Devv's 2014- Stick a fork in me, I'm done....

Devv · Nov 15, 2014

Roguejim said:
So, how did the hot and fast work out on a whole brisket? Presently, I have a Traeger pellet pooper. My mistake buying it without doing more research. It delivers a poor smoke profile to the meat. It runs so efficiently that it just doesn't produce enough smoke. That's my story. My intention at this point is to buy an offset, this one here: http://www.yodersmokers.com/cheyenne.html
Do you think I could fit 2 ~15lb packer brisket in this smoker, Scott? That's my basic requirement for any smoker I go with. It's about the most affordable one I've seen with that particular construction. What are your thoughts on this?

Kreuz Market, Black's, and Smitty's are the ones I always hear mentioned. I've never eaten at any of them! The bbq here in southern Oregon isn't worth eating.

http://www.lockhart-tx.org/web98/visitors/bbqcapitaloftexas.asp

That's one nice pit! I looked at the PDF's, and it should do 4 briskets at once no problem.

What kind of wood do you have available?

One key thing is the BBQ sauce when it's time to serve the brisket. I cook the brisket 3 hours hot (325-350°) the first 3 hours, then wrap it in foil for the remainder and let the temps get down to 225-250°. I feel the lower temps give me more control...I then add the juices from the foil to the BBQ sauce. I prefer a mild sauce without too much vinegar.

The guys are here spending my money...$85 an hour :shh:

This is one big tree!

I should get double my $$$ in firewood. It needed to go, before it dried and the wood would get so hard it would trash the chainsaw blades. Yeah it gets that way, sparks fly from the wood once it's hardened. This is a $400-500 deal...not cool after Moms hit us up for $10,000 Thursday....yikes!

randyp · Nov 15, 2014

Get some paint and turn that baby into a portable deer slayer blind.

bpwilly · Nov 15, 2014

Scott,
That Live Oak sure sounds like hard wood when it dries. How is it to split when it is still green? I remember years past a fellow offered me some low cost firewood from a big old maple he had cut down a while before. He had some rounds that were about 5 feet across. I spend al,ost 2 hours with a splitting maul and 4 or 5 wedges before I could get it down to fireplace size chunks of wood. I stopped at that point and left the rest of it sitting there, as you could not pay me to do that again!

As a wood bowl turner, that live oak would be great for some nice big bowls! The more knots the better!

Bill

Roguejim · Nov 15, 2014

Scott, we have mostly oak growing here. People burn it in their wood stoves for home heating, along with madrone. Some fruit wood, and alder, is available at times. I'd prefer hickory. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but bbq sauce seems to be frowned upon in your home State. If I'm not mistaken, Kreuz Market doesn't serve any. They might take you for a tourist if you were to ask for any. You might want to sneak in your own. :shh:

Devv · Nov 16, 2014

randyp said:
Get some paint and turn that baby into a portable deer slayer blind.

Hah!

I wish that rig was mine

bpwilly said:
Scott,
That Live Oak sure sounds like hard wood when it dries. How is it to split when it is still green? I remember years past a fellow offered me some low cost firewood from a big old maple he had cut down a while before. He had some rounds that were about 5 feet across. I spend al,ost 2 hours with a splitting maul and 4 or 5 wedges before I could get it down to fireplace size chunks of wood. I stopped at that point and left the rest of it sitting there, as you could not pay me to do that again!

As a wood bowl turner, that live oak would be great for some nice big bowls! The more knots the better!

Bill

Hi Bill,

That's why I opted to have it cut up now, before it hardens. I have a 30 ton log splitter to split the Live Oak. At 56 my manual splitting days are pretty much over, except Mesquite. I don't think the puzzle grained pieces of Live Oak can be easily split.

Roguejim said:
Scott, we have mostly oak growing here. People burn it in their wood stoves for home heating, along with madrone. Some fruit wood, and alder, is available at times. I'd prefer hickory. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but bbq sauce seems to be frowned upon in your home State. If I'm not mistaken, Kreuz Market doesn't serve any. They might take you for a tourist if you were to ask for any. You might want to sneak in your own.

