Egg on my face for our smoked 2 Turkey dinner party.

[San Diego Smoker]

I have been bragging to my friends about my new Bradley smoker (DBS4), how easy it is to use, how great the food tastes, etc, etc.  So my wife and I decide to throw a party to introduce the Bradley to my friends.

So here is the scenario:
Its 4 PM, the house is clean, the table is set, the guests are starting to arrive, and the food is ready.  Well not all the food, the turkeys are still not done. Oh, by the way, we are supposed to start eating by 4:30pm.

What would you do?  Like any good hosts, we stall.  My wife entertains while I hustle.  But let me start at the beginning...


I have had my Bradley smoker for about 6 or 7 weeks.  I have smoked chickens, pork ribs and one turkey. Always delicious, always tender, always moist.  One common problem I have been experiencing is things take longer to cook than I planned. 

For example, I smoked 4 chickens one time and instead of the 4.5-5 hrs I was expecting it takes 6.5 hrs with the smoker set to 240 degrees. I have smoked chickens several times and it always takes longer than expected.  There for I am always fiddling with the temp setting trying to get the meat done in the time frame I am expecting.

I forgot to mention, I have (qty 2) dual wireless meat thermometers (four probes in all).  Plus, I also notice that my Bradley never gets up to the temp I set, I show you what I mean later.       

Now for this dinner party, I wanted a dry run.  So I smoked a single 14 lb turkey.  To tell you the truth, I don't remember the exact temperature, because I was constantly fiddling with the temperature so much.  I never had it lower than 240 and was using 300 degrees at the end to try and get the turkey done. But most of the time I was about 250-260 degrees. As it turned out, the single turkey took 7.5 hours to cook.  Kind of what I expected, but I had to turn the temp up real high at the end to get it there.   Nonetheless, the turkey turned out great!  My wife said the best she has ever had and she makes an excellent turkey.

OK, I think I am ready for the dinner party.   I know that it takes about 7.5 hrs at about 250-260 degrees for one turkey.  I am going to cook two 14lb turkeys and it always takes longer than I expect.  So I start cooking at 7 am sharp.  This gives me 9 hours to cook the birds.  That should be plenty of time to have the birds cooked, cut off the meat and place on a platter in time for dinner.

I preheat the oven, and then set the temp on the DBS to 280 degrees.  I put one turkey on the bottom shelf, the other on the 2nd from the top shelf.  I put probes in the breast and thigh of each turkey so I will know when they are done.  But this time, I am not going to fiddle with the temp settings. I am going to log the temperatures of the bottom turkey through out the day, see table at the bottom of this post.
I have been bragging to my friends about my new Bradley smoker (DBS4), how easy it is to use, how great the food tastes, etc, etc.  So my wife and I decide to throw a party to introduce the Bradley to my friends.

So here is the scenario:
Its 4 PM, the house is clean, the table is set, the guests are starting to arrive, and the food is ready.  Well not all the food, the turkeys are still not done. Oh, by the way, we are supposed to start eating by 4:30pm.

What would you do?  Like any good hosts, we stall.  My wife entertains while I hustle.  But let me start at the beginning...


I have had my Bradley smoker for about 6 or 7 weeks.  I have also purchased (qty 2) dual wireless meat thermometers (four probes in all).  I have smoked chickens, pork ribs and one turkey. Always delicious, always tender, always moist.  However, one common problem I have been experiencing is things take longer to cook than I planned. 

For example, I smoked 4 chickens one time and instead of the 4.5-5 hrs I was expecting it takes 6.5 hrs with the smoker set to 240 degrees. I have smoked chickens several times and it always takes longer than expected.  There for I am always fiddling with the temp setting trying to get the meat done in the time frame I am expecting.

Now for this dinner party, I wanted a dry run.  So I smoked a single 14 lb turkey.  To tell you the truth, I don't remember the exact temperature, because I was constantly fiddling with the temperature so much.  I never had it lower than 240 and was using 300 degrees at the end to try and get the turkey done. But most of the time I was about 250-260 degrees. As it turned out, the single turkey took 7.5 hours to cook.  Kind of what I expected, but I had to turn the temp up real high at the end to get it there.   Nonetheless, the turkey turned out great!  My wife said the best she has ever had and she makes an excellent turkey.

OK, I think I am ready for the dinner party.   I know that it takes about 7.5 hrs at about 250-260 degrees for one turkey.  I am going to cook two 14lb turkeys and it always takes longer than I expect.  So I start cooking at 7 am sharp.  This gives me 9 hours to cook the birds.  That should be plenty of time to have the birds cooked, cut off the meat and place on a platter in time for dinner.

