Butterball brine

[GSDC]

I have a 14 pound Butterball that'll be smoking in my #2 tomorrow at this time.  Since it has been packaged with an 8% solution of water, salt, spices, etc., would you recommend me to brine it overnight tonight as well or should it do ok without it?  If so, I'll use divotmaker's brine recipe, but should I change the salt content to perhaps half?

I've never smoked a turkey before so I'm a bit nervous how it'll turn out.  I've got 41 people coming to the house tomorrow and my smoking-it bbq reputation is at stake here. LOL

Also, I've seen other threads that state that this will cook in approximately 6 hours at 250.  For some reason, my smokes seem to take longer than most (a 6-pound whole chicken last week took just over 6 hours to get to 165 breast and my butts usually go at least 2 hours per pound).  If I gauged this at 9 hour cook time and it finishes early, would it hold like a butt does wrapped up cozy in a cooler for 3-4 hours?  I'll have it stuffed with a mire poix but I don't know if the cavity will affect its hold time when compared to a solid piece of meat such as a butt.

Thanks for any input.  Its been a while since I've been on the forum.  I'm so glad to see it is alive and well!

 

[LarryD]

I have a 14 pound Butterball that'll be smoking in my #2 tomorrow at this time. 

I've never smoked a turkey before so I'm a bit nervous how it'll turn out.  I've got 41 people coming to the house tomorrow and my smoking-it bbq reputation is at stake here. LOL

Please tell me you mean 14 people and not 41... especially if you only have a 14 lb turkey.

I really can't answer all of your questions, but I can say that I just smoked a turkey for the first time in my #2 and it came out beautiful.  I did brine it, but it was a 'fresh' turkey.  I honestly didn't check to see if the manufacturer put anything in it.  It came out excellent!  Set your smoker on 250 and let it go until the temp says it's done.  I've been seeing that one should estimate 20-30 minutes per pound, so you might plan on 5-7 hours.

When you say your smoking is taking longer...  are you opening the smoker at any point other than to take your food out?  Every time you open the door go ahead and tack on another 30 minutes of cook time.

{edited to make 5 hours be 5-7 hours as originally intended.  }

 

[SuperDave]

Glenn, I'd go with a 1/2 salt brine solution.

 

[GSDC]

Thanks for the quick replies.

Larry, I do mean 41 people.  Its going to be chaos for sure, but it'll be fun.  I'm actually cooking 3 turkeys - one roasted, one fried, and one smoked.  We'll also have a ham and all the other traditional sides to go along, so I think (hope?) we'll have enough food.  I'm anxious to see which turkey gets devoured first.  Typically, the fried turkey is picked to the bone and the roasted turkey has some left overs, but this is the first time a smoked bird has entered the competition. 

I never open my smoker once it begins.  I don't know why it takes longer than most but it always has.  Because I live in the South, ambient temperature should never be a factor (forecast 70-degree temps tomorrow).  Perhaps I'm putting the meat too high on the shelf, as I usually try to put it on the highest rack it'll fit on.  Do you know if it'll hold in the cooler safely at temp for 3-4 hours like a butt does if it does cook in 5-6 hours and I'm early?

Thanks again!

 

[Perkolater]

Not sure how it will come out Glenn but Im brining a 12# Butterball tonite to go in the smoker early morn tomorrow.  I'm using Tony's brine (doubled) except I held the salt to only 1.25 cups rather than 2 cups.  I debated about the brine but think it will be fine.  Good luck with yours and sounds to me like your guests are gonna have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

 

[Papa Rick]

I have always gotten the Butterball Turkey Breast, and it has a solution with it already and never did a brine on them.

This year, I decided to try something different and do 2 with the brine solution that Tony has on here and then one just straight out of the bag, rinse down and apply the Olive oil and rub.

Put them on 3 in my #2 at 4 pm and going to see what the difference will be.  I have Sugar Maple and Hickory for the wood.

One thing I will tell you my wife found on the Butterball Package is stating they have them in their brine solution and if you decide to do a brine also to CUT THE SALT that is calls for in 1/2 as it already has some in it.

 

[DivotMaker]

Feel free to cut the salt, if you want, for solution-injected turkeys.  Personally, I don't, and haven't had a problem with them being too salty.  Time is more of a factor, for me.  I stick to about 45 min per pound, so a 14 lb bird gets about 11 hours.  Then, like anything brined, rinse thoroughly under cold water to remove the excess salt on the surface. 

I'm not recommending you not cut the salt, or that you do - you need to experiment and make that decision for yourselves; I'm just sharing my experience.  I was concerned about it too, the first one I did, but found it wasn't a problem.

