A.I. Generated SheppyBrew Logo

So ... I mentioned in Roll-a-Style 1 ... 3A. Czech Pale Lager that I was playing around with Chat GPT.

I use the free version, because I think the upgrade just wouldn't be worth paying for.

One of the things in the upgrade version of Chat GPT that really interested me was DALL·E ... which is the technology that allows you to enter a description and the A.I. will generate an image.

I have been thinking that I need a SheppyBrew Logo for awhile, and I thought it would be fun to use DALL·E (or something similar) to generate one for me.

So ... I did some searching, and came across Bing's Image Creator from Designer.

When I signed into it with my Microsoft credentials, it didn't appear to want to charge me, so I think it is free. It might be that I don't have to pay because I already have MS 365, but whatever ... it is something I could play with.

 

McShepardSons Comparison

Remember a couple weeks ago I brewed a double batch of McShepardSons Irish Ale (Batch 308)?

Well ... I did.

In one fermentor, I pitched Voss Kveik Ale Yeast. In the other I used SafAle English Ale.

The Voss ferment finished up in a few days. The English ferment finished about a week later.

Friday after work, I decided to compare the two beers.

They are both beautiful red ales, but the colors are slightly different. The kveik ale is just a touch darker. I think this is mostly due to the Voss beer having more time to clarify. 

I.Hate.Beer

I've decided to give up beer.

This morning I woke up with an over-whelming hatred of beer.

I hate the smell. I hate the taste. I hate making it. I hate drinking it. I hate looking at it. I hate thinking about it. I hate taking photos of it. I hate blogging about it.

I. Hate. Beer.

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner (Batch 275)

Schreck Gartenzwerg. Fright Gnome. 

Last year, I came up with a German Pilsner recipe.

The grain bill was 100% floor malted German pilsner malt.

The flavor hops were the "new" German hops Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon. I also included an ounce of each in dry hops.

Maybe not a completely traditional German Pilsner, but it was really delicious.

I thought it was an awesome beer. I even brought the keg into work to share at a "happy hour". It was well received.

Of course, that meant it didn't last long. 

At the time I thought I should brew it again. Maybe multiple times. Since that first batch, I have not brewed it.

Until the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner

I hit 100 Gallons in 2019

If I recorded accurately and did my math correctly, as of Learn to Homebrew Day, the Gnomes, the SheppyBrew Beer Model, and I have brewed 100 gallons of beer this year.

100

Gallons 

of Beer

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner (Batch 239)

I brewed a couple weekends ago. As you may remember, I wanted to brew more lagers and more new recipes this year.

The last lager I brewed was "Bridge Fog California Common" back at the end of March, and I thought it was past time to brew another.

I recently won some money and I had decided to treat myself to an Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter with part of those winnings.

And ... part of the reason I decided to go with Anvil was because it has a cooling system that goes with the "bucket".

I hope to write more about the Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter and its cooling system in later blog posts ... stay tuned for that.

Those two things arrived the Friday before, and it was a no-brainer to brew a lager over the weekend.

The recipe I came up with was a German Pilsner:

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner

Rocktoberfest Lager 2018

The Colorado Rockies are in the hunt for the playoffs this year.

As I type ... they are 1.5 games out of the 2nd wildcard spot, but only a game out of first in the NL West. They have plenty of games left with Arizona, so they basically have their playoff destiny in their own hands.

But ... they are the Rockies ... so they are likely to need all the help they can get.

You may not know this, but the Colorado Rockies have never won a division title.

And so ... I figured it was time for me to do my part and help by brewing some

Rocktoberfest Lager.  

A couple of weekends ago, I did just that.

Where'd My ManGo Wheat

So ... last Saturday was the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day, and I used that as an excuse to get the SheppyBrew Beer Model to join me for a brew day.

I try to get The Beer Model to brew at least once a year for legal reasons.

... sort of ...

