2016 Falling Leaves Autumn Saison

This past Sunday, I brewed my Falling Leaves Autumn Saison.

Falling Leaves is, of course, the Autumn version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers.

The 2016 recipe is exactly like last years, except last year I did a protein rest in the mash whereas this year I didn't.

The SheppyBrew Autumn Saison is designed to be darker in color than the Spring and Summer Saisons, but not as dark as the black Winter Saison.

It gets most of its color from a Dark Munich malt from Gambrinus Malting Corporation. The malt flavor is heavily Munich breadiness, but it does have the distinct French Saison taste from the yeast and lots of late Saaz hops.

Diamond Lake Trail

Yesterday, the Sheppy Family headed up to Nederland Colorado for a hike.

Winter is beginning to show its face in the high country, but the hike wasn't too terribly cold.

Here are some photos from the hike...

2016 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

As you may know, the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed. You can see all these updates (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link:http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

Q3 of 2016 at the SheppyBrew Brewery, we only brewed one batch of beer.

One.

Only one.

• Kucumber Kölsch

This is the fewest batches of beer I've brewed in a calendar quarter since I started home brewing.

2016 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale

I brewed Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale this past Sunday.

Why would I brew a Pumpkin Ale? Well ... the reason I brew one is that the SheppyBrew Beer Model likes Pumpkin Spice Beers. 

.... Duh! ...

I started early in the morning by mashing the base-beer grains.

I had to run to the grocery store to pick up pumpkin.

Pike's Peak Pictures

We drove up Pike's Peak on Saturday.

Here are some pictures ...

Kucumbering the Kölsch

 So ... remember the SheppyBrew Kucumber Kölsch?

I brewed it in July and shared the brew day right here on this blog. (see Kucumber Kölsch)

Of course, when I brewed it ... it had no kucumber in it (or cucumbers either).

You may remember from the brew-day blog post, that I was not sure how much cucumber I should use. I also did not really know if I should peel the cucumbers or not.

I decided on 3 pounds of cucumbers because I found a saison recipe that used 3 pounds.

I decided on leaving the peels on the cucumbers because I wasn't sure cucumber flavor would properly make its way into the beer without the peels.

Brewing Laser Salt

Perhaps you remember the story of "Gretchen" and the things I tried to make a decent "Gluten Free" beer for her.

Eventually, I ended up on White Labs' Clarity Ferm, which is an enzyme designed to eat haze-generating proteins from beer. It has the side effect of breaking down gluten proteins, making beers gluten-free.

The first beer I really tried this with was Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale.

I first made Laser Salt in May of 2012 with the intention of bringing it on a group camping trip to Great Sand Dunes National Park. "Gretchen" and another Gluten Sensitive person agreed to be testers of the beer.

Apparently, as advertised, neither test subject reported any reaction to the beer.

They were extremely happy and amazed. "Gretchen" has nick-named Clarity Ferm "The Gluten Killer".