actual turkey times

fishlessman

cooking on the egg seems to generate faster cook times than in the oven. my last bird came in at 9.7 minutes per pound. i stabilzed the egg 350 for a good hour then put the 15.5 pound bird in, never touched the settings again, just waited for the dome to slowly rise up in temp. used a hot broth poured in pan bottom with some wine and basted regularly, removed at a breast temp of 165. i see some people saying the guru cooks it faster, but i dont use a guru. for those that cooked between 325- 350, what was your actual cook time. just taking notes for next time as the birds will be going on sale. i think that the faster time has to do with the heat circulating in the egg.

Smoked Signals

fishlessman,
4 hours flat for a bird that said it weighed 21 lbs. However, after the neck, gibblets and frozen water came out of the cavity I think it was closer to 16 lbs. Also, I did not put anything but wine, salt and pepper in the cavity. I was cooking 100% bird ... no fillers.
Temperature was between 325 & 350. I opened the lid 2 times - once to rotate the turkey 180 degrees and once to tent in foil. No basting.[p]Hope this helps.

egghead2004

fishlessman,
My 13 pounder started at 325, then it dropped to 275 when I added the turkey. I left it alone and the temp creeped up to 325 after about 2 hours, pulled @ 165 internal...total cook time 5 hours.[p]My 20 pounder was a little different. I did not get the bird on untill 11am. I had to rush this one. The temp started @ 350, when I put the bird in, it dropped to 240. I opened up the vents to get it to 350 ASAP, it took 45 minutes. Then I had to tinker all day to keep it from running over 350. This one took 6.5 hours to get to 165 internal.

mad max beyond eggdome

fishlessman,
my 21 pounder, right in under 7 hours at 325 dome temp for 165 breast 180 thigh... .

Midnight Smoker

Smoked Signals,[p]My 14# brined bird took 11.5 minutes per pound. I was cooking at temps anywhere between 300 and 360.....lol.....I was a bit out of control as I was basting, throwing other stuff on to cook and just plan foolish stuff....also there was some good Antiguan rum invloved. I had an herb paste under the skin and slathered all over the breast and legs....basted the hell out of it. The bird was super flavorful and VERY moist. MUCH BETTER than fried turkey I had at a buddies the night before!! He also said it was far better than any fried bird he's had......he'll be looking for an Egg after the New year!
Paul

Midnight Smoker

egghead2004,[p]I never let my temp drop so low and fast after I put something on.....I open everything up wide and keep the temp where in NEVER will get below my target temp.....it takes some time but there is never a need to get the EGG to come back up 100 degrees! I start something at 350 and it stays there...unless, of course, the EVIL RUM takes over....which is usually par for the course! Paul

TRex

fishlessman,[p]My 14 lb turkey, which I then spatchcocked, took 2 hours at 325 dome with indirect setup to get 165 in the breast.[p]TRex

sprinter

fishlessman,[p]Well, off on two accounts here, didn't use the egg and cooked about 230. Anyway, 14 pound brined bird took about 6.5 hours to get to 165 in the breast.[p]Now, for an explanation. I was cooking at a relatives house, no egg. Secondly, I was smoking a butt and a brisket at the same time as the bird. I put the butt and brisket on the top rack of the WSM first, cooked them with a LITTLE bit of mesquite. Then, at the right time I put the bird under the butt and brisket with a good sized chunk of apple wood.[p]Butt, brisket, and bird all came off together and were all pretty darned good eats.[p]Troy

Tuck

My 14lb fresh bird took 4 hours and 5 minutes to get to 165 in the breast. I was cooking at between 325 and 350.[p]Tuck

Essex County

fishlessman,
4.5 hours for a 22 lb bird. It was close to 325 the entire time and was mad maxer. The breast meat was perfect but the thighs were a little underdone, maybe at 172. In retrospect, I should have left it on for a bit longer. I appreciated the advice (again mad max)to cook by feel and not by thermometer and I should have known that myself! In spite of this modest self critique, I thought this was an excellent first turkey on the egg and look forward to doing it again.

fishlessman

i was hoping to see a correlation of time per pound with different size birds, but there all over the place. not counting the spatchcock(times would be faster for this) the actual cook times for the same egg temp and same final temp, varied between 9.7 min/pound to 23 min/pound. similar cooking methods just times all over the place. it is hard to plan when a bird will be done

Unknown

Essex County,[p]The thighs on my turkey were a bit undercooked as well....think I will forget about indirect heating where turkeys are concerned...nice to have the underside of the bird roasted as well...

sprinter

fishlessman,[p]See, thats the beauty of the whole thing though. Those whos birds took longer just got to drink a few more cold beers while they waited for their bird to be done. Those whos birds were done early got to enjoy a bit of turkey while they drank their cold beer. Either way, everyone is happy, except the turkey I guess.[p]Troy

QBabe

fishlessman,[p]Our 20 lb brined bird took about 6 hrs to reach 165° in the breast. I aimed for a 325° dome temp, but it wanted to cook lower most of the time, even though I kept bumping it up now and then. There were a couple times it finally went upwards of 325° but it never went over 350°.[p]Consistently inconsistent...[p]Luckily, we had some appetizers out so the guests didn't go hungry while we waited the extra hour past when I thought it'd be ready.[p]Tonia
:~)

Nature Boy

Howdy Troy. Dang. You said that purty good didn't ya? LOL. Perfect. [p]Sure makes it a lot more enjoyable when you, and everyone else, realizes that a wood-fired meal is done when it's done.
Cheers
Chris

Unknown

Essex County, try a v-rack inside your roasting pan next time.

Essex County

Chet,
Good thought but I had one in place! I inverted the platesetter and put the roasting pan on my little green egg feet with the v-rack inside! Maybe the heat really builds up at the top of the dome and allows the breast to cook faster.[p]If I was cooking another turkey tomorrow, I'd think of a way to keep the ice cubes on the breast for the first half hour of the cook.[p]Paul

Unknown

Essex County,[p]Forget the placesetter......that's what I did today and that with the v-rack and drip pan roasted the underside of my post thanksgiving bird much better

Unknown

fishlessman,
Another factor in cooking time is whether or not the bird was brined/soaked or is just done in an oil/butter preparation with or without a rub. A dry bird cooks slower than a drowned bird. My drowned 13.25 LB bird took 2 1/2 hours to cook to a breast temp of 160-165.

fishlessman

Essex County,
2 things i do to avoid that. i light the fire in the center and the back of the egg. place bird with the legs aiming to the back of the egg where it will be hotter and the will cook a little faster. the other thing i do is place the pan, rack and bird over a burner on the stove first and heat broth in the pan. bag of ice on the breast. when the broth is hot i baste the interior of the bird, then stuff the cavity with fruit and on the egg. i do this because the lower part of the bird needs a jump start or it comes out too pink for my liking.