Roll-a-Style 16: 26C. Belgian Tripel

Well ... if you follow this blog at all, you are familiar with my BJCP Goal and Roll-a-Style list.

Of course, the idea is that I have a list of beer styles that I've never brewed. I roll a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Originally, I had 20 beers on the list and several on "the bench". I've reduced the list so that I'm still rolling a 20-sided die, but not all the numbers have a style assigned to them. In fact, soon I'll be rolling a 12 sided die.

You also likely know that quite often I know what I want to brew next and "pretend" to roll that die to correspond with the style I want to brew next.

Part of the reason I recently picked Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 383) to brew was to build up some Belgian yeast so that I could get to a style I've had on the list since the debut of the list.

So ... I pretended to roll a 16

Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 383)

I brewed last Friday morning.

Friday!??! Yes Friday.

As I mentioned on Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter (Batch 382), my homebrew inventory is pretty low right now, and I potentially might be hosting a brew day on the 8th of November.

Homebrewers tend to drink beer when they get together, and need a decent selection.

So ... just in case, I thought I'd better get at least one more batch of beer in that would be ready to serve in early November.

I actually THINK I'll be heading over to Doc's Brewery, but we have not finalized plans, and it is better to be safe than sorry.

So ... Friday I decided to do a quick "Short and Shoddy" type brew and brewed:

Tafel Mystère Belgian Single

 

Double Spare Ribs

So ... remember not too long ago I did "hot and fast" Individual Spare Ribs for the first time.

I really liked how they turned out.

The past Tuesday I had another rack of Spare Ribs, and decided I would do something similar.

I trimmed the ribs on Tuesday morning. This time, I cut them into pairs of two ribs instead of the singles I did last time.

Then, I applied rub and let them sit until the afternoon.

As I mentioned in Individual Spare Ribs, I thought I could have put them on the grill about half an hour later than I did. This time I did wait and got them on just after 3:30 for a 6pm supper time.

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter (Batch 382)

I brewed Sunday. 

I've gotten myself into a situation where I'm running low on beer "inventory". The last time I brewed before this batch was 1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 361) in early September.

And this ... with Learn to Homebrew Day coming up ...

I'll probably be brewing quite a few batches between now and November, which is likely to put me in the opposite situation.

Anyway ... I posted about this recipe back in JULY ... Roll-a-Style 10: 29C. Specialty Fruit Beer, but I took a break on the Roll-a-Style beers with Johnny McClure Rainier Lager and 1519 Barker Exportbier.

Plus, I thought the name was more appropriate to brew in October. Now ... it's time to get back into it ...

Gnomeberry Hollow Cherry Porter

 

Roll-a-Style 20: 17D. English Barley Wine (X-Mas Ale 2025)

Every year since I started homebrewing (way back in 2009), I've brewed an X-Mas Ale to have around the holidays.

The base beer was always a very similar "Winter Warmer", and I'd add various ingredients to make it more of a "Holiday" Beer.

Over the years, I added wood spirals, vanilla, cherry pomegranate, chocolate, peppermint, peanut butter, hazelnut, cherry, and many other flavorings.

But, if you follow this blog at all, you probably have read that I want to concentrate more on my BJCP Goal this year, and when I was thinking about brewing my 2025 X-Mas Ale, I wanted to pick a style on my Roll-a-Style list.

Looking through the list, I decided that the closest to my "traditional" X-Mas Ale recipe was 17D. English Barley Wine.

So, I pretended to roll a 20 on my 20-sided online die.

 

2025 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

Here it is October already. We're over three quarters through the year! 2025 is flying by.

At the SheppyBrew Brewery, Q3 was another lighter than average brewing quarter, with only 4 batches of beer and 20 gallons of beer.

This means we've brewed 14 batches and 70 gallons so far in 2025, putting us on track to hit 92 gallons this year.

I don't expect I'll pick up my volume all that much in Q4, but I guess we'll have to see how it goes.

My Q3 batches were:

• Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager
• Voodu Magic Tropical Stout
• Johnny McClure Rainier Lager
• 1519 Barker Exportbier

As I'm typing this, Cuttlefish is gone, and Voodu Magic, Johnny McClure, and 1519 Barker are still "on tap". 

Cuttlefish Czech Amber Lager

 

Finished #GCCUSA2025

If you follow this blog or any of my socials, you know that I finished up the 2025 Great Cycle Challenge at the end of September.

There is still plenty of time to donate if you'd like to help fight childhood cancer. You can do that on my rider page: 

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard.

During the month, I logged 49 outdoor rides along with 1 indoor one for a total of 1,210 miles. On those rides, I climbed a total of 52,769 vertical feet.

More importantly, I raised $3,384 for cancer research, thanks to all my generous sponsors. 

Another successful GCC!