I'm wanting to do a Rotisserie Turkey on the 22" this Thanksgiving. It's a big bird at #19, we do chickens all the time and love them cooked this way. My thought would be to get the 26" kettle going and throw some smoke on the bird for maybe an hour or so at 220ish then put it on the 22" Rotisserie. I'm wondering if this bird is going to be too big for the rotisserie/22" kettle? I've always done spatchcocked turkeys on the 26" in the past
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Don’t worry, I rotisserie turkey on the 22” all the time, with the largest being ~ 20 lbs. It’s awesome. Remember, the listed weight includes the ice, gizzards, neck, etc., so your actual turkey weight is probably going to be a few pounds lighter than what’s listed. Also, I don’t know that there is much of a benefit to smoking the bird first, and then throwing it on the rotisserie. I’ve had good results using just the rotisserie with 2 chucks of wood (my family likes pecan, I think hickory is too strong for poultry). I usually shoot for a cooking temp around 325, and takes about 3 hours. We love the rotisserie, makes it almost idiot-proof. Good luck and have fun!!-
The pre smoke, at least for us, makes a big difference in the smoke flavor. We do chickens like this often. Then put them on the rotisserie at 350ish until finished.
How much room do you end up having? I'm not so much worried about the weight but it's the diameter and proximity to the heat that has me worried. -
I use the weber baskets placed on either side of the grill. The bird probably overlaps the baskets a bit on the sides, but I’ve never had an issue with sides burning or over-charring. There’s still a fair amount of height from the baskets to the bird. Between that and the constant rotation, the bird is pretty well protected. My biggest piece of advise is to cut off the wing tips. They tend to overlap the sides of the breasts, which prevent the breasts from browning.
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I’ll do this like my chickens and truss it all up nice and tight. Thanks for the advice!!Comment
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What "Thanks Giving:? It has been bypassed for the money-making holiday.
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I've done several 20 pound turkeys on my Performer (22") with the Weber rotisserie ring. It works great!
I will recommend NOT using the SNS, and just banking your charcoal against one side of the kettle, and put a drip pan in the open space under the turkey. I've used the SNS with chickens, but the turkey, being larger in diameter, I felt that I got more line of sight radiant heat from the coals without the wall of the SNS in there. Plus I was worried a big bird would hit the top of the SNS. For the turkey I think I put down a good bit of unlit charcoal, and a half chimney of lit on top of it, and spread it out. Cook was about 3.5 hours, with both top and bottom vents wide open - dome thermometer read around 350F.
I suppose you could use the Weber charcoal baskets, but I haven't. They just don't hold enough charcoal in my opinion.
Personally I would do the entire cook on the rotisserie, and if you want a little smoke just throw a chunk on the coals at the beginning of the cook, but don't overdo it. If you cook on the grates of the other grill, you will likely end up with some grill marks that won't look as good.Comment
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Thanks!!! I smoke chickens first then put on the rotisserie often....Don't really worry about making grill marks on them but a turkey might be a little heavier....I usually use the baskets on chickens but you may be right and if I need to do 3-3.5 hour cook they may not hold enough coals???? -
Dadof3Illinois I use the baskets. I usually fill them with unlit KBB coals and add about 15 hot coals on top of each (so 30 hot coals total). That usually provides JUST enough heat to cook the bird. But the temp does start to drop towards the end. A plan to clear ash and refill coals could be a good idea. But I'm also at 6000 ft of elevation, so I tend to go through charcoal a bit faster (I think).
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I just went back and found my last rotisserie turkey in my camera pictures, and it appears that I in fact banked coals on BOTH sides of the kettle charcoal grate, with a foil drip pan in the middle. I've got a nice video of the trussed turkey spinning, but don't know how to share it here.Comment
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