First turkey cooked too fast - Help!

elcid83

Had a busy Thanksgiving weekend for the XL BGE. Friday I smoked a pair of butts that came out perfect. My egg maintained a solid 225 - 250 throughout the cook without significant adjustment.

Saturday, I got up at 5:00am to cook a 20 lb. Turkey figuring it would take around 6 hours to cook and would be ready in time for the 1:00 - 2:00 mealtime. Followed the BGE.com recipe for the Perfect Roasted Turkey. Filled the cooker with hardwood lump and some lumps of hickory wood. Got the temp up to 350 with no problem and stabilized. Inserted plate setter legs up and put a drip pan on some aluminum balls. Put water, a cut onion, and a cut lemon in the pan. Set the grill and put the turkey directly on the grill [did not use the pan rack as suggested in the recipe]. When I did this I noticed a flame coming out of the side of the plate setter and figured it would die down once I closed the lid.

Got the temp back up to 350 and it maintained that temp throughout the cook [and I checked it often]. I opened the lid at the 3 hour mark to insert my digital thermometer and was surprised to see that the pop up timer that came with the bird had already popped and that the skin on top of the breast had burned off! Pulled the turkey and put it in a pan and covered it with aluminum foil for an hour or so. Decided to slice it about an hour later and it actually wasn't horrible. I was frying another turkey so lunch wasn't ruined. After slicing, I covered it and put in the oven for an hour although I really didn't notice any uncooked areas while slicing it. It tasted pretty good to me and everyone who ate it.

Any ideas as to what happened and how I should change my cooking methods. I calibrated the dome thermometer Saturday night and it was right at 210.

I've had this egg over a year and cooked a lot of different things. This was my first egg surprise.

Grillin_beers

In my experience the prebrined turkeys seem to cook faster. Was yours prebrined? 

JustineCaseyFeldown

It was stabilized at 350 and then you added the turkey. 

Did you then open vents to get the temp back up to 350, or did it slowly return to 350 on its own?

fire from under the platesetter is nothing. It had a ton of fresh air. Shutting the dome causes flames to go out within seconds. Even at searing temps

so the issue is either a bum dome thermometer, or opening vents after adding cold meat and trying to get 'back up' to 350 with a hotter fire (a fire hotter than the one when the done was stable at 350)

350 is a bit high anyway. I find 325 works out to 15 min/pound. 

Six hours seems a bit long. 

Florida Grillin Girl

No water in the drip pan next time. 

SmokeyPitt

I think for starters the recipe was just wrong.  There is a "20 minutes per pound" estimate that seems to get propagated in many recipes and in my experience it just doesn't take that long.  I found a calculator on the butterball site it estimated 3.5-4 hours for a 20 lb bird at 325, which was pretty spot on for me this year. 

It is odd that the top was so burned in 4 hours.  One other thought is the dome thermometer could have been touching the turkey which may give you a false low reading.  

chasgh

This is an interesting post to me because I struggled with a similar problem.  I had a 14lb bird and budgeted 3.5 hours at 325.  The bird was ready in 2.5 hours and I cooked for the longest time at 275-300.  Same thing happened last year.  I calculated and it cooked at 10 mins per pound.  Is the 15 mins standard just wrong?

JustineCaseyFeldown

Too many variables

one is that "done" for the vast majority of people means when the red thing pops up

which is 185

i don't know anyone cooking to 185 in the breast. That chops a lot of time off right there

blind99

cooking time is not proportional to the weight of the bird. it's not like a cylinder, or sphere, of meat. At 350, even a giant bird can finish at 3 hours or less. (assuming it was all defrosted to a starting temp of 32-35 degrees) you can coordinate a turkey cook just like a brisket or pork butt, if you need to eat at an exact time: finish the bird early and let it rest

saluki2007

Was there still water in the pan? If all the water evaporates out of the pan your temps will rise up. 

MaC122

I have found that the BGE cooks turkeys, especially brined ones, way faster than what is expected. Like many others on here, my 20lb bird was done in 2.5 hours at 350f. I did not have a water pan. I checked the turkey every hour and started tenting the skin about an hour into the cook so that it did not burn. You live you learn.

