Beer Brats...and I blew it!

[Kevin A]

I found this good-looking recipe for 'beer brats' that I thought i'd give a go. I had all the ingredients, except for the lager. For my purposes, it had to a 'wheat-free' beer as several family members can't ingest gluten. Found a brand called 'Red Bridge' (gluten-free) so I was all set. I decided to smoke these, too.

I made a big blunder near the end of the process so I learned something.....

Ingredients ready:


Used the kirby mixer to mix the 10lb batch. Took only about a minute to produce this:


Stuffed & almost ready to get smoked:


Hang 'em high to dry a bit:


On to the smoker: And here's where things got a bit dicey.

I'm still using my weber (can be tough to regulate)—in fact used it earlier in the day for andouille with no issues. But the weather got colder & wetter & blustery so once I got the brats, the temps started to really fluctuate. Shot up to over 200° several times over the course of 90 minutes & had me scrambling to get the temps back down. This was on-going for the entire smoke. I was soaking wet. Smoking during a June rainstorm...What a hassle. No photos as the conditions were pretty ridiculous....

I pulled the brats off after having enough fun in the elements and plunked the batch into the turkey roaster to finish 'em to temp:


Bad sign: water became VERY greasy—and I feared the worse: that I had 'fatted out' the sausages due to the extreme temps on the smoker.

Into the ice-bath:


I let 'em hand dry (bloom time) and before I plated them (in photo below), I had to wipe them down as they were pretty 'greasy' to the touch. After the rub-down though, they looked okay....


...until i tried one! DRY, DRY, DRY! Did I say it was DRY? The taste was good, but the dry texture was NOT something I was hoping for. Everyone agreed that the smokey flavor (applewood) and spices were good, but the dry texture was a bit off-putting.

So lesson learned: WATCH the temps! Trying to multitask had me neglecting the temps on the weber cost me juicy brats.

So now to make 'lemonade' out of lemon.
I've ten pounds of dry brats to use. My wife plans to use them in a variety of dishes where the dryness will be masked by other ingredients (like beans & weenies) such as this dish serving the brats with sauerkraut, apples & onions, which i have to admit, the brats tasted pretty good in:


Let's just say I'm looking forward to getting the NEW smoker even more now.

Kevin

[NePaSmoKer]

Kevin

Looks real good....Maybe next time omit the SPC and they wont get so dry.

[Kevin A]

Kevin

Looks real good....Maybe next time omit the SPC and they wont get so dry.

The SPC was high on my list of suspects and I'm sure it contributed to the 'less than stellar' dry texture.
Stuff reminded me of adding dry wall spackle to the mixture.

[ghost9mm]

Dry or not Kevin...they still look really good, and brats an sauerkraut we can eat three times a week.. :D.. really enjoy your pictures...

[pikeman_95]

Kevin

I agree with Rick. The SPC swells up and holds the moisture but at the same time can make them dry. Like having too much filler. The mix also looks kind of dry It probably needs a little more moisture. It might not be as much a issue of smoking but other issues. Remember most people grill them and they still are moist.
After all that I think I would be willing to join you in some of the kraut and sausage. It looked fine to me.

KC

[OU812]

Well they sure look gooood.  ;D

Brats on a bed of kraut sound good right about know.

Maybe cut the SPC in half next time.

[Kevin A]

Maybe cut the SPC in half next time.

roger that!
The recipe called for 12 ounces of SPC (not packed)—which seemed like a lot, particularly when I mixed it into the batch.

Moisture is your friend..... :D

Kevin

[OU812]

Holy Crap!

12 oz of SPC is like 3 cups!

I would say 1 cup or 4 oz for 10 lb would be plenty.

When useing a binder try not to go above 5% of the meat weight, I try to shoot for 3%.

[Kevin A]

Holy Crap!

12 oz of SPC is like 3 cups!

I would say 1 cup or 4 oz for 10 lb would be plenty.

When useing a binder try not to go above 5% of the meat weight, I try to shoot for 3%.

I misspoke (mis-typed?)— the SPC was 1 & 1/2 cups by volume, not weight.
It still seemed like quite a bit.

I contacted the recipe's author & explained my results. He believed the dry, chalky results I got stemmed mainly from the excessive temps I exposed these brats to: too hot, too much, too quickly— resulting in the tough casings and dry mealy texture.

Let's just say I'll be more diligent regarding moisture content and smoker temps....Lesson learned.  :-\

[OU812]

Aint this type of cookin fun?  ;D

[Kevin A]

Aint this type of cookin fun?  ;D

I enjoy it.

My wife thinks I'm nuts.

My kids arent sure what to think.....but they do like he results of the 'meat madness' so far.

[OU812]

Hope your takin notes.  ;)

[Chili Head]

Dry or not I bet there tasty!! Red beans and rice comes to mind if there too dry to grill. YUM!!


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[La Quinta]

I have made more dry sausages then I wish to recall...but...you get the hang of it and once you've got it you're golden...they look awesome...but I understand fully what you went through...