Mardi Bock and other Sunday Activities

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. 

It was also my first Brew Day after Fixing the Foundry.

And ... it was my first brew in which I'm using a new toy and trying out Pressure Fermentation.

Of course, it being Super Bowl Sunday, I had to make food for the game.

And ... it was beautiful out, so obviously I had to get a bike ride in.

It was a busy day for me.

I was up ridiculously early. Not necessarily because I wanted to be. I just couldn't sleep.

But, regardless, I woke up at 4:00am. I sort of half heartedly tried to go back to sleep, but it was not happening. I got up and started brewing ....

Mardi Bock

I had prepared water the night before, so the water was ready to mash-in. I actually had a little grain-spill, which may or may not have been an issue of not being completely awake.

While mashing, I did some "prep work" on chicken wings and spare ribs that would be our Super Bowl appetizers / dinner. 

Basically just applied SPG rub to the ribs and dry brined the wings.

I also had to replace an inner tube in my gravel bike.

I let the mash go a little longer than usual with the other stuff I was doing.

Even with the grain-spill, the pre-boil gravity and volume was pretty much right on plan.

The boil went great.

Chilling went great. I was down into the 50's extremely quick.

I mentioned in Fixing the Foundry that while ordering my replacement power switch, I made an impulse purchase.

I bought a 7.9 Gallon Fermenter King Chubby. It was half-off and the extra purchase allowed me to get free shipping.

The cool thing about this fermentor is that it allows pressure fermentation. Theoretically I can do a lager at ale temperatures while keeping the clean lager fermentation profile.

It will also allow me to more easily do a closed transfer once the fermentation is done.

I'm not sure I buy the whole pressure fermentation hype, but I am excited to try it out myself.

I'll try to let you know how it goes. Keep an eye on Sheppy's Blog: Pressure Fermentation and you'll see what I communicate about it.

I had the yeast pitched by 8:15 and was showered and ready for a bike ride by 9:00

I rode about 20 miles on the bike and then came back to do the ribs.

They were on the kettle by 11:30.

And ... I had to prep the poppers. My grocery store was out of jalapenos, so I ended up buying Anaheim peppers instead. 

I think I prefer jalapeno, but the Anaheim peppers turned out fine.

Around 1:45 pm, I had the poppers wrapped and ready to go. I added lemon pepper rub to the wings.

I wrapped the ribs around 2:45 pm

The poppers and wings went on the kettle around 4pm. I cooked them for about an hour, so they were not done for kick-off, but that's ok.

I probably could have just not made the ribs. The poppers and chicken wings along with pretzel bites that my wife made would have been enough.

But regardless, we ate ribs at about half time.

I ate too much.

I was disappointed that the Chefs won the Super Bowl ... but I didn't really have a horse in the race, so it was ok.

Anyway ...

As always keep watching the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with my BBQ, Beer, Biking: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.Of course, don't forget to visit this blog often as well!

Go Blackhawks!