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I have cooked a many many many Turkeys on a weber grill. I only use 16lb turkeys or bigger. I like the white meat and the smaller birds dont have much. Anyhow this is how I do mine. I put charcoal around the entire outside of the grill about 4 bricks high and about 3 deep. Approx 8 pounds of charcoal maybe less. If its cold and windy use more coals. Leave a huge spot in the middle of the grill. I do not use a drip pan or anything. I put 2 layers of aluminum foil on the rack completly covering rack. I than put a smaller piece of aluminum foil down so when you pick up the turkey it doesnt rip the tin foil and make a flare up. All I do to the turkey is put cavender salt (greek seasoning) and lowry's salt and i put 2 sticks of butter in the cavity. That is all there is to it. Keep all the wholes on the grill wide open and the lid. If it gets to hot or u hear alot of sizzlin close the lid holes some. It takes around 3 to 3.5 hours to cook a 20 lb bird. check it every now and than to see if its cooking even, you might have to turn the lid 180 degrees. It comes out the best turkey you have ever tasted. I have cooked over 500 turkeys this way on a weber grill for many years. I dont cook turkeys in the oven anymore. Any questions feel free to contact me.
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check out my post about cooking a turkey on the weber - there's also an image of the set up.
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We often cook turkeys on a 22 1/2 inch kettle type Weber either with or without smoking. I put the turkey on the regular grill grate with a drip pan underneath. A little water in the drip pan is a good idea. Splitting the charcoal into two banks along the sides makes for more uniform cooking. Even though this structure with lid closed is classified as indirect heat, there is some direct radiation from the charcoal to the sides of the bird. With this size grill there is adequate clearance under the lid for a turkey up to about 14 pounds. We usually aim for a bird around 12 pounds. I have the grill with two flip up sides, which facilitate adding more charcoal. We usually hot smoke by adding splits of cherry or apple wood (unsoaked) on top the the hot charcoal. This wood then turns into charcoal.
We do not stuff the turkey but usually have some fresh herbs in the cavity if we are roasting the bird whole. Sometimes we cut up the turkey and roast the whole breast and two legs follwing a suggestion by Julia Child in a long-ago TV series and more recent book. The back, etc. go into stock. The legs go on the grill half an hour before the breast. This way we can cook the legs properly without over-cooking the breast. Note that even with the starting time difference, the breast may be done before the legs are ready. The tips of the drumsticks should be placed in the center of the grill with the thighs closest to the charcoal. Even then the thinner parts of the drumsticks may need a foil covering for the latter half of cooking time. The breast does not need turning if you are using a bird, such as Ho Ka in Waterman, IL, that has been pasture-raised in a cold fall because these turkey develop a fair amount of subcutaneous fat even though the flesh is leaner overall than in shed-raised turkeys.
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One cold Thanksgiving in the country, 10 arriving for dinner, my oven broke. I fired up the weber and cooked my turkey IN A ROASTING PAN over charcoals. The Weber was closed. The cold added to the cooking time but, I agree with me, it was the best turkey I've ever cooked. I couldn't use standard time for guaging when it was ready but this wasn't a problem - I was vigilent. I used charcoal and some now forgotten wood combo.
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Try this for something different http://allrecipes.com/recipe/garbage-... Do a websearch for garbage can turkey , you will find lots of recipes. P.S. use a new garbage can
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America's Test Kitchen (Cook's Illustrated's PBS show) grill/roasted a Turkey on a Weber. Grill/roasting utilizes a higher temperature (around 350 F) than indirect smoking (225 F-250 F).
They piled the charcoal on one side of the Weber and placed the Turkey on the other side. Essentially, the Weber becomes an oven. Part way through, they turned the Turkey -- so the side of the Turkey innitally not facing the coals would be facing the coals. ATK even placed a couple of wood chunks so the Turkey would be sightly smoked. I would used a probe thermometer to avoid over/undercooking. This recipe should still be on America's Test Kitchen's website http://www.AmericasTestKitchen.com
To catch the juices, you could place the Turkey in a roasting pan and place the roasting pan on the Weber (but ATK did not use a roasting pan).
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You sure can. It is grilling it. Add smoke chips and all of a sudden you are grilling it.
BUT... will you be gathering those drippings? Will you be utting it on a rotisserie? Fire one side and bird on other side?
You must: Protect from flare ups, consider cutting her in half or quarters, use a rotisserie.
We have smoked one. It rocked, but there was not drippings for gravy, so you have to look to other sources for that.
On a Weber... your work is cut out for you, but what the hay... have you an adventurous crowd unmoved by radical Thanksgiving experiment?
