Homebrew Summer: Wheels of Confusion
Two longtime members of San Diego County's homebrew scene convene at The Roadies Brewing to explore the dark side of Czech lagers

Like so many of his craft-beer industry colleagues, Peter Perrecone was an avid, award-winning homebrewer before going pro. And like so many of his contemporaries, he has maintained his connection with San Diego County’s homebrewing community. This is particularly true of his relationship with friend and award-winning amateur, Ryan Reschan. As part of this year’s Homebrew Summer program, Perrecone invited Reschan to cook up a collaboration beer. That dark Czech-style lager, Wheels of Confusion, will go on tap at The Roadies Brewing in Vista on Friday, August 1, and the recipe for the beer can be downloaded below. Here’s to good friends, this beer is kind of special!
Ryan Reschan
Homebrewer
While dark lagers are a bit more common these days, it’s a style that has been underrepresented amongst the lager renaissance that has focused on mimicking macro lagers and traditional pale lagers. We took a traditional Czech-style dark lager as inspiration, but wanted to have a unique twist on the style by adding some British malt. The goal was not to go overboard in that direction and remain respectful of the beer’s Czech origins.
Peter Perrecone
Head Brewer, The Roadies Brewing
The reason I chose this recipe was because, first, I wanted to brew it and, second, it meant I would get to brew it with a good friend. The only adjustments I made was scaling it up to 10 barrels, and I had to sub some malt brands based on what was in stock at the supplier. It was a great day of joke-telling and golf talk.
Any tips for homebrewers using this recipe?
This is an easy beer to brew. Make sure you pitch enough healthy yeast and control your fermentation temperature. Other than that, just have fun with it.

New homebrew recipes and pro-am beer release information will be posted to our site throughout the summer, so check back with San Diego Beer News on a regular basis (or subscribe to our free weekly email newsletter and we’ll send all the recipes and release information straight to your inbox). Cheers and happy homebrewing!
The Roadies Brewing is located at 1495 Poinsettia Avenue, #148 in Vista