Gringo Cerveza Popcorn Ale

I brewed Wednesday. I had the week off work, so of course I had to get a brew day in.

Wednesday was the day.

The beer I brewed was based on a long-time SheppyBrew recipe. Gringo Cerveza.

Originally, I used this name for a Mr. Beer recipe. I even had a partial mash recipe.

And ... eventually it become an all-grain recipe.

Sometime along the way, it became a Popcorn Beer.

"Popcorn?" You ask. Yes Popcorn.

A popcorn jalapeño beer. The jalapeños have become optional.

I got the idea of using popcorn in a beer when I listened to an episode of The Session on the Brewing Network about Sun King Brewery of Indianapolis, Indiana. One of their beers was a popcorn beer.

I decided to try the popcorn mash. Seemed that concept would work well with a jalapeño beer.

Smoked BBQ Drumsticks

We had a busy day yesterday at SheppyBrew Brewery and Smokehouse.

We didn't brew any beer, but we started the day early by kegging Melting Stream Spring Saison.

We bottled a batch of green tea kombucha and stared a new batch.

And .. we prepared and made barbecue drumsticks.

I bought a package of drumsticks at Sam's Club in the morning.

I decided to make the whole package even though I knew it would be too much for our family of four. I like having leftovers for lunch. Yummy barbecue drumsticks for lunch will be great this week.

2018 Melting Stream Spring Saison

It isn't Spring yet, but here in Denver, it feels like it is close. I'm hoping we get a couple more big snow falls still this year, but right now the weather is starting to get very warm.

I decided it was a good time to brew my Spring Seasonal Saison this past Sunday.

The Spring version of my is Seasonal Saison very light in color. It uses WY3711 for that delicious and refreshing saison flavor. It is hoppy.

Yummy yummy beer. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

Melting Stream Spring Saison

Imaginary Dragon Brown Ale

I'm brewing today.

I'm brewing today and I have not posted about my last brew day yet.

Lazy blogger.

I better do that now.

So ... I've been brewing quite awhile. I started with a Mr. Beer kit my sister bought me for the 2008 Christmas.

I used the hell out of that Mr. Beer Kit.

One of the recipes I came up with using the kit, was an American Brown Ale intended to mimic Big Sky Brewing Company's Moose Drool. I named it based on some dragon art work my child had done and another word for drool.

Not knowing that the name I came up with is slang for something horrible. You can look it up if you like (if you don't already know). You can't unknow once you know.

Pats Disliker NE Pale Ale

I'm glad that the Patriots didn't win the Superbowl LII.

Yes, I am a hater of the New England Patriots.

Not really like I hate the Red Wings or Packers. More like I dislike the Cowboys or the Raiders.

I'm a Patriots Disliker.

Lately if you're a craft beer geek like me, you've almost certainly noticed an alarming influx of "New England Style" IPA's.

I'm fine with a hazy IPA, but if there is yeast clouding up the beer, it is visually unappealing to me, and usually I don't find them all that great to drink.

I don't hate them like the Red Wings or Packers. I dislike them like the Patriots.

At the same time, there are some beers labeled "New England Style IPA" that I quite enjoy. As long as it is hazy rather than cloudy.

Reverse Seared Ribeyes

So ... you probably know I've been playing with my new grill / smoker recently.

See SheppyBrew: Grilling. Or SheppyBrew: BBQ. Or SheppyBrew: Smoked.

I've really been enjoying the food I've been making on the smoker.

Last weekend I decided to make some Ribeye Steaks. I love steak. Bone-in Ribeye Steaks are the ones that always turn out best for me. And that is what I got from the grocery store Sunday.

This time, I decided to try "Reverse Searing" the steaks. It is something I've read about, this this is really the first time I've done it.

In case you don't know, "Reverse Searing" is a technique used in grilling. Most of the references I've seen are around steak, but you can do it with other cuts of meat too.

SheppyBrew YouTube Channel

SheppyBrew now has a YouTube Channel ...

See SheppyBrew Smokehouse and Brewery

Currently there is just one video on the channel ... a short video of me making Kombucha. Eventually there will probably be more.

Check it out. Subscribe. Hopefully the content and quality of the videos will increase over time.

Oompa Loompa Mango Pale Ale, Kombucha, and Turkey Bacon Burgers

After brewing the Where'd My ManGo Wheat, I had some of the Mango Flavoring left.

Also, my Muggled Pale Ale didn't last real long.

I decided that it would be fun to make and drink a Mango Pale Ale.

Oompa Loompa Mango Pale Ale

I brewed it last Sunday

No big deal.

