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7 replies

Please help me estimate cook time

K kelbyMember
I need a little advice.

I have smoked a turkey on several occasions before, with tremendous success. But that was only one at a time. Tomorrow, I am going to smoke 8 turkeys (each 12-14 pounds) for a church Christmas party tomorrow evening, and I need to get the timing right so I have the turkeys done on time, but not so early that they get cold.

The details:

* 8 turkeys total, ranging from 12-14 pounds.

* I will be smoking them on an FEC 100.

* Since I can't fit 8 turkeys in my FEC, I will be smoking them in two batches, four turkeys at a time.

* When the first batch of four finishes, I will FTC those four until the party, while the other next batch of four is smoking. So, I need to finish the first batch EARLY ENOUGH
that I have plenty of time to smoke the next batch, but NOT SO EARLY that they cool off before the party.

* My usual Turkey recipe is to smoke at 225 degrees for a couple hours, then up the temp to between 260 and 275 until the breast reaches 155 degrees. (Then I FTC for roughly 1/2 hour, and the internal temp rises closer to 160.) It usually takes me 3 to 3-1/2 hours to smoke a single turkey that is 12-14 pounds. (I measure doneness by temp, not time, but that's a rough estimate of how long it usually takes.) I have no idea how the smoke time will change when there are four turkeys in the FEC at a time rather than one.

* Dinner starts at 7:15. I would like to have all turkeys FTC'd by 6:15, so I have enough time to get them to the party and get them carved.

So what time should I put in the first batch? I was thinking about 9:00 a.m. My normal recipe, smoking one at a time, would have the first batched finished by roughly 12:30, and the second batch finished by about 4:00. That would allow me a couple extra hours in case either batch took longer than expected to reach internal temp of 155, but also keep the first batch in the FTC for less than 6-1/2 hours, which I think should keep them pretty warm. But I have no experience with 4 turkeys at a time.

Thanks for your thoughts.
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K kelbyMember
Well, I'm approaching finish time, and here's a report for anyone trying this in the future.

Smoking 4 turkeys at a time in the FEC 100 was a bit too much. I could not get the FEC to go above 230 degrees. It's trying as hard as it can, but I think four turkeys in there are acting like a heat sink, and the outdoor temp is just chilly enough that the FEC can't produce enough heat to keep things warmer than 230.

I don't mind cooking at 230, but the birds are taking a LONG time to cook. The first batch took roughly 5-1/2 hours to get to 145, and by that time I was starting to panic because I hadn't even started the second batch.

My solution has been to take one turkey at a time from the FEC and put it in the oven at 350 degrees. The empty slot in the FEC gets filled with one of the turkeys in the second batch. Then, when the oven turkey gets to 155, I pull it, FTC it, and take the next-most-done turkey from the FEC and put it in the oven. I'm cycling through turkeys as fast as I can.

The four turkeys from the first batch are all finished, but it's 5:35, and I'm not optimistic that I will finish all eight turkeys in time. I have one turkey in the oven now that is about 110-115, and 3 more in the smoker that are about 105. I suspect I will finish the one that is in the oven, and maybe one more. The other two I will have to take over to the church and throw them in the Church's oven while I slice up the finished turkeys.

Remember that I started early enough that, had these cooked at the pace my single turkey normally cooks at, I would have finished with 2 hours to spare. But loading up the FEC with 4 turkeys at a time slowed things down to the point that I won't finish on time.

It's OK, because we have too much food for this party anyway. Eight turkeys was overkill. But next time around, I will start much earlier. I would rather have the turkeys sit a bit too long and get cool than have the turkeys be not cooked enough.
C chaplainbillMember
Well, you're probally done by now. Four 12-14 pound turkeys should not be too big of a load for it.

One mistake I made one time with a big load of ribs is pushing the grease slide all the way back against the back wall which In think limited the air circulation.

The outside temp should have little effect on the well-insulated FEC; but remember, everytime you open the door, you loose your heatsink and may require a 15 miniute recovery time, longer when the meat is still cold (shorter if it's hot).

Also, to get things kicked up, you can hand-stoke the firepot with a fist full of pellets. Make sure your birds are spaced good and rotate them as needed.
cal 2cal 2Member
quote:
Originally posted by Kelby:
Smoking 4 turkeys at a time in the FEC 100 was a bit too much. I could not get the FEC to go above 230 degrees. It's trying as hard as it can, but I think four turkeys in there are acting like a heat sink, and the outdoor temp is just chilly enough that the FEC can't produce enough heat to keep things warmer than 230.


Something doesn't sound right, not that it will help now, but you shouldn't have had this problem.

Honestly, I cooked three 13# turkeys for Thanksgiving and it took 3.5hrs. I cooked 1st 2hrs at 225* and finished at 340*. While I did use Chaplain's hand-stoke method to help ramp up the temps when changing temps, my FEC had no problem holding these temps.

What brand/flavor of pellets are you using?

Have you ever clean the internal temp probe?

Did you have a wind blowing in the exhaust?

Oh by the way, I did open my door once to take off the cheese clothe and spay the turkeys with Pam.

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