I have been assigned the Turkey portion of the meal for Thanksgiving.

Last year I tried the deep-fried. It was a cool, windy day and I had difficulty keeping the oil more than 310-320 degrees. The result was good but not spectacular. I'd like something spectacular this year.

Now that I have my WSM, I want go ahead and try a smoke. The self-basting recipe on this site looks easiest for a first-time attempt, but calls for a 12-14 pound bird. No way that will feed my wife's extended family. Is there any problem doing a 20 pounder using this method, other than the obvious need to adjust cook times? From reading other posts, it looks like a 6-7 hour smoke is in order. Is this reasonably accurate?

There are a number of people who have to disperse to work on Friday, so we usually plan to eat around 2:00 PM. If I start at 8:00, will it be done by turkey time? I don't have a lot of wiggle room and can start earlier if necessary.

Anyone smoked a 20 lb. bird? If so how long am I looking at having it in the WSM?

I'm really looking forward to how good this could turn out.

Jim,
I actually just smoked up a pretty big bird last weekend. Cooked up a 22lb bird and it took me around 5 hours. I had the heat cranked up pretty high most of the cook around 350. At one point it even got up to 390. If you cook the bird at a pretty high temp I wouldn't think you would have too much to worry about. Have you thought about doing 2 smaller birds? If you keep the temps constant as directed by the methods on this sight it really shouldn't take you longer thatn it is supposed to.

Jim,
I know where you are coming from. Traditionally with my wifes family my father in-law is the one who prepares the bird for the Thanksgiving day feast. He has always cooked the birds in a back yard pit. So two years ago, everyone was a bit tired of the same old turkey. 15 years ago my father in-law was thrown from a horse and the head injury killed his taste, needless to say his seasoning tends to be a bit overpowering. My mother in-law decided that I would bring my smoker to their place and do the turkey.

First off, this is a big crowd as the whole family attends her turkey day feast. So never having done a turkey in my WSM, I decided on a test run and smoked one early. I purchased a 19lber and used the Honey brine recipe. The bird came out good and took about 5 1/2 hours to smoke. I donated the bird to a local shelter and received much praise for my cooking.

I figured I was good to go, so we arrive at the in-laws on Tuesday and I find that she had bought two 12 pound birds for me to cook. Turns out they were on sale. Anyway, long story longer.... I brined these birds with the same recipe, and went town. They only took about 3 1/2 hours to cook. There was more meat plus the bonus of twice as many legs and thighs. The two smaller birds actually turned out quite a bit better than the one bird. Could have been any number of reasons, but it was enough for me to decide that two birds are better than one.

And guess what, I got stuck with the turkeys again this year. oh darn

Synopsis:
19 to 20 pounder should be ok
2 x 10 - 12 pounders more dark meat and faster cook time. IMHO

Just my two cents.

Thanks everyone for the advice. It looks like the expected crowd is thinning out, so I should be able to get away with a 16 lb. bird. However if the crowd should suddenly swell -- jeez does this have to be so complicated -- I can see the benefits of two smaller birds. I'll let you know how it turns out, so we can all benefit next year.

Wanted to let everyone know how the bird turned out.

I ended up doing a 16 lb. Butterball. Had it on the WSM at 10:30 AM, temp was about 325. By 2:30 thigh temps were about 140, the hungry crew was arriving, and it being a cold day (35 degrees or so, WSM in the shade and fuel dwindling) I was having trouble keeping the WSM above 260-275. Finally popped it in the oven for last 1/2 hour.

Turned out just excellent. Moist, great smoky taste. Far better than my deep-fried bird from last year. I think this recipe's a keeper.

Darn I was waiting to see if your 20lb turkey was enough. I did a 12lb for a practice run and was over run with meat. I did a 20lb turkey for thanksgiving and I believe I got more meat out of the smaller bird. I even checked the cavity for some hidden meat. My wife had they same presumption as I. Has anyone here ever notice this or was it just a fluke? The first time I fed 8 people and they went home left overs. This time I fed 14 people with a lot more sides then first time and there was maybe enough meat left over for 4 sandwhichs.

Well that's interesting. Due to various last-minute schedule conflicts, we ended up with just 12 adults, so I went for the 16 pounder, which fed us all reasonably, though also lacking much in the way of leftovers (maybe 1-2 lbs.).

I think what I'm taking away from this is that depending on number of expected guests, it's probably better to do a couple smaller birds.