I’m going to be smoking a brined turkey on my Weber Smokey Mountain for the first time this weekend. The Virtual Bullet website seems to suggest 325-350 degrees is the way to go. I was planning on trying to keep it between 250-275. I did read something about if the internal temp of the turkey does not reach 140 within 4? hours you run into problems. Can somebody confirm this?
Also, if I keep it at 250-275 what should I expect for total cooking time? Alternatively, time per pound?
I think the gist of it was if it did not reach an internal temp of 140 within 4 hours the turkey would not be safe to eat. I either read that on the Virtual Bullet site or somebody on another board (where I only got 2 responses) read that fact on the Butterball or Jennie-O site.
I think what is going on here is how high of temp you are cooking your turkey. If you are cooking at 325-350 the there will be more carryover heat when you take the turkey off. If you cook at 250-275 then you have less carryover heat in the bird. From everything I have read and cooked, you want a final breast temp of 160. That is themp it will be after your resting period. I normally pull my 22 lb. turkey from my WSM at 145 internal and foil it as it then comes up to 160 breast temp.