Smoking a Turkey for Thanksgiving

[zupanj]

I wanted to do this last year but chickened out and cooked the turkey in the oven as always. I have been reading up on the process especially Meathead's write up and I am not so sure I can pull it off. I have a Backwoods G2 Chubby smoker. This is a wet smoker and has a large water pan, around 2 gallons. I wonder if this will be a problem getting crispy skin. I intend to put an aluminum tray beneath the turkey to catch drippings for gravy. Secondly, the recommended cooking temp is 325 degrees F and I'm not sure I can get the smoker that hot. Maybe if I don't add water to the water pan but that defeats the purpose of the smoker.

Any thoughts? Has anyone by chance used the G2 to smoke a turkey?

[texastweeter]

You be fine. Go for it

[briano52]

The turkey needs an internal temp of about 155-165 degrees. You can achieve that in your smoker, if you cook it long enough. Maybe search around for some recipes with time estimates for the temp you can get your cooker up to.

A temp probe that you can read without opening the door will allow you to monitor your internal meat easily and relieve anxiety. Opening the door to check on the meat will extend the cooking time.

I like Thermoworks temp gear but there are other good devices out there if you need one. Once done to your liking, the turkey will hold for an hour or two in a prewarmed cooler. Aim to have your bird done early so you don't have to keep the guests waiting.

I have not had good results catching drippings for gravy in a smoker. The smoke seems to infuse the dripping with a strong pungent taste. Kinda like liquid smoke. You can use the neck and other extra parts to make a stock base for your gravy on the stove top. Don't use the liver as it will cloud the stock.

When I have a large gathering, I go light on the smoke for the bird. A stronger smoke flavor will scare off some folks. Light smoke will enhance the turkey flavor and not overpower it.

[dpearce]

Good info! I plan on using Pecan this year in the PBC. I've noticed with Hickory the flavor was a bit much.

[Ace]

Solid info above ^^^
Here are some suggestions from Butterball on smoking on a water smoker, including aprox cooking times, (no mater what brand of turkey you have).
Hopefully this helps somewhat...

https://www.butterball.com/how-to/cook-a-turkey/smoke

[WI Bubba]

You can smoke it for a couple of hours and the finish it in the oven. After 2 hours it will have taken on about as much smoke as it's going to.

You could also cook it in the smoker until done, and after a 30 minute or so rest, pop it in a screaming hot oven to crisp the skin. Use the convection option if your oven has one.

I don't have a G2, but I do have a WSM which is also a water smoker. Any time I want to run hotter for poultry, I just leave the water pan empty, or pull it out completely. A test run without any food would let you see how it behaves without any water. Or you could use a whole chicken a your test bird.

[zupanj]

Thanks for this, it's a big help. I didn't think about over-smoked drippings, that's a good tip. The Butterball website is very useful. I was planning to spatchcock the bird if that makes any difference.

I used a WSM for about 10 years and it will get pretty hot if the water pan is empty. I let the pan go dry on my G2 once and the temp shot up to well over 300 degrees. However, I think that the water is important for the cook because it helps keep the meat from drying out. As stated, I can always finish in the oven.

[jfmorris]

Backwoods claims a smoking temp range of 180 to 300F for the G2 Chubby. I say just get it as hot as you CAN i.e. 300F. Spatchcocked is good, as it will cook faster. Maybe empty the water pan for the last part of the cook, to spike the temp and let it crisp the skin?

I don't know what other outdoor cookers you have, but my wife relies on me to keep the turkey outside, so that her oven is free for all the sides she makes. I've even turned my gas grill into an "indirect" oven by putting disposable aluminum pans or sheets of heavy duty foil on top of the flavorizer bars, to block direct heat, and heated hams and turkeys in the middle of the gas grill before. Maybe you have a secondary grill you could move to after smoking on the G2, to crisp skin and finish?

When I do turkey I shoot for 325 to 375, but don't care if the temp hits 400.

Good luck!

[Purc]

FWIW, Matt Pitman of Meat Church just dropped a YT video of an overnight wet brine spatchcocked turkey on his pellet grill and he smoked it at 275 degrees until done. He then let it rest for 30+ minutes uncovered. He said the skin was very good. Based on his experience, I would think your smoking temps around 300 degrees should be acceptable. Here is his video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKy1jejU16M&pp=ygUPbWVhdCBjaHVyY2ggYmJx

Your smoker is different from his therefore as always, YMMV.

