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: 

2022 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

We have completed Q1 of 2022, which means we can report the SheppyBrew Brewing Stats for the quarter.

Compared to Q1 of 2020 (when we brewed 7 batches for 35 gallons) and Q1 of 2021 (when we brewed 8 batches for 42 gallons of beer), the first quarter of 2022 has been pretty low.

We've only brewed 5 batches. We've only brewed 30 gallons.

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

This puts me on pace for my 3rd highest year for volume of beer brewed, but certainly 1 quarter doesn't mean very much for projecting a total for the year.

The beers I brewed this quarter were:

• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Colorado Strong IPA
• Colorado Vienna Lager
• Boo Berry American Wheat
• McShepardsons Irish Ale (double batch)

Disappearing Beer

I discovered something sad on Sunday afternoon. 

I was intending to write a blog post about my two recent "Colorado" beers. Both Colorado Strong IPA and Colorado Vienna Lager feature a malt bill completely composed of malts from local Root Shoot Malting.

On Friday, I noted that Colorado Vienna Lager was

 "pretty much perfect now. Carbonation and clarity right where I want them. Yummy flavor. Beautiful color."

In other words ... this beer was ready to start drinking more than just samples. Drinking "for reals".

Colorado Strong IPA (Batch 305)

So far this year, I'm brewing less than last year.

It is early, so it doesn't really mean anything yet, but I expect I'll be back to closer to pre-covid levels of brewing this year.

We'll see.

This past weekend, I did brew my 2nd batch of the year. It was my 305th batch in my brewing "career". If I'm counting correctly, it is the 31st time I've brewed on the Anvil Foundry all-in-one system.

The recipe I brewed was my take on the "Colorado Strong IPA".

In 2020, I was able to give a donation to the Colorado Strong Fund.to get the official recipe for the Colorado Strong Pale Ale. 

The 2021 Version of Colorado Strong doesn't appear to be hyped as much, and as far as I can tell, there isn't really an official recipe.

That's fine. I just created my own ...

Colorado Strong IPA

Q is for barQuentine Brewing Company

If you're following along, you know that I recently posted P is for Prost Brewing Company.

You are probably familiar enough with the English alphabet to know that after "P" comes "Q".

Q is tough for my A to Z Denver Breweries series of blog posts.

In round 1, I wasn't able to find and "Q" breweries in the Denver area, but I was able to use a Meadery with Q is for Queen Bee Brews.

In round 2, I still couldn't come up with any "Q" breweries, so I had to take "artistic license" with Q is for LiQuid Mechanics Brewing Company.

Here it is ... round 3 ... as far as I know, there are still no breweries in the Denver that start with the letter "Q".

So, once again, just like last time ... I had to take "artistic license" to come up with a "Q" brewery.

Q is for BarQuentine Brewing Company

N is for Novel Strand Brewing Company

It has been awhile since we biked to M is for Mountain Toad Brewing.

I actually don't think the Beer Model had been on her bike at all since Mountain Toad.

But this past weekend, we decided to continue our exploration of A to Z Denver Breweries.

As I mentioned in M is for Mountain Toad Brewing, there was really only one logical choice for our "N" brewery.

I'd actually ridden my bike by this brewery a couple times on my various biking journeys.

It is a nice ride from our Home Brewery along bike paths to ...

N is for Novel Strand Brewing Company 

2020 Q3 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: Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats.

On Your Left

Just like Q1 and Q2 we brewed a bunch in Q3, and I am on pace to brew over 150 gallons in 2020 ... significantly more beer than any year in the past. 

In the third quarter, I had 8 brew days, 9 batches, 47 gallons of beer.

Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale (265)

So ... if you've been following along on this blog, or SheppyBrew's Facebook Page or SheppyBrew's Instagram Page, you know that I've been playing around with Lithuanian Farmhouse Yeast. 

The brewer / owner of one of my local breweries, Great Frontier, pulled some off his fermentor and gave me a quart of slurry.

It is one of those yeast strains that has evolved to handle hot fermentation temperatures with a fairly clean profile.

I've brewed a couple times with it, fermenting beer in the 80's and 90's (Fahrenheit). With that hot fermentation, the yeast rips through the sugars very quickly, and I've been able to get beers into the keg in 3 or 4 days.

The yeast produces a really subtle pepper flavor, similar to saison strains, but much more restrained. It also has a really nice citrus ester.

I thought the citrus of the yeast would compliment traditional American hops in a Pale Ale or IPA, and thought I'd give it a try in my homebrew version of Colorado Strong Pale Ale. 

Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale

T is for Two22 Brew

As I mentioned in T is for ... Time Out, my A to Z Denver Brewery Project has been on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic protocols.

I published S is for Station 26 Brewing Company at the beginning of March. Since then, we've been buying beer to-go from breweries, but not really going to breweries to drink.

Until that point I had been flying through my 2nd time through the alphabet. 

After that point ... not at all.

But ... breweries have been opening up some lately, and this past Saturday, I thought I'd check out the "T" brewery I've been targeting. 

We took a bike ride to ...

T is for Two22 Brew

2020 Q2 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: Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats.

And ... believe it or not ... the 2nd quarter of 2020 is done. Finished. Complete.

Colorado Strong

As I type this, I'm drinking SheppyBrew's Colorado Strong Pale Ale.

The recipe was based on the beer that Left Hand's Brewing Foundation came up with to help raise money for the Colorado Strong Fund.

Many breweries across Colorado have brewed their own versions, donating a certain percentage of the sales to the fund.

They all start off with the recipe and basic ingredients. They are free to modify the recipe to make it their own, but the basic recipe is similar across all the breweries.

As part of my civic duty to support local businesses, I have been picking up quite a few to-go crowlers from local breweries, and I've been searching out the various versions of this beer.

Colorado Strong Pale Ale (Batch 257)

With all the Covid-19 Shelter-in-Place and Safer-at-Home directives, the small local businesses all struggled to stay in business.

Colorado craft breweries obviously were affected.

Left Hand's Brewing Foundation came up with a fund raising idea to try to help local breweries ... The Colorado Strong Fund.

Basically, they came up with a recipe and bought ingredients for breweries to brew it. Several of the local breweries I visit signed up.

Seeing this, I asked if I could get a homebrew recipe, and the answer was "yes". I made a donation to the fund, and they sent me the recipe.

The recipe they sent included locally produced malts, hops, and yeast.

Of course, I made a few minor modifications, but for the most part stayed as true to the recipe as I could.

Because the idea is to raise a little money, I am not posting my recipe on the SheppyBrew Website yet ... but there is still a "recipe page" here ...

Colorado Strong Pale Ale