Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 342)

If you follow along on this blog, you might have caught that I try to have the Beer Model (aka my wife) brew from time to time.

In the United States, an individual homebrewer is allowed to brew 100 gallons of beer a year. A household with two or more adults over 21 years of age is allowed a maximum of 200 gallons.

The SheppyBrew "Brewery" brews significantly over 100 gallons most years, and we're on track to get over 100 again this year. 

So ... mostly jokingly, I say that the Beer Model has to brew in order to keep me out of jail.

I'm honestly not sure who is supposed to enforce this 100 (or 200) gallon limit. I suspect that no one actually does, so I don't think I'm in any real danger of going to jail for brewing too much beer.

However, sometimes it is fun to have the Beer Model help brew, and staying out of jail is as good an excuse as any.

The Beer Model has actually helped me brew beer a couple times this year, but those were at my friends Du's Brewery and Doc's Brewery. 

She really hasn't helped out at the SheppyBrew Brewery yet this year.

So ... we decided to do a brew day this past weekend.

I had her pick out a style to brew. She looked at the Roll-a-Style list, and she even "rolled" the 20 sided die. She rolled a 14 ... which is a Sweet Stout, and she didn't want to brew a Stout.

Finally, she settled on one of her classic favorites ... 

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale

This is the 14th time I've (we've) brewed Buckwheat's BPA, but it hasn't been brewed in a couple of years.

So ... it seemed like a good thing to brew.

We got started pretty late for me, about average for a Beer Model brew day.

Everything went fairly smoothly. Our pre-boil gravity was a bit low, but I think that was because our volume was a bit high. I probably just added too much strike water.

We decided to just not worry about it and not adjust.

The OG was similarly low.

The Beer Model decided to go with the Pressure Fermenter.

The fermentation took off strong sometime overnight and at this point, the main fermentation is pretty much done.

We don't have an open keg, but I'm sure that is a temporary situation.

After brew day, I made spare ribs. The Beer Model doesn't "do" grilling or smoking. She does like to eat grilled and smoked meats, though.

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 Bears!