This was crossposted on alt.food.bbq.

I have some insight. This Thanksgiving was not my favorite because I
undertook too much. For 34 people I made a 21# turkey (brined for
about 16 hours) roasted in the oven, a 19# turkey with pastrami
flavoring (brined for 48 hours with black pepper, juniper berries,
cardamom seed, mustard seed, allspice, salt and brown sugar) roasted
on the gas grill and on the same grill, 12 racks of back ribs (which I
thought were baby backs).

The grill is a Weber Summit 670 and it was not big enough for the
turkey and the ribs. It was big enough but not for indirect cooking.
That was the first problem. The turkey was almost on top of the
right-most burner and the left edge of the ribs were over the
left-most burner. I did get a very nice rib rack holder for $10 at
Home Depot that holds 6 racks. I slow cooked both the ribs and the
turkey at 225° and because of their horizontal size, I never got to
try the smoker box on the grill.

The other turkey was roasting in oven #2 at 325°. After about 3 hours
of cooking I checked it and one of the kids raised it to 400°,
thinking it was empty and was preheating it for the hors d'oeuvres.
Without the brining, both turkeys would have been as dry as the
desert. Then one of the kids' in-laws, who were supposed to get here
at around 2:00, got here at 4:15. Everyone loved everything but I
couldn't look at it once it was all done. I ate a few bites of one
rib and a tiny piece of turkey and had nothing from the voluminous
leftovers (and we gave away a ton of it) which my wife loved all week.
I just hated this Thanksgiving and this was the first time I felt that
way. Usually I make Jewish brisket and turkey, so I stretched a bit
this year. It didn't help that everyone loved it, I couldn't wait for
the day to be over. Imagine how much worse it would have been if it
rained. Plus, the handles and support of one of the turkey throw away
roasting pans fell apart and when I was walking into the house with
the turkey from oven #2, I tripped on the water that leaked from the
dogs drinking as some idiot put the bowl near where you walk in from
the garage. There should have been no dogs and two less people in the
house and that reduction of people needing attention would have
helped, especially as one of the extra two turned up the oven to 400°.

I think starting 48 hours before with the turkey brining made me
nauseous of the turkey smell. There is too much turkey in my brain.
So, in conclusion, the brining is great but sometimes it can be more
than you need to do or more than you can take.

Alan