Scallywag Czech Dark Lager

Barbecue and Homebrew. Can you think of a better combination on a beautiful September afternoon?

I can't think of one.

Add in some football; it doesn't get much better than this.

I brewed and barbecued exactly two weeks ago today.

The homebrew of the day was a new SheppyBrew recipe called Scallywag Czech Dark Lager.

I'm not real familiar with the Czech Dark Lager style. It is there in the newest BJCP guidelines, but I don't think I've ever actually had one.

I am in love with Czech Pilsners (now referred to as Czech Pale Lagers in the BJCP Guidelines). I figured I would simple make my My Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner and add some color.

That is what I did.

Scallywag Czech Dark Lager

2018 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats

Ok. This is embarrassing.

We are only just now getting around to posting our 2nd quarter results. As I start to type this, the 3rd quarter is almost done. Like it ends tomorrow.

Embarrassing.

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: Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats .

Anyway ...

We didn't brew a whole lot in the 2nd quarter.

The beers we brewed were:

• Sasquatch Hunter Altbier
• Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout
• Pomegranent Biker "Radler"

That is it. Only 3 batches. Only 15 gallons of beer.

2018 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale

I have gotten bad at getting my blog posts out. This post should have been published at least 2 weeks ago.

But ... oh well ...

Here we go.

On Sunday, September 9 I brewed the 2018 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale.

For some strange reason, my wife REALLY loves pumpkin spice beers.

That being the case, in 2014, I designed a pumpkin spice ale. And I brewed it.

Happy wife ... happy life ... right?

It is actually pretty good. The base beer is fantastic and the pumpkin spice is subtle enough that I can drink it, while still being present enough for my wife to enjoy the beer.

Only highly skilled brewing craft men can walk that fine line. Good thing I'm awesome like that.

Some people will tell you that you don't need pumpkin in a pumpkin spice ale. I disagree. So, I put pumpkin in.

Rocktoberfest Lager 2018

The Colorado Rockies are in the hunt for the playoffs this year.

As I type ... they are 1.5 games out of the 2nd wildcard spot, but only a game out of first in the NL West. They have plenty of games left with Arizona, so they basically have their playoff destiny in their own hands.

But ... they are the Rockies ... so they are likely to need all the help they can get.

You may not know this, but the Colorado Rockies have never won a division title.

And so ... I figured it was time for me to do my part and help by brewing some

Rocktoberfest Lager.  

A couple of weekends ago, I did just that.

Brewing Near-Sighted Swine IPA

I don't make a lot of IPA's, but the other day I started thinking I really should get one brewed.

Quite awhile ago I brewed an IPA that I really enjoyed, named Near-Sighted Swine IPA. Rather than come up with a new recipe, I decided to use this one.

I did update the hops a little. But, it is essentially the same recipe as it was back then.

Last Sunday (not this past Sunday ... the one before), I brewed the beer.

I started the brew day somewhat late for me ... after the sun was up ... around 6AM or so.

The skies looked like rain, but I started on the back patio.

About the time that the mash was done, I felt a bit of rain hit me from the skies and I made the decision to move the garage.

2018 Hail Storm Summer Saison

Summer time. Hooray for summer. It is going too fast.

Of course, with the change of seasons, I am required to make another Seasonal Saison.

Hail Storm Summer Saison to be more precise. Yum.

Yes ... Sunday, I brewed my Summer Saison.

If you follow my brewing patterns on this blog or social media, you probably have realized that I brew at least four Saisons a year. One for every season (saison is French for season). I call them my Seasonal Saison Series.

The Summer Saison is fairly light in color. Golden to light orange. It is designed to be around 5.5 to 6% ABV. It is fairly hoppy with Tettnang hops, but not at all bitter. Like most of my Seasonal Saisons, I use WY3711 French Saison (The Real Super Yeast).

Delicious.

Fermented Cauliflower and Broccoli

At work the other day people were talking about cauliflower. Weird thing to talk about at work ... right?

