Wednesday, July 09, 2025

4th of July Paddle on Chatfield

You may remember that my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I went Paddle Boarding with Juneteenth Paddle on Chatfield.

I mentioned in that post that we'd have to look into a new better pump than the one my wife has been using.

Well ... since then she had a birthday and I got her a bigger, more expensive, hopefully better pump, and we figured we would have to try it out to make sure it actually was better.

The first opportunity we had was July 4th.

So we packed up our paddling stuff, some beer, a lunch and headed down to Chatfield Reservoir. It being a holiday weekend, we went earlier than usual, which really paid off.


Thankfully, this new pump was SOOOOO much better!

The old pump would take forever, and usually I'd have to manually finish pumping up the wife's paddle board. It was also very hot, and didn't have a battery so we'd have to run a vehicle to power the pump.


This new one has a dual-stage pump that finished in 3 or 4 minutes (faster than I pumped up my paddle board).

It has a cooling fan, and doesn't get all that hot in that 4 minutes of pumping.

It does have a battery so we didn't have to plug in the pump to power it.


Best of all, I didn't have to manually finish her paddle board.

Success! It anyone wants our crappy old pump, I'll give it to you cheap (free).

I'm a little mad at myself for purchasing the crappy one, and waiting so long before looking into something better.


Anyway, we got on the lake early enough that it wasn't all that crowded yet.

And, as always, the scenery was beautiful.


And spending a couple hours on the lake was fun.


Since we were there earlier than usual, we didn't actually eat lunch on the lake.


There was storm clouds moving in as we headed back towards the parking lot.


But ... we made it back to shore before it hit.


We did get rained on carrying the boards from the lake back to the car, but it wasn't too bad.

Unfortunately, lots of people were leaving the same time as us. Luckily most of these people were not all that bright and all got into the right turn lane getting out of the park.

So, I was able to get in the left turn lane and save ourselves a good 20 to 30 minutes getting out by simply going the "wrong" way and turning around.


Don't tell anyone my "secret". 

We headed to our local brewery Locavore where we had our packed lunch.

What a fun day!


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As always, stay tuned on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer, barbeque, biking and other things in my life: SheppyBrew's Facebook PageSheppy's Twitter FeedSheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.

Monday, July 07, 2025

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 84 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 ... 

 

Friday, July 04, 2025

2025 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats

It's July, which means that we've made it through the second quarter of 2025. It is time to "report" on the 2025 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats.

Q1 was pretty busy, and I was on track for 120 gallons of beer in 2025.

Q2, on the other hand wasn't nearly as busy. I only brewed 4 batches of beer totaling 20 gallons, putting my projected 2025 volume right at 100 gallons.

The Q2 batches were:

At the time that I'm typing this, I have Melting StreamHalfway to Helles, and Summer Lovin' on tap. Gob Stopper is fermenting.

Melting Stream Spring Saison
  

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

June Update on 2025 Cycling Goals

I do quite a bit of cycling for a middle-aged couch potato.

With all the BBQ I make and eat, and all the beer I brew and drink, biking a ridiculous amount helps keep me somewhat in shape.

So ... I spend lots of time cycling around the foothills of Denver, which I always track on Strava.

Anyway ... as you may remember from 2025 Cycling Goals, I have 5 cycling goals this year:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth / #8200MilesIn2025 / #16EverestsIn2025 / Triple Bypass Ride / #GCCUSA
 

Monday, June 30, 2025

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:

 

Friday, June 27, 2025

Halfway to Helles vs Astrosuds Lager

So, part of the logic around brewing Halfway to Helles Leichtbier in May had to do with my May "SeasonalHelles in a Hand Bock-sket.

Last year, while drinking Hand Bock-sket, I made the comment:

#WillDrinkInJune. Great bready malt character. Loving this beer. I think the only improvement I can think of is making it lower ABV ... But it wouldn't be a Maibock then 😎

I believe this was shortly after drinking a beer at Green Mountain Brewing Company that really reminded me of  Hand Bock-sket, but was lower in ABV. It's name was "AstroSuds Lager".

While a 5A. German Leichtbier isn't really anything like a lower ABV Maibock, it is sort of similar in that they are both German lagers.

Before my latest camping trip, I saw cans of AstroSuds Lager in Green Mountain's beer cooler, and I decided to pick up a four pack.

Around that time, I poured the Halfway to Helles Leichtbier and AstroSuds to compare side-by-side.

 

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

2025 Fathers' Day Photos (Part 3)

So ... as you know if you've been following along on this blog, I've been posting Fathers' Day photos recently.

If you have not been following along and are interested, check out 2025 Fathers' Day Photos (Part 1) and 2025 Fathers' Day Photos (Part 2).

Now, I'm posting the finale, Part 3.

We got up Sunday morning and the boys made me pancakes for breakfast. Then we packed up the camp.