Best all around brine????

[Smokin3d]

Hello I have used tips slaughterhouse brine on turkey/deer loin/chicken quarters. I will have to say that it is very very good! The turkey was brined for a day n half I pulled out and did not rinse or pat dry nor did I season it just right in the smoker! And all that ate it said it was the best turkey they ever had. We ate it for days during deer camp.
The deer loin brined for 17 hours and pulled no rinse or pat dry no season just wrapped with thin bacon and wow juice!

The chicken quarters (22 of them) for 6 hours pulled once again no rinse or pat dry but did season chicken.
I see a lot of people say rinse off pat dry but my thought was why get rid of the great flavor cause the brine it self has a great smell and flavor.
As for some saying get rid of the salt. The tipps slaughterhouse brine I used for all three items and not one person said anything bout to much salt.
All said was the best they ever had!!!!!
This brine is the only I have tried and just want to know if any buddy else has tried this brine and other brines to give there thoughts on best brine out there.
The nexted pork butt I do I'm gonna try DM'S brine.
Thank you.

 

[DivotMaker]

You have the Tipp's recipe, John?  I'm game to try it!

I always rinse brine off, just to remove the surface salt.  The flavoring stays in the meat.  I use rubs that contain salt, so I don't want to overload the surface. 

If you haven't seen it yet, you might enjoy this:

Brines 101

I really started to understand brining, from the science side of it, when I learned about the differences in brine types.  Enjoy!

 

[jcboxlot]

https://www.oakridgebbq.com/?product=game-changer-brine

 

[Smokin3d]

1 ½ Gal Water
½ C Salt - Kosher
½ C Dark Brown Sugar
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp Cajun Spice (Louisiana Cajun Seasoning)
2 tsp Celery Seed

The brine above is a really great tasting brine you must try.

I noticed that there's not much salt and that must be how I got away with not rinsing. I never heated water to dissolve the stuff either.
I am new to brining but one thing I do no bout it is that it ands great flavor and moisture the meats! This is the only brine I have tried.
I'm just ordered the game changer brine and some mad hunky poultry brine that I will try on chicken.

 

[SuperDave]

While I do add herbs and spices to my brines, I'm not a true believer that they add much flavor.  Brining, by design, is to add moisture.  I think what little flavor is added by a brine is easily masked by the rub and smoke. 

 

[DivotMaker]

While I do add herbs and spices to my brines, I'm not a true believer that they add much flavor.  Brining, by design, is to add moisture.  I think what little flavor is added by a brine is easily masked by the rub and smoke.

I disagree, Dave.  The brines I use for poultry, pork butts/briskets, pork loin, and jerky, and different, and definitely impart a different flavor to the meat.  While all true "brines" act the same way on the meat, in modifying protein molecules at the surface of the meat, they also infuse flavor, during the osmosis process.  I can definitely taste the citrus flavors in my poultry brine, and certainly in the difference between my butt brine and pork loin brine.  If you think the spices used in a brine don't influence the flavor of the meat, you are not brining enough!

 

[Smokin3d]

Finally getting around to do the test run on the Mad hunky and game changer brine! I have 23 chicken leg quarters going in smoker tomorrow. 12 of them in the Mad hunky brine and 11 in Game changer brine.
My ? Is what kinda wood is the best with chicken?
Thanks John

 

[Grampy]

Finally getting around to do the test run on the Mad hunky and game changer brine! I have 23 chicken leg quarters going in smoker tomorrow. 12 of them in the Mad hunky brine and 11 in Game changer brine.
My ? Is what kinda wood is the best with chicken?
Thanks John

John, I'll be watching for the results of this experiment! Personally my first preference of wood for chicken is Pecan and my 2nd choice would be hickory.

 

[NDKoze]

Cherry all the way with poultry. It gives the poultry a nice dark color and the flavor is my favorite for poultry.

I'll be looking forward to hearing your results.

 

[Smokin3d]

All I have is mesquite hickory and apple.
I will hit Wally World up in the the morn to see if they have pecan or cherry.
I will post results on Thursday! Cause tomorrow is all smoke and beer.
Thanks guys!

 

[NDKoze]

If you have quality smoking hickory or apple, I would use that instead of WalMart wood. Big Box store wood is usually kiln dried and way too dry for use for smoking.