Lately, I've seen quite a few posts on instagram and facebook about cauliflower. Or at least more than I ever remember seeing before. I guess it is healthy. It seems to be a big part of some popular diet at the moment.

Anyway ... I mentioned that I sometimes ferment cauliflower. People were intrigued. I said I would bring some in sometime and let a few people try it.

And ... as you might have seen on the SheppyBrew Instagram Feed or Facebook Page, I prepared some.

Actually, I got myself some Cauliflower and Broccoli.

Of course, I had to also add in some jalapenos.

Obviously.

RMNP Photos

We went camping again this Fathers' Day Weekend.

Here are some pictures:

Beer Can Chicken

Over the years, I've experimented quite a bit with grilling or smoking whole chickens.

I've tried Beer Can Chicken.

I've made Rotisserie Chicken.

I've done simple indirect heat Grilled Chicken.

I've grilled chicken standing up like Beer Can, but without the beer.

I've smoked Apple Wood Smoked Chicken.

Yum!

I like grilling / smoking chicken. As you can probably tell, I always do it a little different. It always turns out awesome. I'm not convinced one technique is significant'y better than any other. As long as you cook for the right amount of time at a decent temperature, it turns out great.

Last Sunday, I added a new twist on my latest Smoked Chicken.

Pulled Pork Green Chili Recipe

Remember that a couple weeks ago, I smoked a port shoulder and had pulled pork sandwiches?

Well, if not feel free to check out Smoked Pork Shoulder and Brew Day. Go ahead. I'll wait.

I had a pound or two of the butt left over in the freezer.

I have decided that one of the best ways to use up extra smoked pork shoulder is to put it in a crock-pot of chili.

This past Saturday, I decided to make some green chili to use up the most recent pork butt.

It was delicious. Yum!

You may remember my Smoked Chicken Green Chili from a few weeks ago. It was fantastic, but some of the steps I used in that were dependent on having time to smoke some stuff.

Saturday, I didn't really have much time, so I changed up the recipe some. A couple people on various social media channels asked for the recipe.

Here it is:

Smoked Pork Shoulder and Brew Day

You may remember that back in January, I smoked a pork butt for pulled pork sandwiches. See Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork if you need a reminder.

It turned out great. And it was lots of fun.

At least it was lots of fun for most of the day.

To get that 9 lb pork shoulder done in time for dinner, I got started very early in the morning and kept the meat on the smoker for 13 hours.

My smoker is not a set and forget cook, so I was paying attention to the cooking meat most of the day.

At the end of Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork, I mentioned that in the future I would consider getting the butt to the wrap and then finish off in the oven.

Electric Smoker Guy

So, you may remember that I got a grill / smoker for Christmas. Technically, I got a picture of the grill / smoker ... but that is a story of its own. And ... eventually I got the actual grill and the actual smoker box.

As a result of this gift, I've gotten into smoking meats.

If you want, you can take a look at all the blog posts about the smoking I've done so far: Sheppy's Blog: Smoked

I have started looking at different Barbecue / Smoker forums because ... well ... because I now have a smoker.

Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout

The 5th of May was the American Homebrew Association's Big Brew Day.

One of my Homebrewing Friends ("Doc") hosted an event at his house and invited me to brew at his house.

I usually brew alone, and I've never brought my equipment "on the road". Generally, I'm pretty inefficient at fetching and readying my equipment during brew day. I usually get the next piece of equipment or brewing ingredient "Just in Time", and quite often take several trips down to the basement rather than bringing everything up at the same time.

This helps my fitbit stats, but is rather inefficient. A manufacturing engineer would never approve of my process. A Time and Motion Study would yield all kinds of low-hanging-fruit-improvements to make the process smoother.

I don't care. It works for me.

However, it does mean that I'm not used to getting everything I need together for a brewing road trip.

Smoked Chicken Green Chili

So ... I had a work potluck on May 4th (May the Forth Be With You). We had a weird Mexican / Star Wars theme. Strange, but it works.

