Thanksgiving Turkey Fry Homebrew Brining Wort

Crushed Grains for Wort and Grain Bag

It will have been two years this Christmas since I received my turkey fryer.  The ostensible reason for asking for it as a gift was to make the move to all-grain brewing and to move my homebrewing out of the kitchen and into the garage.

It was just before Thanksgiving last year, when my wife and I were planning to host both our families at our house for the first time, that I realized I could use my turkey fryer to actually fry a turkey.  We ended up frying three turkeys last year:  thanksgiving, christmas, and another one for fun sometime in March.

Turkey In Brine

For those turkeys, we injected a store bought marinade and used a homemade dry rub.  This year for thanksgiving, I'm going to brine the turkey in a stout wort.  If you are not a homebrewer, this option is not closed to you.  Epic Brewing sells their 825 Stout wort as a brining solution the week before Thanksgiving.  There may be a craft beer brewer near you that does the same thing.  Or if you have a homebrew store or want to order from one online, you can do this yourself in your turkey fryer pot.

(In case you don't know, a "wort" (pronounced / vert /) is the term for a beer before it is fermented)

I am both picking up the 825 Stout brining wort and making my own.  If I run short on time, I'll use the 825 Stout.  If I have plenty of time, I'll make my own.  This recipe is based upon my hazelnut stout recipe plus some smoked malt to try to add a smokey flavor to the turkey.


Brining Wort Recipe:
4lbs 12oz of Maris Otter malt (or 2 row pale malt)
8oz of cherry wood smoked malt
7oz of Special B malt
5oz of Roasted Barley malt
5oz of Chocolate malt

Crush the grains (the homebrew store should have a grain mill you can use).  You will also need a grain bag.


Premeasure the amount of oil you will need for the turkey fry:
This is one of the key safety measures for frying a turkey.  For this recipe, you need the information for two purposes.  To premeasure the amount of oil you will need, put your frozen turkey in the turkey fryer pot and add water up to the point the turkey is just barely covered by water.  Remove the turkey from the pot.

(I like to do this with the frozen turkey because its easy to handle when its in the bag.  And its something you can get out of the way days before the fry.)

Mark the water level on the outside of the pot with tape.  This is the exact amount of oil you will need in your pot to fry the turkey.  This is also the amount of water you will need to make your wort with the grains listed above.


Steeping the grains for the wort:
In addidtion to the grains you will need:
Additional herbs and spices you want to add to the brine
1 cup of kosher salt.
Lots of ice

This is a technique you can use when partial mashing for a beer.  Fill up your fryer pot up to the premeasured oil level.  Take all the grains you purchased from the homebrew store and place them in the grain bag.  Tie the bag closed.  Add the bag to the water.  Slowly bring the water temperature up to 155F - 160F.

If you want to add other seasonings to the brine mixture (i.e. onions, garlic, etc.) you can do it now or after the steeping period is over.

Do not let the temperature get over 168F.  This will cause tannins to be extracted from the grains and can result in astringent flavors.

After the hour, take the grain bag out.  Add the pound of kosher salt.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  If you don't have a brewing chiller, this will take a few hours.  I don't really plan on using my chiller, but I may if it takes too long.

After it gets down to room temperature, add the thawed turkey.  Top off your fryer pot with ice to keep the turkey cold (unless you can put this whole thing in your fridge).  Or if you have a cooler large enough, you can transfer the wort to the cooler, put the turkey in it, and add the ice.

Brine the turkey for 8 to 16 hours.  Because of our time constraints, I'm thinking of brining the turkey for 12 hours.

After brining, you need to let the turkey dry.  For safety reasons, YOU CANNOT PUT A TURKEY DRIPPING WITH WATER INTO A HOT FRYER.

I plan to let the turkey dry for a couple hours while it undergoes the remainder of the preparation.  My wife is going to inject it with a garlic butter marinade and insert some whole garlic cloves into the meat.