2016 Thanksgiving Turkey

This is what I did. It turned out great.

1 Turkey 4kg. Thawed completely. (three or four days in the fridge)

Brine:
1 1/4cup coarse salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
5 cups water
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons of allspice. (used ground)
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
6 bay leaves

brought to a boil for a few minutes.

Added 11 cups of cold water.

Immersed the turkey in this brine in a plastic pail for about 24 hours. (In the fridge)

Smoke:
Turkey went into the smoker at 9:30AM. Temperature was set high, but it took 1 1/2 hours to get up to 107C. Tested the meat with a meat probe at about 3 1/2 hours. 143F. (for safety, must reach 140F in under 4 hours.) Kept it at 107C for a while. Dropped it to 90C, but that was a mistake, and finally had to crank it up to 135C when I realized it wasn’t going to get done in time. Took it out at 4:45 with an internal temp of 165F.
I used 8 pucks of applewood at the start of the process.