Highly successful turkey day

sdbelt

I can't get over how good our turkey turned out. I brined up a 20lb young turkey, using the recipe from "Good Eats" I've referred to. It soaked in the brine from 4pm Wed to 12pm Thurs, so that's 20 hours. The turkey was too big for my medium cooler chest, so I had to use a 5 gallon bucket for the brine. Stored this in my second fridge, and there were still ice cubes in the brine when I removed it the next day.[p]At roughly 12pm, I started up the Egg. I set my vents at my standard 350 setting, and when the dome reached 275, I put the bird in. With such a large cold item, so close to the thermometer, I ignore the dome temp, for the first 30 minutes, and trust my limited experience. I used a disposable drip pan, with the turkey on a V rack, to suspend the bird above the drippings and keep the drippings out of the fire. The drip pan was direct over the fire.[p]I must have had a turbo bird, because she hit 165 shortly before 3:30pm, which was just what I had planned, but not what I expected. The bird was allowed to rest for nearly an hour, as I waited for guests to arrive. When I finally cut into it, we were rewarded with the juiciest of birds, with a great smoke ring of flavor.[p]Eating the leftovers over the long weekend, I salivated at the thought each and every trip to the fridge. Normally you sorta get tired of it, but I've had a turkey dinner for the past 4 nights, and I'm looking forward to #5 tonight (although last night it was turkey noodle soup).[p]Anyway, the brine and the cook both worked very well, and I'll be repeating this approach for quite a while. I'm really happy with my first Egged turkey.[p]--sdb

David

sdbelt,[p]Congratulations on it turning out so well on your first try! I'm real new, so please tell me what are your "Standard 350* vent settings" for a large egg?

sdbelt

David,[p]The bottom vent is about 1" open, and the top daisy wheel is on, with the vent holes completely aligned for maximum air through the holes. That's my standard 350 setting, but it sometimes only yields 325. That was the case this time, so I slid the daisy open a ways (a 1/4" moon sliver opening), to get it up to 350.[p]I think of the bottom vent as the rough heat control, and the top daisy wheel as the fine heat control. 25 degree adjustments can usually be made via some type of daisy wheel adjustment.[p]Hope that helps,[p]--sdb