I went to their website, and sure enough it says no sauce. They use it around here big time. I just use a little. Actually my favorite way is eating a brisket sandwich with mayo and swiss.

Stock up on the wood! A brisket usually takes 2 or 3 5 gallon buckets of wood. I cut it 10 to 14"s long and 2.5"s thick. Can't wait to see the results of your new pit!

bpwilly · Nov 18, 2014

You guys are making me hungry with all this talk about brisket! Yum!.

Have you ever tried a chipotle rub on your brisket? I made one a few years back that had a mild bite to it and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. Most were a little worried when I told them it had chipotle peppers in it but they sure seemed to like the mild heat that it added.

Now you got me thinking about making it again soon!

Devv · Nov 18, 2014

bpwilly said:
You guys are making me hungry with all this talk about brisket! Yum!.

Have you ever tried a chipotle rub on your brisket? I made one a few years back that had a mild bite to it and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. Most were a little worried when I told them it had chipotle peppers in it but they sure seemed to like the mild heat that it added.

Now you got me thinking about making it again soon!

Hi Bill,

I haven't yet, but you're putting ideas in my head!

A new Walmart opened in town and had Brisket on sale, LB scored 4 of them. 2 for the pit and 2 for chopped meat; we mix them 50-50 with Venison.

East Texas Heat · Nov 18, 2014

What are your thoughts on that walmart opening in town? A lot of people view them as harmful to local commerce because they put almost everyone out of business with their proceeds which largely don't stay in town, but they're just so darn convenient. Hell we have two in Tyler alone.

Devv · Nov 19, 2014

East Texas Heat said:
What are your thoughts on that walmart opening in town? A lot of people view them as harmful to local commerce because they put almost everyone out of business with their proceeds which largely don't stay in town, but they're just so darn convenient. Hell we have two in Tyler alone.

My wife and I worry about that, and another thing that bothers me a lot. They don't let most of their workers put in enough hours to qualify for health insurance; and that puts the burden on us that work and pay taxes.

We only buy a few things from them, mainly our engine oil, and whole milk mozzarella cheese, which we can't find anywhere else. I buy local when I can, unless the pricing is out of this world. Potting soil, organic nutes, hardware, auto parts, tires, and lumber I buy locally.

LB drives 3 towns over to shop at HEB, the local grocery store is way expensive so we just shop their sales. Really we don't have many (edit: I never finished this sentence..LOL) stores that will be affected.

East Texas Heat · Nov 19, 2014

Its like a blessing and a curse at the same time. I never really thought about it much, we have always had them here and we never had anything other than brookshires and a very few hardware stores around. Most other shops dont even attempt to come in and compete with walmart.

stickman · Nov 21, 2014

bpwilly said:
You guys are making me hungry with all this talk about brisket! Yum!.

Have you ever tried a chipotle rub on your brisket? I made one a few years back that had a mild bite to it and seemed to be enjoyed by everyone. Most were a little worried when I told them it had chipotle peppers in it but they sure seemed to like the mild heat that it added.

Now you got me thinking about making it again soon!

Do you cook on a gas grill Bill? If you're cooking brisket in a bbq pit with wood and/or charcoal as fuel, using chipotles is kinda redundant. By all means use a rub then, but smoked chiles aren't necessary.

How's the "green manure" crop coming along Scott? Things got so busy here at the end of the season that I never got around to sowing mine... I didn't even put down the shredded leaves I'd planned to, but seeing what's been fallign in Buffalo, I've gotta get on it before snow falls here.

Devv · Nov 21, 2014

East Texas Heat said:
Its like a blessing and a curse at the same time. I never really thought about it much, we have always had them here and we never had anything other than brookshires and a very few hardware stores around. Most other shops dont even attempt to come in and compete with walmart.

You know, we went there today; they had a really good sale on a Sony 60" TV. We got there at 8AM, when the sale started. They didn't have anything that was supposed to be on sale.

stickman said:
Do you cook on a gas grill Bill? If you're cooking brisket in a bbq pit with wood and/or charcoal as fuel, using chipotles is kinda redundant. By all means use a rub then, but smoked chiles aren't necessary.