You see, Colorado (like most states) allows the adult head-of-household to brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

I basically brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

However, sometimes I go a little over.

The law also allows a second adult in the household to brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

As young as she looks, the SheppyBrew Beer Model legally qualifies as an adult in our household.

So, by having her brew ... I figure the SheppyBrew Home Brewery is allowed 200 gallons of beer per year.

Gzombie Gnome Gapocalypse

As I mentioned in Bad Lands Kölsch, we recently added a new Brewing Gnome at SheppyBrew Brewery. I also mentioned that he and I would be designing a beer recipe together soon.

His name is Gzombie Gnome. He certainly does not look like either of the other SheppyBrew Brewing Gnomes. He is, in fact, pretty unique looking among all Gnomes.

This is because Gzombie is a Zombie Gnome. Zombie Gnomes are pretty rare.

You may not know this, but beer geeks love zombies. Don't believe me? Do a search on untappd for "Zombie Apocalypse" or just simply "Zombie". There are TONS of beers named after zombies.

As one of my brewers is a Zombie, of course I needed to add to the Zombie theme.

So, together, Gzombie and I designed a beer worthy of the Zombie Apocalypse genre. The underlying design question was ...

What would Sheppy Brew in the (likely) event of a Zombie Apocalypse?

We came up with:

Gzombie Gnome Gapocalypse

6 Pack for American Craft Beer Week 2015

Well, I did it last year. Seemed like a good idea. So, I am doing it again.

This year, May 11 - 17 was American Craft Beer Week (#ACBW).

If you follow SheppyBrew on Facebook (if you don't, please go like us). You might have seen my pictures every day. In case you didn't see them, here is my 2015 ACBW 6-Pack:

Bad Lands Kölsch

A couple years ago I visited South Dakota with my family, and I have fond memories of visiting my Badlands National Park.

Recently, we were talking about the possibility of going to South Dakota again, possibly meeting more family who live in another part of the country.

I thought that, just for the fun of out, I'd brew a beer that would be appropriate to bring to the Bad Lands.

For various reasons, I decided to go with a Kölsch. See the recipe at:

Bad Lands Kölsch

I brewed it yesterday.

SheppyBrew Going Professional

SheppyBrew Brewery is going Professional! Yes, we have decided that we are going to sell our beer ... for money.

The Brew Master has decided to quit his day-job and raise the capital for a brand-new 7 barrel brew-house. If you have a couple million dollars you wish to invest, we are open to discuss how you can help get this shiny new brewery open.

At this time, we have not decided on a location, but we are fielding offers from multiple municipalities who want us.

We will continue to employ gnomes to do most of the day-to-day brewing. Gnaughty and Gnasty will be promoted to co-head brewers and we will be hiring a small army of other gnomes to assist in the brewing and packaging process.

We will not discriminate against leprechauns, tommyknockers, elves, or any other kind of small, mythical woodland creatures, but there will be absolutely no consideration to any creature who is a fan of the Detroit Red Wings and we will certainly not be hiring ANY Green Bay Packers fans.

Brewing Gnaughty Gnome English Coffee Stout

Last weekend, in an extended celebration of #StoutDay, the SheppyBrew Gnomes and I brewed a coffee stout.

Sort of.

We brewed a Stout. I took a sample today. It is a good dry(ish) stout. It does not really taste like we went above and beyond on the coffee, though.

Mostly, that is because we didn't. We did not add any coffee to this "coffee stout".

Personally, I like coffee stouts once and awhile. Read that to mean that I don't want to drink a whole 5 gallon keg (minus what I give away) of something that goes too overboard on extra coffee in a stout.

#StoutDay & #GnomesLikeBeer

As I am sure you know, today is International Stout Day.

Yes it is.

The first Thursday in November always is. It is not as popular as #IPADay, but .... well ... you know.

