Two spatchcocked turkeys

[Steve R.]

Say someone was about to obtain a 22" WSM, and the timing of this was going to mean that they were giving up their usual turkey cooking setup near Thanksgiving. Hypothetically, of course. Has anyone here tried a ~ 12 lb. spatchcocked turkey on each grate at the same time? Not sure how this would affect the airflow, etc. I'm guessing this isn't a problem at all, but asking for a friend.

[jecucolo]

Never done turkey on the kettle but I do know that things cook very fast on the high rack.

[Steve R.]

This is a 22" WSM we're talking about., btw.

[klflowers]

I have an 18, and while I haven't done 2 turkeys, I have cooked on both grates. There is a pretty large temperature difference - I think around 50 degrees (I haven't done it in awhile). Last time I did baby backs, and I swapped positions halfway through the cook.

[jfmorris]

My thinking is along the lines of klflowers - I use a Hovergrate in my kettle sometimes when smoking, and due to the vertical temperature gradient between that and the main grate, which is less than on the WSM, I rotate the ribs or wings top to bottom half way through the cook. I would do that with the turkeys. Heck I will be smoking two turkeys on my offset for Thanksgiving, and I will rotate them end to end during the cook, spinning them, 180 for good measure, just to even things out, due to horizontal temperature gradients on the offset.

[crazytown3]

I don't have WSM, but I think it would be fine, just swap them part way through the cook.

[Razor]

Another vote for swapping them half way through.

[snowswamp]

I did two 12 lbs spatchcock turkeys last year and again this year on a Smoke Vault. I rotated them halfway as suggested (based on temp not time, about 110F) and they came out great. This is different than a WSM so I’m not sure if this helps any. Get a hand swapping them. They’ll be hot and heavy to handle solo especially if you have thermometer cables strung all over the place and in the birds.

[Steve R.]

Yeah, I've been thinking through all the challenges that will be involved with this. I even woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night thinking about it, which is not a good thing. lol There's no going back, though, as I have sold the Plan A and Plan B cookers that I had this time last year.

[klflowers]

Steve R., that is proof that cookers should never be sold.

[Steve R.]

klflowers , maybe I can serve as a warning to others.

[HawkerXP]

I would call that setup "self basting"

[Troutman]

As everyone has already cautioned, it's got to be a swap meet. I've never tried turkeys in mine but have done different meats and spatchcocked chickens. I'm really not into swapping out grates so I rarely cook on the bottom grate in my WSMs any longer. I have better options and only use those smokers top grate only and recently to hang food (like a PBC).

Never-the-less it can be done. Just keep an eye on things and make sure you have temp probes in both birds. Happy Turkey day cooking Steveo !!

[Steve R.]

Thanks! While I have agreed to sell my Weber Ranch (which is what I planned to use for the turkeys), I don't yet have cash in hand. I'm going to tap the brakes on this deal until the weekend after Thanksgiving, so I can pull this off without the stress of learning a new cooker. If that ends up being a deal breaker, I'll just be stuck with an excellent grill/smoker awhile longer.

[Steve R.]

So, I came to my senses this afternoon and realized I couldn't bear to part with "The Spaceship" as Mrs. R. calls the Ranch kettle. Two turkeys will fit side by side nicely on that beast.

I did send my stick burner to a good home (a good friend and neighbor), and that will be replaced by a Weber 26" kettle. I will then have all the bases covered, and gain quite a bit of space in my garage.

This all came.about last weekend when a planned rib cook on the stick burner ended up with a Plan B cook on the Performer. The wife and I had been out of town for a football game the day before, and I had the ribs all trimmed and season up, ready to go when we got back the next day. Well, I was feeling not so great (may or may not have been a little hungover), and wasn't looking forward to tending a fire all afternoon, so the Performer it is. Lo and behold, they ended up being the best ribs I have ever made.

I still love the Performer, but am actively looking to rehome it in order to get down to two cookers that can do everything I need them to do.

[out of bounds]

I did two 16lb turkeys on my ranch this past weekend and plan to to the same for thanksgiving. Worked great.

[PaulstheRibList]

You are fine to cook on both grates. Did it many times, but I don't remember if I cooked 2 turkeys at once.

There is a little temp differential, so the upper rack will cook 10-15% faster than the bottom, but that is totally manageable. Cook on!

[out of bounds]

Here is a picture of the 2 16lb turkeys on ranch kettle.

[Beefchop]

I love this so much. The Weber Ranch Kettle is my white whale.