Brain Freeze Rauchbier (Batch 397)

Even though I have 4 beers on tap, I feel like my beer inventory is pretty low. Every time I pour a beer, I think a keg is going to blow.

Apparently, my friend "Doc" hasn't brewed much this summer, and is in the same boat.

He proposed a plan to help with both our inventory issues, and it will allow us to catch up a little. We're planning on brewing together at Doc's Brewery soon-ish.

More on that later.

Still, I wanted to get a brew day in before we get together. I actually wanted to get an appropriate lager on tap for Oktoberfest season.

If you read, Roll-a-Style 10: 6B. Rauchbier, you knew this was coming .... on Sunday I brewed:

Brain Freeze Rauchbier

Roll-a-Style 10: 6B. Rauchbier

The last time I did a Roll-a-Style post on this blog was Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter back in February.

Yeah ... that was a long time ago.

So, it is probably worth a quick reminder: I created a list of BJCP beer styles that I've never brewed. When I want to decide which beer style to brew next, I originally rolled a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Pretty simple, right?

After my 9C. Baltic Porter, I was down to 12 beer styles to brew, so I'm now using a 12 Sided Die.

It is close to Oktoberfest season, and I've unofficially declared this the "Year of the Lager". There is actually a style that fits Oktoberfest perfectly.

So .... I pretended to roll a 

Mud Blood Baltic Porter (Batch 389)

I brewed my first Roll-a-Style beer of 2026 this week.

If I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 91 of the 108 styles in the BJCP Guidelines. My Roll-a-Style list is getting pretty thin.

It's already mid-March and this is only my 3rd batch of beer of 2026, so I'm not really brewing much so far this year.

It is already my third lager of the year and my third new recipe of the year.

If you read Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter, you probably realized this was coming.

Mud Blood Baltic Porter

Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter

It has been awhile since I've mentioned Roll-a-Style on this blog. 

So, it is probably worth a quick reminder ... I created a list of BJCP beer styles that I've never brewed. When I want to decide which beer style to brew next, I roll a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Pretty simple, right?

The last style I "rolled" was Roll-a-Style 16: 26C. Belgian Tripel back in October, and I didn't brew it until November with Yoker Belgian Tripel (Batch 385).

Recently, I brewed Whisper of the Tengu Rice Lager (Batch 388), which is a lager. I thought I'd harvest the Tengu yeast and brew a lager on my Roll-a-Style list.

So ... I pretended to roll a 4:

2025 Update on the BJCP Goal

If you follow this blog, you know I've renewed my old BJCP Goal.

My original BJCP Goal was to make sure I've brewed beers in every category of the BJCP Style Guidelines. I've now covered all the categories, and have decided to work through all the styles (although there are some I will probably skip).

I even came up with a "Roll-a-Style" concept to give me help deciding which style to brew.

At the end of 2023, I posted 2023 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal and last year, I posted 2024 Update on the 2021 BJCP Goal.

And, now I decided I'm not going to brew any more new styles in 2025, so I'm doing another similar post for 2025. (Can you believe 2025 is almost over? I can't)

At the beginning of 2025, I planned on hitting the Roll-a-Style list harder. My unofficial goal was to reduce the list enough that I'll be rolling a 12 sided die by the end of the year (as opposed to the 20 sided die I had been rolling).

My Roll-a-Style list has 13 beer styles on it, so I could probably switch to a 12-sided die. I suspect I'll end up picking my next one instead of rolling. Then, I'll switch the list to 12. 

I actually don't think I'll do as many of these Roll-a-Style beers in 2026.

Keep an eye on Sheppy's Blog: Roll-a-Style, and you'll be able to continue to follow along how I'm doing. 

Learning to Homebrew: 2025 X-Mas Ale (Batch 384)

Saturday was Learn to Homebrew Day. Originally I thought maybe I'd be brewing with one or more of my homebrewing buddies, but Doc was busy and Du has moved away ... so it was just me and the SheppyBrew Beer Model this year.

Doc and I might get together in a couple weeks, but we'll see.

