I was talking to a few people at a beer festival recently, and they claimed that using some imperial stouts in a brine for smoking worked excellently. Has anyone done this before? I have some bottles of Dragons Milk that I've been told is one of the best for smoking and wanted to put a brine together. I also have a case or so of a wheat that was over carbed that might also give off some nice flavors in a smoking recipe. Anyone?
I tend to leave alcohol off of the meat when I smoke. Call me a purist if you must. Some of those heavy beers, and smoked beers, have their place table-side. Focus on the meat, the brine, the rub, and what you add to the fuel source of the barbecue. Pair beer with said meat. If you want to spend the extra buck to pour a $4 bottle of beer into meat, taste one of the beers and make sure that the chocolate, hop, and oak pair well with what you think this meat should taste like.
I'm going to have to second this. It will be more worth your time to focus on the table pairing. Use the money you save on the beer to bump up the cut of meat.
I smoke a lot of bbq. I've tried brining with beer and mixing sauce with beer and I simply do not like the results. Like the second poster stated - beer and bbq go together at the table but not really together when cooking.
No way in hell would I waste beer in a brine. I would use liquid malt extract...but not brewers extract, look for bakers malt extract. That in a brine would work nicely. Marinade a pork tenderloin in the beer with a few slices of orange, some rosemary, garlic, and dried chili's. Then do a brown sugar/chili powder,garlic salt,parika rub. Grill it, smoke it lightly with some barrel oak, or any hickory, alder whatever you have, only a hint of smoke. Cook the tenderloin indirect heat until done. Take some of the wheat ale, get a pan hot, pour six two ten ounces of the beer in the pan, take a few tablespoons of soft butter and coat in flour, toss in pan, add 1 tablespoon mustard, 2 tablespoons cider vinegar, whisk in pan until reduced and thick. Pour sauce over sliced tenderloin, simple easy good.
