Barbecued Turkey

Okay, here we go! 

Today, I am cooking a 14 pound turkey on our Weber Kettle barbecue. I have not done a turkey before but I feel pretty confident about the outcome. The only real question is how long will it take.

I am using the charcoal snake method. This will allow me to cook the turkey for several hours without ever having to remove the lid to add charcoal. It should provide a nice even heat around 275° for up to six hours.

The deal is that you light one end of the snake and let it burn around the outside of the kettle.

Also, I’m going to sprinkle some damp apple wood chips on top of the snake. That will add a smoked quality to the cook. I will place a small pan of water in the center of the charcoal which will add a little moisture to the cook as well.

The turkey has been brining all night and I’m about to take it out and rinse it in the sink. That will remove any excess salt. Believe me, there is plenty of salt in that brine.

Here is the delightfully brined bird. It’s been soaking for about 18 hours.

I have removed the turkey from the brine and rinsed it in a sink full of water for 15 minutes.

We did the normal turkey prep…separating the skin and basting it with melted butter.

11:50 AM: I have lit the starter charcoal which I will pour onto the start of the charcoal snake when it’s ready.

12:15PM: The turkey is in.

I am using a bluetooth meat thermometer. You can see it on the left side of the bird just below the wing. The brand I'm using is called Meater. I really like it. It is essential for doing these long cooks on the barbecue.

I've used it a few times when I've done brisket. The nice thing about it is the data it provides to my iPad. 

It lets you see the temperature in the grill, the temperature of the meat and the temperature you are cooking to. It will even provide an estimated time to finish but there are a lot of variables with that and I generally don't pay attention to the time until the very end. It gives you a little guidance but I'm looking at the temperature of the meat. 

1:42PM: It seems to be cruising along quite nicely. I was expecting it to get up to around 275 but right now it’s at 320 and still climbing.

Right now, MEATER is estimating it will be done around 3:40. We’ll keep an eye on that and see how it does.

2:24PM: We couldn’t resist. We had to look. Susan wanted to know if we were getting any drippings.

The answer is not much in the way of drippings. It actually looks a little burned on one side. That may be from the apple wood chips I spread on top of the snake. I only soaked them for a couple of hours so they might be catching fire rather than smoldering. We decided to cover it loosely with foil.

The good news is we did not loose a lot of heat when we lifted the lid.

The latest data indicates it will be done at 4:00.

3:34PM: It appears we are on track for about 4:00 to pull the turkey off the barbecue. The temperature is up to 368 in the grill. I’ll have to remember that for the future. I can get it to 350ish when cooking with the charcoal snake.

4:08PM: I just pulled the turkey off the grill. We’re going to let it rest a bit and then I will carve.

It’s a little more charred looking than I would like. We’ll see if it burned under the skin.

5:30PM: I am happy! That was an excellent turkey. It was moist, just a hint of smoke and not salty at all. I was a little worried about that. Susan said she bit into a piece that was really salty but I never hit one.

I think I have a new tradition. Total cook time was about three and a half hours. The barbecue got up the 370 but it took a long time to reach that temperature. 

We have another turkey Susan bought in case this didn't work out. I am going to want to do this again for Christmas.