Brining a turkey in a cooler?

[cransplash]

We don't have a huge fridge, and we would like to brine our turkey this year. (We had done it in the past, and brined the turkey in the fridge and it was just a PITA).

I've heard of brining a turkey in a cooler, but I worry about bacteria/food poisoning issues. Has anyone done this?

We live in southern OH, and the high around Thanksgiving will be around 45-48*. My thought process is: Make the brine, pour it into a HUGE Ziploc/Glad bag, and then place the turkey inside the bag and zip tight. Place ziploc/turkey into the cooler and leave in garage for 24-36 hours.

I could put ice in it, but I'm afraid it will melt, and I don't want the melted ice/water to accidentally get into the brine (should the brine ziploc bag leak).

Thoughts?

[ally]

We use a large - food safe - bucket. We pour the already chilled brine over the turkey and add any ice included in the recipe. I weigh the turkey down with a frozen milk jug (freeze water in one after finishing the milk) - this helps keep it cold, not watered down, and submerged.

The turkey bucket gets placed in a cool spot (sometimes the garage) on a towel to absorb condensation and we have had perfectly safe and tasty turkey.

[redheadbaker]

Nov 10, 2012 10:24:09 GMT -5 ally said:

We use a large - food safe - bucket. We pour the already chilled brine over the turkey and add any ice included in the recipe. I weigh the turkey down with a frozen milk jug (freeze water in one after finishing the milk) - this helps keep it cold, not watered down, and submerged.

The turkey bucket gets placed in a cool spot (sometimes the garage) on a towel to absorb condensation and we have had perfectly safe and tasty turkey.

This is what I did, too. I got the bucket at a restaurant-supply store.

[kmmssg]

When I have done it in a cooler I have always used a bag and I always clean it with bleach water when I am done "just in case." We live in MI so it is usually cold enough in the garage at Thanksgiving, but I keep a thermometer handy.

We usually buy 23-25 lb turkeys and the food quality buckets I have aren't big enough for those. If I do a smaller one though, I will definitely use the frozen milk jug trick. That is brilliant.

[laptopvixen]

Use icepacks, not ice, to keep the cooler cold. Milk jugs as suggested, or water bottles.

I did ours in a cooler outside last year overnight. There is no way a turkey would ever fit in our fridge with all of the other crap.