I preheat the oven, and then set the temp on the DBS to 280 degrees.  I put one turkey on the bottom shelf, the other on the 2nd from the top shelf.  I put probes in the breast and thigh of each turkey so I will know when they are done.  But this time, I am not going to fiddle with the temp settings. I am going to log the temperatures of the bottom turkey through out the day, see table at the bottom of this post.

As it turned out, none of the turkeys were done at 4 pm.  The bottom turkey had a breast temp of 162 degrees and a thigh temp of 168 degrees.  The turkey on the top shelf is running about 9 degrees cooler on the thigh and breast than the one on the bottom shelf.  I don't like to serve the birds unless they are at least 165 degrees minimum.  But it has been 9 hours, the guests are arriving, the turkeys must be done.  The probe in the breast must be wrong.  So I take out the bottom bird, move the top bird to the bottom rack, as I carve up the first turkey.

Unfortunately, the probe had the right temperature.  The breast meat was not done, still had pink in the meat.  I have only one option, microwave!  Trying to hide this fact from my guest, I finish cooking the white meat and place all meat on the platter.  So we start dinner, 5pm only a half hour late (Keep in mind the 2nd bird is still in the DBS). The meat was a little dry, not juicy as before.  In fact when you look at the bird coming out of the oven, it did not look plump and juicy, it was a little shriveled.  I guess because it had cooked so long in the oven.  The second bird finally came out about 6 pm.  Which was two late to be used for dinner...

I am sure my guests were not impressed.  Not only was there not enough turkey, the meat did not live up to the hype.


I realize the failure is mine.  But I was wondering if any of you on this forum could direct me on a couple of things.

1. Are those of you with the DBSs having the same problem with the temperature never reaching the set temp?
2. What specifically did I do wrong on the 2 turkey smoke?   The first bird I took out after 9 hrs and it was still not done.  The second bird was taken out after 11 hours and it was cooked.  In both birds the meat was dry.
3. How long should turkey and chicken take to cook?  What temp setting should I use for the DBS?

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Just a note, for this smoking session, I did not open the door once.

Here is the temperature log for the bottom turkey.  The top turkey's breast temp was about 9 degrees lower than the bottom turkey breast temp at 4PM:


 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Time (Hrs)	PreHeat	7am	8am	9am	10am	11am	12pm	1pm	2pm	3pm	4pm
Breast Temp	1/2 HR	38	51	80	107	128	138	151	156	159	162
Thigh Temp		39	65	95	116	130	140	150	158	163	168
Ambient Air Temp				59	66	73	74	75	77	77	76
Bradley Oven Setting	320	280	280	280	280	280	280	280	280	280	280
Bradley Thermometer	209		219	221	221	221	232	230	248	255	228

[NePaSmoKer]

Smoking fowl normally dries the meat out. A simple poultry brine would have made the meat juicy. I brine for 24 to 48 hours with fowl.

Doing 2 turkeys this size IMHO 9 hours was not long enough. Rotating them would have made up in the temp variations.


We all made these mistakes.


Others will be along to give tips and tricks.

[Rich_91360]

two turkeys would add considerably more time than the extra 2 hours you alloted.

always plan on it taking longer than you planned.

when entertaining best to do it day ahead and then rewarm in oven.  Guest still get to eat smoked (whatever) and you can relax

BTW:  I have had similar problems with things taking longer than I expected - just part of the ongoing experience gained through using your BDS as often as possible

[BigJohnT]

For really moist birds of all kinds I use my BE.

JT

[San Diego Smoker]

In regards to NePaSmoKer about a brine.  I did not mention in the original post, but I did put the birds in the brine for 24 hrs.   Another thing, I would have thought that setting the temperature at 280 degrees would have made up for the thermal mass of the 2nd bird.  

Rich_91360 - Good suggestion.  If I can I like to serve the meat fresh.  But if need be, I can implement your idea, thanks.

BigJohnT - What's a BE?

I appreciate your feed back.

[FLBentRider]

W E L C O M E  to the Forum San Diego Smoker!

Sorry to hear about your party.

I always brine poultry I smoke. For Turkeys I use Alton Browns Honey brine. I brine overnight.

If you think about the thermodynamics the mass of 2 Turkeys and one 500 watt element....

The bird on the bottom gets most of the heat, the bird on top gets whats left over.

Rotating them top to bottom and front to back helps even out the heat.

If you get a "mulligan" I would move the birds to the house oven after the smoke portion is done.

House ovens are usually 1500 watts or so - works better with large masses.

