Cooking big turkey?

[hillbilly beef man]

I had a 24 lb turkey given to me that I need to fix for thanksgiving. I normally buy 12-14 lb birds and fix multiples if cooking for a crowd, but I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. I use the Alton Brown brine recipe and roasting technique. With a bird this big would I be better off brining and cooking the breast seperate, or just extend my brining time longer than my usual 48 hours? I despise dry turkey so I am trying to make sure that the breast is not too dry by the time I get the rest done.

 

[CottageFarm]

Double the time in the brine.
Ive done a 20 lb for 72 hrs, it was very good, but felt it would have been better if I had gone another day.

 

[Lucky_P]

Ran across this in my archived emails today... from back around 2003... from a guy at the UofWI Poultry Research Lab...in a discussion of someone who'd raised some turkeys the year before and cooked a 42-pounder... took 12 hours in the oven...

"Cook that bird at 425 f rather than the traditional 325 F. Knocks the cook time down by about half, makes for crispier skin and allows less time for the meat to dry out."

 

[M.Magis]

I've read that too long in the brine will cause the skin to be soggy and not crisp up. Not entirely sure its true, but I read it somewhere.

 

[hillbilly beef man]

I brined it for four days and it turned out great. Thanks.