I gave up beer for lent

 I gave up beer for Lent.

Sort of.

I made the decision a little late, so I had a few beers the first Friday and Saturday of Lent.

I'm also letting myself have beer on Sundays, which some people don't consider part of Lent.

The main reason I'm giving up beer (Monday thru Saturday) is that my wife and kids are all giving up something, and I didn't want to be the only one not giving up anything.

We are also all giving up "electronics" on Sundays for Lent. No computers, cell phones, tablets, video games, TV, etc ... THIS is much more difficult than giving up beer the rest of the week.

Plus, my beer supply was getting a little low.

It isn't a huge sacrifice for me to give up beer.... especially since I am excluding Sundays.

Brewing the Brother Bear Dopplebock

As I mentioned in Return of Brother Bear Dopplebock, I planned to brew Brother Bear Dopplebock a couple of weekends ago.

No surprise. I did brew it.

Of course, part of the recipe for Brother Bear Dopplebock. Required that I harvest yeast from the smaller lager Ulterior Motive Amber. Usually when I harvest yeast, I'll end up with 4 mason jars of yeast, which can be used for 4 separate batches.

In Search of the Haunted Hotel

I had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off from work this year, and we went to Eldorado Canyon State Park.

This is one of the places that we go a fair amount. Usually, we "hike" and play along the "Streamside Trail", but Monday there was some construction going on that forced us to take another trail, "Fowler Trail".

While on this trail, we read a little about "Rattlesnake Gulch Trail", which intersected our route for the day. "Rattlesnake Gulch Trail" leads to the remains of the historic Crags hotel. We were not really prepared to make that climb Monday, but both kids thought it would be cool to come back and see the Hotel Ruins.

Return of Brother Bear Dopplebock

Do you remember the "Ulterior Motive" of my last brew day?

The last beer I brewed (Ulterior Motive Amber Lager) was basically a big starter batch so that I could build up enough WLP833 German Bock Lager Yeast to brew a proper dopplebock.

The fact that I'll get a batch of beer to put in my keggerator is a bonus.

As you probably know, lagers generally require more yeast to get the fermentation job done.

Big lagers obviously require even more yeast, and a dopplebock is a great big beer.

I've used the technique of "yeast harvesting" from smaller lagers into bigger lagers before, and it ultimately ended up with my award-winning Maibock, Helles in a Hand Bock-sket. It is less expensive than buying extra vials of yeast, and of course, I also end up with 5 gallons of a smaller beer to enjoy.

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

I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries to visit, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

And then, of course, E ... E is for Epic Brewing Company

After E, I predictably went to F ... F is for Factotum Brewhouse

And for G? What did I pick for G? G is for Great Frontier Brewing

You probably know that after G comes the letter H. And ... H is for Hogshead Brewery 

If you know your alphabet, you can easily figure out that next in my list is the Letter I.

I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub

Ironworks was established in 1990, making them the oldest brewery in Lakewood, CO.

Ulterior Motive Brew Day

As promised, I brewed an International Amber Lager this past weekend.

I named it Ulterior Motive Amber Lager because I my my ulterior motive for batch is to use it as a starter for a dopplebock that I will brew it a few weeks. That is also why I picked WLP833 German Bock Lager as the yeast.

I have not published the dopplebock recipe yet, but I have mostly entered it into Beer Smith. Stay tuned at the SheppyBrew Website to see what the final recipe looks like.

The Ulterior Motive brew day went very well.

It was cold outside, and my patio was snow-covered, so I decided to brew in the garage.

This isn't unusual during the winter.

Some Snowy Pictures

From time to time, we go snowshoeing.

For the most part, snowshoeing means we walk a little. The kids fall to the ground and start playing and/or wrestling for awhile. And then we continue for a bit.

It is not the sort of thing where we cover much ground. But, the kids have fun. And when the kids have fun, the parents are happy.

Here are some snowshoeing pictures from the last time we went ... actually, the boys both decided to not wear snowshoes to aid in their falling, wrestling, and playing.

At the beginning of the "trail"

SheppyBrew 2015 Styles: International Amber Lager

So, if you have been following this blog for awhile, you know that in 2013 I made a pretty big effort to make sure I had brewed at least one beer in all of the 2008 BJCP Categories.

On 12/30/2013, I finished up this goal, brewing Schnockered to Comfortably Numb Barleywine (see Brew Day: Schnockered to Comfortably Numb).

But, of course, then the BJCP updated their style guidelines last year (see 2015 Style Guidelines). Now there are more Categories to brew.

Last year, I did brew a Pre-Prohibition Lager ... or at least something that I believe satisfies the guidelines (see Brewing Chelsea Dagger) ... to check off the new Category 27. Historical Beer. Other than this one style, I have not made any progress on the new 2015 style guidelines.