I decided I wanted to make green chili with smoked chicken Thursday night.

Given that I would not have a lot of time for smoking the chicken, it being a work-night and all, I decided to start with boneless skinless thighs.

Along with the chicken, I smoked some Anaheim and Jalapeno chilies. It took around 2 hours to smoke the things and stuff and not too much longer to get everything combined in the crock pot.

It really turned out great. My dish did not last long at all at the potluck.

Shipping SCOBY

As you may remember, I have been brewing Kombucha on a regular basis.

I basically have two one-gallon batches of Kombucha going at any time. One with a standard black tea base. The other is made from green tea.

According to my "records" I've done 22 batches of kombucha since September 30 last year.

Anyway, the SCOBY (Symbiotic Culture Of Bacteria and Yeast) gets pretty big after a few batches and I end up separating it and throwing most of it out periodically.

That is somewhat of a waste. I've reached out on facebook and instagram asking if anyone was interested in taking SCOBY off my hands. No one took me up on the offer.

Until this past weekend.

This past weekend, my sister texted me about the possibility of shipping SCOBY to her brother-in-law for his birthday.

Sasquatch Hunter Altbier and Smoked Pork Loin

I brewed and Barbecued last Sunday.

My award-winning Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier and my first time smoking pork loin on the grill.

I also drank a fair amount of homebrew, but ... well ... it was Sunday ... so of course I drank homebrew.

The Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier is the beer that won a Blue Ribbon in the Denver Region of the 2013 National Homebrew Competition.

It was my first homebrew to win any kind of recognition, so it was a pretty big deal.

More importantly, I really liked the beer.

For some reason, it has been 3 years since I brewed this recipe. Sunday seemed a good time to do it again.

Smoked Mac and Cheese

So ... I got to use my smoker a couple times last weekend.

Recently, I posted articles about Bacon Wrapped Onion Bombs and Smoked Salsa. I cooked both of these last Saturday on the smoker.

On Sunday, I made something else on the smoker.

Something even more delicious.

Macaroni and Cheese.  Yum! Yum! Yum!

It was sooooooo Guuuuuuuud.

So Good.

Really when it comes right down to it, there are tons of baked Mac and Cheese recipes out on the internet. Smoked Mac and Cheese is simply doing the same thing ... only cooking it on the grill.

Smoked Salsa

Homemade salsa is the best salsa. Last year around March, I made some fermented salsa, which turned out great. Fresh salsa is wonderful too.

I can actually put salsa on all types of foods. Brats. Burgers. Chips. Dips. Chains. Whips.

I digress.

Somewhere. Somehow. I came across the idea of smoking salsa.

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't remember where I got the idea.

I'm sure it was on the interwebs somewhere. It was probably a youtube video.

It might have been this youtube video: Brisket Tacos with Smoked Salsa at All Things Barbecue

Bacon Wrapped Onion Bombs

Since I got my Smoker, I've watched lots of Barbecue YouTube videos about smoking and grilling.

I've subscribed to some channels that I enjoy, and the other day a video came across my subscription list.

Bacon Wrapped Onion Bombs on No Hippie BBQ & Cooking

Hmmm ... Bacon! Thank you, Lyle!

The recipe looked guuud, and relatively easy. I decided to try it last Saturday. If you follow SheppyBrew's Instagram Page or SheppyBrew's Facebook Page you probably saw pictures.

2018 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

It is already April.

I think that means that the 1st quarter of 2018 is done.

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:  Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats .

The SheppyBrew Brewery brewed 6 batches of beer in the first quarter:

• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Oompa Loompa Mango Pale Ale
• Pats Disliker New England Pale Ale
• Imaginary Dragon Brown Ale
• Melting Stream Spring Saison
• Gringo Cerveza Popcorn Ale

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

These 6 batches yielded 30.5 gallons, putting me easily on pace to surpass 100 gallons for the year.