Greetings from Suburban Chicago!

[Skip]

Welcome from Minnesota. We're looking forward to having you post some of your cooks.

[Redwng]

Welcome from St. Cloud, FL. This will be a fun ride for sure.

[rmeugene]

Welcome from NW burb of Gilberts.

[swartzster]

Welcome from the Pacific Northwest

[Steve R.]

Welcome to the Pit! Sounds like you are on the right track, and learning that kettle is a great way to start. The fundamentals you learn from that will carry over to a lot of other charcoal grills and smokers.

[DavidNorcross]

Welcome from Virginia!

[HotSun]

Welcome to the Pit, sjg1980! You found a great place to enjoy your hobby (mild obsession). There are a lot of kettle users here, so you'll get excellent guidance.

Doing a test run for your turkey is a great idea and it is the same approach I took last year, smoking turkey for Thanksgiving. I use my Kamado style cooker for turkey and it worked great, though I can't vouch for the Weber. It seems like it should work. Weather notwithstanding, you should be fine after you get a test run under your belt.

[Bad Hat BBQ]

Welcome to the Pit
jfmorris ...agree that a Turkey is nothing to stress over.

I rarely fry Turkeys anymore because the smoked birds are so good (inject & spatchcock).

Have fun and keep postin'!!

[sjg1980]

I definitely intend to spatchcock the turkey. Of course I'm going to stress out about this, I don't want to fuck up a meal. Before I bought my house, I was living in a condo where I couldn't grill. However, the key for me is setting expectations with my wife and timing this right. The first time I'm going to cook something, it's gonna be on a weekend with her help preparing other dishes, and I've set expectations that we might have to order a pizza if it goes haywire.

[Elton's BBQ]

Welcome to the Pit!
Cheers from Norway

[bbqLuv]

Greetings from NW Oregon.

[Potkettleblack]

Welcome from the near western suburbs. So much Chicagoland around here.

[Bogy]

Welcome from Iowa! Glad to have you with us!

[WayneT]

Welcome to the Pit, from Yadkin Valley, NC. Trade your squirt bottle for a good pair of kitchen shears and spatchcock those birds!

[rlozinak]

Welcome to the Pit from Buffalo,NY

[Soonerpop]

Welcome from north Texas. As a kettle user (among other things) I agree with all who’ve said lose the squirt bottle. Two-zone is the way to go, moving the meat if there are flare ups or it gets too hot. You’re in the right place, have fun on the Pit.