My brined & cured Bradley Smoked, SRG finished Turkey

[Saber 4]

Here's the play by play on this year's turkey project, I went with Smokehouse Rob's brine recipe http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?21-Apple-Juice-Turkey-Brine-by-Smokehouse-Rob with 3 oz.'s of cure #1 following the advice given in other posts I brined the 13 lb. bird for 13 hours and let it rack dry in the fridge for about 12 more hours.

Resting on the stove waiting for the Bradley to heat up.



Used my turkey fryer stand to put it in the SRG basket so that I could go from the Bradley to the SRG with minimum fuss, per TMB and 10.5's recommendation. And of course I had to brine and smoke the neck for a cooks treat, and it was delicious.



Into the Bradley at 230 with an outside temp of 35 degrees, here it is at 125 IT getting ready to come out of the Bradley and into the SRG



Left it in the SRG on medium-low heat with the lid down until it reached 158 then finished it out with the lid up to 167 in the breast and 171 in the thigh, here it is coming out of the SRG



And resting on the counter to cool off so I can split it in half and vacuum seal the halves to take on our trip, we are going to use an electric roaster water bath to warm up on Thursday.



I had to much other stuff going on to keep track of the hours in the Bradley and the SRG but the total time was probably around 5 hours. If it lasts long enough I will try to get the money shots on Thanksgiving day.

[TedEbear]

Looks very good. 

I'm planning a similar procedure for Thanksgiving.  You said your turkey was 13#.  Do you think a 20# bird would fit in that cage?  We haven't bought ours yet but we're doing that on Tuesday.

Edit:  After a bit of Google searching it seems that for the original TBE (the one I have) the maximum turkey size is 16#.  I guess that's the number I'll be looking for at the store tomorrow.

[Saber 4]

I would bet a 20 pounder would fit, every company seems to knock their specs down a little bit knowing that people like us will push the limits as much as we can, I bet it you trussed the legs and wings it would fit. I got a little taste this evening when I split the bird in half to vacuum seal it up and it was delicious.

[ragweed]

Looks great!  You've put together one heck of a Thanksgiving feast for your camping trip. 

I've got my little 8 lb bird all salted down and in the frig.  On Friday, instead of following the recipe, I'm gonna smoke in my OBS then crisp the skin in the house oven.

[RedJada]

 Looks great Saber. Been contemplating if I should do my turkey in the TBE. Although, I'm cooking turkey on Friday for just me and the wife so I wont feel rushed. Looking at your photos is helping convince me to go this route.

[Saber 4]

Looks great Saber. Been contemplating if I should do my turkey in the TBE. Although, I'm cooking turkey on Friday for just me and the wife so I wont feel rushed. Looking at your photos is helping convince me to go this route.

Go for it, I don't think you'll be disappointed, the smoke from the Bradley got in the meat real nice and the SRG gave it some great crispy skin and color. On the Charbroil site I saw they had an oven ring/lid set to turn your TBE into an SRG, might be worth looking into down the road, I know my wife wants me to get the griddle attachment for mine.

[OldHickory]

Great job Saber.  The initial Bradley smoke/cook is a great compliment to the finish in the SRG.  The cold cuts and sammies are delicious.

[TMB]

New you would love the results, great job

now when we siiting down for leftovers?

[Saber 4]

New you would love the results, great job

now when we siiting down for leftovers?

Thanks for the help, sorry they scarfed it all up not much in the leftover department. I'll post pics in a separate post.