Smoking a Turkey with the Bradley

[DoxinMan]

Thoughts on this brine recipe?
    * 1 gallon of water
    * 2 cups salt
    * 1 Woodchuck apple cider (I use Granny Smith)
    * 1 Tablespoon pepper
    * 1 Tablespoon favorite rub
    * 1/2 cup brown sugar

Also, do you guys put the turkey in a tin tray in the bradley.  I havent used my bradley for so long I forget if theres a drip tray at the bottom.

What type of salt are you using? That will make a big difference, since pickling salt, and various kosher salts measure differently do to the size of their crystals. If it is pickling salt, that is a large amount, so you would not want to brine too long. If it is kosher salt, it would be good to know if it is Morton's or Diamond.

You can place a small pan on a rack below the turkey to catch drippings, just make sure the pan is small enough to allow ample heat and smoke to pass. Those drippings may dry up, but you can always deglaze the pan. If you smoke/cook the turkey horizontally, a lot of juices collect in the cavity. Be careful when you move the turkey out of the smoker. The first time I did this I gave myself a hot foot. I always take a sheet pan with me and place the rack with the turkey on the sheet tray to carry into the house. That will catch the dripping for you to use, and avoid a mess.

Brining an already enhanced turkey may or not make is saltier, usually it doesn't. That will depend on the salinity of the brine, compared to the salinity the turkey was injected with, but generally it may not have any effect at all.

I am using Mortons salt.  Its an 11b pound so I plan on brining it for 10-12 hours.  How long should I plan on smoking the bird to get it up to 145.  Then I'm gonna throw it in the oven.  Have you guys ever stuffed your birds with apples/onions/garlic while in the smoker?  I've seen a few recipes that look really good with fruit/vegetable stuffing

[Sacrifice]

I've seen post where some members have fit an 18 pounder inside. I've never tried a bird over 14 pounds and that was a tight fit.

I have done a dozen or so 20+ pounders - it is a tight fit, but they do fit. 

Did a post on here 6 years ago about my first 20 pounder:  http://forum.bradleysmoker.com/index.php?topic=2409.msg22551#msg22551

The only difference is that sometimes the turkeys take ~10 hours, and sometime a few hours more.  Doing a 22 pounder for Thanksgiving this year and planning on 13 hours.  Can always use the Ramp feature of my Procom to have it done when I want.

[TedEbear]

Open top vent half way. 

The only suggestion I'd make is to open the top vent all the way when smoking poultry.  That seems to be the recommendation I've read over and over from some of the long-time smoking gurus on here.

[bozer]

I got my turkey today and its 15pounds. I plan to smoke it for no more then 4 hours, then finish it in the oven. Does anyone know how long it should take? I'll be smoking it for 4 hours with the Bradley set to as high as possible.  I plan to give it 4 hours of smoke, then into the oven for the rest until it reaches 165. Just wondering how early should I begin.

[Habanero Smoker]

I am using Mortons salt.  Its an 11b pound so I plan on brining it for 10-12 hours.  How long should I plan on smoking the bird to get it up to 145.  Then I'm gonna throw it in the oven.  Have you guys ever stuffed your birds with apples/onions/garlic while in the smoker?  I've seen a few recipes that look really good with fruit/vegetable stuffing

With Morton's kosher salt you are adding 1 pound of salt to one gallon of brine. Morton's kosher salt weighs 8oz per cup; table or pickling salt weighs a little over 10oz, and Diamond Crystal Kosher weighs 5.5 oz; all weights are per cup.

I don't usually brine enhanced meat. This brine is about 11% salt, which I'm sure it has a higher salinity then an enhanced turkey, so it will brine much faster. You may want to cut your brining time down. I would suggest 8 hours. What brining time does the recipe recommend?

I have added lemons, herb bundles inside the cavity of the turkey and chickens, but don't over stuff them in. Just loosely add some, you want the smoke and heat to get inside the cavity.

As for smoking/cooking instructions, this thread have got that well covered.

Sacrifice;
I wish I had a ProCom.

[GoCobbers95]

I understand that it is important to cook bird to temperature not time, but as a total noob I need some recommendations of when to put in my smallish bird.

If being precise within the hour is not possible, recommendations for keeping the bird warm without drying it out?


Thanks for the help guys. I can totally see where the forum gets flooded with people like myself around the holidays. I just really want to do well for my family. (inlaws)

[tsquared]

For the long term forum users, you might want to be sitting down when you read my next statement.....I am FINALLY going to smoke something besides salmon   

Holy Frijoles!!! Kummok smoking finless flesh?? Dogs and cats living together?!  ;D
T2

[Kitchen Commander]

So I did it and it came out excellent.  I brined my 2 turkey's for 2 days.  The brine was 4 gallons of water, 2 cups of kosher salt, 1/2 cup worchestershire sauce, 2 tablespoons pepper, 2/3 cups brown sugar, 6 tablespoons of minced garlic.  It smelled pretty good.  I brined the birds for about 44 hours and rinsed them really well after they came out of the brine.  I believe rinsing well is the key to avoiding a salty taste.  The wife got one to cook traditionally, the other was mine.  I applied a simple rub of Emerils Essence.  I added 12 pucks of applewood to the smoker and turned it as high as it would go.  The bird stayed in the smoker till the internal temperature reached 140.  After that it went into 375 peanut oil in the deep fryer and cooked to an internal of 160.  I think the internal temp of smoker maybe reached 200 or so and I don't recall how long it took to reach internal of 140.  It stayed in the smoker a bit longer after the pucks were done.  I cook thick meat by temperature not time, especially poultry.

