Sorry been away for awhile, other projects and super busy at work. Enough for the excuses, need to save some for this cooking episode...
Going to my Sister's place today for an early lunch, our whole extended family is supposed to be there at high Noon. She is cooking a traditional turkey in the oven so she asked me to do a small (12 lb or so) one on the grill. But at 225*F it would take 6 hours to complete. Oh well, I said I'd do it. Set the Weber Kettle up last night with a charcoal snake and a few coals in the chimney and closed up the garage until this morning. Got up at my normal weekday 4:19 am and proceeded to clean up the turkey, add some salt and pepper (it's a self basting one, so plenty of salt inside) and got the chimney started. Had to watch where I placed it in the driveway since the winds are howling pretty good around these parts. Added some mesquite chips throughout the charcoal snake, then came up with a brilliant idea, it least I though it was brilliant. "I'll add a few more briquettes to the snake (another layer) and it will help maintain the temps in this wind.
1) more fuel = potentially hotter fire
2) more wind = potentially faster burning hotter fire
Closed it up, went back to bed. Checked my inkbird when my head hit the pillow and it was hanging at 235*F, perfect.
Woke up with a start at 7 am to the right side of the bird measuring 165*F (left side away from the fire was 140) and the kettle measuring 375*F, uh oh. Ran out to the garage, opened the door, took the top of the grill off and man, that fire was cooking along. Immediately shut down the vents and rotated the turkey. Got the inferno down to 235* again and expect the left side of the turkey to be done in about 45 more minutes. So now I guess I'm gonna slice it up and wrap it for reheating at noon. I don't think I can maintain a good temp, even in a cooler to keep the bird intact for delivery.
Next time I'll stick with the original plan. At least I won't be worrying at 10 am whether the turkey will be done or not. Oh well, the turkey was "purchased" with 400 pts from my local Giant, so it was basically free.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!