21 pound Turkey.

Sammy_Shuford · Nov 23, 2020

NO, I would never buy a 21 pound turkey. But my daughter did, and I’ll be smoking Wednesday.

Open to any suggestions. Never timed one this size.

Yoder YS640.

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JJJBBQ · Nov 23, 2020

Could only find birds 18 lbs or higher at the store. Planning on spatchcock turkey this year. Injecting. Hoping it will shave a couple hours on the cook.

Herkster · Nov 23, 2020

I've never smoked a whole turkey, so I have no idea what to expect on cook time. Any ideas?

JVM59 · Nov 23, 2020

My cooking log indicates that in 2014 I cooked a 20.76# in 4 hours at 275-300 degrees.
In 2016 I cooked a 20.89# in 4.5 hours at 275-300 degrees. These were cooked in a Large
BGE. Hope this helps.

Herkster · Nov 23, 2020

JVM59 said:
My cooking log indicates that in 2014 I cooked a 20.76# in 4 hours at 275-300 degrees.
In 2016 I cooked a 20.89# in 4.5 hours at 275-300 degrees. These were cooked in a Large
BGE. Hope this helps.

Thank you. If I allot myself 4 hours, I should have sufficient time to cook it to the correct temp. I'm quite excited for it, we couldn't source a turkey breast, everywhere around was sold out. So, whole turkey it is!

Mike Twangzer · Nov 23, 2020

Are you sure it's a turkey and not an ostrich ?

halfcocked · Nov 23, 2020

I just split an 11#er in half and will spin it (them) individually. Splitting or spatchkock-ing will cut the time down significantly. I expect mine to be done in 2 hours.

gtsum · Nov 23, 2020

I get better results spatched cocking my birds..more surface area, more smoke, more seasonings. More even cooking and less time...at least that’s what I’ve seen

. I’d be worried about getting the dark and white some at the same time on a whole bird that big?

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legendaryhog · Nov 23, 2020

That's a pretty big bird. I brine mine usually, stuff some halves of onion and lemon in the cavity and cook about 275. If it has one of those plastic thermometers stuck in the turkey by the manufacture pull it out, they are useless. Temp the breasts after a few hours and once they are getting to 150 cover the breasts with foil and let the thighs come up to temp. Once it is up to about 160 pull the whole thing and let it rest until the whole thing comes up to 165. As far as timing your weather and the stability of your temperature will affect cooking time, but you should plan on about 4 hours for you cook and 20-30 minutes for you resting time.

Save the bones and make stock the next day, freeze for next year's bird and you have your gravy stock for next year without having to make dripping and all that work. I do it every year and it keeps great and will save you some time next time.

jzadski · Nov 23, 2020

I find if you let your bird chillax it turns out much better. Seriously though it has been awhile since I did any turkeys but I would always let the breast set in a bed of ice for about a half hour so it would finish more in line with the thighs.

thirdeye · Nov 23, 2020

jzadski said:
I find if you let your bird chillax it turns out much better. Seriously though it has been awhile since I did any turkeys but I would always let the breast set in a bed of ice for about a half hour so it would finish more in line with the thighs.

The iced breast technique works great.... and longer than 30 minutes on big birds.

And..... "America's Fine Light Beer" is perfect.... especially before breakfast :mrgreen:

Titch · Nov 23, 2020

That birds as big as a reasonable sized Lamb

mph33 · Nov 23, 2020

thirdeye said:
The iced breast technique works great.... and longer than 30 minutes on big birds.

And..... "America's Fine Light Beer" is perfect.... especially before breakfast :mrgreen:

I don't understand the technique of allowing a turkey to sit in a bed of ice. what purpose does it serve? I'm going to be dry brining a 16 lb turkey for two days

NoOne · Nov 24, 2020

halfcocked said:
I just split an 11#er in half and will spin it (them) individually. Splitting or spatchkock-ing will cut the time down significantly. I expect mine to be done in 2 hours.

Agree - I have spatchcocked a 20lb bird that was brined and cooked on a WSM and it came out phenomenal after 2.5 hours. First thanksgiving that we were waiting on the sides while the bird was done.

The last hour or so I put an extra drip pan in and captured the dripping to make gravy.

That was a good thanksgiving.

Robert · Nov 24, 2020

mph33 said:
I don't understand the technique of allowing a turkey to sit in a bed of ice. what purpose does it serve? I'm going to be dry brining a 16 lb turkey for two days

The theory is that you are trying to chill the breast meat as the rest of the turkey warms up on the counter or sink. This can accomplished by either placing the turkey brest side down in a pan of ice, or by placing a bag of ice on the breast with the breast facing up. Given that you would like for the breast/white meat to not go past 160 but would like the dark meat to finish in the 170-180 range, you are attempting to arrive at the desired temperatures of both white and dark meats at approximately the same time. Great in theory, more difficult in practice.

Thanks,

Robert

NoOne · Nov 24, 2020

thirdeye said:
The iced breast technique works great.... and longer than 30 minutes on big birds.

And..... "America's Fine Light Beer" is perfect.... especially before breakfast :mrgreen:

Funny you should post that. The banquet beer made it down under, this was from a bar across the street from me. Would you pay $9 for a pint of Coors?

mph33 · Nov 24, 2020

Robert said:
The theory is that you are trying to chill the breast meat as the rest of the turkey warms up on the counter or sink. This can accomplished by either placing the turkey brest side down in a pan of ice, or by placing a bag of ice on the breast with the breast facing up. Given that you would like for the breast/white meat to not go past 160 but would like the dark meat to finish in the 170-180 range, you are attempting to arrive at the desired temperatures of both white and dark meats at approximately the same time. Great in theory, more difficult in practice.

Thanks,

Robert

i imagine placing a bag of ice on top of the breast wheile the rest of the bird comes up to room temp wouldnt be too difficult. however, wouldnt that add moisture to the skin which would prevent the skin from getting crispy?

jzadski · Nov 24, 2020

mph33 said:
i imagine placing a bag of ice on top of the breast wheile the rest of the bird comes up to room temp wouldnt be too difficult. however, wouldnt that add moisture to the skin which would prevent the skin from getting crispy?

Nope, no issues with the skin. Had foil pan with ice and set breast side down in it just patted dry with paper towels before cooking and seasoning. Did do a wet brine beforehand. Sorry really old pic taken with really old phone.

mph33 · Nov 24, 2020

jzadski said:
Nope, no issues with the skin. Had foil pan with ice and set breast side down in it just patted dry with paper towels before cooking and seasoning. Did do a wet brine beforehand. Sorry really old pic taken with really old phone.

im dry brining my 16.5 lb spatchcock bird for 48 hours and smoking on the WSM 22. looks like you used a WSM in this picture. did you baste it with butter during the cook?

Big George's BBQ · Nov 24, 2020

Wen I did mine on the grill I always iced the breast using ziplock bags and cooked around 350 Poultry takes on smoke quickly and can become nasty

21 pound Turkey.

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