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Step 7Smoke that turkey out
First, put the woodchips on top of the heating element. Make sure the heating element is all the way up and plugged in. Put the turkey drippings pan in, on top of the threaded rods. Put the turkey on the grating inside the smoker. Close the lid, and start the waiting game.
You want to maintain a temperature of about 230F, for around 30-40 minutes per pound of turkey. You will need to change out the wood chips every hour or two, but don't sweat the exact timing. Changing the wood chips will require you to remove the grill, the drippings pan, and then the wood chip pan, so you will probably want two people, both with gloves. The garbage can lid will be quite hot once the temperature reaches peak, which on the first cycle can take quite a while.
Unforuntately, changing out the wood chips evacuates all of the smoke and hot air from the inside of the can, which basically drops the temperature most of the way back to ambient. In our case, this was exacerbated by cold temperatures and stiff winds, so much so that we had to add an insulator to our garbage can: a cardboard box. We folded the sides of the boxes evenly to make it octaganal, so it would fit more snugly.
The one modification we highly suggest would be a door for changing out the wood chips. Since the door would be at the bottom of the smoker, you would not lose much heat or smoke in the process of changing out the chips, and the whole process would go faster and smoother. Once we get around to it, we'll post another instructable with the modification.
You want to maintain a temperature of about 230F, for around 30-40 minutes per pound of turkey. You will need to change out the wood chips every hour or two, but don't sweat the exact timing. Changing the wood chips will require you to remove the grill, the drippings pan, and then the wood chip pan, so you will probably want two people, both with gloves. The garbage can lid will be quite hot once the temperature reaches peak, which on the first cycle can take quite a while.
Unforuntately, changing out the wood chips evacuates all of the smoke and hot air from the inside of the can, which basically drops the temperature most of the way back to ambient. In our case, this was exacerbated by cold temperatures and stiff winds, so much so that we had to add an insulator to our garbage can: a cardboard box. We folded the sides of the boxes evenly to make it octaganal, so it would fit more snugly.
The one modification we highly suggest would be a door for changing out the wood chips. Since the door would be at the bottom of the smoker, you would not lose much heat or smoke in the process of changing out the chips, and the whole process would go faster and smoother. Once we get around to it, we'll post another instructable with the modification.
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