Weber Searwood Test Run - Spatchcock Turkey Took a bit too long?
Here's a question. Has anyone found turkey on the Searwood or a spatchcock turkey to take longer than expected? I spatchcocked at 13# bird and dry-brined 24+ hours. I put it on the top rack of my Searwood yesterday at 4:00 pm. Smokeboost for 30-mins. I expected it to take about 2-hours after that (so around 6:30 pm or so.) The breasts hit 160 at 7:30pm. When I probed with an instant read, I was still 153 in some spots, So I gave it around 20 more minutes until I got 160 in the deepest part of the breast. The temp at the top grate was 300-350. My only thought was I did not crack the breast and flatten well before the cook. Here was the set-up (drip pan came out in first hour as there were no reason for it to be there). I know time to temp can vary, but I was pretty surprised I ran nearly an hour longer than planned. I'm pretty confident I had good temp readings between my FireBoard and my Thermoworks instant--read.
Could your external (outside of the cooker) had an impact on the cook. I just won your cooker, so I am interested in what you learn. I cooked a 12# Turkey on my Big Green Egg in 1 hour 45 minutes cooked at 325 grate. It was not spatchcocked. The egg retains a lot of heat and reflects off the dome. Could your grate temp be on target, but with cold weather the surrounding area moved lower quickly?
Last edited by LA Pork Butt; November 30, 2025, 07:19 AM.
I think external temp may have played a small role in how it cooks. I also cook on a BGE a lot and think how it holds and radiates heat can keep things cooking a bit quicker in the winter.
If not cooking outdoors, I am cooking on the stovetop with my 14" carbon steel wok, 12" CI skillet, or in the oven with my two Lodge CI pizza pans, or two dutch ovens. I've also got a nifty Lodge carbon steel grill pan that rocks for veggies outdoors.
Yeah it is surprising it took that long to cook a spatchcocked bird at those temps. That said - I see temp probes in the breast and thigh, but none on the cooking grate. How sure are you that the Searwood upper grate was running at the set temperature? We've been through that with another new user recently with a Searwood that was running much lower than the temperatures shown on the Weber screen.
You say it was 300-350. I would shoot for more 350-400 at the grate for turkey and chicken. If it was cycling due to the controller, and spending more time at 300 than at 350, that would lengthen the cook.
I don't think flattening it out more would have made an hours difference, although it might help it to cook more uniformly. Getting the cavity opened up I think so that hot air circulates on both sides of the breast is the key thing in my mind on spatchcocking, together get things done USUALLY an hour faster than otherwise.
You cannot see the ambient probe on top. It's towards the back on the right side, plus the FireBoard Pulse also reports external temperature, but it was very close to the meat, so early on, it can read a bit low in my opinion. I'm pretty sure I had the cooker temp where it needed to be, but think the bird would cook better on bottom grate. I'm going to do another one in a couple of weeks.
I doesn't look flat enough. Smokeboost mode is very, very low heat so I don't think the time that it's on boost contributes much to the actual cooking time. I've also experienced temperature issues with the the location of the built in temp probe on my Weber SmokeFire EX4 (2nd Gen). It sits up against rear wall in the middle above the lower grate. I use a Thermoworks probe mounted at grill level to get a better idea and set the Weber temp. accordingly.
I agree I did not flatten it enough. I had an ambient probe on the top grate plus the Fireboard Pulse's ambient reading to compare it to. I always run a grate temp probe and record the cook on my FireBoard app.
I would have blamed the drip pan, but you took it out after only an hour so... did the loose pieces and legs cook in the expected time? As in it was only the breasts that cooked slow? I would guess maybe there was still some ice inside the breast, but turkey is hard to spatchcock unless it's fully thawed..
Dark meat on the bird seemed to come up to temp, but I never pay attention to it, since It's almost always well above min temps once breast comes up. Big wings seemed to cook in a reasonable amount of time, but was not probing those to really track it. The turkey did not seem frozen anywhere inside at all.
Thanks! I just noted somewhere Meathead mentions low-temp on pellet-grills to start. That aside, I figured that low-temp smoke setting would set me back only 30 minutes max. I'll just set and forget in future.
Hey folks, got a quick question for everyone. My traeger just bit it just as i'm getting my turkey ready for the smoker. Just brought the 12lb turkey inside and got the oven rolling at 325. Should I jump the temp up to 350 or higher since it's inside now or just stick with the recipe?
Started smoking in Aug 2025. First smoker is a Weber Searwood. I purchased a ThermoWorks Smoke to get a more accurate temperature and the pro-series needle probe. I also have a Weber grilling basket, Weber grill brush, and the Grillart steambrush. I've tried all sorts of pellets and wood flavors and my family mainly likes the Traeger signature blend. I have a meat injector and shears for poultry.
I also recently purchased a new 2010 used Weber Kettle Performer. Just got a cover for it. I bought the ThermoWorks RFX with 1 wireless probe, the SnS and DnG to spruce up the grill. I have not cooked on it yet. I cut a hole and installed the ThermoWorks billows. I did buy 4 bags of the B&B charcoal briquettes.
All my cooking has been on the Searwood. I absolutely love cooking Pork Shoulder, chicken wings, chicken breasts and steak. I won first place in my church chili cookoff (I bragged to everyone about it) and I really enjoyed the chili (and I don't really like chili). I really enjoyed Moink balls. I like cooking ribs, chicken breasts, and chicken legs with white sauce.
I look forward to cooking pork burnt ends, smoked turkey for Thanksgiving, and maybe even a brisket.
I'm still trying to determine rubs my wife will really enjoy. I love the rubs from the website, but my wife just wants some rubs that will bring out the meat flavor so she can taste the meat. I'm seeking simple rubs for chicken breasts and steaks.
I love soda and especially Dr. Pepper. I don't drink alcohol.
I live near Boise, ID. I've been married for 25 years and I have 5 kids. I'm a second career dentist.
I spatchcocked my turkey on my Weber Searwood pretty flat and I kept the temp at around 340 so the average would be around 325. I've had to work this out because the Searwood tends to run lower - around 15 to 25 degrees lower. I had a water pan under my turkey but it cooked for around 3.5 hours still. I also had to turn my turkey around at one point because the rear of my Searwood gets hotter than the center and to get a more even cook on the turkey. I also feel like the water pan caused this as I couldn't put it too far towards the back for fear of interfering with the Thermocouple.
I never use smokeboost. It is simply not needed. The Searwood is great at generating smoke in normal mode. Smokeboost runs no higher than 180 degrees per the manual and so it's probably only REALLY running at 155 to 165 degrees. Lower temps means longer cooks.
I also had Idaho temperatures in the mid to lower 40's. As long as I keep the lid closed most of the time this hasn't really impacted my cook too much.
I have documented some challenges and insights in running the Searwood in the Weber section. YMMV.
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