SheppyBrew Home Page

After doing the updates mentioned in New SheppyBrew Website, I had copilot rewrite my SheppyBrew Home page. 

To be honest, I can't decide if I like copilot's version better or not. 

Just in case I think I want to go back, I'm storing what it was before here. 

Let me know what you think. 

........

New SheppyBrew Website

I spent some time recently updating the SheppyBrew Website.

The tech stack used on the site was very out of date and making any code changes to the site was very difficult.

If you're a computer geek at all, you could probably tell with the use of .aspx pages, and the fact that it really was not great on smaller screens.

But, really the main reason I felt I had to get the thing updated was that my hosting company sent me an email letting me know that support for the version of .NET was being removed from their servers "sometime this quarter".

 

Groomsday Pic Pint

My friend "Joe" contacted me again a couple weeks ago, letting me know that he wanted to send me another gift to help promote a new site ... "Groomsday".

He thought I might like one of the company's laser-engraved Personalized Groomsmen Beer Glasses.

I agreed, and sent him a picture of myself so that he could send me a Laser Engraved Pic Pint.

All glasses are engraved by our amazing artist, who extracts your guys out of the pictures you send him and engraves them on the glass. This beer glass holds 15 oz, the perfect amount to enjoy.

#5000MilesIn2022 and #10Everestsin2022

I started a little slow this year.

By the 10th of February last year, I had cycled 541 miles with 34,687 feet climbed.

Here it is the 10th of February ... and this year I've only cycled 370 miles with 20,279 feet climbed. Not even 1 Everest.

There are various reasons for my slow start this year. I won't go into them. Honestly, 370 miles with 20,279 feet elevation gain in a Colorado winter isn't really all that bad for an old couch potato such as myself.

I'm sure at some point I'll catch up. If not, I'll still ride more than most people.

Bridesmaids Gift Boutique: Koozie Couple

My old friend "Joe" from Bridesmaids Gift Boutique: Ice Ice Baby emailed me again. He wanted to know if I'd like to try out another gift from Bridesmaids Gifts Boutique.

He thought I might like to try the "Koozie Couple" in exchange for posting about it on this blog.

I thought that was a cool idea, so I let him know "Sure, I'd be willing to write a post about the Koozie Couple."

He was kind enough to send me out a set to try. One for me. One for my wife.

Groovy Groomsmen Gifts: Personalized Growler

Do you remember Groovy Guy Gifts? Groovy Guy Gifts from Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug / Groovy Guy Gifts: Louisville Chugger / Groovy Guy Gifts: Viking Beer Horn?

I got an email from their "brother site" ... Groovy Groomsmen Gifts, asking if I'd like to pick a gift to review on this blog.

Out of the suggestions in the email, I thought I'd most like to try their ...

Angry Amber Growler

Groovy Guy Gifts: Viking Beer Horn

As I mentioned in Groovy Guy Gifts: Louisville Chugger ... my buddy "Joe" recently sent me a couple of items from the Groovy Guy Gifts website. 

In addition to the Louisville Chugger, he kindly sent me a Viking Beer Horn.

I thought the  Viking Vessel looked completely bad-ass. Really really cool looking. 

Groovy Guy Gifts: Louisville Chugger

 Do you remember Groovy Guy Gifts? Groovy Guy Gifts from Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug?

Joe at Groovy Guy Gifts got back in touch wondering if I'd be interested in to try out anything else from the Groovy Guy Gifts website.

I responded, "Yes, I would be interested".

He mentioned that the site was promoting:

• Viking Vessel
• Brew Bearer
• Gunmetal Mug 
• Bro'ster Holster
• Louisville Chugger

Spike in Page Views

My blog currently says it has gotten 12,713 page views in the last 30 days. That is a ton for my blog.

February will be the highest number of views this blog has ever gotten. Back in June of 2016, I hit 11,124 page views. Then for a little over half a year, the number fell steadily. It sort of had some ups and downs until late last year.

Homebrew Colorado 6 pack

I've noticed recently that my May 2013 post "Colorado 6 pack" has been getting some traffic.

Unless you just followed the link, you probably don't remember much about "Colorado 6 pack", but it was basically a blogging collaboration that @BryanDRoth at This Is Why I'm Drunk. set up.

He wanted to get 6 different bloggers from six different states to each come up with a 6-pack of beers that "best represent your state and/or state's beer culture".

So I did that back in 2013 for Colorado. The blog post seems to have been fairly popular over the past month or so. It has been getting more traffic than my more recent posts. 

It got me thinking ... wouldn't it be fun to brew up beers inspired by this "Colorado 6 pack"?

My answer to myself was "Yes".

So ... here are the beers I picked:

Bridesmaids Gift Boutique: Ice Ice Baby

Remember "Joe" from my post Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug?

Well .. after posting my review ... he asked if I'd like to do the same for something on another website that he is involved in. He offered to send me something from Bridesmaids Gift Boutique.

He thought maybe drink ware on the site might fit with my blog:

https://www.bridesmaidgiftsboutique.com/collections/drinkware

To be honest, nothing really jumped out at me like a bunch of the stuff from Groovy Guy Gifts did.

However, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) took a look and liked the "Ice Ice Baby" insulated tumbler.

So, we had Joe send us one.

SheppyBrew.com Update

So ... Remember in SheppyBrew 2018 Year-End Brewing Stats, I mentioned:

"www.sheppybrew.com has been having issues. I hope to work on the website this year to correct those problems. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but the website isn't always rendering the correct page."

The issue that I was referring to was that the server was caching my pages. This would have been fine, but the web server was not treating query strings as different content.

Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug

So ...

A week or two ago ... "Joe" at Groovy Guy Gifts emailed me. He wanted to know if I would be willing to write a product review on the blog in exchange for a free personalized gift.

I like free. Personalized gifts are cool. Sometimes I type things into a blog. Yes, I was willing.

Based on the content of this blog, he suggested that I might like one of the following ...

• Personalized Bottle Opener
• Personalized Growler Cooler
• Personalized 16oz Gunmetal Beer Mug
• Personalized 18oz Giant Beer Mug

He was correct. I liked all those items. I was also very interested in several other items on the website.

Pretty much everything in the "Bar & Drinking Gifts" section.

Most of the "All Gifts" section too.

It was difficult to choose, but eventually, I decided to have "Joe" send me a Big Slug Mug (aka Personalized 18oz Giant Beer Mug).

I think it looks cool.

Especially with "SheppyBrew Home Brew" engraved on it.

Electric Smoker Guy

So, you may remember that I got a grill / smoker for Christmas. Technically, I got a picture of the grill / smoker ... but that is a story of its own. And ... eventually I got the actual grill and the actual smoker box.

As a result of this gift, I've gotten into smoking meats.

If you want, you can take a look at all the blog posts about the smoking I've done so far: Sheppy's Blog: Smoked

I have started looking at different Barbecue / Smoker forums because ... well ... because I now have a smoker.

My 1000th Blog Post

Hey hey hey ...

You are reading this blog's 1000th blog post. Can you believe it?

My first blog post was on June 27th, 2005 (see Blogging).

I got to 500 on February 5th, 2012.

And now, here I am at 1000.

I don't know of many personal blogs like this one that last this long.

At the beginning, I didn't really know what I was going to write about. Now I've settled into this being mostly a beer blog and most of those articles being about my adventures at my SheppyBrew Home Brewery. But, I've managed to sprinkle in other topics from time to time.

Keg Tap Cap

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, or my twitter feed, you may have noticed that I posted another article to The Homebrew Academy.

Check it out please ...

Keg Tap Cap Review

I won't spend a bunch of time talking about the article here ... go read it yourself ....

And ... take a look in the comments section where Matt, the owner of the Keg Tap Cap company added in a promotion code for 20% off any order. It is good for the next 60 days ...

Awesome.

Again ... check it out ...

Keg Tap Cap Review

My Wife's Pumpkin Ale

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, or my twitter feed, you may have noticed that I posted another article to The Homebrew Academy. 

My Wife's Pumpkin Ale

If you haven't seen it, go take a look. Please Please Please Leave a comment. I want Billy to think it is worth having me "on staff" at his blog.

In the article, I go a little more into detail about making a pie-spice tincture, and how I try to use it to spice the beer "to taste". Again, go read 

Currently, the Will-o-Wisp Pumpkin Ale is in its fermentor waiting to be transferred to secondary at which point I'll add some of the tincture, but most likely less than I'll think I need. After a few days, I'll keg the beer and add more of the spice tincture if I think it needs it.

Every few days I'll add more until we think it is where it should be.

I hope to get the beer into secondary over the next few days. I'm not sure when a keg will open up, but I do think  Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager is about finished.

Again, please go visit My Wife's Pumpkin Ale and leave comments. So far there are only 2. I want to see closer to 20.

Go Bears!

Super Simple Yogurt?

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, or my twitter feed, you may have noticed that I posted another article to The Homebrew Academy. If you haven't seen it, go take a look. Leave a comment.

Simple Crock Pot Yogurt

Well, I thought "my" method of Crock Pot Yogurt was simple, but the very first comment on the article told me that I "may be making yoghurt more complicated than it needs to be".

Reinheitsgebot Smeinheitsgebot

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, or my twitter feed, you may have noticed that I posted another article to The Homebrew Academy. If you haven't seen it, go take a look. Leave a comment.

Is Reinheitsgebot really a four letter word?

February 2014 Blogging

This blog got 7 more "page views" in February than it did in January.

7. Seven.

So, February is the new "page view" record holder, by a real tiny amount, but when you consider 28 days as opposed to 31 days, it was actually a real strong month.

By far, the most-viewed post this month was The Problem with Mr. Beer from Mar 4, 2013. You may remember it was #2 last month and #3 the month before. It has gotten enough attention lately that it is now in the top 10 all-time most viewed posts on this blog. I figure lots of people got Mr. Beer kits for Christmas. They, or in the case of December, the people who purchased the gift, got to googling, and came across my site. It is interesting (at least to me) that I have not done a Mr. Beer batch in more than 2 years, but I still get from time to time questions about Mr. Beer brewing. At this point, I just send them on to the Mr. Beer Discussion Forums.