so waht ya doin today?

[Brad]

What sort of brine are you guys using? Just salt and water? How much of each?
My brother wants me to try smoking a whitefish and I have never smoked a fish. I know they need a good brine,rinse, then dry to form a pellicle.
How do you know when it is done smoking?

 

[AndyTheCornbread]

I should probably clarify that I dry them on racks in the refrigerator. Depending on the thickness of the fillets I brine pike for a max time of 8 - 10 hours or it gets too salty. Little dinky pike under about 8lbs I brine for less than that. The really tiny 2 - 4lb pike I only brine for 4 hours. I brine and smoke skin off for pike or it tastes less than awesome to say the least. Any salmonid or trout seems to brine and smoke just fine with skin on.

 

[fiver]

yep I do trout with the skin on.
when it's done I just take a spatula and scrape the meat right off the skin and give the skin to the dogs.
they love the skin and it doesn't hurt them in any way.

to tell it's done I just look at it.
4 fillets [2 fish] that come from an 18-20" fish usually takes me 4 hours in the little you have to tend it constantly smoker at about 200-220F.
6 fillets takes me considerably longer in the little one, a larger one would probably take 3 hrs.
I haven't tried any in the new better temp controlled [but still needs to be baby sat] one.
I like the thin parts to be almost dry and anything about 1/2" thick should retain a pink color and have some bounce back to it, like a medium done steak.

I just bought some brine stuff at the wal-mart but only use 1/3 of it for the 4 fillets.
I add salt and pepper to the fillets and then mix in about 3 tsp of brown sugar to the hot water then just cover the fish with the brine.
maybe a quart total...
the ingredients to a brine mix are just salt/pepper/garlic/sugar [and maybe some soy sauce or other powdered herbs] anyway.
it should basically smell like a ramen packet when you make the stuff and be water soluble type additions.

 

[Brad]

I'm using a temp controller, via PID, pellet smoker. I do briskets and ribs at 225. My grill will hold that temp all day and night as long as it has power and pellets.

Will be interesting to see how the fish comes out. I may try a salmon fillet from Costco first. Not gonna get just caugh salmon in my neck of the woods.

 

[fiver]

when your getting close it doesn't hurt to cut the smoke and just hold a little heat for an hour or so.
I usually switch from Alder over to Apple for the last little while.

 

[AndyTheCornbread]

I should probably clarify that when I say salmonids I mean either kokanee or either variety we have of whitefish.

I talked to a buddy today who said the whitefish bite on Flathead should be coming on soon so we may be headed down that way to get some superior whitefish. The mountain whitefish we can get on the river by the house any time it is open for fishing.

 

[fiver]

white fish is also good when you can get them.

 

[Bret4207]

I've never been a fan of "hot" or overly spicy foods. Down at 9/11 a crew of ex-cons from Texas were encamped next door to my post and made what they called "brisket". They had several large barbecues and brought their own wood. Seemed they cooked the meat for about 2 days. Honestly, all I could taste was bitter tar with a faint beef flavor. Some folks raved about it. I tried it and passed. To each their own I guess. Salt, pepper, plenty of garlic and onion, maybe some sugar and let the meats flavor shine. My 2 cents. Apple wood, Hard (Sugar) maple, Red Oak, Hickory. Those are my preferred flavors in the order I'd pick them. Again, to each their own.

Got the SDS hammer drill, press, chain and some odds and ends. Hit Lowes for a new ceiling fan and I must say it's a nice one. Did you know they make ceiling fans with remote controls and no strings or chains hanging down? I didn't. Nor did I know until 2 weeks back they made Venetian blinds with no strings or rods involved, that they raise and lower, open and close with a spring system. It's only take us since 1995, but the place is starting to come together!

 

[fiver]

looks like I'm gonna traipse all over town today.
need to get a paper notarized, and sign a bunch of others, then either mail or fax them into some title company down in Utah.
stop at the insurance company and see what their deal is on insuring the cars for a full year instead of 6 months.
then I'm gonna stop out at my mechanics and get a ball park estimate for putting a long block of some sort in the old bronco.
I'd like to get something with about 250 HP and some decent torque for rolling up and down the hills around here.

then down to the valley to visit my boat and to see what they want to put a new motor on it.
I think I have decided to buy a new motor, have them fix the old one and put it on consignment to defray some of the new motors cost.
I'd kind of like a new boat but I have got used to the old one and there is nothing wrong with it, a new motor now should make it last as long as I'm gonna be using it.
might as well get some cement while I'm down there, I'm just gonna do an 8"x12" strip of cement down the one fence line to make mowing simpler and to keep the dogs from digging under the fence.

