thawing turkey for saturday cook help please

[anderson143]

i have smoked a lot of things but never a turkey...
a friend of mine brought over a frozen 15.6 pd turkey last night, he wants me to throw on the Weber Smokey Mountain for a saturday 5 oclock dinner time. the wife is at the house today and tomorrow so i have her putting it on the counter for 2 hrs, putting it back in the fridge for 2 hours and so on. can i get this this unthawed and ready for the smoker...reading on the internet it looks like im going to try keeping the WSM at the 275-325 temp range...how long do you think it will take? am i better off cutting it in half i know id loose all presantation but i have other things to do to get ready for the party and would like to keep the cook to under 6 hrs..can i keep it under 6 hours keeping it whole...any and all suggetions will be greatly apprciated

[MacEggs]

So far, your plan sounds okay. However, I am not a big fan of thawing frozen fowl on the counter for food safety reasons.
If you can, find a big pail, or pot ... put the bird in, then fill it with cold water to cover it. Put this in the fridge. It will thaw faster. It works.

Brining the thawed bird will also speed up the cooking time ... That's been my experience, anyway.

Don't use water in the water pan of your WSM. Just line it with foil. This will allow for higher temps in the cooker.

The temp range you state is a good one. You could go even higher with great results.

Here is recent thread that might help.

http://weberkettleclub.com/forums/grilling-bbqing/first-kettle-turkey/

[colin.p]

You are "supposed" to thaw in the fridge. The idea is that after 3 or 4 days for a 20lb turkey it will be totally thawed. However, if your fridge is like mine, after 3 or 4 weeks it might be thawed. I have always thawed on the counter BUT it is not recommended. The best way is alluded to by Maceggs, just put it into a large enough container and fill it up with cold water. As long as the water is cold (and it will be-it is a frozen 16 lb block right?) over night it will be thawed.

[edhead35]

I second the thawing in water in the fridge. You are drawing the cold into the water and the water will in turn let it off into the fridge. Much faster than straight up in the fridge.

[anderson143]

how long do you think it will take for a 15.6 pound turkey if i keep it between 300-325?

[edhead35]

My guess would be 3-1/2 to 4 hours. At that temp. Running a leave in meat probe helps so you can check without opening the lid.

[anderson143]

i have the maverick(i dont know how i ever smoked with out it)along with a couple "instant reads" i put them in quotes because its more like 15 second read.therma pen on my wish list... just trying to time it for a 5 oclock show dinner time .......

the facebook invite my wife sent out says happy hour starts at 3..but the smoker is going to get fired up at noonish and i dont know how to fire up the grill or smoker without a beer in hand

does anyone else have this same problem?

[landgraftj]

Make sure you don't brine the turkey if its enhanced already...I speak from experience. Now I know better

[anderson143]

yeah i read that somewhere...thanks for the reminder. i need to check when i get home

[mike.stavlund]

Anderson, I affirm the thawing in water.  I got in a jam once and grabbed a food-grade 5 gallon bucket at the bakery, then bought a valve and some PVC plumbing parts and Home Depot so that I could install a drain in the bottom of the bucket.  I set the bucket in the sink, turned on the water to a small stream, adjusted the valve to equal the flow from the faucet, and had a thawed turkey in a couple of hours. 

The other thing I'd add-- if I may be so bold-- is to *not* smoke your turkey in your WSM.  I've done it twice, and found it to be really difficult to get it to run up around 300.  I followed a tip to prop the door open, which helped a little, but it was still a hassle.  After my second turkey in two days, I had an 'aha' moment when I realized that *my kettle* was perfectly designed to cook at those temps.  And you can of course put some smoke wood in the kettle for the flavor you're after.  It'll get done in the same amount of time and with a lot less charcoal and trouble. 

(PS.  I mentioned my troubles and my preferences for turkeys on the kettle at a WSM site, and the guy who submitted the recipe I had been following admitted that, yeah, he had adapted the recipe from an old kettle cookbook.  ;-)

[edhead35]

Anderson, I affirm the thawing in water.  I got in a jam once and grabbed a food-grade 5 gallon bucket at the bakery, then bought a valve and some PVC plumbing parts and Home Depot so that I could install a drain in the bottom of the bucket.  I set the bucket in the sink, turned on the water to a small stream, adjusted the valve to equal the flow from the faucet, and had a thawed turkey in a couple of hours. 

The other thing I'd add-- if I may be so bold-- is to *not* smoke your turkey in your WSM.  I've done it twice, and found it to be really difficult to get it to run up around 300.  I followed a tip to prop the door open, which helped a little, but it was still a hassle.  After my second turkey in two days, I had an 'aha' moment when I realized that *my kettle* was perfectly designed to cook at those temps.  And you can of course put some smoke wood in the kettle for the flavor you're after.  It'll get done in the same amount of time and with a lot less charcoal and trouble. 

(PS.  I mentioned my troubles and my preferences for turkeys on the kettle at a WSM site, and the guy who submitted the recipe I had been following admitted that, yeah, he had adapted the recipe from an old kettle cookbook.  ;-)

Agreed. Less fuel too.

[HankB]

I'll echo the warning not to brine. AFAIK all frozen turkeys in the US are "enhanced."

If  you can fit it on a kettle, that will work fine. I like the 26 for that but I sometimes have bigger birds. If you do use the smoker, foil the pan rather than using water to attain higher temps.

[mike.stavlund]

If you do use the smoker, foil the pan rather than using water to attain higher temps.

+1, Hank.  If you use the smoker, definitely use a dry pan, or you'll never get it up north of 275. 

[anderson143]

thanks everyone for the help.. so new problem i only have one maverick and still need to smoke atleast one chicken(hoping for 2) and i cant get a 15 pd bird and a chicken on the 22 1/2 kettle. do i run both and just use my food probe as a bbq pit probe(using a little potato to keep it off the grate) in the wsm and my bbq probe in the kettle and check internal with an instant read?

[edhead35]

I would watch the big bird with the food probe that is the more critical bird. Be wary of using a food probe as a pit probe. They have max temp limits often lower than the pit probes. You could cook the chicken in the basement with the coals, along side or in between the coal baskets, whatever your strategy is.