Who can say no to a beer brined turkey? I know I couldn’t! Find your favorite craft beer to help add some flavor to your bird! The trick is to find something malty that is full or flavor. For this recipe, I chose MobCraft’s latest crowdsourced beer, Uncle T’s! It is a English Caramel Ale that has a great flavor profile that added some nice flavors to the bird!
Ingredients
This recipe was used on a 24lb bird, you can cut back as needed on the beer/water amounts for a smaller bird.
- 5 gallons of water
- 5 22.5oz bottles of MobCraft’s Uncle T’s (Or your favorite craft beer). The goal here is to choose one that is flavorful and malty to impart flavor into the bird.
- 4 cups of plain salt (not iodized)
- 2 bulbs of garlic, chopped
- 2 oz whole allspice
- 2 tbs whole cloves
- 4 onions, quartered
- 1 bunch of celery, cut in half.
- 1 package of fresh thyme
- 6 cups of chicken broth
Directions
- Bring the chicken broth to a boil. Add in onions and garlic. Reduce heat to simmer, cook for 5 – 10 minutes.
- In large container, mix in the broth mixture above, celery and spices.
- Place the thawed turkey into the container. Remove any the neck and giblets (and anything else that was stuffed inside of the bird)
- Fill a gallon pitcher or container with water, and dissolve the salt. Once dissolved, add it into the large container. I typically dissolve 1 cup of salt per gallon of water.
- Alternate adding beer and salt water mixture to the large container until the turkey has been fully submerged.
- Make sure everything is well mixed together, and rotate the turkey a few times to make sure its in full contact with the brine.
- Leave turkey in brine for 18 – 24 hours before cooking/roasting.
It’s important to make sure that the turkey is fully thawed before starting the brining process. Using a frozen or partially frozen turkey will not yield expected results. While brining the turkey, it’s also important to make sure you keep it at a food safe temperature.
My preferred cooking method is with the Char-Broil Big Easy Infrared Cooker. This will produce one of the best and juiciest turkeys you have ever had! Cook times in the Big Easy are typically 10 minutes per pound, but can vary slightly pending the outside environment.
That’s pretty much it – enjoy your beer brined turkey! You won’t be disappointed! Happy cooking!