Turkey breast bone in-Confussion

[Bigr314]

I am planning on smoking about a 10 pound bone in turkey breast for Thanksgiving. I have read a lot of posts but am still confused what is the best way of doing this smoke. Either at a smoking temp.at 225 or at a temp of 325. The more research I do the more confused I get at which way produces the best results. Please help.

 

[Big Poppa]

250 thats what I like you can go 275 if you want...

 

[scooter]

I go hotter between 325-350. You will just have to experiment to find what works best for you.

 

[Big Poppa]

Scooter is a junior cook though...heheheheeh

 

[wneill20]

As BP says 250* or 275* you pick.

 

[scooter]

Opps, my higher temp advice was when I cook turkey on a pellet cooker. I've never had what I would consider edible poultry skin off a pellet cooker cooking below 275. A drum cooks very different than a pellet cooker so since I've had no experience cooking a turkey on a drum yet, please ignore my junior cook advice... lol

 

[jimsbarbecue]

Did some last week at 250. They come out great. We do whole turkey at the same temp,but we cut the turkey up to cook. So really not whole more complete turkey. We found it is the one meat you can really add some smoke to and it goes over well with guest.

 

[T G]

I did my first bird today, I ran at 250 for 7 hours. That was the best turkey Ive ever had, and was told that I have to do it next weekend.

 

[Bigr314]

Nice job TG. What size bird? Guessing about 15 pounds. Did you wrap it when it was done?

 

[T G]

It was a 14 lb bird

I let it sit for 30 minutes before I carved it. I didnt wrap because I was afraid it would retain too much heat and dry out the breast.

I did stumble across a most interesting discovery, though. I bought a water heater blanket, which is basically 3" vinyl faced batt insulation, because it never got above 40 yesterday. Usually in cooler weather I have to drive my drum like a mule team to get it to hold temp, but I actually had to close all my intakes and play eith the ball valve to keep it at 250. I pulled my deflector this morning and I had half a basket of coal left unburned! I think Im gonna have to figure out some sort of removable jacket for insulating.

Here's a photo of my bird:

 

[Bigr314]

Thank,great looking bird. How many inches above the top of your charcoal basket is your heat deflector?

 

[T G]

Its not much, its like 6-8 inches if memory serves me correctly.