OT: Any advice for smoking a 19 lbs Turkey?

[TFrazier]

General rule of thumb is to cook the meat up to 140 degrees within 4 hours for safety. I know it can be dangerous to smoke meat for a long time between the 40-140 degrees “Danger Zone” so any advice for me without cranking the Temp up to 300 degrees for 4-5 hours and ruining the Turkey, would be greatly appreciated. 😀

 

[keilwitzg]

😁
The Turkey turned out great!! The skin was not as crispy as I had hoped for. I started smoking it at around 6:45am. By about 10:00 AM it had already climbed to 113 degrees. I had started it at around 250 degrees on the smoker but was still registering at a little under 225 here also up North in the cold. So I had to turn the smoker down to a “low smoke” setting until around 12:00. Then I turned it back up to 250 degrees until it hit 145 degrees on the meat thermometer. Then I cranked it up to 350 degrees and once it hit 150 on the thermometer I rotated it 180* and let it sit until it registered at 160 degrees on the thermometer. I was also spraying it with “duck fat” every hour or so. I pulled it off at around 3pm, so it took about 8-9 hours. Then I let it rest about 15-20 min before cutting into it.

I did a brine soak for about 26 hours before smoking it. I then rinsed it off and applied “duck fat” and a “Traeger Pork & Poultry Rub” and rubbed it on the bird. I then let it sit for 30 min before throwing it on the smoker. I smoked the Turkey with Apple wood pellets as well.

So thanks everyone for the advice, it was a hit and I felt like a King for the day! 😬