Multiple Turkeys

It shouldn't take any longer to cook six than it would to cook one. The only thing that should really effect cook times is the size of the birds.

I do start at 140°-180° for the first hour to hour and a half to pick up more smoke, but that's just me. The I kick up to 300°-350° until they're done.

question is how do you do them now?

I don't try to put a bunch of smoke in, so I do mine at 300 for the full time.

Keep in mind the hot spots and the blast of direct heat from the bottom. I'd rotate them if you want them to be visually pretty.

use the cheese cloth/butter after you've started cooking.

If you haven't done one yet, I'd do a test run (turkeys are cheap) before you do 6 if they're for customers

Anyone here try cutting the backs out to open up the bird so you can press until you crack the breast bone enough to lay the whole bird flat on the rack?

I've done chickens this way and it cuts the cooking time down considerably while allowing you to flip sides easily.

Just curious, I've never tried with a Turkey but in principle should work the same way.

It's called "Spatchcocking" and wouldn't work for trying to get 6 birds done.

In an FE, you can get plenty of temp and as I see it the method is trying to expose more of the bird to heat/smoke.

But essentially yes, you can do it. I don't have any times for that version, however.

Hi everyone..thanks for your help. Smokin I have cooked 2 turkeys before. I also wrapped them in cheesecloth soaked in butter. My problem was that the cheesecloth stuck to the birds. I noticed in the Turkey 101 that you seem to lay the cloth on top of the turkey not wrapped around it..is that how it should be done?Rob

An easy way to do it is let the bird cook, get to the color you want and THEN add the cheesecloth. Soak it in the butter before you put it in.

That will keep the color good and prevent it from getting darker from more smoke.

Also,try soaking the cheesecloth in vinegar.

Think I got that from Shake,but it has worked for us.

Moderators Note: I move this thread to combine multiple threads.

Nova did such a great job, I wanted to put the original question with the results:


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Hi everyone. I used Smokin's Turkey 101 Brining as my blueprint. In the first picture the birds are getting ready to be submerged in 4.5 gallons of apple juice and 4.5gallons of water. What you see in this picture is only half of the brine.The brine recipe is almost the same as the one in 101.#2 shows about 48hr later after they hane been rubbed down with a combo of CS rub and several fresh herbs and spices.The two furthest away have already been wrapped in butter soaked cheese cloth. The others were also wrapped this way.#3&4 show the birds in the FE100.#5&6show the end result.I agree with smokin that they are little dark but.. in my humble opinion a good first attempt at mutiples.Cook temp was 290 degrees for 3hrs.Breast temps taken after 3hrs was 163 degrees.dark meat was 154 degrees.I flipped them over on thier breast then applied afresh butter soaked cheese cloth resting on top of the birds.I switched them around to avoid the hot spots(thanks smokin for that one) and dropped the cooking temp to 280 degrees for 45 minutes.I took them out after the set time let them rest and then delivered.All families responded saying that this was the best turkey that they had ever had.My only surprise was how quickly they had all cooked...I still can't believe that I cooked 6 turkeys in 4hrs...WOW!!( The birds look a little bit beat up..these are utility turkeys some have lost a wing or some skin during the cleaning process)But theystill taste great.Rob

My one turkey two weeks ago turned out delicious, but my coloring didn't look as good as these birds. Definitely, will smoke the next one at the higher temperature. Nice job Nova.