Meet the Homebrewers of Los Angeles – Skipp Shelly

Did you know the American Homebrewer’s Association National Homebrewers Conference is coming up in only two weeks? Last year’s festival in was in Minneapolis, MN with 1,200 homebrewers, professional craft brewers and beer enthusiasts in attendance. This year the conference will take place in San Diego, and L.A.’s homebrewers are readying their beer (and liver) for the three-day event.

For our fourth spotlight on L.A.-area homebrewers we were in for a treat when Skipp Shelly shared an abundance of his homebrewed goodness with us — including homemade mead and cheese — out of his quaint homebrewery and garden in Echo Park, CA.

From Yard to Table

Skipp is a humble fellow you’ve probably seen serving up pints and talking beer at Glassell Park’s Verdugo Bar or West Hollywood’s Surly Goat Bar. Like many homebrewers we’ve met, he wears lots of hats: designer, cheesemaker, Cicerone Certified Beer Server, and dare we say, a hop-grower? He showed us his small garden where he can harvest just enough hops in a year for a batch of beer, pick tomatoes for his cheese plates, and collect kumquats to add to a new summery brew.

Knowledge is Key

When Ballast Point Brewing got to know Skipp at the first L.A. Beer Week festival they appreciated his knowledge of good beer and trusted him to tend the taps when necessary. He’s befriended some of our state’s best brewers which makes him one of the key figures in getting rare beer kegs out to craft beer bars in Los Angeles. He’ll talk about beer with you while helping out at Verdugo Bar, The Surly Goat and ColLAboration beer gardens. “Skipp is one of the most generous people I have ever met, in the beer industry or otherwise,” says bar owner Ryan Sweeney. “His willingness to share his knowledge and give his time has made him a highly regarded fixture in the LA craft beer scene.”

A Helpful, Handy Homebrewer

Skipp has been instrumental in helping Eagle Rock Brewery get on it’s feet. As brewery owner Jeremy Raub put it, “He is awesome! He helped us during the brewery construction phase, sanding walls, painting, pretty much whatever help we needed. He also did the window decals on our entry way, brewhouse window, and on top of our bottle fridge too.

“When it finally came time to start brewing, Skipp was generous with his time again, and helped out a lot in the brewhouse. He’s been happy to lend a hand not only on brew days, but also to clean kegs, clean tanks, fill kegs, wash dishes … pretty much anything and everything related to beer.

“Besides being a great designer, artist, and jack-of-all-trades, Skipp is also a great homebrewer, beer judge, drinking buddy, and jack-of-all-beer-trades!”

How long have you been homebrewing and how did you get started?
I’ve been brewing for about five years. I read about it for a year prior, before a relative pointed out their father is a homebrewer. I brewed a couple of sessions with him and later I was on my way. (Thanks Randy!)

With which homebrew associations are you involved?
For the last four years I’ve been a Maltose Falcons member. I’m also a member of the Yeastside Brewers club that started recently. American Hombrewers Association as well.

What does it mean to you to be Maltose Falcons homebrewer of the year?
The Falcons Merlin Cup (Falcons Homebrewer of the Year) is a fun, somewhat competitive, year-round competition. Last year I had a few contests that I did really well in and I ended up in front at the end of the year. With a full time job, It’s pretty hard for me to keep up with entering multiple contests throughout the year, mostly because I despise bottling. So it’s cool the club has something that recognizes that.

Tell us about some of the other awards you have received.
I’ve won awards for beers, meads and ciders. Most recently I won a gold and bronze at Pizza Port‘s homebrew competition for an oatmeal stout and a Belgian blonde ale, respectively. Contests are a lot of fun, and I try to get out and judge as many as possible. As long as people remember that everyone tastes things differently and you can’t get wound up over results, it remains enjoyable.

skipp-shelly-ingredients

Which of your beers do you think you do best?
IPA, Belgian dark strong and oatmeal stout are far and away my favorite three styles to brew and drink. Those three are also ones my family/friends seem to request the most.