How's the "green manure" crop coming along Scott? Things got so busy here at the end of the season that I never got around to sowing mine... I didn't even put down the shredded leaves I'd planned to, but seeing what's been fallign in Buffalo, I've gotta get on it before snow falls here.

Hi Rick,

I hear you about time, there's never enough time in a day around here. I'm still cutting and splitting wood; it has to be done while it's green. Or it's 3 times the work...

The cover crop is doing really well, here's a pic:

I'm trying to decide when to mow it. Perhaps next weekend. I usually mow it once, let it grow back and till it in. Then replant a second crop. You can see how the rye is starting to darken up; it's finely reaching the nutrients in the deeper soil. And this is exactly why I plant it. It helps the leaching that would normally occur.

It never froze or frosted here. The dew point was in the teens and the temps never went below 35°, but look at the volunteer squash.

And the peppers:

Most were brought inside, and still look OK. But these are going to be pulled this weekend.

Jimmy Nardello's are podding nicely!

Another JN plant. LB asked me to keep them going, she's the boss!

Looks like the first pods from the Brown Bhut are starting to put some color on.

One of the fall-winter beds. You can see how bad the worms slammed the Broccoli. It took several applications of Dipel dust, but we won and they're coming back nicely. It was gratifying to see worm carcasses lying under the plants.

stickman · Nov 21, 2014

Great stuff Scott... the winter garden looks good now that you nuked the nasties.

I love that green color on the cover crop too! I'm not surprised that as the mercury and the sun angles drop and the daylight hours decrease, the plants respond by dropping leaves and going into hibernation even if it doesn't get quite cold enough to kill them. Ma nature is unpredictable enough that I wouldn't want to take the chance either.

Devv · Nov 21, 2014

stickman said:
Great stuff Scott... the winter garden looks good now that you nuked the nasties. I love that green color on the cover crop too! I'm not surprised that as the mercury and the sun angles drop and the daylight hours decrease, the plants respond by dropping leaves and going into hibernation even if it doesn't get quite cold enough to kill them. Ma nature is unpredictable enough that I wouldn't want to take the chance either.

Thanks Rick,

Even the 3 plants in the garden took a hit. The White Bhut and JA Hab went in the shop, dropped a lot of leaves, but are still in the game. I hope they make it. I never trimmed them, just dug them up and put them in 20 gallon bags in the shade. They have been in the bags for close to 90 days now, and they're podding up!

OCD Chilehead · Nov 23, 2014

Cover crop is looking great Scott. I see you still haven't slowed done any. LOL. Havent had much time on my end to prep for next years grow. Keep up the good work buddy. Have a happy thanksgiving.

Chuck

Devv · Nov 23, 2014

OCD Chilehead said:
Cover crop is looking great Scott. I see you still haven't slowed done any. LOL. Havent had much time on my end to prep for next years grow. Keep up the good work buddy. Have a happy thanksgiving.

Chuck

Thanks Chuck!

Enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday!

This is what's been keeping me busy the last 3 weekends:

The pile on the left is from the 30" tree, the right from the 52" tree. That pile is over 20' long. I'm about half way through cleaning the big tree up.

stickman · Nov 23, 2014

Man... I'll bet that live Oak burns for a long time. Do you have to add any lightwood to keep it burning Scott?

Devv · Nov 23, 2014

stickman said:
Man... I'll bet that live Oak burns for a long time. Do you have to add any lightwood to keep it burning Scott?

It does burn slowly, and once it's going it just burns. The key it to let it season for two years before use.

I do feel my age processing this

East Texas Heat · Nov 25, 2014

Got any starts goin yet devv?

Devv · Nov 25, 2014

East Texas Heat said:
Got any starts goin yet devv?

I'm going to start a bit later than last year, as we're in Az. and Vegas for Christmas. Seeds will start the germ process the day before we leave and hopefully when we return it will be to a bunch of coty's

That will give me 14 to 16 weeks before they hit the dirt.