Dry brining question

I just discovered the various Cathy2 links and it looks very intriguing to me. However, I'm not scheduled to pick up my bird until Wed. morning. The recipe says 3 days brining.
Anyone have any experience or wisdom about how absolute the duration must be?
Our bird will be smaller than those referenced in the articles---10-12 lbs.
Would a mere 30 hrs. achieve nothing, or worse, be ruinously bad?

I haven't tried three-day dry-brined turkey but I've eaten many that have been kashered, a process that takes only a couple of hours, and it definitely makes a difference over nothing at all. I say go for it.

If you have access to a vacuum sealer, that can help cut down the brining time. You can jury rig a large bag around the turkey (in another container, just in case) with your brine solution.

I am not doing it this year, but i usually put a smaller turkey into a vacuum tumbler with a home made mixture of garlic and onion juice with some liquid smoke.

Dry brining overnight is perfectly acceptable.

The best way to get results is to place the salt/sugar/herbs under the skin to speed the process. You should also unwrap the bird to air dry the skin early on Thanksgiving morning.

Since, dry brining does not add moisture to the breast, you should also ice the breast for an hour before cooking. You can do this with two bags of ice in the roaster and placing the bird upside down with bags flanking the breast. Another small bag of ice can be inserted inside.

you can rub the skin with a salt/baking powder/seasoning mix before roasting to promote crisp skin.

Roast the bird breast down for the first hour, unless you are grilling.

Good luck,

Tim

ps: Vacuum sealing does not speed the brining process.

2 weekends ago I dry brined a 16 lb turkey for about 20 hours and it turned out fantastic. I followed directions on this site verbatim, but added extra salt because of my decreased time.

http://virtualweberbullet.com/turkey8.html

Highly recommend this recipe, including butterflying it to achieve even cook time between breast and thigh.