[Betterman]

I'll thaw the turkey in my cooler if we're doin a frozen one. just plop it in a garbage sack and fill er with brine. instead of thawing and brining in seperate steps. cause it sits in the salt for so long i usually dial back the salt a little bit from whatever brine recepie i'm using so as not to over do it. i'll check the temp a few times a day, but when it starts to get close to 35 or so i'll add a frozen 2 liter outside the garbage sack to keep things stable for the last bit of thawing. takes about 3-4 days with a 20lb bird or so. if its not near the holiday season you can just thaw and brine in the fridge to be really safe but i never seem to have the fridge space when i need it.