Arctic Vortex and Pork Butt

Here at the SheppyBrew Home Brewery, we love the Three B's.

Beer. Barbeque. Bicycling.

Like many Sundays, I did all three yesterday.

I actually started my brew day on Saturday. First, I made a yeast starter from the Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast that I harvested last time I made a Seasonal Saison. 

I also mashed in before I went to bed to do an overnight mash.

This is one of the reasons I love my Anvil Foundry. It allows me to maintain some heat on the mash overnight. This is great to save time ... especially for styles of beer that should end up dry.

Like ...

Arctic Vortex Winter Sasion

New Year's Ribeye Roast

Where I live, Ribeye Roasts go on sale around various holidays.

I assume this is true other places too, but I don't know for sure.

Easter. Christmas. 

And ... New Year. (well, usually they are still on sale from Christmas).

I think they make for my favorite holiday main dish.

I always try to pick one up. And, I did so this year as well.

As I mentioned on this blog, on Christmas Eve, I made Sopa & Mole. On Christmas Day, I made a ham that was gifted to us.  

So, I had to wait until New Year's Day for my favorite holiday dish...

SheppyBrew 2021 Year-End Brewing Stats

As I type this, 2021 is almost over. I'm not brewing again before 2022, so I can report on my brewing stats for the 4th quarter and for year end.

I brewed quite a bit of beer in 2021. Not nearly as much as 2020, but significantly more than any other year in my brewing "career".

In the 4th quarter this year, I only brewed 5 batches of beer.

• Mr. Awesome Merican Lager
• Caliente Fuerte Mexican Stout
• Dudocs Dark Mild
• X-Mas Ale 2021
• Decemberfest Lager

Mr. Awesome Merican Lager

#Strava #YearInSport

Well, 2021 is over. 

If you followed this blog over the year, you know I accomplished my #10EverestsIn2021 goal. As of mid-November, I passed 300,000 feet in 2021.

And ... since that time, I've ridden more, and passed my 11th Everest of 2021. 11 x 29,032 = 319,352.

According to Strava, I climbed over 324,000 feet on my bicycles over the year.

Pecan Smoked Potatoes Au Gratin

We received a Honey Baked Ham as a gift this year.

My kids had already told me that they wanted Ham for Christmas dinner, and I decided to just heat up the gift ham.

The ham came with various sides, some of which we prepared with Christmas dinner, but my wife told me she wanted "real" Au Gratin Potatoes.

So ... I made some.

As I rarely cook inside, I decided to cook my Au Gratin Potatoes on one of my Weber Kettles with a little Pecan wood to add a little smoke flavor.

As far as I remember, this is the first time I've ever made Au Gratin Potatoes. I googled recipes and decided to use one I found on All Recipes as a starting point.

Soapy Mole

My wife has this box of recipes, and one of the cards in this box is labeled "Sopa & Mole".

It is an old family recipe from a grandmother or great-grandmother or something. One of those that my wife had to write down by interrogating her mom, because it actually was never written down.

It's sort of been a tradition to have this on Christmas Eve when my in-laws are in town for the holidays.

I love it. One of my favorite meals. I usually refer to it as "Soapy Sheep" or "Soapy Mole". Weird, I know.

This year, for reasons I won't go into, I cooked for Christmas Eve and decided to try it out ... sort of.

You know me and the trouble I have following recipes ... luckily, it isn't a real precise recipe anyway, so I feel like it is sort of expected that you take liberties with it.

Kombucha

Until recently, it had been quite awhile since I've made any Kombucha.

In fact, I neglected my SCOBY  last year, and let it die. I have not made any since then.

A month or two ago, I tried propagating up SCOBY from commercial kombucha, but that never ended up growing.

So, I went the lazy-man way and simply ordered one from Amazon.

On 11/13, I brewed up a batch of Green Tea kombucha for the SCOBY to start working on.

The process is really simple.

• Dissolve 1 cup of sugar into water.
• Steep tea in the water.
• Add to a gallon jar, cooled with ice / water.
• Put in the SCOBY with a little "starter" to keep the pH down.
• Let the kombucha ferment for a few weeks.
• Bottle with whatever flavoring you would like.