Smoking and Beer

This weekend went by entirely too quickly.  Friday as a last minute brainstorm, I decided I needed to have a small party to help break in my smoker.  I was already going to smoke a brisket since Todd had been asking me to and because I wanted to see how it would turn out.  On Thursday, I picked up a brisket and make up some nice rub and massaged the brisket with it.  But Friday, I had a brain fart and decided that I also needed to smoke some pork ribs and I just couldn't stop there, I also picked up two 4-1/2 pound chickens.  There was going to be entirely too much food for two families to eat so I invited another couple and their 3 kids and couldn't stop there so I invited my brother (who actually showed up).  Friday evening was spent making more rub for the ribs and some brine for the chickens.  I just couldn't stop myself so I also made a batch of homemade BBQ sauce for those people that think you have to have sauce on barbecue. 

I woke up a bit later than I wanted to on Saturday and didn't get the brisket on until 6:30 am or so.  While I was getting the smoker up to temperature, I let the brisket's temperature come closer to room temperature and I mixed up some sop to baste the brisket and the ribs.  I put the brisket on at 6:30, the ribs on at 1pm and the chicken on at 4.  By 6 pm, were were eating like a bunch of 400 pound rodeo clowns.  I think the ribs turned out the best out of the three meats.  I think I would smoke the brisket a bit longer next time and let it rest 2 hours instead of the hour I left it alone this time.  The chicken was really good too but the ribs were the shizzle.  I do think I would try a less salty rub as well.  Not overly salty but a bit too much for my liking.  The BBQ sauce was my biggest issue.  I tried a recipe I found on the food network from The Neeley's but it was entirely too spicy after the first 1-1/2 hours of simmering it so I threw in some tomato paste and more water to tone it down a bit and after another hour or so of simmering, I had decent sauce.  Unfortunately, now I have entirely too much sauce.  Anyone need a quart or so of BBQ sauce?

During the big smoke, Todd and I managed to brew a batch of beer too.  I brewed a nice IPA that should be somewhere in the 150 I.B.U. range.  Now that is going to be a nice beer!

Next weekend is the big Darius Rucker concert.  Yes Darius Rucker is opening for Rascal Flatts.  Lisa is a big Darius Rucker fan and she's so excited I don't know if she'll make it to Sunday night.

  Ribs before smoking

Brisket before smoking (all 7 pounds of it)

BBQ Sauce

"The Smokehouse"

Winter Blahs

Katelyn has been sick the past few days so Lisa stayed home yesterday and I stayed home today.  She's just had a really nasty fever and has been really lethargic.  We did manage to get her to the doctor's office today to find out we were dealing with some kind of virus that turned into an ear infection.  It's amazing how a dose of antibiotics turns a little girl around.  I actually got some food down her and she hasn't had a fever since this morning at 6 am. 

This weekend, I'm tossing around trying to do a brisket in the smoker along with a chicken or two and have some people over.  I'm also in the need to brew another batch of beer as well but the weather tends to put a damper on both of those activities.  I'll have to decide soon because I'll need to get the brisket all rubbed up and sitting in the fridge for a day or two.  What to do....what to do?