Turkey Under Cooked

ollavac_j · November 28, 2008, 08:23:02 AM

Hi all,

I smoked my 15lb turkey for 4 hours and then continued to cook it for 3 more hours at 220 degrees. I based my cooking time on someone elses post but my bird never got over 125 degrees internally. At that point I was forced to finish it in the oven. Does anyone know where I went wrong? I brined the bird as well which I heard speeds up the cooking time. I can't find anywhere where it says how long to cook a per pound or anything like that. I'm now thinking I should have cooked this thing for like 12 hours at least? Any recommendations are greatly appreciated.

John

KyNola · November 28, 2008, 09:31:12 AM

Hi John,
Welcome to the forum. A few of questions for you to maybe help us determine what may have happened. What type of Bradley do you have, digital or original? How were you monitoring the temp in the box? Was your Bradley outside and if so, what was the outside temp and was it windy? How open was your vent? Did you preheat your Bradley prior to putting the turkey inside? All of the items I asked about can have a direct bearing on how long something takes to fully cook.

KyNola

Smoking Duck · November 28, 2008, 10:52:59 AM

The thing about smoking (IMHO) is that you never really know exactly how long it will take when smoking. I feel this is one of the top reasons folks move their meat inside after a smoke (much easier to regulate temp inside an oven than to have to worry about wind, etc). However, in an effort to try and understand what went wrong, if we had the answers to the questions KYNola asked, we might be able to pinpoint a cause. If using the door thermometer on your Bradley, they're not very accurate and that could be a source of the problem. Please let us know what went wrong; there are some absolutely brilliant monds on this board (unfortunately, I'm npt pne of them) that can help figure it out.

Regards,

SD

Habanero Smoker · November 28, 2008, 02:02:41 PM

John;

Welcome to the forum. The additional information will be helpful.

Brining does lessen the amount of time it needs to cook. On average it takes me 8 hours to smoke/cook a 12 pound bird at 225°F; but there have been days it takes 10 hours. So 12 hours would have been a better guesstimate for a 15 pound bird. A lot depends on how fast your smoker recovers and get back up to 225°F.

Generally I only apply about 2:20 -2:40 hours of smoke.

beefmann · November 28, 2008, 02:09:11 PM

Welcome to the forum John...

I also heard that it could take between 1 hr. 15 mins to 1 hr 30 mins per pound to cook a turkey at 215 to 225 and like others have stated it depends on how fast your box recovers as well as ambiant temptures.

so 15 to 20 hours for a 15 lb turkey is not un heard of... most smoke in the smoker and finish in the house oven

FLBentRider · November 28, 2008, 02:35:12 PM

W E L C O M E to the Forum ollavac_j!

I don't have an explanation for you. I was just as belwildered to find that after 6 hours @225F, Our 14lb bird was at an IT of 162F... 3 hours early.

How open was your vent ?

Was it a fresh or frozen bird ?

Did you let the bird sit @ room temp for 1 hour while you preheated the smoker ?

ollavac_j · November 28, 2008, 05:43:12 PM

Hey guys thanks for the warm welcome... Here is the break down of what I have/did.

I have a four rack digital model. It doesn't have the door thermometer. I was thinking of sliding a thermometer in the top of the vent but wasn't sure if that is the proper way of doing it. I preheated the oven (220) for an hour and the bird was a fozen bird at room temp. My vent was slightly open because I thought it would help keep heat in. It was rather cold, probably about 35 degrees and a slight breeze but I was cooking just slightly inside the garage to cut down on the breeze. I'm not sure how accurate the digital gauge is on my model but I can tell you that it fluctuated from 207 to 220 at times. Not sure why. My digital guage only goes to 320. Also my bradley drips from two spots on the bottom of the door and one spot in the rear. Is that normal?

Oh and I also used a 13x9 inch aluminum tray on the rack just below the bird to help with cleanup later. Not sure if that screws with heat distribution at all.

Smoking Duck · November 28, 2008, 05:53:23 PM

With any type of poultry, you want the vent wide open. The drips are from the condensation from the bird. This probably contributed quite a bit with the length of time. I never use anything but the V-drip tray that comes with the Bradley. Simply spray with spray oil and easy clean up afterwards. This probably contributed to the dripping as well. I never rely on the temp setting with the digital. The best thing you can do is buy a Maverick ET-73 remote thermometer. This will give you a much better reading as to what the actual box temp is versus digital readout. I've seen large temp swings using only the digital readout and the Maverick takes care of that issue pretty well. I would recommend buying one from Bryan at www.yardandpool.com. You can also PM him; his screen name is begolf25. You won't find a better person to deal with and he'll set you up good.

I'm sure there's something I've missed and others will be around to help.

Good luck!

SD

ollavac_j · November 28, 2008, 06:10:18 PM

Wow SD that Maverick ET-73 sounds cool... So there are two guages--one for the meat and the other for the oven? So the benifit of that thing is so you don't ever have to open the door right? Thanks for the help...

John

Smoking Duck · November 28, 2008, 06:15:00 PM

Absolutely, John. I highly recommend it and Bryan from Yard and Pool. Both are top-notch. You know the old saying: If you're looking, you ain't cooking! This takes care of that and really helps when it's cold outside.....no more going out all the time when it's cold! You do, however, need to check on it (with your choice of beverage in hand) just to prove to people how hard smoking food is! ;D

SD

ollavac_j · November 28, 2008, 06:27:13 PM

Yeah I told my buddy I bought an electric smoker and he jumped all over me saying that I was cheating... Whatever : )! It's all about good flavor to me. I could care less if I'm taking the easier way out : ) I look at it like this, work smarter not harder!

Hey SD, so if if my bradley is set to the digital 220 and it's only actually say like 210 in there it's okay to raise the oven temp to get it more acurate right?

Smoking Duck · November 28, 2008, 06:33:25 PM

Yea, that's what I do when I use the Digital. I always go with the Maverick reading over the Bradley. It wasn't uncommon to have a 20 degree difference between the Bradley and the Maverick. I'm thinking that might have made a big difference in the time of your bird. You may have thought you were smoking at 220 but it could have been much less than that. Once you get a Maverick,. you'll understand why.

I like when the guys who say electric is cheating are smoking and I am. I really like when they have to stay at home all day to tend the smoker and stay up all night to tend the smoker and I go over to visit them when I'm smoking as well. Don't get me wrong; I smoke conventionally as well but reserve the conventional when I'm doing a whole hog and it simply won't fit into the Bradley. Sure, you don't get the smoke ring, but I've moved way past the looks and really only care about the flavor.

SD

ollavac_j · November 28, 2008, 06:46:17 PM

I hear you. Yeah I'm new to smoking and am just trying to get this bradley down as quick as possible. I will probably defianatley pick up one of those mavericks for sure... Thanks for the tidbit : )

Smoking Duck · November 28, 2008, 07:03:54 PM

No problem at all John. If you run into any more problems, just give a shout and anyone here is happy to help!

SD

ollavac_j · November 28, 2008, 07:06:55 PM

Thanks SD. BTW do you know of anywhere on the forum where I could pick up a good smoked ham recipe?

Turkey Under Cooked

beefmann