My turkey brining vessel and how I use it

RRP · November 2017

Since T-Day is just 19 days away and since discussions have already started I thought I'd add my method.

Like most of us we just have one refrigerator and fitting a big bird inside it when space is going to be at a premium when side dishes and such start filling it up. I use this RUBBERMAID water cooler as follows:

Image: http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v232/Ronald44/IMG_1424.jpg

My standby brine is one I've used for years and it credited to John Ash. It is a delicious subtle brine and works best when the bird swims in it for 4 days! Imagine the size vessel needed to completely submerge a 22 to 26 pounder and then inserted in the kitchen refrigerator hogging space!

I place a food safe plastic bag inside this cooler, insert the bird, pour the brine into the bag and seal it tight with a couple strong twistys. Then I fill the rest of the cooler with cold water, but leave room for 3 trays of ice cubes. Then before putting the top on I tape a probe type thermometer in the water so I can monitor the water temperature without removing the top. When the ice melts I merely open the spigot and drain it down so I can add more ice. BTW if you are in a colder climate like me I just keep all this in my garage for those 4 days. I seldom have to add more than 5 or 6 trays during the 4 days since that cooler is well insulated.

yljkt · November 2017

I try to stay at 14 lbs so the bird will fit on my egg. I pretty much follow your drill except just use an old cooler. For 24 hours.

RRP · November 2017

yljkt said:

I try to stay at 14 lbs so the bird will fit on my egg. I pretty much follow your drill except just use an old cooler. For 24 hours.

I hear you. As for size - my biggest has been a 26.5 pounder in my Large. It was close, but still doable, by removing the dome thermometer first, close the dome and re-insert the thermometer.

bluebird66 · November 2017

Thanks for the tip!

nutshellml · November 2017

@RRP
Question - so you use a large bag and put brine/turkey in that sealed, and water/ice around the bag to keep temp? I'm around 50* during day and 30-40* at night.

RE: Josh Ash brine - the Soy Maple one, correct?

I'm thinking I'm going w/ a 18lb turkey maybe 20lb

Thanks!

theyolksonyou · November 2017

Where do you buy your ice trays?

bgebrent · November 2017

Do you line it with a plastic bag to brine and save on clean up?

RRP · November 2017

nutshellml said:

@RRP
Question - so you use a large bag and put brine/turkey in that sealed, and water/ice around the bag to keep temp? I'm around 50* during day and 30-40* at night.

RE: Josh Ash brine - the Soy Maple one, correct?

I'm thinking I'm going w/ a 18lb turkey maybe 20lb

Thanks!

Yes - turkey and brine in ONE bag. Then water and ice in the cooler AFTER the bagged bird is in there - bagged bird will float!

I thought his name was John Ash - maybe he changed it to Josh - but the brine recipe was one legendary chef herself "Cat" shared way back on November 17, 2000. Seeing that it has maple syrup and soy sauce amongst the 10 ingredients I suppose it's the same recipe, but hey 17 years later - then maybe not.

RRP · November 2017

theyolksonyou said:

Where do you buy your ice trays?

This is a joke question - right? If so ha ha ha!

If not they are merely the ice cube trays in our freezer plus those $%^&* crescent shaped pieces our GE ice maker spits out.

Not sure what the issue is as the ice is on the outside of the brine bag with bird.

Mattman3969 · November 2017

Are you sure you didn't use an UMAi bag?

RRP · November 2017

bgebrent said:

Do you line it with a plastic bag to brine and save on clean up?

No - like I said - the bird and brine go in a bag and is sealed and then placed inside the cooler before the ice and water is added. I have yet to ever have a brine & bird bag break (har har har) so the water on the outside of the brining bird is clean. IOW - there is no clean up and besides I have yet to ever use that cooler for anything other than this task.

bgebrent · November 2017

Thanks.

Mattman3969 · November 2017

I assume you only have one cooler in this brand/look? If not what is your means of signifying that this cooler could be tainted by Salmonella?

RRP · November 2017

Mattman3969 said:

I assume you only have one cooler in this brand/look? If not what is your means of signifying that this cooler could be tainted by Salmonella?

yes

bgebrent · November 2017

Wait, Salmonella? @RRP, what mitigation technique do you employ? Thanks in advance.

ryantt · November 2017

Ron th aks for the info, I’m going to be stealing this.

RRP · November 2017

bgebrent said:

Wait, Salmonella? @RRP, what mitigation technique do you employ? Thanks in advance.

Come on, Doc...didn't you read my reply?

bgebrent · November 2017

Missed it, my bad.

Mattman3969 · November 2017

I place a food safe plastic bag inside this cooler, insert the bird, pour the brine into the bag and seal it tight with a couple strong twistys. Then I fill the rest of the cooler with cold water, but leave room for 3 trays of ice cubes. Then before putting the top on I tape a probe type thermometer in the water so I can monitor the water temperature without removing the top. When the ice melts I merely open the spigot and drain it down so I can add more ice. BTW if you are in a colder climate like me I just keep all this in my garage for those 4 days. I seldom have to add more than 5 or 6 trays during the 4 days since that cooler is well insulated.

With liquid on the outside of the bag how are you so certain that you've never had a bag spring a leak. Not that this matters with the brine but more so the clean up of the cooler.

RRP said:

bgebrent said:

Do you line it with a plastic bag to brine and save on clean up?