As a Beer Geek, I was aware of  #StoutDay, and planned ahead. I got myself some Left Hand Milk Stout Nitro. You may remember that in my Colorado 6 pack, I included this beer. Both the Nitro version and the non-Nitro version are delicious. The reason I picked the this beer for my #StoutDay beer was that untappd had another badge specific to the Nitro version "Pour Hard".

Photos of Gnomes and Beer

I take lots of pictures of beers.

Quite often, SheppyBrew Beers are photographed with Gnomes.

Don't believe me, follow SheppyBrew Brewery on untappd. You'll see lots of beers and lots of gnomes. While you're at it, follow the Brewery, or send me a "friend" request.

Or ... even better, follow the SheppyBrew Brewery on facebook. I've been stuck on 91 "likes" for quite awhile. Please, like the brewery. It would be nice to get up past 100.

Heck, I have over 300 followers on Twitter, and I don't post nearly as many beer pictures (or Gnome pictures) on twitter.

2014 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 .

Q1 of 2014 was not very busy at the SheppyBrew Brewery.  I only brewed four times.

• She Who Must Be Obeyed
• Gnasty the Gnome ESB
• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• T.RA.SH. Mexican Lager

Those four batches were about 20 gallons of beer, putting me on pace for 80 for the whole year. Last year, in Q1, I had  brewed 6 batches of beer for for 31 gallons. Last year, I ended up with 107 gallons of beer brewed. Obviously, I am not on pace to get to 100 this year. I expect that I won't catch up. But, we'll see.

Brewing Gnasty the Gnome ESB Again

Do you remember Gnasty the Gnome? Just as a very quick reminder, last year my loving wife and kids (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model and Brewing Assistants) bought me a Chicago Blackhawks Gnome to help me get over my irrational fear of gnomes. 

Of course, Gnasty the Gnome being a Blackhawks fan gives us something in common, and although I still have a lingering distrust of the creature (probably more my fault than his) we have become friends. Coincidentally, he also loves the same beers that I do and we collaborated last year to create a recipe for the BJCP Category 8 English Pale Ale (see SheppyBrew Styles). The recipe we created and brewed was Gnasty the Gnome ESB.

Brewing Gnasty the Gnome ESB

Remember Gnasty the Gnome?

As I've shared with you, I am terrified of Gnomes, but Gnasty is helping me get over my fear. We enjoy the same sorts of beers and of course we both love watching the Chicago Blackhawks. We even brew together. I still don't quite trust him. I am sure that his ultimate plan is to attack me in my sleep, but we have become friends.

As I mentioned back in January, Gnasty and I were going to design a home-brew recipe together. You might have noticed that some time ago we did that and already posted the recipe "Gnasty the Gnome ESB" on the SheppyBrew website.

If you didn't notice, you probably need to start following SheppyBrew Brewery on Facebook. Go ahead and "like" us. It is completely worth it.

Gnasty the Gnome ESB is a Category 8 English Pale Ale, subscategory C Extra Special Bitter. It is, in fact, the Category 8 representative of my initiative to make sure I've brewed everyone BJCP style category (see SheppyBrew Styles).

Gnasty the Gnome

I have an irrational fear of gnomes.

It creeps me out the way these little creatures sneak around causing mischief. The way they pretend to act like real people is unnatural. Their little voices send chills down my spine. Oddly enough, leprechauns and tommyknockers don't bother me. I can't completely put my finger on what it is, but something about gnomes are completely frightening. Quite often when I see several gnomes together, I scream like a little girl.

I can't help it, they freak me out. My wife has a similar issue with spiders.

The thing that freaks me out the most about gnomes is the unnecessary silent g. I want to pronounce it "Ga-nome", and I can see them smirk when I do that. Even when I don't actually see a gnome, the silent g makes my mind flash to those little smirks. Oddly enough, the g's at the beginning of gnats and gnus don't affect me nearly as strongly as the gnome g (probably because gnats and gnus don't flash me that evil smirk when I try to pronounce the hard g sound).