 

[GSDC]

Thanks so much again for the replies regarding the brine.  Any thoughts on the cook time and safe holding time in the cooler?

 

[DivotMaker]

Glenn, I budget about 5 hours for a 14 lb bird.  At 250, it's usually done quicker, but that works for me.  It's best to time it so you can simply tent with foil and let rest for 20-30 min, but if you have to hold it longer, you can actually double-foil it and rest it in a cooler, surrounded by towels, like any other large cut.  The skin will get soggy, but you're probably going to discard it anyways.

 

[GSDC]

Thanks for the advice Tony. I'm really concerned about the cook time. For whatever reason, my smoker tends to cook "long."  Last week's whole chicken (6#) took over 6 hours to get to 165 at 250.  Butts tend to run at least 2 hours per pound.  A recent small (3#) brisket flat took 7 hours and I still had to finish it in the oven to get to temp. I'm fearful that 5 hours would not be enough cook time, but if I plan a long cook, it'll cook as you expect and I'll be done 4+ hours early.  My name isn't Murphy, but his law seems to apply to me whenever a decision like this has to be made.  Ugh. My conservative gut tells me to plan for the long cook and just prep to hold it in the cooler if need be.  I'm really hoping it turns out.  It's resting in your brine recipe as I type.  I'll keep you posted!

 

[DivotMaker]

Go ahead and give it 7 hours, Glenn.  You can still wrap & rest it, if done sooner.  Say "Hi" to Murphy for me...I've been wondering where that rascal's been!  He usually hangs around here!

 

[SconnieQ]

Late to the party, but here were my actual Thanksgiving experiences:

1) The brine. I used a Butterball 14 pound pre-injected turkey. I made the brine full strength with salt (1 cup kosher salt to 1 gallon water). I have been doing the full-strength brine for decades on pre-injected poultry. And it has never been too salty, not even close. I think "brining a pre-brined or pre-injected turkey will make it too salty" is a myth perpetuated by "theories", not people who have actually tried it. Note that anything Butterball says is to be taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended). They are a huge company, with lots of lawyers, and their advice errs on the side of cooking the bejezzus out of the turkey, and keeping the salt level to a point that if someone on a super low salt diet drops dead of a heart attack at the Thanksgiving celebration, they will not get sued.

2) My 14 pound turkey took 4.5 hours to get to 165 in the breast. I am using a #1 (with an analog controller) turned all the way up to 250.

3) Holding time. I put my turkey on a sheet pan, covered tightly with heavy-duty foil, and left it on the counter. After 1 hour, it was still piping hot, too hot to handle with bare hands. So as far as food safety goes, I think you could easily hold it this way for a couple hours, even throw a towel over it for extra insulation. It should still be quite warm after 2 hours, and it has not been in the danger zone long enough to cause problems. If you know if will be more than an hour, you should also be able to hold for 3-4 hours in a cooler (wrapped in foil and towels).

 

[Papa Rick]

I have done the double foil wrap, then a beach towel around it and placed in a cooler and held it for 3 hours before carving it and it was still too hot to handle with my bare hands.

 

[DivotMaker]

Late to the party, but here were my actual Thanksgiving experiences:

1) The brine. I used a Butterball 14 pound pre-injected turkey. I made the brine full strength with salt (1 cup kosher salt to 1 gallon water). I have been doing the full-strength brine for decades on pre-injected poultry. And it has never been too salty, not even close. I think brining a pre-brined or pre-injected turkey will make it too salty is a myth perpetuated by "theories", not people who have actually tried it. Note that anything Butterball says is to be taken with a grain of salt (no pun intended). They are a huge company, with lots of lawyers, and their advice errs on the side of cooking the bejezzus out of the turkey, and keeping the salt level to a point that if someone on a super low salt diet drops dead of a heart attack at the Thanksgiving celebration, they will not get sued.

2) My 14 pound turkey took 4.5 hours to get to 165 in the breast. I am using a #1 (with an analog controller) turned all the way up to 250.

3) Holding time. I put my turkey on a sheet pan, covered tightly with heavy-duty foil, and left it on the counter. After 1 hour, it was still piping hot, too hot to handle with bare hands. So as far as food safety goes, I think you could easily hold it this way for a couple hours, even throw a towel over it for extra insulation. It should still be quite warm after 2 hours, and it has not been in the danger zone long enough to cause problems. If you know if will be more than an hour, you should also be able to hold for 3-4 hours in a cooler (wrapped in foil and towels).

