Great looking wings you made there. Been doing brine on wings 5 or 6 times over the last couple months and have noticed the wings "drinking" up the liquid as well. Last time I did wings they came whole - ie. tip, flat and drum as one. Left them that way and they drank as much liquid or more than previous times using cut up wings. Thing is when cooked these were some of the juiciest, tender wings I have ever eaten. My two brineing methods have been a molasses/vinegar approach and the buttermilk route.