Tag Archives: brisket

Lengthwise Brewing Company

Today is a Homebrew and Brisket Day.

Started off with 12 pound brisket, untrimmed and with a big dose of Lengthwise “Mighty Fine” Home Brewed Seasoned Salt. Great on chicken too- I should have written that adventure up a month or so ago! The Beer Butt Chicken was superb.

Back to the brisket. I am using a garbage bin rescued, gas fired smoker. After trouble shooting the system I found it only needed a new regulator. 24 bucks, a small shipping fee and I was in business.

I started off with my latest batch, the “Yes Dear Raspberry Wheat Ale” . Pretty darned good but could use another couple of weeks to mellow out. My “Yes Dear” critic gave a sideways thumb. Yes dear, I will let it mellow!

An hour or so later after adding a big handful of Mesquite chips, I poured the Lengthwise inspired homebrewed “Golden Wheat Red IPA”. It is near perfect!

Yes Dear Raspberry Wheat Ale - note the slight pink tint to the head. It is good and should nature well.

Yes Dear Raspberry Wheat Ale – note the slight pink tint to the head. It is good and should nature well. Brisket Seasoning posing alongside.

 

The “Yes Dear Raspberry Wheat Ale posing with the Mighty Fine bottle. Not a bad looking couple?

The Golden Wheat Red IPA posing with the Lengthwise seasoning.

The Golden Wheat Red IPA posing with the Lengthwise seasoning.

My Golden Wheat Red was whining about not being in the picture so I poured one and drank it! I still have a few hours to finish the brisket. I hope the Russian Imperial Stout doesn’t get into the act! At 10-11% ABV I might lose my sense of smoking focus.

My Russian Imperial Stout aged on charred oak that had been soaked in bourbon.

My Russian Imperial Stout aged on charred oak that had been soaked in bourbon. Is it my eyes or is this seriously out of focus?

The debate is on, should I or should I behave. The Stouts are in 22 ounce or 20 ounce flip tops. Here is a 22 ounce bomber positioned near the smoker just begging for release!

 

I decided to behave…. Maybe????

Drink Local and Drink Responsibly
Bishop

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Scientific Link Between Beer and Meat

I really shouldn’t say scientific, it is more like years of observation that validates the statement above.

This past weekend at my humble abode I observed this link in hyperdrive…. I wanted to have a good homebrew and in response to my wife’s request I went to the store to grab something for dinner. I decided to grab a couple of whole chickens to skewer on the rotisserie ….. that wasn’t good enough. I decided to kill two birds with my homebrew and smoke a whole brisket….Why not, I had to be out there watching the chickens so lets get a brisket going.

I decided to use my homebrew Session Ale as part of the brisket seasoning process and as the liquid to provide moisture in the smoker. I sliced up some of my homegrown Elephant Garlic to add a little more flavor to the liquid and also to the smoke box. I used a local seasoning put together by the “locally famous” BBQ guy, Rick Alspaugh…. he also owns the local Ace Hardware store, involved in the community and a  friend through the swimming community….an all around good guy.

The chickens were seasoned with the same rub and place on the rotisserie skewer and I added some wood smoke using apple! I got the beer out, the meats ready to go and it hit me that the link was evident…not just one meat but I was sucked into doubling up. Fortunately I had enough beer to make it all work! That’s the benefit of brewing your own!!!!

Ready to check on the brisket.

Ready to check on the brisket.

That yummy smoke is rolling out of the smoker!

That yummy smoke is rolling out of the smoker!

About hour 2 of the many, many hour process.

About hour 2 of the many, many hour process.

Chickens just warming up.

Chickens just warming up.

The dead soldiers lined up along with some of the Elephant Garlic.

The dead soldiers lined up along with some of the Elephant Garlic.

A platter full and ready to eat. The brisket was still being slooooow cooked!

A platter full of dismembered chicken and ready to eat. The brisket was still being slooooow cooked!

So, yes grilling, smoking or preparing meat does link to beer and the opposite holds true….good beer leads to cravings for meat. I see a three of four meat weekend somewhere in my future! What beer should I triple up or quadruple up with??? Hmmmmm. So many choices

Drink Local, Drink Responsibly – Enjoy Meat!

Bishop

Busy Brewing Day

The day was much too busy and much of it was my own doing. The Imperial Stout was a partial mash effort so there was that element of an extra step in the process – not much in the way of work, just time, patience and monitoring. I had trotted off to the store a few hours earlier and my ambitious nature kicked in – I decided to buy a brisket to smoke while the beer was brewing. A perfect excuse for another beer while heating up the  backyard.

All was going smooth until transferring the mash liquor from the kettle to the boiling pot. The bottom of the bag holding the crushed grain busted open. I sent quite a bit of the spent grain over into the boiling pot. I tried fishing out the grains and realized(American spelling) that I was not going to recover mare than about 70% of the grain. Ok, now lets hunt for my wire sieve. I couldn’t find it last time I looked for it so why would I think it would be different this time? “Call a friend” – and yes she had the answer to the question. I enlisted the help of my 17-year-old son…..giving him a start on a skill set that could make him a popular guy in college a few years down the road. (he has to wait until 21 to practice the trade)

I am a busy dude! Keep feeding the wood chips to the smoker, keep an eye on the brew pot, watch the timer for the hops additions, be ready to stir down the potential boil over when adding the hops and keep adding chips to the smoker….oh yes, try a new craft beer! I bought this new one more as a test for my wife. It is called Citra Blonde from Widmer Brothers in Portland Oregon. She did like it and I was pleasantly surprised!  I recently fell in love, a beer this time, with another Widmer beer, Rotator IPA – an ongoing changing recipe. Great concept! A bit like the Yazoo Brewery’s Hop Project!

Beer | Widmer Brothers Brewing  Take a look – first class website and a great overview of how to brew!

It was well after my planned finish time before I pulled the brisket, cooled the beer & pitched the yeast, cleaned the pots, sequestered the fermenter in a cool dark spot and sat down for a brief respite. this looks to be a stout stout….starting gravity of 1.093! I sampled the sweet wort after checking the gravity and the flavors a very interesting even at this early stage of the process. Aroma is nice – if it mellows/matures as I expect, it should be an awesome beer. I am still deciding what to do after transferring to the secondary……coffee – maybe, oak – that is a possibility and maybe oak that has been soaked in a decent bourbon, chocolate – hmmmm maybe not. I have 8 or 10 days to decide. Maybe I run a poll!

Poll Daddy Poll

Sitting back in the shade on the patio – the beer is boiling, the brisket is smoking and a cold beer in my hand.

The brisket – smoked for 7 hours. The thick end was cut off, wrapped tight in foil smothered with Sweet Baby Ray’s BBQ sauce and 10 hours in the oven at 200 F.

That dark crust, enhanced with oak chipped from Jack Daniels bourbon barrels – the bourbon flavor/aroma was not noticeable in the meat but the smoke off of the smoker was pretty yummy! The brisket just fell apart….

TTFN

Bishop