Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 336)

Yeah, I've been brewing a lot lately. Contrary to what I keep "saying" on this blog, right now, I'm on track to brew more beer this year than even 2021.

I still believe I'll slow down enough that this year's total will be less than last year's, but as we get farther and farther into the year, it seem increasingly possible that I am wrong about that.

My excuse right now is that my wife's (aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model's) family is coming to visit in June, and I'll need a lot of beer for this group.

Anyway, after finishing off Melting Stream quicker than expected, I thought I needed another batch of beer going.

I had a mason jar of yeast in the fridge that I was fairly sure was Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast, but not 100% sure.

I thought I'd use that to make a "Belgium Table Beer".

Tafel Mystère Belgian Single

W is for Westbound & Down (Denver)

I went on a bike ride Saturday morning. I couldn't go on a very long bike ride because the Beer Model (aka my wife ... aka the Pedego Owner) wanted me back so we could go on a bike ride together.

You see ... she wanted to knock off the next brewery on our  A to Z Breweries series of posts.

As I mentioned in V is for Very Nice Brewing Company, The Colorado Brewery List actually has a couple choices for "W".

I had on in particular in mind, but I was open to suggestions.

Regardless, the Beer Model liked the brewery I was thinking of, and thought she could make the bike ride.

W is for Westbound & Down (Denver)

T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager (batch 335)

I had a rare Friday brew day yesterday. 

We actually will be having a few sets of visitors coming by in the next few weeks, so I need to make sure we have plenty of beer to serve.

And ... it being a long weekend, the CEO of the company I work for told us to take off early ... so I used some of the extra time to brew.

I'm actually planning on brewing another batch tomorrow or Monday.

That should get me caught up, but we'll see how much the Beer Model's family wipes out my inventory.

Anyway ... The beer I brewed yesterday was ...

T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager

Mac and Cheese on the Kettle

My youngest son graduated from High School this past weekend.

This makes me feel old. Where did all the years go? As they say ... "The days are long. The years are short".

Anyway ... with my oldest son visiting to celebrate his little brother, I made my world-famous comfort food ...

Smoked Mac and Cheese.

I made it a little different than I ever had before. Usually, I use either bacon or sausage as the meat. This time I used both.

And ... the bacon was just laying on the top of the dish as opposed to having it mixed into the noodles and cheese mixture.

Captain Serious Pressure Transfer

Well ... I've finally gotten a pressure transfer to work.

It happened slower than I would have liked, and I still wish there was a way to know where the level of the beer in the keg was, but at least I got Captain Serious Pilsner into the keg from a pressurized fermenter.

So, I pressure fermented Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333).

Four days into the fermentation, I dry hopped the beer by pulling sous vide magnets that were attached to hop bags in the fermenter.

That worked really slick.

Designing a New SheppyBrew IPA

So ... for various reasons, I want to brew an American IPA soon.

Atypical to most homebrewers, I don't actually brew very many IPA's. I like them (a lot). But, they are a little higher in alcohol than I generally like to have gallons and gallons of at home.

And ... every brewery I know brews several IPA's. If I want an IPA, I can find them commercially at any one of hundreds within bike riding distance. Not to mention grocery stores and liquor stores now have great craft beer selections.

But, every once and awhile I like to brew an IPA.

Unless I'm forgetting any (which is possible, but not likely I think) I've brewed 5 beers that could be called traditional American IPA's: 

2023 Big Brew Day ... Summer Lovin

So ... this past Saturday was the AHA's Big Brew Day.

This is one of those days that my brewing buddies and I try to get together to brew.

This time, my friend "Doc" wanted to host, so I headed over to "Doc's Brewery".

Travel Brewing is always a different experience than my typical brew day. I have to keep my recipe as simple as possible and always accept that I might be distracted enough that the beer might not turn out as planned.

A big part of it is that I don't typically drink while brewing unless the Beer Model makes me.

But, on these Travel Brewing I have to try the beers from both the host and the others who always bring growlers.

One of the things I typically do ... at least if I'm brewing all-grain ... is start my mash at home and let it go through the drive over to whoever is hosting.

Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333)

As you probably know if you follow this blog at all, the Chicago Blackhawks are my favorite professional sports team.

And ... my favorite recent player has to be Captain Jonathan Toews (Captain Serious)

The Blackhawks really have not been a good team for several years now, and Toews has had health issues.

This past year, the team decided that Jonny would not be coming back to the team as they are concentrating on bringing on young (cheap) players to go all-in on their rebuilding process.

While, I don't disagree with the decision, the separation makes me sad. 

But, in honor of "Captain Serious" I decided to brew a beer named after him.

Captain Serious Pilsner

V is for Very Nice Brewing Company

It was less than a year ago that we started our 4th round of our A to Z Breweries series of posts.

And ... we had to cheat a little for "U", but last week we knocked it out with U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company.

It blows my mind that we are already up to "V" in this round.

After this post, we only have 4 more to go to get through the end of the alphabet.

Crazy!

As I mentioned in U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company, I had a "V" brewery in mind but wasn't sure the Beer Model would be willing to make the trip.

As it turns out, she was ok with the brewery I had in mind ... 

V is for Very Nice Brewing Company