked. Trouble is, the only turkey I've done on the smoker is a breast or two for lunch meat. I'm reading two schools of thought here - low and slow at 30 minutes/lb, hot and fast at 15 minutes/lb. What's FHC think? I'm thinking slow, since I get great results with chickens that way. Am I missing the bus? (And the associated extra sleep?)
I have smoked several turkeys and they ended up great, except for one time with a propane smoker and a novice operator (me). Lots of info online as far as recipes. The last two turkeys I smoked were brined for 24 hours, it was a game changer. Big difference in flavor and moisture. Low and slow will not crisp the skin. If you want to go low and slow you can always use a propane torch or broil the bird for a couple minutes for the crispy skin.
It's on - I cut the spine out, sectioned it into breasts and thighs/drums. Smoking over cherry and trying to hold 250. Challenge is in holding temp at 3 degrees OAT. Garage is going to smell like cherry and turkey for a long time.
Any of them.... I’m going with Pecan pellets... since they don’t impart as much smoke as real wood would...
I'm using my Masterbuilt 40 electric smoker today with Apple. 4 hours at 225 works well. But as mentioned, the skin is rubbery. I'm going 275 this time for about 3.5 hours on the 2nd lowest shelf
I always wrap my turkey in wet cheese cloth when I smoke them. Keep the cheese cloth damp through the process by spraying with water, 7-up or anything else you can think of. I’ve also used anything citrus before. Take the cheese cloth off for the last hour or so and heat up the smoker or throw on grill for 15 minutes. It will crisp up beautiful!! Good luck.
Mine is 16 lbs. My buddy followed the same masterbuilt recipe once....he didn't believe me when I said 4 hours at 225. He checked his after 5 hours at 275 and the legs and 1/4" of the breast were rock hard. 4 hours will be plenty at 250
20 go big or go home they say! Lol. I was up at 3 had smoker rolling by 315 bird on at 4 and 7.5 hours later at 150* in the breast. Just added more charcoal and unwrapped.
Smoke ran about 240*. I’ve always had then done in about 4 hours also. But not today. Thank god I got my butt out of bed this morning!
Mine took 5 hours today as well. It was only 15° in the garage and the smoker had trouble getting over 240°