I did a very similar thing with multiple chickens and a late dinner...

[San Diego Smoker]

Live and learn. I did not think about rotating the birds.  What a great suggestion.  I saw somewhere on the forum that adding a fan may even out the temperature inside the oven. Is that true?

Besides, should'nt my setting of 280 degrees have compensated for the extra thermal mass of the 2nd bird?  Should I add an additional heating element?

Thanks for posting a reply  ;D

[ArnieM]

SD Smoker, welcome to the forum.  Sorry to hear about the birds.

A "BE" is the "Big Easy" oiless infrared turkey cooker.  It does a great job on poultry.

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi n Diego Smoker;

Welcome to the forum.

If your probes were correct, the turkey was fully cooked. It is unusual for the thigh to register a higher temperature then the breast. I use the thickest part of the thigh to go by and when it get to 162°F, I pull it out of the smoker. The carryover will bring it up to 165°F.

As for the red color in the breast meat, that is not an indication that the meat is not fully cooked. Today's chickens and turkey may still have some pink color in them, because today's birds are processed at a younger age, and slow cooking also contributes to this (this is not associated with pink or smoke ring). This happens more so around the joints, then in the breast, but it can show up in the breast area. To tell if it is fully cooked, touch the pink area with a white paper towel. If the juices are clear, the meat is fully cooked, if there is any red in the juices then it is under cooked.

[OU812]

Bummer your turkey dinner didnt go as planed.

I agree with Habs on the pink meat, mainly close to the bone.

As far as the cook time, did you have the vent wide open the whole time? That will make a difference. Also the wind is your smokers enemy, it will suck the heat out.

When smokin turkeys I try to keep the weight down to 12 lb. They seem to cook better and more evenly than the larger birds.

Also rotatin the racks top to bottom and front to back, after the smoke, will help the birds get done at the same time. I try to keep the racks as high in the smoker as possable.

I did up a couple birds for a friend back in Nov. theres a post in the poultry section and it only took 5 or 6 hr with the smaller birds.

Just a little side note, I do have 2 heatin elements a PID and a couple fans installed in my smoker so my times will be shorter.

[Slamdunk]

I'm wondering about how far open your vent was - I mean the smoker vent of course  :-*
Fowl has more moisture than other muscle meats and that trapped moisture in the smoker keeps the heat down.

[San Diego Smoker]

Habanero Smoker - Thank you for that tip on the pinkness of the meat.  My turkeys may have been done.  Next time I will use your suggestion to test for doneness.  Thanks.  :D

OU812 & slamdunk - Next time I will go with the 12 lb turkeys.  By the way, my vent was open half-way during the entire cooking process.  Should they have been open all the way?

OU812 - I just ordered my dual probe Auber PID a few minutes ago.  Hopefully that will give me more control.  However, I am very interested in the fan modification.  Could you direct me to where I can find out more?

Again thank you all for your help.  ;D

[FLBentRider]

Most people run the vent wide open for poultry.

[San Diego Smoker]

FL Bent Rider - Thank you for the tip.  I never knew about opening the vent all the way helps get better results.

[Gizmo]

I like to finish mine off in the oven, on the grill, or in the Big Easy for the higher heat.
The Bradley has a 500 watt heating element so as the others have mentioned, the mass is a bit overwhelming for that small of a heating element.  The high heat of the oven will help with the skin crispness as well.

BTW, next time give me a call and I'll come down to help sample with a quality review for your guests.   ;D

Another suggestion for smoking in the Bradley is to not go by the temperature readout on the digital readout of the smoke generator.  The sensor is on the back wall in the middle of the tower.  Best place for it for an average temperature if you are using 1 shelf and it is placed just above the sensor.  Use one of the Maverick probes carefully placed just below the meat (but not in the dripping path to prevent shorting out the probe).  This will help you to know what the meat is experiencing in temperature.  I would suspect you had a good 30 degrees less heat on the top bird.   I typically keep the set temp at 320 after loading the smoker and keep it there until the box temperature recovers then decrease the set temp down 20 degrees at a time to maintain the desired box temp as measured just below the lowest rack of meat.  Typically that desired temp is around 210 but for poultry, I would go for the highest temp possible since birds don't benefit from low and slow in my opinion.

One other note, how long did the birds sit outside of the fridge before loading into the smoker?   From your 38 degree internal temp at the start, I would say they were quite cold inside which would add to the cook time and also keep the meat next to the bone from cooking at the same rate (or at least closer to) as the rest of the bird, therefore drying out the majority of the meat before your internal temp is achieved.