Christmas Ribeye Roast

Last year, I smoked a Christmas Ribeye Roast, and my wife wanted prime rib again this year, so we decided that I would smoke one again for Christmas dinner.

The process is fairly simple.

Apply rub.

Smoke low and slow for a few hours until the internal temperature is a little lower than you want it to finish at.

Sear the roast on all sides to get a nice crust on it.

Let it rest few minutes and then slice it up.

Serve and eat.

Easy.

Just like last year, we got a 6ish pound Ribeye Roast on sale at our grocery store a few days before Christmas.

Just like last year, I trimmed up some the fat and applied a rub to the roast on Christmas eve.

N is for New Image Brewing Company

As you probably know if you follow this blog semi-regularly, I have made it my quest to visit more Denver breweries.

Back in 2015 ... I noticed that if you look at a list of Breweries in the Denver area ... most of the alphabet was covered in the fist letters of Brewery names.

In March of 2015, I decided to start with "A" (A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company).

In January of 2019, I finished with "Z" (Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company)

And, this year, I've started over at A is for Alternation Brewing Company.

I call it my my A to Z Denver Breweries Project, you can follow along by bookmarking the link.

Remember M is for Mirror Image Brewing Company? As you can tell, I'm working my way through the brewery alphabet much faster this time than the first time.

At the end of that M post, I mentioned ...

"I have an "N" brewery picked out. Stay tunded on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z to find out what I pick."

Not only did I have one already picked out, but The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I had already visited the brewery when I wrote that.

N is for New Image Brewing Company

Chuck Roast on Weber Kettle and Crock-pot

I've smoked Chuck Roast for "pulled beef" a few times. See Sheppy's Blog: Chuck Roast.

Sometimes it turns out great. Sometimes not so much.

Sometimes it come out a bit dry. Not terribly so. Just not as spectacular as it does when it turns out great.

A few weeks ago, I needed to make something for dinner that I didn't have to monitor.

At some point I came across a Slow Cooker Shredded Beef Recipe, and tried it out. Well ... of course I don't follow recipes very well, so it wasn't exactly that recipe, but the basics were the same.

It turned out Yummy. My wife actually complained a little that her shredded beef never turns out so well.

The only thing missing was that smokey / grilled flavor that I love so much.

M is for Mirror Image Brewing Company

If you read L is for Lariat Lodge Brewing – Littleton, you know that finding an "M" brewery in the Denver area was going to be a challenge.

I already did M is for Mockery Brewing Company my first time through, and as far as I know ... Mockery is the only "M" brewery in what I consider the Denver area.

But, by expanding my search area, I was able to locate a few.

For this "M" brewery, I looked up in Federick, CO, which is up north of Denver, and a bit farther than I would usually travel just for a brewery

But, the Beer Model and I decided to go for a Lunch Date. Didn't really have anything else going on this past weekend.

M is for Mirror Image Brewing Company

Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter with Cooling System (Part 2)

So ... remember Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter with Cooling System (Part 1)?

Just a quick recap ... I bought Anvil Cooling System for Bucket Fermenter along with an Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter.

The idea behind this system is to control fermentation temperature by circulating cold water through tubing inside the beer. My hope was to be able to keep my fermentation in the lower to mid-50's for lagers.

I was running ice water, which worked great until the ice ran out (and the circulating water warmed up). To maintain this cooling system, I had to re-supply ice every day or two.

This works better than my old system of cooling. But, still not ideal. For my newest lager "What the Helles", I decided to try something.

The instructions for this cooling system say use ice water or a a glycol chiller. A glycol chiller is fairly expensive. But I thought maybe I could put glycol in a bucket stored in my chest freezer and pump that through the system.

Peppermint Porter (Batch 245)

I was looking through the most recent Zymurgy Magazine a few weeks ago and came across a beer recipe for Peppermint Porter.

This particular recipe caught my eye because the peppermint flavoring was from something I've never thought of.

Peppermint Tea.

I've always used peppermint extract, which, to me, sometimes add sort of an artificial peppermint flavor to beer.

I thought I should give this a try. My wife always tells me that her favorite X-Mas Ales are the ones that have peppermint flavoring in them.

I thought that giving Peppermint Tea a try would be useful research for future considerations.

Obviously, I can't just follow a recipe from a book or magazine, so I designed my own little porter recipe ...

Peppermint Porter

Spatchcocked Cherry Wood Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey

Well ... you may remember that last year I smoked my first Thanksgiving Turkey.

In Cherry Wood Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey, I mentioned that I would probably spatchcock the bird next time I smoked a Turkey.

Well ... this Thanksgiving, was my second opportunity and I did indeed spatchcock the bird.

In case you don't know what spatchcocking is ...

Real quick ... when you spatchcock a bird, you basically cut out its backbone, which allows you to lay the bird flat while it is cooking.

Some people call it "butterflying" the bird.

People do this because it is supposed to more evenly cook the bird. It is also supposed to speed up the cooking process.

To be honest, I've tried it with chickens, and have not found that the spatchcocked chickens turn out better than my "regular" method of cooking a bird.

After this Thanksgiving Turkey ... I am still of the opinion that I prefer birds that were not spatchcocked.

L is for Lariat Lodge Brewing – Littleton

L L L

It was only a couple weeks ago that I posted K is for Kitchen, Lowdown Brewery +

And, as you probably know, L comes right after K.

Don't believe me .... look it up.

As I mentioned in K is for Kitchen, Lowdown Brewery +, I had an L brewery in mind. There are actually plenty of "L" breweries in the Denver area. Even when I eliminate the ones I've been to, I still have a few I can use in the future.

The brewery I had in mind is very close to my house and this location only opened up this past summer.

I was actually quite excited to try it out. And ... the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Beer Model and I did go check it out.

Big L, little l. What begins with L?

L is for Lariat Lodge Brewing – Littleton

L. L. L.