JustineCaseyFeldown

saluki2007 said:

Was there still water in the pan? If all the water evaporates out of the pan your temps will rise up. 

This is a good point, especially at 350. 

Water sucks up a lot of heat. 350 with a water pan is probably a 400-degree+ regular fire

elcid83

I let the temp rise back up without opening the vents. Turkey was a Butterball. Still had water in the pan when I quit cooking. I'll do it without water next time. Looks like I also need to go to 325 next time. The recipe said 350 and 15 minutes per pound. First time I've had a problem with a recipe from the Big Green Egg site.

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

jtcBoynton

Also remember that the published times often assume a normal oven - still air.  The egg is a convection oven, so times will be shorter and recommended temps are lower to compensate.  The guide for my oven recommends a convection temp of 300º for 9-12 minutes per pound for turkey.

DieselkW

I had a 20lb turkey this year. Platesetter legs up, steel grill, roasting pan then the bird.
Had to make sure it was dead center to get the top to close. I was worried it was too close to the top and considered removing the grill and placing the roasting pan on the plate setter, but thought that would be too much like work on a holiday, so...

325º for 3 hours, the wing tips were black, it was a nice mahogany brown, thigh temp was 175º when I pulled it to rest for an hour.



Any chance the burned top was touching the dome?
Did you take any pictures?

JustineCaseyFeldown

Everything browns when it is closer to the dome. 

In addition to probably being in the flow of the flue gasses, a ht dome itself radiates heat

one of the strategies for getting a heavily topped pizza to brown before the dough burns, is to raise the pie level

when doing a turkey, you get more clearance if you set up lower than grid level. I remove my grid and set the pan on the platesetter

BikerBob

I followed Kroger's directions for 3-3.75 hours for a twelve to fifteen pound turkey and when I checked at 3 hours, temp in breast was 175-180 and the telltail had popped. The dark meat was dried out bad, but the breast was still OK. Every November I have to try and remember how long  to cook the bird.
If I do one for Christmas, I'll try 2-1/2 hours for temp check. The fifteen per pound is too long even at 325.

Bob

elcid83

jtcBoynton said:

Also remember that the published times often assume a normal oven - still air.  The egg is a convection oven, so times will be shorter and recommended temps are lower to compensate.  The guide for my oven recommends a convection temp of 300º for 9-12 minutes per pound for turkey.

I don't doubt you are correct on this, but, I got the recipe from the Big Green Egg homepage recipe website. You would think you could rely on their temps and recommended cook times.

billt01

all birds, butts, briskets, etc will take different times...best bet is to allow for a couple of hours of fluff before the lunch, dinner, or hell even breakfast...I have always placed the thermometer between the leg and thigh below the breast...The "I'm done" pop up button be damned...when the bird reaches 165 from that location, pull it and let it rest for an hour...I posted a recipe a few days before thanksgiving, but it twas buffalo'd....pm me if you would like it for the future....

jtcBoynton

elcid83 said:

jtcBoynton said:

Also remember that the published times often assume a normal oven - still air.  The egg is a convection oven, so times will be shorter and recommended temps are lower to compensate.  The guide for my oven recommends a convection temp of 300º for 9-12 minutes per pound for turkey.

I don't doubt you are correct on this, but, I got the recipe from the Big Green Egg homepage recipe website. You would think you could rely on their temps and recommended cook times.

You would hope so, but.  When asked for recommendations for how to cook a turkey, I don't think I have ever seen anyone on the forum recommend the BGE site.  

Just as a reference, Butterball recommends under 11 minutes per pound in a 325º regular oven and less for a convection.  It is time for the 15 minute number to die.

Little Steven

@fishlessman did a poll some years back on turkey cook times on the egg. As I remember the times varied from 12 to 15 minutes per pound. Arithmetic has never been my friend but I think your expectations were a little off. I believe the shortest times were experienced by folks who used a shallower pan.

Little Steven

Oh and I think that was @ 325* dome as well. Whatever Max did.