You may remember from Roll-a-Style 20: 17D. English Barley Wine (X-Mas Ale 2025) that this year's X-Mas Ale is a little different than the usual Winter Warmer that I generally brew.

This year, I'm marking 17D. English Barley Wine off my Roll-a-Style list, and since a Barley Wine is a bigger beer than I usually brew, I decided to pitch right onto the yeast cake of Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter (Batch 382).

This meant, I had to keg Gnomeberry Hollow before getting started on Saturday. 

Roll-a-Style 16: 26C. Belgian Tripel

Well ... if you follow this blog at all, you are familiar with my BJCP Goal and Roll-a-Style list.

Of course, the idea is that I have a list of beer styles that I've never brewed. I roll a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Originally, I had 20 beers on the list and several on "the bench". I've reduced the list so that I'm still rolling a 20-sided die, but not all the numbers have a style assigned to them. In fact, soon I'll be rolling a 12 sided die.

You also likely know that quite often I know what I want to brew next and "pretend" to roll that die to correspond with the style I want to brew next.

Part of the reason I recently picked Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 383) to brew was to build up some Belgian yeast so that I could get to a style I've had on the list since the debut of the list.

So ... I pretended to roll a 16

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter (Batch 382)

I brewed Sunday. 

I've gotten myself into a situation where I'm running low on beer "inventory". The last time I brewed before this batch was 1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 361) in early September.

And this ... with Learn to Homebrew Day coming up ...

I'll probably be brewing quite a few batches between now and November, which is likely to put me in the opposite situation.

Anyway ... I posted about this recipe back in JULY ... Roll-a-Style 10: 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer, but I took a break on the Roll-a-Style beers with Johnny McClure Rainier Lager and 1519 Barker Exportbier.

Plus, I thought the name was more appropriate to brew in October. Now ... it's time to get back into it ...

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter

 

Roll-a-Style 20: 17D. English Barley Wine (X-Mas Ale 2025)

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

The base beer was always a very similar "Winter Warmer", and I'd add various ingredients to make it more of a "Holiday" Beer.

Over the years, I added wood spirals, vanilla, cherry pomegranate, chocolate, peppermint, peanut butter, hazelnut, cherry, and many other flavorings.

But, if you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year, and when I was thinking about brewing my 2025 X-Mas Ale, I wanted to pick a style on my Roll-a-Style list.

Looking through the list, I decided that the closest to my "traditional" X-Mas Ale recipe was 17D. English Barley Wine.

So, I pretended to roll a 20 on my 20-sided online die.

 

Voodu Magic Tropical Stout (Batch 379)

I brewed this past Sunday.

It was another beer to check off a new style in my BCJP Goal.

If I'm counting correctly, I've now brewed 87 of the 108 2021 BCJP styles.

As I mentioned in Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager (Batch 378), I recently killed a couple of kegs, bringing me down to two kegs on tap, one of which (Halfway to Helles Leichtbier) is very close to being empty.

Since then, I packaged Gob Stopper Grape Ale and Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager, so my beer inventory is looking pretty good.

But, I wanted to get this beer brewed ....

Voodu Magic Tropical Stout

 

Roll-a-Style 10: 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 86 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 8 new BJCP styles (9 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

And ... I have ingredients and will probably brew my Roll-a-Style 15: 16C. Tropical Stout soon.

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. 

In late-ish July, I was killing time one day and thought I'd spend time coming up with a new recipe. 

To figure out what beer I'd brew, I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 10 ... 

 

Roll-a-Style 15: 16C. Tropical Stout

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 86 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 8 new BJCP styles (9 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. 

In early July, I was running sort of low on inventory, and needed to brew to get the pipeline going. 

I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 15 ... 

Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager (Batch 378)

This past weekend, I killed two kegs, leaving me with only two beers on tap. I suspect Halfway to Helles Leichtbier is also running low.

I have Gob Stopper Grape Ale fermenting, but I'm in danger of running low on my homebrew.

As I mentioned in 2025 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats, I've slowed down brewing quite a bit lately, so this certainly should not come as a surprise.

