Turkey that cooked and cooked and cooked

georgetMember

Team, I just finished two 12lb turkeys wrapped in cheese cloth. They cooked for 15 hours at 225.

I must admit that I was gone when the Mrs. wrapped in cheesecloth and put in the cooker. She started at 9AM....When I got home at 8pm they were only at 140. Did not open the unit until we removed.

Does this sound possible? It's 3am and needed to be consoled by writing this. I looked throug the archives and did not find anything like it....

I was starting to think maybe my unit is not heating correctly.

12/21/013:57 AM

❤️ 0

Original Post

Replies sorted oldest to newest

Former Member

George
If your temps are right, I would not eat those birds.
You have 4 hour window to get the birds to 140ï¿½ or higher unless you are using a cure.
The bacteria is killed when the bird gets over 140ï¿½ but they leave behind a toxin and that's what you get sick on.
Jim

12/21/0111:50 AM

❤️ 0

stuartMember

George,

Something is wrong. Those turkeys should have been well done in that time frame. It could be a couple of things. Give me a call at (800) 423-0698 and let's see if we can get it figured out.

12/21/012:09 PM

❤️ 0

Former Member

Stuart,

Let the forum gang know what you figured out. The typical problem of a bad heating element, or bad extension cord or something else?

Thanks

12/22/0111:21 AM

❤️ 0

georgetMember

I am gone until Dec 28th....I will call and leave an update after we get something figured out.

12/23/0111:30 PM

❤️ 0

georgetMember

Another thing....maybe we do have a problem with the heating element.....When I first cured the unit....and several times subsequently the wood in the smoke box was just dark black....not really red hot coals.

Is this normal.

PS. I have a model 55

12/23/0111:33 PM

❤️ 0

Former Member

the wood usually turns to white ash... turn the unit over and just "blow" it away... if it aint burning to ash, could not be heating fully. Have you checked internal unit temp with a probe thermometer?

12/26/0110:09 PM

❤️ 0

Former Member

Woodburner: Mine has never burned down to ash yet, but I haven't done anything that requires long cooking yet. I don't have a Polder, but a very good Fluke. However the probe won't fit all the way into the smoker. Goes in about 5 inches. Is this enough to get a good reading?

My Smoked Salmon always turns out great!

12/27/011:10 PM

❤️ 0

stuartMember

Andi,

I think your unit is working fine. It takes between 6 and 8 hours to burn up a chunk of wood.

I think that George's unit could possibly have a wrong heating element in it.

12/27/016:55 PM

❤️ 0

Skip to main content

Add Reply

Membership Required

Remove From Your Block List

Manage Follow Preferences

Block

Please wait...