11/17 one week out, have you bought your turkey

Smokin, when you say "you'll need to have it ready by Tuesday", you mean to have it thawed out and ready to go in the brine, yes? Just checking.

And good for you on the soup kitchen!!!

Correct, thawed and ready for brining.

Good point, you can't put a frozen bird into a brine while it thaws.

I will be going out Friday morning.perfect timing!

quote:

you can't put a frozen bird into a brine while it thaws.

Real good point! I outsmarted myself last year and rushed the brine cooling with some ice and then put an "almost thawed" bird into the brine.

Well, the temp of the salty brine dropped below freezing and the bird stopped thawing!

That stopped the osmosis.

After some head scratching I realized what was going on and likened it making ice cream with sub freezing salt water as the medium.

The bird must be thawed and the brine must be cold but with no ice floating and above 32 degrees, lesson learned.

PorkPie,

That is a very good lesson.

Another lesson learned by me.....a 2 1/2 gallon baggie will hold a 13lb turkey and 1 gallon of brine mix.