[zupanj]

That is a good video. I have seen some of the Meat Church videos before. I plan to dry brine because I don't have the refrigerator space. It works really well on ribs and brisket.

I wasn't going to use a rub but after watching the video, I am wondering if it would be good to do so. If you guys use a rub, what is your preference?

[Dr. Pepper]

Last year I was ready to make two 12 lb turkeys (to maximize legs and wings), both spatchcocked, one in the oven, one in the KBQ, for 14 of us. Caught Covid after my partial knee replacement, had to cancel. Baked one and dropped it off at the kids houses, froze the other.
So, this year it happens for sure🫰🏻. My plans: Spatchcock, dry brine overnight uncovered in fridge, Thermoworks RFX probes in the breasts.
Turkey #1: Oven at 425, pull when breast hits 155-157 F. Put stuffing in 2" pan under the rack holding the turkey. The drippings make for pretty delicious stuffing.
Turkey #2: Smoker, at 250 for about 2 hours max (pull earlier if breast probe reads 150.) Then finish in 450 oven for 5-10 minutes to crisp skin.

Remember, a spatchcocked turkey may be done in 75-90 minutes. DON"T DRY OUT THE BREAST MEAT!

Recommended viewing:

https://blog.thermoworks.com/turkey-temps/

https://blog.thermoworks.com/how-to-dry-brine-a-turkey/

[Dr. Pepper]

One more:

https://blog.thermoworks.com/spatchcocked-roast-turkey-record-time/

[zupanj]

I did smoke my turkey and it was pretty easy but there were a few hiccups. I tried to cut out the back bone and the scissors I have used for smaller jobs for 10 years and I broke the handles. Try to find poultry shears at 5:00 PM the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Ended up buying a pair of Fiskers garden shears at Home Depot and finished the job. Dry brined overnight and set up the smoker in the morning. Put the bird on the smoker and let it go. I never got to 350 degrees F, the smoker mostly hung around at 300 degrees F, but that was OK. Total time was about 2.75 hours. I am not sure but I think parts of the turkey were under cooked. I had the drumstick part of a wing at the meal and it seemed hard to get off the bone like it might have been a bit under cooked. This doesn't make sense though because I had two probes, one in each breast deep. One read 168 degrees F and the other read 159 degrees F. Which is supposed to be a good stopping point. Also there would have been some residual cooking as the bird was rested for about 1.5 hour until company arrived. No one else thought the turkey was underdone. One person had a drumstick and the rest had white me. Not sure how to think about this. One other observation, the skin looked nice and browned but it was a tad chewy, Maybe I will put it in the broiler for a bit next time.

[Brian_M]

Shears are a good option for turning a whole bird into parts of a bird. I have a pair of Harbor Freight shears in my cooking-tool drawer in the kitchen. They only get used once…maybe twice a year. They make short work of turkey bones.

[ecowper]

The first time I tried to spatchcock a turkey, I broke the kitchen shears too, lesson learned on that one. Now I use a very heavy chef’s knife and pruning shears I bought specifically for spatchcocking. That turkey looks great to my eyes. As far as meat hard to get off the leg bone, that sounds more like the leg got to a higher temp than undercooked. Also, getting crisp skin is as much about getting the skin dry and desiccated before cooking as it is the temp in the smoker. My WSM runs about 330

[zupanj]

The bird was brined the night before and was wiped before going in the smoker. Recall there is a big water pan in the G2 and I put in a gallon of water. I thought the turkey skin looked pretty good and that's why I didn't go high temp to crisp it.

[Dr. Pepper]

Well, after posting how we need to pull the bird when the breast hits 155F, I screwed up. I was using high oven (425) and KBQ temps (325+), and between that and a few of my thermometer probes not functioning, I dried up the turkeys. The carryover heat was way too much. Next time I will smoke at 250, oven at 375, and then pull and rest for 30 minutes before blasting the skin in a very hot oven for only minutes.

[zupanj]

Sorry to hear this but it looks like you got some meat out of the deal.

[Dr. Pepper]

Yes. Still tasted good, just dryer than desired. 🤷🏻♂️