Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler grilling a turkey for Thanksgiving

I'm getting a little concerned about the size of the turkey that will fit on the grill. We are now up to 17 people, which would tell me about a 17lb turkey. Is this going to fit on the grill though is the question. It's a Weber Genesis

Maybe I'll be ok...found this on the weber site, although it doesn't mention which weber it is referring to.

Size: Weight is not really an issue as long as the turkey fits in your grill with the lid down to allow for Indirect Cooking (note that turkeys over 24 pounds may not fit under your grill lid). At least one inch clearance between the turkey and lid is ideal. So think structure. A broad, flat bird will fit better than one with a high breast bone. To determine the size of turkey you need to feed a specific number of guests, see our Portion Guide

Hi Zarak,

If you find the whole bird doesn't fit on the grill you can use this method of removing the backbone and laying it flat on the grill in a pinch.

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/butterflychicken.html

So I used the Bon Appetite recipe I linked to at the beginning of the thread. We had 17 people, and I was debating how much turkey to buy. I didn't want to get one too big due to concerns of it fitting. I ended up with a 16.35 lb turkey, but had read 1 lb per person, with up to 1.5 for a good amount of leftovers. Since our family tends to eat more white than dark meat, I decided to also get a 5 lb turkey breast to cook on the grill as well.

I started the main turkey at 10:45am on the grill. I don't seem to remember having this issue the last time I tried turkey on the grill, but regulating temperature proved to be difficult. I had to keep going out to make sure it was staying at 350, making small adjustments to the amount of heat to keep it there.

Around 12:30pm, I put the breast on as well. They both ended up finishing around the same time, probably around 2:45, with the main turkey maybe 10-15 minutes earlier than the breast.

Anyway, took it all off, carved it up, made the gravy from the recipe, and it all turned out great! We ended up with a LOT of extra turkey though. We didn't even have to carve into the extra breast. The 1 lb per person rule would have been ok, with some leftovers, but not a ton of them. With the extra breast, we have a lot of leftover turkey to eat.

Good thing I like having leftovers after the holiday!

I hope for you the leftovers are turkey and not relatives?

Some of both. My inlaws are here. Parents in law arrived Tuesday night and are leaving tomorrow. Bro in law arrived Wed evening and is leaving around noon Sunday.