As the title would suggest.... I generally find turkey a little bland but on a WSM it is/was magic!! I had the majority of my guests (8 in total) say it was the best bird they had ever had and I would have to humbley agree with them. Here is what I did....

1 15 Lbs Bird

Brine
Gallon of water or so
1 cup of kosher salt
2 cups apple cier vinegar
12 hours then air dryed for 12 hours

Stuffing
2 Fresh picked BC Gala apples from tree in neighbors yard (I asked if I could lol)
2" piece of ginger grated
5 crushed cloves of garlic
1 small onion diced

Smoked at about 325-350 for just shy of 4 hrs with cherry and apple wood with a tiny bit of hickory

Results: Amazing moisture, amazing color, crispy skin and more flavor than I would imagine out of a turkey. The stuffing wasn t meant to be served more just for flavouring and moisture... but the guests insisted and they loped it up lol.

Also did grilled asparagus and smoked mashed potatoes.

Also with the leftovers I made my famous turkey chilli soup which was the best ever with the smokey flavour to kick it up!! GOOD TIMES

Congrats Tyler on the successful cook.

Did you take any pictures?

About the wood for smoking, did you add this in middle of cook or beginning?

elmo

Forgot to ask.

When you took out the bird from the brine, did you wash it with water or just dried it in fridge the way it was?

elmo

I added the wood right at the beginning and i didn't rinse the brine off.

Sorry so late in responding.... haven t been on much lately.

so you had those high temps 325-350 in the smoker, for 4 hours and had crispy skin ? I thought the WSM makes the skin "rubbery" and not crispy ? I assume due to the 100 degrees diff in heat makes the difference ?

To achieve crispy skin with turkey and chicken the skin must almost be 'fried' by hot fat just under the skin as it renders. At smoking temperatures, (200-275) the fat renders at too low of a temperature to crisp up the skin... resulting in rubbery skin. So to answer your question, yes effectively it's the 100 degree diff. that makes the skin crispy.