Many of us here buy our smoking wood from www.smokinlicious.com, www.fruitawoodchunks.com, or www.mainegrillingwoods.com. I prefer smokinlicious myself, but any of these three are going to be vastly better than anything you will find in a big box store.

 

[Smokin3d]

Well all I have is Walmart wood chunks and what I do is soak in hot water for 30 mins and so far has worked great for me. Before you ask why hot water? No reason it's just what I do.
I will check out the websites on other wood. But have to ask how long will wood from a good place sit around before it dries up? And can you tell the difference in smoke and flavor?
Thanks again!

 

[NDKoze]

If the wood gets too dry I put it in a Ziploc back with a damp (not soaking) paper towel.

 

[DivotMaker]

Well all I have is Walmart wood chunks and what I do is soak in hot water for 30 mins and so far has worked great for me. Before you ask why hot water? No reason it's just what I do.
I will check out the websites on other wood. But have to ask how long will wood from a good place sit around before it dries up? And can you tell the difference in smoke and flavor?
Thanks again!

John, that is "traditional" thinking, on wood.  Take dry wood, and soak it in water.  You cannot rehydrate wood that fast; it takes days, or even weeks, to rehydrate dry wood.  What you are doing is just delaying the wood from getting hot enough to smoke, which wastes valuable smoke time!  With our smokers, the sooner you get the wood smoking, the better.  We start with cold meat, in a cold smoker, and the goal is to get the smoke into the meat before it hits about 140 internal temp.  Unfortunately, your technique will never do that.

Once you use a real "quality" wood, like Smokinlicious.com, you'll understand what I mean.  Well-seasoned wood, with the proper moisture content for smoking (20-30%) is a great thing!  The stuff you buy at the big box stores is usually <2%.  You would be better off wrapping it in foil, instead of soaking it.

Oh....use the hickory that you have for the chicken!   But, order some cherry from smokinlicious!

 

[Smokin3d]

We'll the day is finally here! Put the chicken in brine at 7:30am and will pull at 3:00pm for a 7 hour 30 min brine. Both brines smell great and have different colors. Game changer brine (GCB) mad hunky brine (MH).

 

[Smokin3d]

Ok couldn't wait any longer bought a 8 1/2 pound pork shoulder roast and put in DM'S brine at 11:00 am this morn and gonna put in smoker tonight at midnight. Gonna use Famous Dave's rub for the first time!
I'm brine and smoke happy today.  ;D

 

[NDKoze]

Sounds like a winner. Make sure you slather with some yellow mustard before applying the rub. Famous Dave's is a great all purpose rub that is good on all things pork and is great on poultry as well.

 

[Grampy]

Ok couldn't wait any longer bought a 8 1/2 pound pork shoulder roast and put in DM'S brine at 11:00 am this morn and gonna put in smoker tonight at midnight. Gonna use Famous Dave's rub for the first time!
I'm brine and smoke happy today.  ;D

John, if you have never brined chicken or a pork butt before you are really going to be impressed with the difference in the final product. Also, great choice of rub for the pork butt, Famous Daves is hard to beat.

 

[Smokin3d]

Yes the mustard.
In the pictures of chicken quarters in brine I have them backwards the green brine is mad hunky and vise verse. Two leg quarters of each brine I did not season or will not sauce to give a true test of moisture and flavor.

 

[Smokin3d]

The results are in. Both brines added moisture and mad hunky gave the most flavor. The game changer had a nice flavor and mad hunky has a taste of its own there was a seasoning in it that really stuck out that reminds me of the chicken noodle soup I make and it calls for rosemary. Not for sure if it's in the ingredients but that's what it seems like.
I don't think I would buy the mad hunkys brine again. I'm not saying its bad but not the flavor I'm looking for.
As far as the game changer brine I would defiantly buy it again.
They were in the brine for 8 hours and I did not rinse them off! The game changer brine I did at full strength.

Now as far as Tipps Slaughter house brine as listed earlier in this post is just as good if not better than game changer brine in my opinion.
When I use tipps brine I never rinse off the brine and it does not taste like salt.

Now to the pork roast I used DM'S brine and famous Dave's rib rub.
I set at 225 and it took 13 1/2 hours. It's the first time I've used DM'S brine and famous Dave's.
And let me tell you what a great combination all I can say is wow yum wow yum yum yum!!!
Thanks for the advise and help. What a great friendly site to belong to.