H is for Hogshead Brewery

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries that I had not visited, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

And then, of course, E ... E is for Epic Brewing Company

After E, I predictably went to F ... F is for Factotum Brewhouse

And for G? What did I pick for G? G is for Great Frontier Brewing

You probably know that after G comes the letter H. And ...

The 2016 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Well, I brewed my third batch of the Arctic Vortex Winter Saison on New Year's Day.

Arctic Vortex was the first of the "Seasonal Saison" series of beers I brew. It is my "Winter Saison", and I made it a black Saison to signify longer nights in this season.

If you are interested, you can look at the recipes for Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. But for now, we are only talking about ...

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

When I stopped by my favorite Local Home Brew Shop, they were out of my favorite Saison Yeast. WY3711 (aka the Real Super Yeast). I asked the manager if he had anything similar. He suggested I give the INIS-291 Saison : Farmhouse yeast from Inland Island a try. He even said he'd give me two vials for the price of one.

Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale

I brewed Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale on 12/13/2015 and kegged it on 12/28/2015.

As I type this, the beer is still carbonating.

I already mentioned it in 2015 Year-End SheppyBrew Stats, so this post (like my past several "brew day" posts) is very late.

I won't say a lot about the brew day. It went well. The fermentation went well. The beer was very clear going into the keg and wonderfully hoppy. I expect to enjoy this beer very much.

As always (so far), this beer uses White Labs Clarity-Ferm ("The Gluten Killer"), making this a gluten reduced beer. My wife's friend "Gretchen" might be able to drink it, although chances are it will be gone before we see her again.
Here are some pictures of brew day:

2015 Year-End SheppyBrew Stats

2015 has ended. Happy Brew Year!

SheppyBrew Brewery was busy last year. Since the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed, it is time for another Brew Stats post.

If you are interested, can see all these past updates (including the one you are reading right now ... and if any I do in the future) by following this link:  http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

I broke the 100 gallon mark for beer brewed in 2015. You may recall that last year, I only got to 90 gallons. 

Falling Leaves Autumn Saison

2015 T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager

The 2015 T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager is gone.

A couple of Mexicans helped me drink it. It didn't last very long.

There is nothing particularly Mexican about the T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager.

It does use White Labs WLP940 yeast, which is called "Mexican Lager Yeast", which apparently originates from Mexico City. I guess that gives the beer something of a Mexican lineage.

But, when I think of Mexican beer, this is not what I picture.

2015 X-Mas Ale

Well, once again I find myself writing a blog post well after I had intended to get it posted. This time, I'm getting to the brew-day post after I have been drinking the beer for awhile.

Oh well. It is a tasting post as well...

The SheppyBrew Brewery has a tradition of brewing a special Christmas Seasonal winter warmer every year. I started way back in 2009 and have done one every year since. See X-Mas Ales 2009 - 2015 for links to all the recipes.

Every year, the beer is pretty big (for me) with dark amber or brown color with lots of caramel malt flavor. I changed the recipe up every year adding different spices except for the past couple years where I just made the base beer.

Muggled Pale Ale

I have really been neglecting this blog lately. Not sure exactly what my problem is except I just don't feel like getting on the computer much.

As a result, I am very late with a brew-day blog post.

2 weeks ago, I brewed

Muggled Pale Ale

Muggled was basically designed around a couple of packets of Chinook hops that I picked up at the last GABF. Of course, the fact that I have been neglecting this blog means that I never shared that I got these hops ... but ... well ... you know ...

I just thought it would be nice to have a nice hoppy pale ale on tap, and having the Chinook hops worked in nicely with the recipe.

G is for Great Frontier Brewing

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries that I had not visited, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

And then, of course, E ... E is for Epic Brewing Company

After E, I predictably went to F ... F is for Factotum Brewhouse

And for G? What did I pick for G? G is for ...

Great Frontier Brewing Company

Mike Plungis, Great Frontier’s Founder and Head Brewer, started out as a homebrewer. This is pretty standard for how the typical small brewery is born.

Brewing the 2015 Autumn Saison

This past Sunday, I brewed my Falling Leaves Autumn Saison.

Falling Leaves is, of course, the Autumn version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers.

It is an amber, obviously, darker in color than my Spring and Summer Saisons, but lighter in color than my Winter Saison. Most of the color comes from a Dark Munich malt from Gambrinus Malting Corporation, so there isn't any caramel flavor typical of most amber beers. You can think of it as the Oktoberfest of Saisons.

It has a large late-hop addition of Saaz hops giving it a pleasant noble character in the finish.

It is designed to be about 6% ABV, and should finish fairly dry like all Saisons.

2015 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

The SheppyBrew 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 .

Q3 of 2015 was another busy quarter at the Brewery. We brewed six batches:

• Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager
• Apricot Lovin' American Wheat
• Happy Feet Best Bitter
• Base Lovin' American Wheat
• Gnaughty Gnome Cocoa Stout
• Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale

Chelsea Dagger

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!