i picked up a 12# frozen bird to do a test run in the OldSmokey
it took 3 days to defrost in the fridge
then i put it in a Reynolds BriningBag overnight
i have been playing around with different setups to do a turkey in the OldSmokey
i had originally decided not to use my Weber charcoal baskets and use a big foil pan as the separate for the two piles of charcoal, but I changed my mind because i like how they keep the hot coals in a tidy little pile and they keep the temp up even as they burn down. this meant that my big foil pan wouldn't fit between the coal baskets, so i had to go back to the smaller pan.
i also decided to put a small schmaltz pan directly under the turkey rack to collect the drippings
so i dried off the bird, basted it with olive oil and seasoned it with Mrs.Dash
i put a layer of lump oak in the bottom of the baskets (Minion), then split a half basket of lit briquets on top to get the cook going. it held a great 350° through the whole 3 hour cook
with one good sized hunk of hickory on each coal pile
the cook came off great, but a few things of note
the schmaltz pan directly under the roasting rack shielded the dark meat. the breast meat was cooking faster than the dark so for the last hour i took the schmaltz pan out from under the rack so the dark meat could catch up. in the the future i'll only have a drip pan under the rack so the dark meat cooks at it's normal pace. i ended up with 1-cup of strained schmaltz, for gravy
the Weber charcoal baskets were the way to go. good decision
the turkey is probably the best i have ever cooked.
the brining worked perfect. i love those Reynolds brining bags
the OldSmokey kicks tail cooking any sized bird. this was only a 12#er but a big 20#er+ would be just as easy
