Practice Makes Perfect for Game Day

[Goldenfinger]

With Canadian Thanksgiving only a couple weeks away, it seemed to only make sense that we fire-up a Turkey on the UDS and get our game plan in order before the big day.

We decided to keep this one a little simpler...
It's only a 5-6 #'der, we used only homemade rub and no injection, but I am going to collect the drippings for addition to the gravy pot. This will be my first "high-heat" (325F) run on the UDS. Also, the first time I've cooked with any sort of water/drip pan in the mix as well.

The rest of the day belongs to Sunday Ticket... let's see who else's practice made perfect this week and who's about to get sacked...
Eli maybe..? :boom:

Pre-Game Updates to follow...

 

[Meatatarian]

I look fwd to seeing this bird smoked!

 

[bluetang]

That is gonna be good!

 

[nucornhusker]

I love smoked turkey! I need to do a practice cook or two before Thanksgiving since I haven't smoked turkey on any of the cookers I have now. My family never has a problem with me cooking Thanksgiving dinner early a few times.

 

[biggin69]

I like how you are doing a trial run before Thanksgiving. I myself have been debating smoking a turkey for The family on Thanksgiving. I have always deep fried the bird which everyone, including myself, absolutely loves. So, I am curious how smoked bird compared to deep fried bird. I am smoking a bone in turkey breast as we speak just to see how it taste. Let us all know how it turns out.

 

[Goldenfinger]

I like how you are doing a trial run before Thanksgiving. I myself have been debating smoking a turkey for The family on Thanksgiving. I have always deep fried the bird which everyone, including myself, absolutely loves. So, I am curious how smoked bird compared to deep fried bird. I am smoking a bone in turkey breast as we speak just to see how it taste. Let us all know how it turns out.

I always used to do them on my BeefEater (which is a convoluted process all of it's own when smoking) and was really good at it. This UDS is only (3) cooks old, and I haven't done one on my Weber yet either... Just made sense to use the UDS and get a practice run in.
It has paid-off so far, as this is the first cook on the UDS where we have had to make changes in the game plan as things have progressed.

Have changed from 325F to a more slow and low 225-275F range for the cook... Have changed-up the rack positions and probably looking at going to a smaller drip pan... pretty sure this one is causing me some issues achieving higher temps that I have not had issue with until now.

Well worth a practice run IMHO. :-D

 

[SmittyJonz]

Leave the lid off for 5 minutes (to wrap all the meats) - - itll climb to 400* even with a fullsize cakepan waterpan........and take u an hour to get back down to 300* .........but that may just be me and mine........

 

[bbqwilly]

Leave the lid off for 5 minutes (to wrap all the meats) - - itll climb to 400* even with a fullsize cakepan waterpan........and take u an hour to get back down to 300* .........but that may just be me and mine........

Youre exactly right. I Burnt the crap out of 3 racks of ribs when I had the lid off.

 

[Goldenfinger]

Hey guys,
Changed out the drip pan for a smaller one (stainless steel bowls) and the temp started going up immediately...

Upon lighting this morning had the temp up over 300F with the lid removed, but it never did burn well after the lid was installed. The drip pan I was using only left about 2" or so around the entire outer diameter of the drum (it was farking huge...) so clearly it was having an affect on air flow to the exhaust. Dropped it closer to the coals and the temp got a little worse... went smaller diameter and we seem to be good again...

Hasn't stalled the cook much as this is a small bird and we're still approaching 145F internal even with the delay's today, but a good learning/testing experience for sure...

Keep everyone posted as thing progress...

 

[sliding_billy]

tic toc, tic toc. Can't wait to see the bird.

 

[HeSmellsLikeSmoke]

That's gonna cook very fast at those temperatures. Consider icing the breast for 45 minutes beforehand so it won't overcook.

 

[Garrett]

Roll that beautiful bird footage!!

 

[Goldenfinger]

After much delay...

Here is the bird... it was accompanied by some baked potatoes, but I don't seem to have a pic of those...

We were a little early on the finish and company was a little late on the arrival so it rested for nearly 3 hours before we took this photo. Most of the cooking took place around the 250F mark after we got everything sorted out...

HeSmellsLikeSmoke is definitely right... had we actually got to 325F, I think this thing would have been done in under 3 hours.

I think the next one will be much better, but this one was still really good eatin' too. Glad we did this trial run too, gonna save a lot of headaches on the set-up for the next one.

Lesson Learned:
Keep your drip pan diameter under control or it will affect the air flow through your UDS in a negative way.