Tis the season to be FOWL…..Ok, maybe you just want to try something different with your fowl. Thanksgiving is the perfect time to showcase your home brewed beer. This year, my 14 pound Tommy the Turkey is making a 2 day swim in a homebrew beer brine before I give him a little roasting.
I read an article in BYO magazine about using homebrew to beer brine your turkey. After a quick discussion with the powers that be, I put the plan into motion. For the beer part of the brine, I utilized two different homebrews, SMaSHing Nuggets and Nelson P Saazy, Esquire. Why two you ask? Great question. I had about 50 ounces of Nelson P Saazy, Esquire left over from my beer box. I then added SMaSHing Nuggets from another beer box to get me up to the needed 96 ounces. SMaSHing Nuggets is a brewed with my homegrown hops, and Nelson P Saazy, Esquire is a double hopped pilsner that I made for my grandfather. The beer brine recipe was quite a bit of stuff in there….but it sure smelled good! Oh, and don’t forget to pull BOTH the neck and the gizzards bag before starting.
I will update on how it turns out post my tryptophan coma and watch some football. Below are some pictures to give you an idea of how it looked.
Things I learned:
- Get a 5 gallon bag. The 2.5 gallon bag made it difficult, and I couldn’t get everything in there. I dumped about 30 ounces or so…..boooooo.
- Drop it right into your roasting pan in the fridge if you can. Saves having to use kegerator or cooler space
Things I wonder:
- What effect does the hoppy beers make over malty beers?
- What would a spiced ale do with all those wonderful flavors?
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