Turkey FAIL

My guess is that the turkey legs were close to the edge where the high heat rises around the plate setter.  Anything on the outside (leg & wings) gets way over done.

I have cooked a few turkeys. The first was underdone because I ran out of fuel (the first thing I ever cooked on the egg). The others were better. I've never brined one though.

Personnally, I think the 350 temp might have been your issue. It sound high to me. One would think that the brining would have helped combat the dryness.

I'd love to hear what others think.

My bet is the room temperature.  On thing the egg is is an oven and oven rules normally apply.

There are at least 2 problems you ran into.

The first is this. Roasting a whole turkey at once is really hard. The breasts and the legs cook differently, and either one or the other is likely to not be very good. Everyone wants to present a great big carcass, and cut into it, but it is a whole lot easier to cut the bird up, and cook the  white and dark meat separately, for different times. Some people ice the breasts, so they are colder to start with, others (myself most recently) wrap the legs in foil to slow the cooking of them down.

The other problem is the safe temperature. If the center of the breast needs to reach 160 to be safe, it only needs to be 160 for about 10 seconds. But it is also safe if it is at 140 for somewhat over 10 minutes.

oh, and a really dark bird is not bad, if you have been rubbing it with butter. sometimes I rub the bird with a stick of butter every 10 minutes. At the end, it is easily as dark as mahogany, but the crunch exterior is "butter jerky." So crisp and sooo tasty.

Must agree with brimee, as much as the upright position of the bird. Always had best results with the "beer can" method on any charcoal fired cooker when the fuel is beneath the bird. I do believe brining is a great thing if you have the time.  

I used the same recipe for the Christmas turkey,and it turned out great..the only thing different that I did was used a roasting pan, which elevated the turkey...i placed the roasting pan directly on top of the platesetter...my wife liked it so much, she made me do a turkey breast last night(which I'm not allowed to share with family and friends).

upnsmoke, Sorry you turkey was a turkey, so to speak.  

Just a suggestion. Have done about a doz turkeys on the Egg and all the same. Spatchcocked / direct / raised / 350 to 400. I do not brine but do leave uncovered in fridge overnight. Do 12 lb birds and they take about 1.5 hours. Use very,very little cherry and pecan wood (very little). This is a very simple turkey to do.

 

A trick to keep your turkey breast moist is to ice it before going on the grill.  Fill a gallon bag with ice cubes and place it on the turkey breast for at least 45 minutes.  This will buy you some more time for the dark meat to get done without drying out the breast.  Brine your turkey like normal, then ice the breast while letting the bird dry out before placing on the grill.

i havent splatched a turkey yet.  it is on the list.

 

Well, I mean, well done! https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2393145943851&id=100000734792977&notif_t=wall

I followed the method to the letter (good way to learn something new). And learned something new I did! Thanks for the tip on cooking at 375 - 400F using just the bottom door and leaving the top off, the BGE performed well. For rub just salt, pepper, thyme, and celery seed.

It was a cheap bird, got it on sale at Publix for .49/lb. before
Christmas, I just grabbed it to mess around with on the new BGE. Not
injected or anything, just a frozen 12 pound turkey.

I raised the grid with aluminum cans (skinny Coors Light) filled with
sand. I don't recommend that, too unstable.  The bird just fit in the
large BGE. One large well soaked chunk of hickory provided light smoke.

After about an hour and fifteen minutes I checked the breast temp and it was 145, came back ten minutes later and it was 160, pulled the bird and let it sit for twenty minutes, temp peaked out at 170.

Call it grilled turkey! I cut it into big pieces for dinner and sliced up one breast and everybody dug in. The wife said "a little dry" on the breast meat but as we ate she said, "this is good!". And it WAS!  VERY TASTY, I'll say that. Not a Martha Stewart moist-breast winner but more like a man's turkey. A little chewy and slightly dry on the white meat, but think that had more to do with the bird than the method. Crispy (the leg ends broke right off)! The dark meat was AWESOME (our family goes for the dark, the white's always left for last). The wing meat was nice and the wings crunchy, which I love. That golden browned crispy turkey taste is what this was all about, and you get that with the 375 - 400F. The thighs were perfect with crispy skin and crispy edges. Reminded me of Roscoe's Fried Chicken in Los Angeles.

All in all, a winner! Done in 1-1/2 hrs and on the table in a little over two. Thanks! Next time I plan to do the same exact thing except maybe pull it when the breast is no higher 150 - 155F.

Goo Goo Ga Joob!

SteveWPBFL you will not break any rules by pulling the leg/thigh at different times to the breast. Just make a slight cut and pull the leg/thigh off. Done this many times when they get done before breast. Just one of the nice things doing spatchcock.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

OK, here's the photo of the BGE-grilled spatchcock turkey using 'Mickey's Method'.

You are right in that fried turkey is very good. That said, spatchcocked direct non-turned over turkey is EASY and very good.