SheppyBrew 2019 Year-End Brewing Stats

2019 is over. It sure went fast. SheppyBrew did brew a bunch this year.

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.

The forth quarter was light compared to the rest of the year. We only brewed 4 beers.

• X-Mas Ale 2019
• Dearg Irish Red
• What the Helles Dortmunder
• Peppermint Porter

Those 4 batches totaled almost 20 gallons of beer, bringing my 2019 total up to almost 110 gallons over 20 batches of beer. 

Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter with Cooling System (Part 2)

So ... remember Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter with Cooling System (Part 1)?

Just a quick recap ... I bought Anvil Cooling System for Bucket Fermenter along with an Anvil Stainless Bucket Fermenter.

The idea behind this system is to control fermentation temperature by circulating cold water through tubing inside the beer. My hope was to be able to keep my fermentation in the lower to mid-50's for lagers.

I was running ice water, which worked great until the ice ran out (and the circulating water warmed up). To maintain this cooling system, I had to re-supply ice every day or two.

This works better than my old system of cooling. But, still not ideal. For my newest lager "What the Helles", I decided to try something.

The instructions for this cooling system say use ice water or a a glycol chiller. A glycol chiller is fairly expensive. But I thought maybe I could put glycol in a bucket stored in my chest freezer and pump that through the system.

What the Helles Brew Day (244)

This past weekend, I brewed my 19th batch of beer for the year.

244th batch of beer all-time.

It was my 13th new recipe this year. My 6th lager.

Last week, I gave you a little heads-up that it was coming in What the Helles.

The beer name is What the Helles Dortmunder, and you can take a look at the recipe by following the link.

It is actually very similar to the Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner that I made a couple months ago, but should be richer, more bready, with a more substantial mouthfeel and a maltier, less bitter flavor.

Anyway ... I got started brewing very early in the morning.

When I went out, I startled a skunk that was wandering along my fence. Luckily, it was far enough away that I wasn't in danger of getting sprayed, but it did get my heart pumping a bit early in the morning.

What the Helles?

The German Beer Styles that have "Helles" (light in German) in their names have so many beer-name puns available to them.