Its That Time of Year Again.......

[MWS]

It's the Farting Elves singing the 12 Days of Christmas

http://www.boredmuch.com/view.php?id=304

[Wildcat]

Too many beans with those ribs... ;D

[Consiglieri]

I just finished sampling one of mywinter homebrews.  With suspended yeast, and proper planning, I think I can develop a Zepellin tribute. 

The untested spiced Christmas beer will probably be more appropriate for Beatles tunes. 

Yeah, the new guy's out on a limb, but saw enough "beer cooler" references to step out.

Cheers.

[MWS]

I just finished sampling one of mywinter homebrews. 

Funny you should mention that Consiglieri, I'm afraid I sampled a few too many of my Christmas Smoked Porters last night, hence the 'Farting Elves' post. It was day 24 in the bottle, time to sample and boy is it gooood. Cheers

[tsquared]

Took some of my ginger beer to a East Indian potluck last night--it was a great way to cool the curry fire!
T2

[Consiglieri]

I read your earlier posts about smoked malt and it piqued my curiosity.  Hard enough to find time to smoke a good meal, let alone smoke and mash your malt for an all grain extravaganza.  As for my post in this thread, my judgment may have been impared by my sampling...  Have two brews aging now: a spiced Christmas that needs time to mellow to smooth out the ginger/cinamman/orange peel (this recipe is in Charlie Papazian's book) and a Viennese dark lager.  The later is where I was sampling.  Interesting finish, a little sweet but consistant finishing gravity indicates that I shouldn't wind up with popping bottles (thank god this is a lager and I'll be cold aging just in case).

Any awards for your brew?  I had some great luck this last summer at our county fair with an IPA and a Marzen.  Beat out my brewing counterpart and now may pull a Bart Simpson and retire undefeated, at the top.  He'll crack a tooth, but it'll be fun.

Two weeks from now and it'll be Prime Rib and Porter.

Cheers

[MWS]

Any awards for your brew?  I had some great luck this last summer at our county fair with an IPA and a Marzen.  Beat out my brewing counterpart and now may pull a Bart Simpson and retire undefeated, at the top. 
Cheers

I've got three beautiful 1st place blue ribbons from our Fall Fair three years running.  Not much for bragging rights though, because I was the only entry three years in a row.  ;D

[Chez Bubba]

Wait a second! You guys have BEER contests in your county fairs? :o :o

Here, it's pretty much the 3-P's. Pies, preserves & pickles. >:( I think canned meat is a category too. :-[

Must be the Amish influence. ::)

And this, coming from the largest county fair in Indiana. Plus, it's bigger than 6 or 7 states' fairs.

Oh well, the sirloin tips are to die for! :P :P :P

Kirk

[Consiglieri]

CB:

At our fair we have beer making (about 8 to 12 subcategories) and winemaking contests too.  No beer drinking contests (unless you count the cowboys in the beer garden on payday).  Yeah, I was a proud Papa this year.  I think turning in my entries while a butt was smoking was good luck.  Served some of the entry with the pulled pork. Two blues, one of which was best of show.

If your county fair has a website, check out the entry program-- you might be surprised.  Maybe entries for pulled pork, pork ribs, and porter along with those other P's. 

I think I'm going to try your P-rib recipe in two weeks CB.  Wife likes moderation on the smoke.  Thinking about smoking for an hour to 1.5 and then higher heat in the oven or on the grill.  Any thoughts?

[Chez Bubba]

Here you go: http://www.4hfair.org/openclass.htm.

I might be tempted to try the "Q" contests, but as you can see, most people around here don't "get it". When KC Masterpeice is a title sponsor...... ::) ::) ::)

Now cow-tipping & sheep-jumping, I think I have a shot at!! Also will be in attendance for the Wet Bonnet Contest! ;D ;D

As far as the P-rib recipe, you'll have to give me a little help. 3 years of babbling posts (and God knows how many malt beverages) leave me clueless to what you're referring to.

Kirk

[Consiglieri]

In a thread for fourth of July Prime Rib, I think someone posted a recipe attributed to you. Lipton onion soup mix, 3-4 hours high BS heat w/smoke (or up to internal temp of 130-135), 2-4 hours FTC, or something like that.  Just a question: you prefer the soup mix to salt, pepper, garlic and mild rosemary?

I want to get a good crust,  smoke as an enhancement, not the main attraction, so thinking about oven or grill for an hour at 400 or so, BS at about 300 until IT reached during which maybe 1.5 hours mild smoke like apple/pecan will be applied, then rest FTC in a preheated but off oven (FTO?).  Tried a smaller cooler to FTC, but don't think it was the best insulated item and lost too much heat last time.

BTW: thanks for all those old posts which provide some great ideas and are a great resource.


We don't have many Amish out here on the West Coast, which isn't to say that there aren't religious types who forget that Jesus' first public miracle was to turn water into wine at the Wedding at Canaa.  People can be pretty cool so long as some idiot doesn't ... I was going to say act like an idiot, but that would rule me out.  Let's just say "go too far" which is just elastic enough to adapt to the event, setting, and types of guests present.   

Make that fair your own.  Between the Ps and Qs, the sheep and the cows (whether on the Q or chased in the Pen), there's plenty of opportunity for mischief and fun.  Or heck, get some friends together, rent a hall or reserve park space and do your own Q and Brew contest. 

Man, now I'm getting fired up.

[West Coast Kansan]

KC MasterPiece is an embarrising disgraceful waste of the word Kansas IMO.

[Chez Bubba]

It's a waste of a paper label!

Maybe you folks could sue for slander or libel?

Kirk

[Chez Bubba]

Just a question: you prefer the soup mix to salt, pepper, garlic and mild rosemary?

I find the onion to be a great flavor enhancer as well as make a great gravy/au jus. I'm a big rosemary fan & think that would add a lot, although if I did it, you would not describe it as "mild". ;)

Jesus' first public miracle was to turn water into wine at the Wedding at Canaa. 

Except according to a lot of the clan, it was not wine as we know it, but unfermented grape juice. ??? ::)

The funniest part to me is every year a couple of them get arrested for DUI in their buggies.

Kirk

[Consiglieri]

I went to college at UC Davis, where the predominant transportation was biking, and the school has a great wine making program.  From time to time there'd be a student who got a dui on a bike even though he or she was trying to away from the wheel.  Man, I'd love to see some buggy pulled over and the driver walking a line on the road.  I guess I'm twisted.

Back to the wedding at Canaa: wine is a very particular word and weddings in that place, during that period lasted a week or more because of the time committed to travelling.  I'm sure that everyone who made the trip (travelling hundreds of miles) were really looking forward to that Hi-C grape drink.  I don't claim to be a biblical scholar, but I've never seen any language in the bible suggesting that wine meant juice.  Plus there's that comment about saving the best wine for last, when most hosts would have served an inferior wine after people got lubed up.  I'm not aware of differing qualities of unfermented grape juice.  Probably not worth raising the point with them, though, unless you want to cause some trouble.

We have a few evangelicals and mormons where I work and at the Christmas party last year some mighty fine wine was served.  I offered some to the Christians (I didn't want to offend the mormons, but I thought I could at least debate the issue with the others).  When they declined, professing their faith as the reason, I offered the wedding at canaa story and rationale and told them if it's good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for me.  The boss got a kick, but the others turned to "look who's quoting scripture..."  Try to understand the reasoning, and get likened to Satan.  And the evangelicals get hit with DUIs too, which is kind of hard to do with unfermented grape juice.

Sorry for the rant.  I'm going to respond to the prime rib points in a new thread.