Brining Turkey

Dcgunman

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I have a Butterball Turkey this year. It’s thawed and ready for tomorrow. I was thinking of brining it. I’ve never brined anything. This would be my first time. My question is should I brine a Butterball Turkey? I mean it already has that “butter ball” taste already, right? Or brining a butter ball would be a waste of time? I haven’t decided to smoke it or have the wife throw it in the oven. I’m working tomorrow so I don’t know if I have the time to smoke it when I get home.
 
I usually try and brine 2 nights before and then the night before let it sit uncovered in the fridge. Maybe at this point try injecting instead if brining?
 
I have a Butterball Turkey this year. It’s thawed and ready for tomorrow. I was thinking of brining it. I’ve never brined anything. This would be my first time. My question is should I brine a Butterball Turkey? I mean it already has that “butter ball” taste already, right? Or brining a butter ball would be a waste of time? I haven’t decided to smoke it or have the wife throw it in the oven. I’m working tomorrow so I don’t know if I have the time to smoke it when I get home.
It’s my understanding Butterball actually injects their turkeys with a salt solution so brining probably won’t be necessary. Plus it may be a little late to start brining anyway. Maybe just dry rub that baby and throw it on your Traeger. Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!
 
My wife purchase a Butterball. For many years, we cooked it in the oven at 325F. However, last year I decided to smoke it and it turned out great. I decided to do it that way again this year.

I thawed the turkey in a cooler chilled with ice. Yesterday I added 1 cup of salt and some poultry seasoning covered the turkey with water and ice. It was allowed to brine for about 18 hours. This morning I took the turkey out of the cooker. I dried the skin and then coated it with a mustard binder. I coated the turkey inside and out with seasoning. I stuffed it with celery, apple, and onion. Then it went into the smoker at 225F. I used mostly pecan wood.

After four hours I basted the turkey in Alabama white sauce (Lillie's Q Ivory sauce). That is a mayonnaise-based BBQ sauce that is great on poultry. It keeps the skin moist and adds flavor. The egg yolks also help with the browning of the skin. At that point I boosted the temperature to 250 for the remainder of the cook. The 12 pounder took about 61/2 hours to reach 165F internal. After removing the turkey from the Traeger I applied a second layer of the Ivory sauce. Here is the finished product.

If I had cooked the bird at 325F, it would have taken around 4 hours rather than 6 1/2. Thus, if you plan on cooking Thanksgiving Day, you can adjust the temperature to have it finish when needed. Just remember to allow at least 1/2 hour for resting prior to carving.

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I’m not brining mine, it’s pre brined already. I’ll just melt some butter and brush it good, then throw on some rub and smoke at 325 for 3 hours or so. Going to put a spiral slice ham on with it in the morning.
 
I always brine mine. Wash it good after it comes out of the brine, let it dry a little, then rub. Leave overnight in the refrigerator then to the pit.
 
I’m not brining mine, it’s pre brined already. I’ll just melt some butter and brush it good, then throw on some rub and smoke at 325 for 3 hours or so. Going to put a spiral slice ham on with it in the morning.

If you have a Butterball, it is injected with saltwater. However, they do that anticipating you will be cooking it on 325F in the oven. If you are going to smoke it at 225F for a longer period, you are likely to remove more moisture from the meat. I sliced my turkey for sandwiches last night. The turkey was wonderfully moist and tender. Although I brined it using 1 cup of salt in about 5 gallons of water, I did not find the turkey to be overly salty. I am on a low salt diet so my taste buds are very sensitive to salt. For example, I cannot eat most canned soups as I find them to be overly salty. There are a few reduced sodium soups from Progresso that I can tolerate, but I still find them salty.

I know it is too late to brine the turkey this year, but I highly recommend that you consider doing so next year, even if you purchase a Butterball.
 
If you have a Butterball, it is injected with saltwater. However, they do that anticipating you will be cooking it on 325F in the oven. If you are going to smoke it at 225F for a longer period, you are likely to remove more moisture from the meat. I sliced my turkey for sandwiches last night. The turkey was wonderfully moist and tender. Although I brined it using 1 cup of salt in about 5 gallons of water, I did not find the turkey to be overly salty. I am on a low salt diet so my taste buds are very sensitive to salt. For example, I cannot eat most canned soups as I find them to be overly salty. There are a few reduced sodium soups from Progresso that I can tolerate, but I still find them salty.

I know it is too late to brine the turkey this year, but I highly recommend that you consider doing so next year, even if you purchase a Butterball.
Although I’m not a big fan of turkey I’ve done them like your suggestion and agree if you’re wanting to go low and slow it’s a must. Although I didn’t use a Butterball it turned out pretty good. It ended up taking 3 hours and 25 minutes at 325.
 

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Although I’m not a big fan of turkey I’ve done them like your suggestion and agree if you’re wanting to go low and slow it’s a must. Although I didn’t use a Butterball it turned out pretty good. It ended up taking 3 hours and 25 minutes at 325.

While cooking at 325F is certainly a viable option if you need to cook in less than 4 hours, you won't get much smoke on the meat unless you supplelment with a smoke tube. That is why I cooked at 225F/250F, but it took a lot longer than 4 hours.
 
I always brine regardless of the brand of turkey. It wasn’t always that way for me until a few years ago. I’ve made my own brine once before, but now I just try different ones off the shelf. Brining is a no-brainer for me regardless of cooking method, and will always guarantee a perfect turkey, free from being dried out.

This year I used Kosmos Turkey Brine because I follow him on you tube and I just wanted to give it a try for fun. I let it soak overnight then let it rest for a few hours,
Followed by some Kosmo “Dirty Bird” rub.

I have a large crowd every year so I usually smoke one on the Traeger and deep fry the other. But this year was a much smaller group.

I deep fried a 20lb Jennie-O Turkey in a “Butterball” fryer I got from costco. I was in a pinch so I had to for go the usual Canola
Oil and went with corn oil instead, which I was a little nervous about.

Overall consensus is that it was the best turkey to date.
 

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I did a dry brine this year for a 14.5 lb turkey using this recipe and the bird was phenomenal! https://www.traeger.com/ca/en/recipes/dry-brine-turkey I used 5 tbsp of Diamond kosher salt, 2 tbsp of thyme, sage, rosemary, and parsley. I mixed all the ingredients together and rubbed it all over the turkey including the cavity. Brined it in a bag for 48 hrs, took it out of the bag for the last 24 hrs to dry out the skin. Smoked it at 180º for 4 hours then bumped up the temp to 325º for the last 1 3/4 hrs to crisp up the skin. It was the most juicy and tasty bird I've ever eaten, and all my guests agreed.
 

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I just don’t see any difference in the brining in all honesty. Before my Traeger I cooked countless turkey’s on my BGE, I’ve never had a dry bird from not brining. But I’m not saying it’s useless either, I do brine farm turkeys and wild turkeys but not the grocery store turkeys.
 

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