Bird on!

@GoooDawgs. Thanks. It's the best one I've done on the Grille, and I've been doing it for 25+ years. My Weber works great. The Egg works better than great!. 

I pulled the bird from the fridge and let it set a bit prior to stuffing it. My BGE runs hotter to the back (hinge) side so I oriented the breast to the handle side. 15 minutes/pound was what I guessed and it came out that way. I ran at 300* dome temp for 5 hours. I basted it once an hour with melted butter that had been seasoned. The last 45 minutes or so I turned the bird around so the breasts could catch up with the dark meat, which was over 175* at the time. I pulled the bird when I hit 160* in the deepest part of the breast. I tented it with foil and let it rest for 30 minutes prior to carving. The flywheel effect had the breast up over 165* before I carved. Juice just poured out of it. There were scant few dripping in the drip pan.

Observations:

This is about the biggest bird that will fit on a large. Any bigger and I'd need to pull the thermometer as the probe was nearly touching the bird. In fact when I tried to scoot the bird towards the handle a little I found out how close it was (oops).

Brining was extremely effective. It was nothing fancy, just Kosher Salt, Brown Sugar, and some Apple Cider Vinegar. It spent about 24 hours in the brine and another 24 in the fridge drying. The skin was very crispy.

I had trouble getting the Egg much above 300*. I had originally been aiming for 325*. As it turns out, the lower temp was fine as it didn't overcook the meat nearest the skin. The bird wound up a golden brown as opposed to looking like it had a front row seat at Chernobyl. Some folks like a delicate char. Not me.