2013 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

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: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

It has been busy brewing quarter. As you may or may not remember, I decided to try to round out my brewing experience by making it my goal to have brewed at least one recipe in all 23 beer categories of the BJCP. At the beginning of the quarter, I had 11 categories left. After having brewed Sasquatch Hunter Altbier, Snowball's Chance Helles, Khazad-dûm Black Lager, and Helles in a Hand Bock-sket, I now only have 7 more categories (English Pale Ale, English Brown Ale, Porter , German Wheat and Rye Beer, Belgian Strong Ale, Strong Ale, Smoke-Flavored and Wood-Aged Beer ) to brew. See SheppyBrew Styles for additional information on this little project.

So far in 2013, I have brewed 6 batches of beer which comes out to right around 30 gallons. Last year in the first quarter I did 7 batches, but only 27 gallons. So, I am on pace to brew more volume than last year, although I am sure I will slow down at some point.

Of these 6 batches, 4 of them are brand new recipes ( Sasquatch Hunter Altbier, Snowball's Chance Helles, Khazad-dûm Black Lager, and Helles in a Hand Bock-sket). Last year, I gave myself credit for 17 brand new recipes, so I am a little behind that pace this year, but not very much.

I've already brewed 3 lagers this year (Snowball's Chance Helles, Khazad-dûm Black Lager, and Helles in a Hand Bock-sket). All last year I only brewed 2 lagers. The year before I did 3. I will probably do at least one or two more lagers this year, making 2013 the most lagers SheppyBrew has ever produced.

All 6 of the batches I've done so far have been all-grain. Last year, I brewed 20 all-grain batches. I actually doubt I'll do anything but all-grain brewing this year, but we will see.

One of the batches is still in the fermentor ( Buckwheat's BPA), but I expect to keg that, making Snowball's Chance Helles the only non-kegged batch so far this year. I expect I'll keg most of my batches this year. Last year I kegged 15 batches.

This year, I have also blended Rationalité Poison d'Ereeeek with two beers. I fermented an extra half gallon or so of Whacko Wife Pumpkin Witbier and then Khazad-dûm Black Lager, and blended about half and half with the sour beer. I am pleased with the results. Both turned out very interesting and tasted wonderful.

I am not sure what the 2nd quarter will bring. I will probably brew Tommy Hawk APA so that I will have it for the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I will probably concentrate a bit on beers for the Beer Model. I will probably do one or two of the style categories for my goal, but I will probably take a bit of a break from that for awhile.Of course, there is another Big Brew Day coming up, so the Beer Model will probably brew something with me.

One thing I am going to play around with some is water chemistry and salt additions. This is still a brewing topic that I have not explored all that much, so we will have to see how that goes.

I think that is all I have to report at the moment. Overall, things are going well.

Go Blackhawks.