Learning to Brew Dearg Irish Red (batch 243)

So ... Saturday was Learn to Homebrew Day.

We used this as an excuse to get a brew day done together with a couple of my Home-brewer friends.

At the same time, we invited a bunch of non-homebrewers over to watch and hang out. Sort of like Big Brew Day back in May.

This time, the Brew Day was at my friend "Du"'s brewery.

Less people showed up to this brew day than BBD, but the brewers sure had a lot of fun.

During the Big Brew Day back in May, my friend "Doc" brewed an extract batch. And, I decided that I would do the same thing this time.

I figure that if I'm doing an extract batch, there is less pressure to remember equipment (since there is less equipment for extract than for all-grain.

It also makes the brew day take less time and therefore make the chance of forgetting something in the process less likely.

Most importantly, it means I had less clean-up after the brew day.

So ... I created a quick little extract Irish Red Recipe:

Dearg Irish Red

J is for Jagged Mountain Brewery

If you read I is for [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project, and are at all familiar with the Denver Brewery scene, chances are decent that you probably guessed what my "J" brewery was.

As I mentioned in the blog post, a couple of Saturdays ago, I took a bike ride downtown where I had a couple of beers before hitting The Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project taproom on my way back.

In case you're wondering why I hit "J" before stopping by "I" ... I mis-calculated how long it would take me to ride 15 miles.

When I was passing where to turn off the bike path for The Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project taproom, I figured out that I would get there before opening time.

So, I kept going.

Even so ... I ended up at "J" just a few minutes after opening time.

J is for Jagged Mountain Brewery

Brewing the 2019 X-Mas Ale (Batch 242)

Well ... not too long ago I posted "What will I make .... X-Mas Ale 2019".

I brewed the base beer this past weekend, but I still have not decided what my 2019 X-Mas Ale will be.

The recipe I have on SheppyBrew.com, calls for White Chocolate Flavoring, but I'm not 100% sure that is the direction I want to go.

I don't have to decide until the primary fermentation is done.

We'll see.

This past Sunday was very windy. There was a strong wind warning in area. So, I brewed in the garage.

X-Mas Ale 2019

I is for [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project

As far as I know ... there are not very many "I" breweries in the Denver area. Last time through, I was only able to come up with one, and I've already used that one. (See I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub)

This time, I was thinking I would have to skip "I" because I couldn't find another one.

However, while going through the list on Denver Brewery Guide, I spotted The Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project. The name starting with "The" made it a little harder to spot, but "Intrepid" certainly starts with the letter "I".

That works for me!

Full disclosure, technically, the brewery has changed its name in the last month. They now call themselves "Next Stop Brew Co.".

However, I do see this still referred to as "Next Stop at the Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project", and I decided I can still use this as my "I" brewery.

So ...

I is for [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project

What will I make .... X-Mas Ale 2019

Every year since I started home-brewing (way back in 2009), I've brewed an X-Mas Ale to have around the holidays.

Over the years, they have been very similar base beers. They range in color from a darker amber ale to a dark brown ale. They range in ABV from around 5.5% to over 8.3%.

Most have had non-traditional beer flavoring. A couple have simply been base beers.

The very first one (2009) was an extract Brown Ale at about 5.7% ABV. Along with the extracts, the beer had Cherries, Honey, Almond Extract, Vanilla Extract, and Ground Cloves.

2019 #GABF Pictures

Well, as you saw if you follow SheppyBrew on Instagram or Facebook, the Beer Model and I attended the Great American Beer Festival again this year.

As always, it was fun.

I didn't do a great job of documenting the beers that I really liked this year. The GABF app changed, making it more difficult to use. I didn't bring paper and pen as I did in past years.

However ... I did note a couple beers / breweries that stood out for me.

I really liked everything I tried at Drake's Brewing Company.  1500 Pale Ale and Smoked Brette Davis Eyes were both fantastic.

There was a Neapolitan Milk Stout at Saugatuck Brewing Company. This isn't the kind of  beer that I would drink a bunch of, but I was really impressed with the way the brewers nailed a beer whose flavors reminded me of the name.

My favorite beer of the first night was "Barrel Aged Edison" from Chapman's Brewing Company.

2019 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

This year is really flying by. Here is it October and the 3rd Quarter 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.

As you may remember, I didn't brew very many times last quarter, although I did some bigger batches so my volume was still pretty high.

I brewed a whole lot more often in Q3. I brewed 6 batches which yielded a 34 gallons of beer.

Hail Storm Brew Day

• Hail Storm Summer Saison
• Muggled Pale Ale
• Alabama Pelican Brown Porter
• Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner
• Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale
• Falling Leaves Autumn Saison