The bird was excellent.  Sorry no pics, we were pretty busy with all the good food and drinking the outstanding microbrews and imported beers my buddy brought over.  Pictures of food weren't our focus.

I guess if I was going to tweak the recipe, I would go for a little less smoke the next time.  Maybe 3 hours instead of 4.  As far as the rub.  I like just about any of the rubs from Emerils and it's pretty easy to doctor them up with a little additional spices if you have a craving for a particular spice.

[gcn11]

Ted, what are you using for the brine? I'm going to follow your steps exactly.

I'll be following the method I found here on How to Make Turkey Brine.  In the instructions they have a link for Turkey Brine Recipes.  I haven't decided on which one I'll try but I'm leaning toward the Apple and Spice brine, since I'll probably be using apple or cherry flavor pucks.

I don't use an injector.  I tried that once before I got into smoking meats and it tasted more like the marinade than turkey.  I probably used too much but from my Google smoking ideas I've been reading about this past week most of the people don't inject the turkey if they're going to brine and smoke it.

I really like the looks of the Apple/Spice brine from this website as well. Has anyone here tried it? If I wanted to include some MTQ for a little more food safety how much salt should I pull from the recipe per TSP of MTQ.

[Habanero Smoker]

........I really like the looks of the Apple/Spice brine from this website as well. Has anyone here tried it? If I wanted to include some MTQ for a little more food safety how much salt should I pull from the recipe per TSP of MTQ.

Hi gcn11;

Welcome to the forum.

Morton's TQ is about 70% salt, so reduce your salt accordingly. I'm not sure what recipe you are referring to, but when it come to a wet brine; a few teaspoons of TQ in a gallon of liquid is not going to provide any protection. The brine itself and the temperature you are cooking at (at least 225°F) is safe enough, but if you are looking for protection I would say you would need 8 - 9 ounces of TQ per gallon. That should give you enough cure for the extra protection that you are looking for, give the turkey some color; without adding much of the traditional ham like flavor.

[gcn11]

........I really like the looks of the Apple/Spice brine from this website as well. Has anyone here tried it? If I wanted to include some MTQ for a little more food safety how much salt should I pull from the recipe per TSP of MTQ.

Hi gcn11;

Welcome to the forum.

Morton's TQ is about 70% salt, so reduce your salt accordingly. I'm not sure what recipe you are referring to, but when it come to a wet brine; a few teaspoons of TQ in a gallon of liquid is not going to provide any protection. The brine itself and the temperature you are cooking at (at least 225°F) is safe enough, but if you are looking for protection I would say you would need 8 - 9 ounces of TQ per gallon. That should give you enough cure for the extra protection that you are looking for, give the turkey some color; without adding much of the traditional ham like flavor.

It's a brine recipe that TedEbear provided a link to on page one of this thread. It does use a cup and a half of kosher salt and I just get real nervous about poultry because of a food poisoning incident I had from a chicken restaurant. I don't mind substituting TQ for some of the salt. I may consider using pink salt instead though as it may be easier to convert into the brine recipe.

[Habanero Smoker]

I believe I found the recipe you are referring to. Who every developed that recipe doesn't understand TQ and/or the curing properties of nitrites. Two tablespoons of TQ in two gallons of water may make you feel safer, but it adds no protection against food borne bacteria. Or maybe the person was trying to add some color to the turkey, but I don't believe that is enough TQ to add any color to the bird.

My feeling is the salt it the brine, and smoking/cooking at a temperature of 225°F and higher is safe; as long as you properly handled the turkey prior to placing it in the Bradley. If you decide to go with cure #1, and you actually want to add enough for protection, you would have to add about 1.5 ounces or two tablespoons per gallon of liquid. It's too early for me to be working with math, but later I will calculate the actual minimal amount of cure #1 you can add that will provide the actual safety level you are looking for.

[Habanero Smoker]

 gcn11

For the minimal amount of cure that can be use to provide the level of protection you are looking for, and the amount of salt you plan to use, you will need 1.2 ounces (2 Tablespoons) of cure #1 per gallon, with a 10% injection. That means after you make the brine you still need to inject the turkey with enough brine to equal 10% of the weight of the turkey; prior to submerging the turkey in the brine. For example if you have an 20 pounds turkey, you will need to inject it with 2 pounds (32 ounces) of brine. That will give you a nitrite amount 40 - 50 ppm. When you make the brine, reduce the salt (by weight) by the same amount of cure you add.

If you want to add a ham like flavor add 3 ounces of cure #1 per gallon. Again reduce the salt accordingly.

[gcn11]

gcn11

For the minimal amount of cure that can be use to provide the level of protection you are looking for, and the amount of salt you plan to use, you will need 1.2 ounces (2 Tablespoons) of cure #1 per gallon, with a 10% injection. That means after you make the brine you still need to inject the turkey with enough brine to equal 10% of the weight of the turkey; prior to submerging the turkey in the brine. For example if you have an 20 pounds turkey, you will need to inject it with 2 pounds (32 ounces) of brine. That will give you a nitrite amount 40 - 50 ppm. When you make the brine, reduce the salt (by weight) by the same amount of cure you add.

If you want to add a ham like flavor add 3 ounces of cure #1 per gallon. Again reduce the salt accordingly.

Thanks a lot....I really appreciate the members with expertise helping us newbies out.