2018 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats

Ok. This is embarrassing.

We are only just now getting around to posting our 2nd quarter results. As I start to type this, the 3rd quarter is almost done. Like it ends tomorrow.

Embarrassing.

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 .

Anyway ...

We didn't brew a whole lot in the 2nd quarter.

The beers we brewed were:

• Sasquatch Hunter Altbier
• Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout
• Pomegranent Biker "Radler"

That is it. Only 3 batches. Only 15 gallons of beer.

Sasquatch Hunter Altbier and Smoked Pork Loin

I brewed and Barbecued last Sunday.

My award-winning Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier and my first time smoking pork loin on the grill.

I also drank a fair amount of homebrew, but ... well ... it was Sunday ... so of course I drank homebrew.

The Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier is the beer that won a Blue Ribbon in the Denver Region of the 2013 National Homebrew Competition.

It was my first homebrew to win any kind of recognition, so it was a pretty big deal.

More importantly, I really liked the beer.

For some reason, it has been 3 years since I brewed this recipe. Sunday seemed a good time to do it again.

2015 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 2015 was actually pretty busy at the SheppyBrew Brewery. I  brewed six batches.

• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Snowball's Chance (in) Helles
• Gruntled Berry Weiße
• One Hundred Hoppy Brown Ale
• Ale to the Chief: Honey Ale
• Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier

Sasquatch Hunter Altbier --- Batch 3

Perhaps you remember my first award-winning homebrew was Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier. I just reminded you a couple weeks ago that this beer won a blue ribbon in the 2013 Denver Regional of the National Homebrew Competition. It came as a complete surprise that this beer won a ribbon. In fact, winning was so far away from my expectations that I didn't even think of saving any to send to the nationals that year.

So, I had to brew batch 2 to have something to send to the National Competition. It didn't win a medal, but I was so excited to get to the Nationals that I didn't really care.

Not only did Sasquatch Hunter win an award, but I also really liked the beer. It is shocking that I have not brewed the recipe again until two Sundays ago. Not sure exactly why other than I just never got around to it.

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?

Everybody gets a certificate

If you follow this blog at all, or SheppyBrew's Facebook Page, or my twitter feed, or are just someone I have talked to in the past couple of weeks, you know that SheppyBrew's  Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier is now an award winning beer.

I won't go into the details on the 1st place winning beer here. If you want, you can read my posts "Kind of a Big Deal" and "Brewing for the Nationals". Feel free to shower me with praise and congratulations in any or all of the comment sections.

Lots of you know that I have been brewing since 2009 when my sister got me a Mr. Beer kit as a Christmas gift. Until this year, I've never entered a home-brew competition. I've been told that I should, and I always agree. Not that I necessarily expected that I would win anything. I mostly thought I should enter competitions to get objective feedback.

Brewing for the Nationals

Did I mention that my Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier won first place at the Denver Regional round of AHA's National Home-Brew Competition in Category 7 : Amber Hybrid Beer?

Yes, I have mentioned it to lots of people. Hopefully I am not coming across too much as an arrogant, bragging ass. At some point I'll share some of the humbling things about the other beers I entered to the competition to knock myself down a couple pegs.

As I mentioned in Kind of a Big Deal, the first place win advanced my beer to the finals of the National Home-Brew Competition. Unfortunately, I did not save enough bottles to send to the finals.

This meant I had to brew it again this weekend.

As lots of you know, the first Saturday of May is National Homebrew Day, and for as long as I remember, the American Homebrewers Association has organized a Big Brew Day. Basically it is just an excuse for homebrewers to get together in packs and brew together.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) and I have made it a tradition to brew together on Big Brew Day. You can follow lots of posts (including this one) by going to my Big Brew Day label on this blog. Originally, I was planning on brewing Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale with her, but the home-brew competition win changed that plan. We had to brew Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier. Luckily, the Beer Model was ok with this.

Kind of a Big Deal

If you follow SheppyBrew Brewery's Facebook page, you already know this, but I am now officially an award-winning brewer. If you don't follow the SheppyBrew Brewery's Facebook page, you really should. Go like SheppyBrew!

Yes, believe it or not, my Sasquatch Hunter German Altbier won first place at the Denver Regional round of AHA's National Home-Brew Competition in Category 7 : Amber Hybrid Beer. It also had a mini-best-of-show designation. I'm not sure what exactly the mini-bos means, but it is better than not getting a mini-bos.

I'm kind of a big deal.

Sasquatch Hunter Brew Day

As I mentioned, New Year's Day 2013 was a brew day for me. I brewed my Sasquatch Hunter Düsseldorf Altbier, which is SheppyBrew's first Altbier. You can see the recipe by following the hyperlink.

I got started before 6 AM and as it was dark and cold, I brewed in the garage.

The mash went pretty smoothly. I did over-shoot my strike water a bit, and had to cool down the mash to 152, but I got there quickly and the temperature remained constant for an hour and 20 minute mash. While waiting for the enzymes to do their magic, I played Wii Mario Kart, which is a pretty amusing game. 

7C Düsseldorf Altbier

I mentioned not-to-long-ago that my 2013 brewing goal is to expand my resume of beer styles. I want to have at least one beer brewed of each of the 23 BJCP style categories. Up until now, I have brewed at least one all-grain batch in 12 of them. In 2013, my goal is to brew at least one beer in each of the 11 remaining categories.

For the list of what the categories are and what I have and have not brewed, see SheppyBrew Styles.

On New Year's day, I am planning on brewing a Düsseldorf Altbier, which is in Category 7 — Amber Hybrid Beer.

I've already shared on this blog the recipe I'm making .... Sasquatch Hunter Düsseldorf Altbier.

An Altbier is an amber German ale fermented cool. This cool fermentation gives the beer a nice crisp clean finish with low yeast-derived esters. In other words, it is very much lager-like in its character. Thus, it is a hybrid between an ale and a lager.

Good thing it isn't a competition

I was dominated even worse this year than I was last year or the year before.

Sigh.