Ingredients:
1 whole 13 – 25 pound turkey, thawed.
Brine of Choice
Turkey Seasoning of choice
Olive Oil
1 cup of melted butter
3/4 Cup Apple Juice
Wood Pellets: Applewood
Instructions:
- Thaw the frozen turkey in the refrigerator. This may take 4 – 5 days.
- Unwrap the turkey, leave the leg ties in place, but remove any innards from the inner breast cavity and the rear. You may place them in the trash, unless you need them for another dish. And pat the turkey dry with clean paper towels.
- Brine the Turkey for 13 – 24 hours, in a zip sealing brining bag, that is in a roasting pan, that you leave in the refrigerator while brining.
If you don’t have a zip sealing bag, you may have to put the brining bag in to a bucket and put that into the refrigerator. - Take the turkey from the brine and pat the exterior dry with clean paper towels.
- Tie the wings to the body. So all limbs are tied in. If the legs did not come with a tie, tie the legs together. Any tie made of turkey skin will come apart during cooking, so that will not work.
- Cover in Oil
- Coat in spices
- Set grill to 185° F.
(For a good smoking, start at this low temperature.) - Place the turkey breast side down (legs down) in a rack or pan. And allow to smoke for 8 hours. Spaying the inside and outside with Apple Juice every hour.
(If it is a humid day, you may want to cover the turkey the first hour with foil. Since there may be soothing.) - Flip the turkey to breast side up (legs up) directly on the grill grates.
- Insert meat temp probe into the fattest part of the breast.
- Increase temperature to 275° F.
- When the meat temperature reaches 155° F. Brush on melted Butter. Since the skin is already crispy by then, it will enhance the flavor.
- Continue to cook breast side up till the breast meat is 160° F.
- Set the turkey in a pan and cover tightly completely with foil, to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. The breast meat temperature will rise to 165° F. while resting.
- Enjoy!
Note: Food safety guidelines mention, turkey meat should be removed from the bones within 2 hours after cooking your turkey. Legs and wings can be kept whole.