I hit 100 Gallons

According to the spreadsheet on which I track this sort of thing, Sunday, I brewed my 21st batch of beer for the year. More significantly, BlackHawk Black brought my 2012 total to exactly 100 gallons of beer.

You may remember that last year I mentioned that I might hit 100 Gallons. Later, at the end of the year, I reported that I had come short and only reached 98 gallons for 2011.

This year, though, I hit the 100 gallons. I am planning on brewing at least one more batch, so my 2012 total will actually break the 100 gallon mark.

As I mentioned last year (see 100 Gallons of Beer), it is legal in the United States (thank you Jimmy Carter) for an individual to brew 100 gallons of beer per year. A household is allowed to brew 200 gallons. Luckily, I am married to the SheppyBrew Beer Model who is also technically a household brewer. Shrek also sometimes help me brew so the fact that the SheppyBrew Home Brewery is breaking the 100 gallons mark will not get me arrested.

As proof that I am not the only household brewer, see Brewing Boo Berry Wheat, Weekend Sans Kids, Brewing the Laser Salt, Laser Salt and The Beer Model. I am sure there are other blog posts in which I establish a plausible case for it being legal for me to brew more than 100 gallons, so if you are some sort of home-brew cop don't think of coming after me. I'm legal.

100 gallons probably doesn't seem like much to some home-brewers who will come across this blog post. Don't tell the authorities, but I know of some home-brewers who [theoretically] break the 200 gallon mark. However, 100 gallons does seem like a bunch of beer to me. When I started brewing (way back in 2009), I never imagined that I would brew this much.

While looking at my spreadsheet, I realized that BlackHawk Black was my 106th batch of beer ever. This means that I went through batch 100 without noticing. It probably would have made sense to honor that batch with a mention. I guess I'll do that now. My 100th batch of beer was Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale and I blogged about that brew day with Brewing Laser Salt Again. Had I thought of it, I probably would have come up with a special 100th Batch recipe. Oh Well, maybe I can do that for some other significant batch of beer.

Here is a list of the batches that I have brewed so far this year:

1. Eric's Red Failure 1/15 (new recipe)
2. Eric's Irish Red Ale 1/22 (new recipe *)
3. Apricot Lovin' American Wheat  2/12 (new recipe)
4. Free the Glutens! APA  2/25
5. Pompously Illegitimate Red Ale  3/4 (new recipe)
6. Gringo Cerveza Popcorn Ale  3/25 (new recipe)
7. Gringo Cerveza Popcorn Jalapeño Ale  3/25 (new recipe)
8. Tommy Hawk APA  4/22
9. Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale  5/5 (new recipe)
10. Wetta Berry Raspberry Ale  5/25 (new recipe)
11. Cheap Bastard American Mild Ale  6/10 (new recipe)
12. Summer Lovin' American Wheat  7/24
13. Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner  8/4 (new recipe)
14. Rocktoberfest Lager  8/19
15. Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale  8/26
16. Rationalité Poison d'Ereeeek  9/9 (new recipe)
17. Boo Berry American Wheat  9/23 (new recipe)
18. Eric The Awful Red Ale  10/7 (new recipe)
19. X-Mas Ale 2012  10/28 (new recipe)
20. 42 SMaSH Pale Ale  11/16 (new recipe)
21. Blackhawk Black Ale 12/2 (new recipe *)
    
    *NOTE: Eric's Red and Blackhawk Black are only new recipes based on a conversion to all-gain.

There are not very many repeats on that list, and most of these beers are new recipes this year. That is quite a variety.

As I mentioned above, some of you will look and say to yourselves, "100 gallons in a year is not very much". Is so, here is your chance to brag. I am also curious to hear from those of you who have not reached the 100 gallon mark. Let me know by leaving a comment .... how much beer have you brewed this year?

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