Yes!!  Thanks for the backup on this, Kari!  Btw, I added brown sugar and fresh ginger to the brine my bird is swimming in right now!   How'd yours taste (good, I bet)?

 

[SconnieQ]

Yes!!  Thanks for the backup on this, Kari!  Btw, I added brown sugar and fresh ginger to the brine my bird is swimming in right now!   How'd yours taste (good, I bet)?

Tasted great!

 

[DivotMaker]

Awesome!  The brine with the brown sugar & ginger (and I used fresh garlic cloves instead of powder) smells absolutely incredible!  After tomorrow, I may have to modify the recipe, thanks to you!

 

[Perkolater]

Glenn I hope your bird cooked as planned and the crowd was happy.

Just to follow my previous comment, I could not detect even a slight hint of excess salt after brining the 8% solution injected Butterball.  I dont have a long track record smoking turkey but think Kari's comments are right on target.  After this experience, I would not hesitate to brine a factory solution added bird and would in fact 'recommend' it.

Probably gets said so much folks just discount it a little but DANG that smoked bird tastes good!  Just made leftovers sandwich and the meat has a flavor thats part smoke (but not smoky) and part seasoning (but I really used nothing special) and the result is terrific.

 

[LarryD]

I'm actually cooking 3 turkeys - one roasted, one fried, and one smoked. 

...

I'm anxious to see which turkey gets devoured first.  Typically, the fried turkey is picked to the bone and the roasted turkey has some left overs, but this is the first time a smoked bird has entered the competition. 

So... which turkey won? 

 

[GSDC]

I'm sorry its taken so long to post, but we had company from Thanksgiving through the weekend, so I didn't have much time to get on the computer.  Hectic.

Well, here's what happened:  I brined the turkey for about 13 hours in Tony's poultry brine but with salt cut to 3/4 cup.  I rinsed the brine and stuffed with a mire poix made of granny smith apple, carrots, celery, onion, garlic, olive oil, black pepper and, poultry seasoning.  I applied a store-bought poultry rub I found (can't remember the name).  I smoked the bird at 250 with 3 oz of pecan wood.  As my smoker tends to cook "long", I anticipated a 7-8 hour cook.  Well, Murphy's law once again kicked in and the bird cooked in record time (for my smoker) and was at 165 in 5 hours, just as Tony had predicted (I'll never doubt you again!).  Ugh.  Because I wasn't sure how long a bird would hold wrapped in foil and towels in a cooler like solid meats (butts, briskets, etc) do, I elected to "hold" the bird in the smoker until 30 minutes before dinner.  As a result, the bird held between 163-165 (one time in reached 167 for a few minutes) for almost 3 hours in the smoker.  Afterwards, I took it out, tented under foil and let rest for about 30 minutes before carving.

Result:  The turkey was delicious; I loved its flavor.  However, I believe the long hold time in the smoker dried the breast meat, as it wasn't nearly as juicy as I'd hoped, especially after brining.  Of the 3 turkeys, I believe the smoked turkey won the competition, but because I dried the breast out by way-overestimating the cook time, the fried turkey was a close second.  Interestingly, this was my first experience using an oil-less turkey fryer, as I've always deep fried them in peanut oil before this Thanksgiving.  I thought it turned out great - very close to the taste of really frying it.  Will likely not ever deep fry again. 

The next time I smoke a turkey, I'll trust in the 5-hour cook time for a brined 14 pound bird.  Also, if I do need to hold for an hour or more, I'll double wrap in foil and stick it in the cooler with towels rather than holding it in the unit.  I'd bet that it retains its moisture much more in the cooler. 

Thank you so much to everyone who offered their advice!  I hope you all had great Thanksgivings.

 

[LarryD]

I'm sorry its taken so long to post, but we had company from Thanksgiving through the weekend, so I didn't have much time to get on the computer.  Hectic.

No problem... I've been dying to know, but also figured you've been crazy busy so waited until now to ask. 

The next time I smoke a turkey, I'll trust in the 5-hour cook time for a brined 14 pound bird.  Also, if I do need to hold for an hour or more, I'll double wrap in foil and stick it in the cooler with towels rather than holding it in the unit.  I'd bet that it retains its moisture much more in the cooler. 

Mine also got done sooner than expected... right before I was supposed to run on an errand, of course.    I wrapped mine really well in foil and then wrapped in a towel, and put it in my cooler.  It was still quite hot an hour later.  It was just crazy juicy...  it's the first turkey I've ever smoked and probably the best turkey I've ever eaten.

Thank you for sharing your experience with us!