 

[Ian]

I just found out about the no-string blinds by accident when I was putting the finishing touches on the nursery. Bought the same (by looks) wide-slat blind kit that I'd put up in the rest of the house years back and went to take it out of the box.....huh....where's the tuning rod?.....huh....the cords are missing....mebbe I better read the destructions. Sure enough, cordless. Neat as frick.

 

[Pistolero]

Dang. No idea what you are talking about Ian. Blinds gotta cords and a twister stick......
I guess, unless they don't. New to me, too. Never even heard of them.

Bill

 

[Ian]

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Achim-W...l-Size-38-5-in-W-64-in-L-MFCO39WH02/205746537

What sucks is the timing of technology. Back when I was outfitting the rest of the house with blinds, one room at a time as I finished them out, this stuff wasn't available, so I have about $1500 worth of the standard type of white, 2" slat blinds, cut to fit and extra slats removed to fit each window. I'm not planning to replace them any time soon. Naturally, the LAST room I bought blinds for is the only room in the house where cats aren't allowed, and I got cordless by mistake. At least I know what to buy when the others need replacing. I've re-strung three or four of them now thanks to kitties chewing the pull strings off.

 

[Pistolero]

OK, went to the site, looked at pic, read the specs. From the specs:

To operate: simply lift or lower bottom rail to raise or lower blind, tilt the bottom rail to open and close blinds

OK, but how in the heck does it work? Sounds magic, clearly is not.

 

[Brad]

Had more brisket for dinner. Did I mention how good it was?

 

[fiver]

magic is how a lot of things work these days.

pretty good day today.
I talked my mechanic into checking out my old Bronco and a fairly firm $$$ number on him and his machine shop guy rebuilding the motor if it can be built.
I have a feeling a set of new aftermarket heads and a slight cam upgrade are in my future.
I'm okay with that... LOL.

the boat needed the part I figured it needed, and they also checked out the carb like I asked.
it got rebuilt, and some new hoses installed.
I'm going to install an inline filter myself when I get it back home tomorrow,,,, after taking it fishing.
oddly there happens to be a lake just about halfway between there and here.

 

[Roger Allen]

Pulling vac on a huge substation transformer. Tomorrow we will start putting mineral oil in it.

 

[Bret4207]

Cats. We were going to get a roller shade for the window in question because my daughter just has to have her cat with her. Cat can't have access to rest of house as she chews power cords. Yeah, I know, disguise a 220V line as a new phone cord or charger line and light it up, problem solved. Can't do that so my kid has a screen door for her room in addition to the regular door. Looks dumb but it works. I was about to have a roller shade cut and noticed the new style Venetian blind. It was less $ than a roller too! I don't know just how they work, but I like them a lot.

More house work yesterday. Hung shelving, paint, moved stuff around. Both girls had a birthday barbecue/party. Took youngest daughter and grand daughter fishing after that.

 

[smokeywolf]

What am I doing today? As of about 2 hours ago, nutt'n'. Bent over just slightly to pick something up (don't even remember what now) off a low table and muscle in lower left back went into spasm. Now I'm stuck on the loveseat wishing the muscle relaxant and the ibuprofen would do more.
This happens to me about once a year now. Last time it happened I wasn't even bending; just twisting 5 or 10 degrees at the waist. I'll be almost completely immobile for the next 2 or 3 days and on crutches for another 3 to 5. GRRR!

Contractor coming tomorrow to do some work on the house. New driveway next month. Maybe we can have this cracker box on the market by the end of August. I hope.

 

[Ian]

Yep, me too about once a year. I make a cocktail of chelated calcium, magnesium, zinc, plus potassium, iodine, naproxen sodium, and orange Gatorade and sip on it while laying on a "moist heat" pad.

 

[fiver]

know that all too well.
just coughing [ahum type not blacking out type] wrong in the shower will put me down for awhile.

well I got the boat back today.
hauled it out to a lake about 25 miles from the boat shop and had a tough time getting the thing to stay running.
I finally pulled the choke out to get it to stay running for a few minutes then got it in gear and backed off the dock only to have the engine die as the wind was blowing me the wrong direction.
I punched the start button and it fired right up and I was able to drive the boat around for a few minutes before taking the wife out fishing for a bit.
the motor started running better and better each time we used it so I think things are going to be okay.
I am going to bump the idle up a touch they have it set at barely above dying speed.