Some Pale Malt. Some Vienna Malt. Some Munich and some Pale Chocolate for a bit more color.

Equinox (aka Ekuanot aka HBC 366) hops. Centennial hops.

Apple Wood Smoked Chicken

If you've following this blog lately, you've noticed more BBQ articles.

That is because I got a new grill / smoker for Christmas this year, and I've been learning how to use it.

This past Saturday, I smoked a whole chicken.

Of course, I've done whole chickens on my older gas grill a few times. This was my first time adding smoke flavor.

The past two smoking sessions (see First time Smoking Ribs and Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork) both used hickory wood for the smoke. This time I decided to try something different, and I went with Apple Wood chunks.

SheppyBrew 2017 Year-End Brewing Stats

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.

In the 4th Quarter, we brewed 4 beers.

Killer Cricket Porter brew day

• Killer Cricket Porter
• Where'd My ManGo Wheat
• 2017 X-Mas Ale
• Muggled Pale Ale

Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork

So, you may remember from First time Smoking Ribs that I recently got a new grill / smoker.

The ribs turned out really good. There are some improvements I think I can make, but I was pleased with the result. And my family liked them.

After the success of the ribs, I decided to try smoking a Pork Butt. You probably all know this, but a Pork Butt is actually the shoulder of a pig. I'm a little unclear as to why the shoulder is referred to a butt. I think it has something to do with Boston - area people not being all that bright.

But don't quote me on that.

So, I bought a 9 pound pork shoulder (8.92 pounds to be exact) from Sam's Club last week. I had Monday off work for MLK Day, and I used that day off to smoke some pork.

Fizzy and Pink Cherry Pomegranate Kombucha

So ... do you remember that I've gotten into brewing homemade Kombucha?

I like kombucha enough to drink. I like it a lot more than soda, and it is a good alternative to water or coffee for me to drink at work with my lunch. However, it is way too expensive for me to want to actually buy it.

It is easy and inexpensive to brew at home, so I just make it myself.

My process is simple:

1. Dissolve 1 cup of sugar in enough water to brew 8 to 10 tea bags worth of concentrated sweet tea.
2. Pour the tea into a gallon glass jar with a little ice to cool it down. Fill the jar the rest of the way with water.
3. Add a SCOBY and a little kombucha from the last batch to the jar.
4. Let the tea ferment for a couple of weeks. 
5. Pour the fermented kombuca along with some fruit juice or other flavoring into bottles.
6. Let those bottles carbonate for a few days.

First time Smoking Ribs

I got a picture of a grill / smoker for Christmas.

My wife did everything she could to get me an actual grill / smoker, but due to a delivery SNAFU, the picture was all I received.

While waiting for the delivery SNAFU to get fixed, I spent a significant amount of time reading books and websites about smoking various meats. I also watched lots of youtube videos on the same.

I think my favorite videos came from BBQ Pit Boys. Those guys amuse me, and I think they do a good job clearly explaining the process of smoking meats.

Anyway ... last week, I finally got the grill delivered. Separately, I got the smoker box delivered.

Saturday morning, I attached the smoker box to the grill.

Sunday, I smoked my first meat ... a rack of pork spare ribs.

2018 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

It is winter. Time to brew a Winter Saison.

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Yes, here at SheppyBrew Brewery, we brew at least 4 saisons every year.

Winter Spring Summer Autumn.

I call them my Seasonal Saison series of beers.

The Arctic Vortex Winter Saison happens to be a black saison, because winter is generally dark ... and it would be boring to make all my saisons look the same.

This weekend, I brewed this year's Arctic Vortex Winter Saison.

When I went to buy ingredients last week, my Local Homebrew Shop didn't have my favorite Saison yeast (WY3711 French Saison). I ended up picking up WY3724 (Belgium Saison) instead.

I'm a real fan of WY3711, and I almost decided to wait to brew this beer until they could get more in, but I had already crushed my grains. It doesn't hurt to try new things. I guess we'll see how it turns out.

Cryo Muggled

Last week, I decided that I wanted to brew over the weekend.

I feel like it has been a long time since I've brewed anything real hoppy.

I didn't really feel like coming up with a completely new recipe, so I looked through my previous recipes for APA's.

The recipe that jumped out at me was Muggled Pale Ale, and I decided that is what I would brew.

This would be my third time brewing this beer.

Muggled Pale Ale isn't a real complicated recipe.

The grain bill is simply 90% Standard 2-Row malt and 10% Dark Munich.

Then, it has a couple of hops. The first batch used Cascade and Chinook. The second batch moved to 100% Mosaic hops, and was my first time using that hop.

This time, I decided to try out LupuLN2 Cryo-hops.

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.