Thanksgiving turkey shock & success

TrueTex

Woke up early this morning ready to cook a 15 lb turkey on my LGE. Much to my surprise, upon opening the top the inside was covered with mold. Dinner was planned for 2 pm at I only had 6 hours to clean the egg and try and get my bird cooked. First step was to load some lump and use high heat (650 degrees) for about an hour. Thankfully this cleaned up the mold and used most of the lump. I reloaded the LGE with a full load of lump and some cherry wood chips. Thankfully this brought my temps down to 300 degrees. I used Mad Max's old recipe and pulled the bird at 160 breast temp & 177 legs. Turkey was fabulous but I am spent!l. 

TrueTex

Cannot figure out how to load or insert a photo! Any clues? Thanks!

Ozzie_Isaac

Excellent save!  Way to power through and not use the giant timer in your kitchen.

TrueTex

Many thanks! I looked at the oven, even thought about using the convection function, but nah, tradition is important! Max's gravy recipe is the bomb! I use it every year!

StillH2OEgger

Not sure if the others who were part of the feast had any idea what it took to deliver this year's bird, but congrats on a job well done.

lousubcap

Great audible and save but you need to self-examine the source of the mold.  Reads like more BGE run time is the cure.    FWIW-

TrueTex

Here is a photo of the finished turkey. I am surprised that the 15 pounder was done after only 3 hours at 325 degrees. Thank you StillH2OEgger! Much appreciated! 

theyolksonyou

Good looking bird.

 If you want to tag some one so they see a notification add the @ in front of the handle. 

@StillH2OEgger

TrueTex

Many thanks @theyolksonyou

TrueTex

Thanks for the advice! I have had my LGE for about 7-8 years now and the mold issue is relatively new. It never happened during the first three years but the following 3 years I worked overseas for most of the time. The mold problem appeared last December and after reading the forum I discovered that the best way to clean the LGE was to do a high temp burn for about an hour. Further advice suggested leaving the air vent on the bottom of the egg open a bit. This seemed to work until a few weeks ago when my wife put the egg's cover back on. Alas today the mold was well established again. Perhaps a two hour high temp burn would work better. Glad for any and all advice.

@lousy cap

TrueTex

Thanks for the advice! I have had my LGE for about 7-8 years now and the mold issue is relatively new. It never happened during the first three years but the following 3 years I worked overseas for most of the time. The mold problem appeared last December and after reading the forum I discovered that the best way to clean the LGE was to do a high temp burn for about an hour. Further advice suggested leaving the air vent on the bottom of the egg open a bit. This seemed to work until a few weeks ago when my wife put the egg's cover back on. Alas today the mold was well established again. Perhaps a two hour high temp burn would work better. Glad for any and all advice.

@lousubcap

lousubcap

@TrueTex - I don't think the duration of  the burn will make much of a difference.  Sounds like somehow there were a few variables outside your influence but you powered thru.  Hopefully you will get more opportunities for BGE run-time especially with your experience.  Again, great save and result.