Brewing the 2017 X-Mas Ale

It is late in the year, but I brewed my 2017 X-Mas Ale last Sunday.

Ideally, if have my X-Mas Ale ready to drink by Thanksgiving. Last year, I brewed at the beginning on October.

At least, I'm a little ahead of what I did in 2015.

This year's version of X-Mas Ale is designed to be a bit lower in ABV. It also has a bit less in Crystal malts.

Color should be pretty close to previous years. It will be a couple srm lighter than last year. It will be a couple srm darker than two years ago.

This year, I plan to add a couple of ounces of blueberry flavoring at kegging time, mostly to use up the flavoring I used last time I made a blueberry beer. I don't expect the blueberry will come through real strong in this base beer.

Some useful Recipes for Barbecue

Basic Chicken Rub Makes 2 cups

• ⅔ cup chili powder 
• ½ cup sugar 
• 4 tablespoons kosher salt 
• 4 tablespoons onion powder 
• 4 tablespoons garlic powder 
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper 

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients thoroughly. You can store this rub in an airtight container indefinitely.

Beef Rub Makes about ¾ cup

• 1 teaspoon kosher salt 
• 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper 
• 1 teaspoon sugar 
• ½ teaspoon chipotle pepper powder 
• ½ teaspoon chili powder 
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder 
• 1 teaspoon granulated dried onion

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients thoroughly. You can store this rub in an airtight container indefinitely.

Basic Barbecue Rub Makes 3 cups

• 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar 
• 2 tablespoons chili powder 
• 2 tablespoons dry mustard 
• 2 tablespoons onion powder 
• 2 tablespoons garlic powder 
• 2 tablespoons cayenne pepper 
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt 
• 2 tablespoons coarsely ground black pepper

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients thoroughly. You can store this rub in an airtight container indefinitely.

Kombucha

If you follow the SheppyBrew Brewery on Facebook or Instagram, you very well might have seen that I've been making Kombucha.

I'm not sure what exactly got me interested enough in Kombucha to try to brew it. I think maybe it was James at Basic Brewing Radio.

Obviously, I brew beer.

I've been making sauerkraut and other fermented vegetables for some time.

I make homemade yogurt about once a week.

So ... I am pretty well established as familiar with fermentation. For some reason, I was thinking Kombucha was mysterious and exotic.

I'd never had Kombucha. Until the  Basic Brewing Radio episodes, I never really thought a whole lot about it.

Where'd My ManGo Wheat

So ... last Saturday was the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day, and I used that as an excuse to get the SheppyBrew Beer Model to join me for a brew day.

I try to get The Beer Model to brew at least once a year for legal reasons.

... sort of ...

You see, Colorado (like most states) allows the adult head-of-household to brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

I basically brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

However, sometimes I go a little over.

The law also allows a second adult in the household to brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

As young as she looks, the SheppyBrew Beer Model legally qualifies as an adult in our household.

So, by having her brew ... I figure the SheppyBrew Home Brewery is allowed 200 gallons of beer per year.

Killer Cricket Porter

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) is terrified of crickets.

It is weird ... I know. It is an irrational fear.

For some reason, these little black creatures find their way into our home this time of year, and the boys and I have to remove them for her.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) is also irrationally afraid of black beers.

When these beers find their way into our house, I take care of removing them too.

Actually, she has gotten better at trying a black beer before becoming afraid of it now.

It is fine.

2017 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

It is already November.

Again, I am embarrassed about how late this the quarterly results of the SheppyBrew Brewery as being posted.

I keep saying I'll do better. I think I'm getting worse.

Anyway ... 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 going to Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats. 

Hail Storm Summer Saison

2017 #GABF Photos

Well, as you probably know, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I go to the Great American Beer Festival almost every year.

Since I'm so far behind getting blog posts up, I won't say much about this year's except it was fun as always.

Here are some pictures:

2017 Falling Leaves Autumn Saison

Around mid-September, I brewed my Falling Leaves Autumn Saison.

Yes, I am still way behind on posting brew days on this blog.

Falling Leaves is, of course, the Autumn version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers. It is darker in color than the Spring and SummerSaisons, but not as dark as the black Winter Saison.