25 Beers of December part 4

Remember 25 Beers of December part1 and part2 and part 3?

Everyday in December up until Christmas, I'm drinking a different beer. Some of them are from the "Twelve Days of IPA's" 12 pack that my wife bought me. Some of them are homebrews. Some are from local breweries.

We left off on the 21st of December, which means we have 4 beers left to share.

On the 22nd of December, I had SheppyBrew's Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner. 

Schreck Gartenzwerg is a German Pilsner flavored and dry hopped with new - style German hops, Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon. Maybe not a traditional German Pils, but oh so yummy!

25 Beers of December part 3

 Remember 25 Beers of December part1 and part2?

Everyday in December up until Christmas, I'm drinking a different beer. 

Some of them are from the "Twelve Days of IPA's" 12 pack that my wife bought me. Some of them are homebrews. Some are from local breweries.

We left off on the 15th of December, which means we have the 16th of December up until today to account for.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin

Last Sunday, after brewing Decemberfest Lager and going on a bike ride, I smoked a bacon-wrapped pork loin on my Weber Kettle.

Pork loin is one of those thing I can make in less than a couple of hours.

And it's delicious ... especially with bacon wrapped around it.

I applied rub, and wrapped the loin in bacon fairly early in the afternoon.

I got my bike ride in.

When I got back from the bike ride, I prepared my Kettle with charcoal and some cherry and hickory wood chunks. 

Then, I let it smoke for a couple of hours at 275ish.

Decemberfest Lager (Batch 276)

Around September and October, I thought I should brew an Oktoberfest.

It never happened.

Around October and November, I thought I should brew a Novemberfest.

It never happened.

So, in November, I came up with this Decemberfest recipe. And I didn't brew until this past weekend.

Sunday, I brewed for the 6th time on my Anvil Foundry.

It was snowy and cold on Sunday, and I decided to brew in the garage. 

First time with the Foundry in the garage. This recipe I brewed was the 7th lager and 18th new recipe of 2020.

Decemberfest Lager

25 Beers of December part 2

Remember 25 Beers of December part1?

Everyday in December up until Christmas, I'm drinking a different beer. 

Some of them are from the "Twelve Days of IPA's" 12 pack that my wife bought me. Some of them are homebrews. Some are from local breweries.

We left off on the 9th of December, which means we have the 10th of December up until today to account for.

Irregular Eric vs Deviant Dales

Recently, I brewed Irregular Eric Double IPA ... the 5th beer in my Homebrew Colorado 6 pack.

Good stuff. If you're interested, you can read about my brew day at Irregular Eric Double IPA (Batch 273).

I designed Irregular Eric Double IPA as a tribute of Oskar Blue's Deviant Dale's IPA.

Sadly, Deviant Dale's doesn't exist anymore.

Spare Ribs

I smoked some spare ribs last Sunday.

I love to eat them, but out of all the things I smoke, I feel like I'm most inconsistent on my spare ribs.

I never really know how best to fit them on my Weber Kettle.

I use my Web Rib Rack. Sometimes I leave the ribs pretty much whole. Sometimes I cut them in half.

Sometimes I place them down the middle with charcoal on each side. Sometimes I only have charcoal on one side of the kettle.

I never really know if I should trim them up or just dump them on the smoker.

Sometimes I go a bit hotter and less time. Sometimes I do more of a traditional 3-2-1 method.

They always turn out wonderful, and I think Sunday's version turned out the best, but I'm not sure I've figured out the best way.

25 Beers of December part 1

On the 1st of December, my wife brought home a Stone Brewing Company "Twelve Days of IPA's" 12 pack.

I thought this was a cool idea for a mixed 12 pack. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this. You can have a different beer every day for 12 days.

Taking that line of thought a step farther ... \I thought it would be fun to drink a different beer a day until Christmas. Sort of an Advent calendar of drinking. I had almost half covered with Stone IPA's. I am sure I can come up with another 13 different beers to drink before Christmas.

So ...  

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner (Batch 275)

Schreck Gartenzwerg. Fright Gnome. 

Last year, I came up with a German Pilsner recipe.

The grain bill was 100% floor malted German pilsner malt.

The flavor hops were the "new" German hops Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon. I also included an ounce of each in dry hops.

Maybe not a completely traditional German Pilsner, but it was really delicious.

I thought it was an awesome beer. I even brought the keg into work to share at a "happy hour". It was well received.

Of course, that meant it didn't last long. 

At the time I thought I should brew it again. Maybe multiple times. Since that first batch, I have not brewed it.

Until the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner

2020 Thanksgiving Turkey

I smoked my third turkey last Thursday (Thanksgiving).

I'm pretty comfortable doing it now, although since I only smoke a turkey once a year, it still makes me a little nervous that I'll screw it up.

I didn't screw it up. I am pretty sure this was my best one so far.

Last year, I spatchcocked the turkey. I didn't like it as much as the previous year, so I went back to smoking the whole bird without cutting out the backbone.

Just like both my previous turkeys, I brined the bird around 24 hours before cooking it.

It was a simple brine this year.

• One gallon of SheppyBrew beer
• 1 gallon water
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup garlic salt

The brine went into a large plastic bag which I put into a bucket. Over the bag, I put a bunch of ice. I stored that in the garage overnight. 

It was cold enough here in the Denver area to keep the bird cold. There was still ice on top in the morning.

C is for Cerveceria Colorado

If you read this blog, you probably know that round 3 of our A to Z Denver Breweries Project is underway.

If you missed A to Z Denver Breweries Round 2, go ahead and take a few minutes to read up on it.

Then, just for the fun of it you can check out A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply and B is for Bierstadt Lagerhaus.

With colder weather coming on and the rising number of COVID cases in Colorado, I don't know how likely it is that we'll make a whole lot of progress in the next few months.

But, we do have a "C" brewery for you. Actually, we hit our "C" brewery before either A or B. 

C is for Cerveceria Colorado

On a nice sunny Halloween day, the Beer Model and I packed a lunch, got on our bikes, and headed to Downtown Denver to check it out.