Multiple Turkey Questions

[TxSmoker]

Hello everyone!  I am doing a couple of turkeys this weekend and I was wondering after the brine, when letting dry in the fridge if you just leave the bird open to the air with no covering or what?  Also I have read threads reporting drying times of up to 24 hrs, is this true?  Reason why I ask is I started the brine too soon because I thought the cook time would be longer, but now that I know my cook time will be shorter I am scrambling to figure out how to time this for Sat. lunch.  This is what I have to work with, if anyone has some suggestions on getting this thing timed right for a noon lunch on Sat. that would be great! :)

Both turkeys are 19 lb fresh.

Brine:
I used PASmokers maple turkey brine, just altered a bit because I was using 3 gal of water.  I did not want to simply triple the recipe so this is what I tried (Should I have tripled the recipe, or was this a good call?):

    * 1 gallon cold water~~I used 3 gal. as mentioned.
    * 1 1/2 cups kosher salt~~I used 2 cups.  I just felt 4 1/2 cups salt was too much.
    * 1/4 cup black pepper~~I used 1/2 cup.
    * 1 1/2 Tbs. crushed or minced garlic or garlic powder~~I used almost 3 Tbs.
    * 1/2 Tbs. onion powder~~I used 1 1/2 Tbs. (this one I did triple because O.P. is so mild)
    * 1/2 ounce maple extract flavoring~~I tripled this also
    * Couple of bay leaves~~None used
    * Few cloves (or if ground already, add to taste)~~None Used
    * 1/2 cup of molasses~~I used 1 cup
    * A little lemon juice~~Didn't measure, just squirted till wife said ok. :)
    * Pickling spice (to taste)~~I used 1/2 a 1.5 oz bottle.

Turkey has been in the brine since 4 am Wednesday, about 39 hrs.  I hope this isn't too long but I found a post on here that listed brine times for whole birds of 1-2 days. 
My plan was to take the bird out of the brine tonight around 10 or 11, which would put the brine time @ 42-43 hrs.  Was going to leave the bird in the fridge to dry until morning and then into the smoker.  Here is where the problem comes in...after finding out that the cook time will be around 10 hrs or so, obviously putting the bird in the smoker tomorrow morn. will not work.  So, what to do?  Leave in the brine longer or leave in the fridge longer?  This is where the drying time comes into play, if I can leave it to dry without any harm for up to 24 hrs, then I have no problem.
I still have another one to do, so any suggestions are apprieciated!
Steve


   

[La Quinta]

TX...if it were me...I'd leave it in the fridge longer then brine longer. The brine has "done it's duty" already. IMHO. Just let it fully "dry" . But there a lot of people on here that know more then me so...Just one gal's opinion.... Oh yeah... Welcome! :)

[TxSmoker]

Thanks!  Do you leave it in there uncovered?  I just took it out of the brine and put it in the fridge, uncovered. I hope that is right.
Steve

[levonen]

Tx, you must cover the birds. Next time brine about 24 hours.

[Habanero Smoker]

When I try a recipe for the first time I try not to change the critical ingredient, which in this case is the salt. I don't recall NePa's recipe or what he said in the recipe how long the turkey needed to be brined. Because you are brining for flavor, it's not going to hurt anything, but the recipe may not work as intended. America's Test Kitchen recommends 1 cup of pickling salt per gallon, which is close in weight to what NePa's recipe calls for, and they recommend an 8 hour brine time for any size turkey.

The lengthy brine time may work in your favor, because the salt concentration is low it may be perfect; or it may come out too salty. At times I use a brine that contains 4 ounces of salt per gallon, which is one ounce per quart. That is close to the amount that you used, depending on which kosher salt you added. I use this type of brine for small chickens, Cornish hens and at times for trout; and will only brine for 8 - 10 hours, of course turkeys would take longer.

I would take the turkeys out of the brine, cover them by placing them in a ziplock bag or wraping in plastic, and just air dry uncovered in the refridgerator for the 12 hours prior to smoking. Let us know how it turns out.

[TxSmoker]

Thanks Hab- I understand what your saying about the salt, and I hope I didn't ruin it by brining too long.  My blood pressure doesn't like too much salt, so that was another reason for lowering the salt content. 

As for the brining time, actually it was NePa that gave some brine times in response to a thread of mine. He gave a brine time of 1-2 days for a whole turkey, BUT, here is what I didn't read so well:
"How Long To Flavor Brine:
It is possible to end up with meat that's too salty for your taste. To avoid this, brine on the low end of the time range on your first attempt. You can always brine longer next time, but there's no way to salvage a piece of meat that's been brined too long."

But like you said, the lower salt content may work in my favor.  Maybe they will equal each other out...lower salt, longer brine=perfect.
Oh well, too late now, I just hope the meat for the family meal is not ruined!
Thanks everyone!
Steve

[sherlock]

Good Luck TX

Just remember, even failures are sucessfull in teaching us lessons.

Nathan

[TxSmoker]

Very, very, true sherlock!  I just wish if it is a failure it would have been on MY time, not all the inlaws, brothers, sisters, granparents, etc!  :)  Oh well, what's done is done now, only time will tell.
Steve

[Habanero Smoker]

A good base point for brining turkeys is to start with 1 hour per pound. The turkey should be fine. If you can slice a small piece off at the neck cavity you can pan fry it. That will give you a good sense as to whether there is too much salt. If it is salty; which it is probably not, you can soak it in about 3 gallons of cold water for 30 minutes to an hour to draw out some of the salt.

[TxSmoker]

Ok, the verdict is in!  The turkey was AWESOME!!  Not salty at ALL!  Smoke flavor throughout, which has always been a problem for me, so this time I smoked much longer.  Everyone loved it, many said it was the best they had ever had, and I agree.  It was fall off the bone tender and so juicy that when I went to cut it, as I penetrated the skin it was almost like I popped a blister as the juice came out.  I got nominated as the official turkey cook every year. lol  8)

Here are the final stats on how it was prepared:
~Of course I used the brine recipe posted above.
~Brined for 42 hrs.
~Dried/stored in fridge for 24 hrs.
~Smoked for 8 hrs with alternating pucks of 2 maple, 1 hickory.  I know this seems excesive but I have never been pleased with the amount of smoke only doing 4-5 hrs so this time I decided I'm going all in and filled the loader up.  IMO, you can't have too much smoke!
~Total cook time 12 hrs.

Thanks for everyone's help!!  Have a very merry Christmas and don't forget the reason for the season!!
Steve

[La Quinta]

Very kool TX...Merry Christmas!!!

[smokin texas]

hey i'm new to the bradley family i wanted to use mesquite for my turkey. give me some advise please. ???

[Consiglieri]

Mesquite is probably too strong for a bird.  I'd recommend some of the sweeter wood like apple, maple, cherry, or pecan. 

[Habanero Smoker]

Smokin Texas;

The mesquite is strong, you may want to start off easy, such as 1 mesquite to 3 maple or pecan.

[smokin texas]

thanks for the great info. have a merry x-mas