From where do you draw your recipe inspiration?
When I try to brew something new it starts as an attempt to try my own version of a commercial beer I just drank. This usually involves a quick email to the brewer/brewery to beg for details. Sometimes beers start as a challenge to brew for a specific event. Last year a friend asked me to create a beer to pair with food for a Greek food importer’s olive oil release party. How do you make a beer with a Greek slant? After noodling with a few ideas, a Belgian-Greek blonde ale was born to pretty good results.

What did you do to the beer to make it a Belgian-Greek?
I went to a Greek market and smelled around the spice aisle for a while and I ended up choosing five or six things that were all blended into the beer while I was cooling the wort. It ended up adding a nice complimentary note to the spicyness of the yeast, but for the most part was very subdued. The beer turned out to be a light Belgian blonde with a nice spice note at the end of the sip.

Tell us a little more about the other beverages you brew.
I’m a pretty avid mead maker, mostly sparkling dry meads for the wife and her friends. I’ve also played around with ciders, cysers, and kombucha. The one rootbeer I made from a kit turned out horrible and was way too sweet. I still really want to try one of the true rootbeer recipes floating around on the internet. Wine is on the horizon.

What’s the most unusual beverage you have attempted to make?
I’m usually not one to put a whole lot of odd-ball ingredients into my beers, but Drew Beechum once convinced me to puree 10 lbs of Medjool dates for a melomel [mead containing fruit] I wanted to try and make. Four hours, a blender, a food processor and an annoyed wife later, I realized that you really need to think some of these ingredients through before trying to utilize them. But it did make a kick-a** 18% dessert mead.

What are you brewing right now? What do you think your next beer might be?
Right now I have an IPA, a winter Saison, and a Belgian dark strong on tap with a robust porter in waiting. The next beer will probably be a huge Russian Imperial stout. The last one I brewed turned out okay, but I’m hoping with a little tweaking this next version will be awesome. I’ve been playing with heavily bittered, low-alcohol (4%) XPAs and I think I feel another of those coming on for the summer heat.

skipp-shelly-problem-solving

What is your most disastrous homebrewing story?
About ten or so batches in I started having really bad infection issues for three or four batches in a row. It was really a bummer to have to dump that much beer. It made me fairly paranoid since then about sanitation. Oh, and the typical broken glass carboy story. I only ferment in plastic and stainless now.

How can someone try your beer?
Show up at my house? I’m usually pretty good about bringing beer to parties or homebrew meetings, but if someone wants to show up and check out a brew day or a cheese day there is never any shortage of beer (and other things) around.

Tell us a little more about how you got into cheese making.
I’ve been a huge cheese-head for as long as I can remember. I won a $20 gift certificate to the homebrew shop at a Maltose Falcons club meeting and bought the beginners’ cheese kit. After a month or two of making mozzarella, I got bored with soft cheese and built a homebrewer’s cheese press: I use water filled kegs and a slide press to get the correct weight on the cheese. Due to the work and aging involved, the only cheese I really make continously is the Feta, but I’ve made Manchego, Parmesan, Cheddar and Gouda all to great results.

Are you a lone brewer or do you work with others?
I tend to brew at night on weekdays after work so I’m almost always brewing by myself. Most of the friends who have come over and watched are usually far more interested in the kegerator than in the brewing minutiae (and the cleaning).

Do you help out at beer bars or breweries in Los Angeles?
I’m at The Surly Goat on Tuesdays talking about beer and I’m the manager of Verdugo Bar on Sunday nights. Getting to drink new beers and talking to folks about them twice a week is pretty d*mn fun. I also try to help brew at Eagle Rock Brewery once or twice a month, work allowing. You might see me behind the table pouring for Ballast Point occasionally at festivals around L.A.

If you homebrew on the side, what do you do for a profession?
Scenic and Graphic Design. I work on casinos, museums and television sets mostly. Yay.

Do you have long-term goals/aspirations for yourself as a brewer or is it more of a hobby for now?
Long-term I would really love to work for and eventually own my own commercial brewery. For the next few years, brewing will probably stay a hobby, and happily so. I’m always wary about turning fun hobbies into actual work.

Your advice to a newbie homebrewer?
Patience. Some problems can’t be solved by giving your beer time, but pretty much nothing in brewing can be solved by freaking out.