No - like I said - the bird and brine go in a bag and is sealed and then placed inside the cooler before the ice and water is added. I have yet to ever have a brine & bird bag break (har har har) so the water on the outside of the brining bird is clean. IOW - there is no clean up and besides I have yet to ever use that cooler for anything other than this task.

The possibility of the slightest pinhole of a leak would scare me away from this train of thought.I seriously hope you put more effort into clean up than your post implies.

thetrim · November 2017

Great post. Very helpful. Thanks!

RRP · November 2017

Mattman3969 said:

I place a food safe plastic bag inside this cooler, insert the bird, pour the brine into the bag and seal it tight with a couple strong twistys. Then I fill the rest of the cooler with cold water, but leave room for 3 trays of ice cubes. Then before putting the top on I tape a probe type thermometer in the water so I can monitor the water temperature without removing the top. When the ice melts I merely open the spigot and drain it down so I can add more ice. BTW if you are in a colder climate like me I just keep all this in my garage for those 4 days. I seldom have to add more than 5 or 6 trays during the 4 days since that cooler is well insulated.

With liquid on the outside of the bag how are you so certain that you've never had a bag spring a leak. Not that this matters with the brine but more so the clean up of the cooler.

RRP said:

bgebrent said:

Do you line it with a plastic bag to brine and save on clean up?

No - like I said - the bird and brine go in a bag and is sealed and then placed inside the cooler before the ice and water is added. I have yet to ever have a brine & bird bag break (har har har) so the water on the outside of the brining bird is clean. IOW - there is no clean up and besides I have yet to ever use that cooler for anything other than this task.

The possibility of the slightest pinhole of a leak would scare me away from this train of thought.I seriously hope you put more effort into clean up than your post

Obviously all all you want to do is discredit me, but in all these 17 years I have yet to have that pinhole problem that worries you so much! Besides that 4 day brine has a definite color to it so if that pinhole did occur the water on the outside would have been dis-colored.

Mattman3969 · November 2017

Not trying to discredit you at all. I know that you would be over cautious about turkey/poultry juices in a brine. I just wanted any new eggers not to think that any bag was fool proof. Thank you for you participation. Would you like to tell what type of bags you use to the newer eggers?

RRP · November 2017

Mattman3969 said:

Not trying to discredit you at all.

Right...you betcha...with all the love you always throw me...

anyway...we no longer have the box to state the brand name, but the bags I've used are those FOOD SAFE bags sold to place RAW turkeys in and then placed in an oven to cook, thereby browning while cooking and keeping the juices inside the bag and your oven clean.

dannys · November 2017

I use a XL ziploc bad inside a small cooler. Once the bird is in the bag with the brine and sealed, I stick some of the blue freezer packs between the bag and cooler. This brings the liquid level up and over the bird and ensure it stays cool. After the brining period, I remove the bag and cut a corner in the sink to drain it (who cares about the bag at that point) and cleanup is a breeze.

nutshellml · November 2017

@RRP
How did you fit that big a bird in 5gallon jug? My bird is 23# and don't think it will fit, may have to get the 10gallon one

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5017260/uploads/editor/fq/d79436bwaki4.jpg

blasting · November 2017

nutshellml said:

@RRP
How did you fit that big a bird in 5gallon jug? My bird is 23# and don't think it will fit, may have to get the 10gallon one

Sorry for your trouble, but this makes me laugh.

RRP · November 2017

nutshellml said:

@RRP
How did you fit that big a bird in 5gallon jug? My bird is 23# and don't think it will fit, may have to get the 10gallon one

yup! I never said I did - my reference later on in this thread to a 26.5# bird was about shoehorning it into my Large egg, not my 5 gal RubberMaid. BTW if I were you I wouldn't try to track down a 10 gal one - just use a chest style cooler instead - your bird should fit that.

Woodchunk · November 2017

nutshellml said:

@RRP
How did you fit that big a bird in 5gallon jug? My bird is 23# and don't think it will fit, may have to get the 10gallon one

I don't think he mentioned the size, but here is the 10gal

https://www.igloocoolers.com/collections/hydration/products/42021-10-gallon-seat-top-water-jug-with-cup-dispenser-orange

RRP · November 2017

Woodchunk said:

nutshellml said:

@RRP
How did you fit that big a bird in 5gallon jug? My bird is 23# and don't think it will fit, may have to get the 10gallon one

I don't think he mentioned the size, but here is the one in his pic

https://www.igloocoolers.com/collections/hydration/products/42021-10-gallon-seat-top-water-jug-with-cup-dispenser-orange

No - that link is not like mine - my initial post for this thread showed my RubberMaid which is also just a 5 gallon.

Woodchunk · November 2017

RRP said:

Woodchunk said:

nutshellml said:

@RRP
How did you fit that big a bird in 5gallon jug? My bird is 23# and don't think it will fit, may have to get the 10gallon one

I don't think he mentioned the size, but here is the one in his pic

https://www.igloocoolers.com/collections/hydration/products/42021-10-gallon-seat-top-water-jug-with-cup-dispenser-orange

No - that link is not like mine - my initial post for this thread showed my RubberMaid which is also just a 5 gallon.

Ha, I was not quick enough altering my post which did not come out right. But the 10gal is there

Acn · November 2017

I use an orange homer bucket from Home Depot. Clean it before adding the brine and turkey, and then use it for miscellaneous non food related storage. We’ve got some filled with charcoal dust from the bottom of bags, some with leaves that’ll get layered in the compost barrel throughout the summer, some with tools, some with Xmas wrapping paper, bows, tags, etc.

My turkey brining vessel and how I use it

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