cured/smoked turkey (BBQ pit version)

1 cup salt
just under 1 cup cure #1 (also called modern cure, instacure #1, prague powder #1, pink curing salt)
2 cups light brown sugar, tightly packed
3 TBSP Old Bay seasoning
1 TBSP ginger, ground
1 TBSP cloves, ground
3 gals cool water

(This is what I used.  If I do it again, I may use a little more salt and sugar, and more cloves, too.)

-->combine and mix with your hands until salt and sugar are completely dissolved.  (Doesn't take very long, even with cool water.)

NOTE:  if you can find one, it's best to use a turkey that does NOT have "contains up to X percent of a solution to help retain moisture" or something like that on its label.  Turkeys that have that on the label have already been injected with salt water.  If your turkey does have that on the label, it'll probably be ok, but you may want to add a little additional sugar to the brine to balance out the extra salt.

-->inject your turkey with 4 oz. (one of my syringes full) of brine solution for every 2.5 lbs. the turkey weighs.  (2 syringes for every 5 lbs.  I had 11 lb. turkeys, and hit them with 4.5 syringes full each.)  

NOTE:  The cure level is important here.  Too much cure will chemically burn the meat and turn it green.  If you don't use enough, you won't get pink meat and the ham flavor.  (On a bbq pit, temperatures will be high enough that botulism won't be a problem, so the cure here is strictly for its texturing/flavoring effects.)

-->fully submerge turkey in the brine in a non-reactive container.  (Food grade plastic works, so tupperware or a home-brew fermenter would work well.  I wouldn't use anything that ever had paint or other weird chemicals in it.)  Let sit, submerged, in the fridge for 2-3 days.  

NOTE:  Make sure it's fully submerged.  Put a brick or something on top if you have to.  

NOTE:  36-38 deg. F is ideal.  Over 40, and meat begins to deteriorate.  Under 34, and cure doesn't do its thing.

-->Remove turkey from brine and rinse well, inside and out, with cold water.  Pat dry with a towel and let sit at room temperature for one hour prior to cooking.  Putting a cold turkey on a hot pit will cause condensation to form on the outside of the turkey, making it harder for the smoke to brown the turkey skin.

NOTE:  Tie the legs together with string and tuck the wing tips under the turkey's back prior to cooking.  Poultry, when cooked, maintains the shape it had when it was cooked, so you've gotta make it pretty beforehand.