But, I figured I needed to get some beers in the pipeline.

You might have seen my recently posted Roll-a-Style 2: 3C. Czech Amber Lager, and if you did, you probably realized this was coming ...

Saturday, I ran off to my favorite LHBS to get ingredients and Sunday I brewed....

Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager

 

Roll-a-Style 2: 3C. Czech Amber Lager

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 85 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 7 new BJCP styles (8 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. 

In early July, I was running sort of low on inventory, and needed to brew to get the pipeline going. 

I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 2 ... 

 

Gob Stopper Grape Ale (Batch 377)

If you follow along on this blog, or SheppyBrew.com, you likely know that I have been trying to work through BJCP Styles that I've never brewed.

For the most part, I am able to enjoy just about every style of beer, however there a a few I don't necessarily care for.

So ... working through this BJCP Style Goal has the potential of creating beers I may not like as much.

So, far, since I've started the Roll-a-Style list, I have not really rolled any styles that I downright don't like.

However, this one has that potential. We'll have to see.

If you read Roll-a-Style 12: 29D. Grape Ale, you probably were able to determine this was coming:

Gob Stopper Grape Ale

 

Roll-a-Style 12: 29D. Grape Ale

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 84 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 6 new BJCP styles (7 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. 

June is here, and I did my Big Brew Day ... Halfway to Helles (Batch 375) at the beginning of May, checking off my 84th style. I think it is time to pick another beer to brew.

I rolled my 20-sided online die, and rolled a 12 ... 

 

SheppyBrew's Biggest Big Beers

It is rare that SheppyBrew Home Brewery makes a "big", high alcohol beer.

By some standards, you might even say that SheppyBrew has never brewed a big beer.

Generally, my beers are in the 4 - 6% ABV range. Sometimes I go a little higher. But, not very often at all.

For me, two of the beers I have on tap right now Kemosabe Quad and King Fergus Wee Heavy are high abv beers at 8.5% and 8%.

 

Roll-a-Style 3: 5A. German Leichtbier

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 83 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 5 new BJCP styles (6 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. However, sometimes, I have decided what I want to brew and "pretended" to roll the number I wanted to brew.

May is coming up, which would be a time to brew the "seasonal" Helles in a Hand Bock-sket, and I thought this year it would be fun to brew a lower ABV German Lager to replace the Hand Bock-sket beer.

The one lower ABV German Lager I still had on the list was 3, and I pretended to roll the online die ...

Roll-a-Style 19: 17C. Wee Heavy

I've mentioned a few times that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year.

As of the time of this post, if I'm counting correctly, I've brewed 79 of the 108 styles in the 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines. Since the beginning of the year, I've already brewed 4 new BJCP styles (5 if you include Tasman Pilsner).

I'm hoping to brew another 8 or 9 before the end of 2025.

If you've been following along on this blog, you know that I have my Roll-a-Style list, which helps me keep track of styles that I still need to brew.

The idea is that I use a 20-sided online die to decide which style to brew next. However, the past few new styles, I have decided and "pretended" to roll the number I wanted to brew.

But, recently, I actually rolled the online die, and got 19 ...

 

Kemosabe Quad (Batch 372)

Fat Tuesday / Mardi Gras was last Tuesday. Even though this year is as late as Easter can be, it blows my mind that we've already entered Lent.

Time flies.

If you've been following along, you might have caught that I've been picking beers to brew off my Roll-a-Style list rather than actually rolling to pick what to brew.

Part of the reason I've been doing this, is to use my harvested Belgium yeast to step up to a big Belgium Beer ... Roll-a-Style 9: 26D. Belgian Dark Strong Ale.

For quite awhile, I've been planning on using the whole yeast cake from Mardi Blonde (Batch 370) Birthday Brew to brew this big beer.

But, then when I kegged Mardi Blonde, I wasn't ready to brew yet. So, I kept putting off the brew day.

I finally got around to it last Tuesday on the same day I smoked a Chuck Roast for pulled-beef-sandwiches.