Another Chicken Spatchcocked and Halved

Well ... in Chicken Spatchcocked and Halved, I mentioned that I wanted to try the technique again.

Just as a reminder ... the "new" chicken technique was to Spatchcock the bird, cut it in half and cook it as two halves of a chicken.

It turned out nicely the first time I did it, and I had another bird to cook this past weekend, so I tried it again.

Last time, the only change I thought I needed to make was to give myself a little more time.

So ... last Saturday, I got the Weber Kettle fired up in time to cook a little less than 2 hours.

I started earlier in the day by cutting out the backbone and dry brining the chicken. I then let it sit in the fridge for a few hours.

D is for Diebolt Brewing Company

As you know if you've been following along with the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts ... the Beer Model and I have started a 5th round through the alphabet.

We started our 5th round a couple months ago with A is for AC Golden Tank Room.

We continued earlier this month with B is for Black Shirt Brewing Company, and then followed up with C is for Cannonball Creek Brewing Company.

D is another letter that has still has a few choices.

As it turns out, the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) and I had the same brewery in mind for our "D" brewery ...

D is for Diebolt Brewing Company

C is for Cannonball Creek Brewing Company

Well ... as you know if you've been following along with the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts ... the Beer Model and I have started a 5th round through the alphabet.

We started our 5th round a couple months ago with A is for AC Golden Tank Room.

We continued earlier this month with B is for Black Shirt Brewing Company.

So ... as you know if you're familiar with the alphabet, next up, we needed a "C" brewery.

According to the the Colorado Brewery Map & List, there are a ridiculous number of "C" breweries we had choose from.

I narrowed the list down to 3 breweries I was interested in.

The Beer Model then narrowed down that list of 3 to 2 breweries based on what the websites said they had on tap.

I made the final decision based on potential parking issues ...

C is for Cannonball Creek Brewing Company

Over 6000 miles in 2023

If you follow this blog, or the SheppyBrew Facebook Page or Instagram Page, you know that recently I finished my #1000MileSeptember #GCCUSA2023.

This past weekend, I did an October Metric Century, have have passed 6000 miles for the year.

My Strava cycling goal for 2023 is to basically get the number of miles and elevation gain I got last year, which would be 6250 miles and 326,749 feet climbed.

To reach 6250 miles before the end of the year, I have to average something like 2 miles a day for the rest of the year.

To reach 326,749 feet climbed, though, I have to average about 741 feet per day for the rest of the year.

2023 Falling Leaves Saison (Batch 344)

Here it is Autumn. Time to brew my Autumn Seasonal Saison.

I knew I was going to brew sometime in the next week or two, so I had actually biked to my favorite LHBS on Sunday.

See Sunday Ride on Strava.

More than anything I was interested in seeing how the ride would be.

It turned out to be an awesome 40 mile round-trip ride, so I will probably do this commute more in the future.

The LHBS was out of the dark Munich malt I like to use in this recipe, so I modified it "on the fly". This resulted in a slightly darker beer, but I don't think it will taste too significantly different.

I brewed ...

Falling Leaves Autumn Saison

Chicken Spatchcocked and Halved

Lots of people say that spatchcock is the superior way to cook whole chickens and turkeys, but as I have mentioned a few times on this blog, I've never really found spatchcocking to turn out as good as cooking the whole thing upright like beer can chicken.

However, as I wrote in More Chicken in the Vortex ... I mentioned:

"I did realize that I've never spatchcocked a chicken on my Weber. To be fair, I should probably give that a shot."

In case you don't know, spatchcocking a bird is basically cutting out the backbone of the bird so that the whole thing can be laid out flat. People who believe in this method say it helps cook more evenly.

It also theoretically will cook the bird faster.

It makes sense to me, and it has worked out fine for me. I just find the other way results in juicier more delicious chicken or turkey.

B is for Black Shirt Brewing Company

So ... I it is official now ... we're doing a 5th round of the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

I guess.

We certainly have a bunch more breweries to visit on the Colorado Brewery Map & List, but there are several letters in the alphabet that are not straight forward to fill in.

For now ... we are good ... once we start hitting letters without breweries, we'll figure out what to do.

If you read #1000MileSeptember #GCCUSA2023, you know that Saturday I finished off my Great Cycle Challenge. There is still plenty of time to donate, and of course I'll doing it again next year, but I think for now, this is the last time I'll mention the Great Cycle Challenge for awhile.

But the 2nd ride of the day was with the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka the Pedego Owner aka my wife).

#1000MileSeptember #GCCUSA2023

If you follow me at all on this blog or facebook or instagram .. you know that I've been participating in the Great Cycle Challenge all last month.

I've pledged to ride September to raise money and awareness for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard 

 

2023 Q3 Brewing Stats

The summer just flew by. We are now into October and therefore it is time to report my Brewing Stats for the 3rd Quarter.

I brewed 6 batches in each of Q1 and Q2. I keep saying that I'll start to slow down ... but again ... I brewed 6 batches in Q3.

For what it is worth, in July I brewed 3 batches. 2 batches in August. I only brewed 1 batch in September. So, I am sort of slowing down I guess.

The recipes I brewed in Q3 were:

• Hail Storm Summer Saison
• Gypsy Magic Bière de Garde
• Helles Won't Kellerbier
• Steamacularly Common
• Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale
• Shoddy IPA

2023 #GABF Saturday Photos

I posted 2023 #GABF Friday Photos just a couple days ago.

As I mentioned, I took a break from my Great Cycle Challenge for the weekend to attend both the Friday night and Saturday afternoon sessions. 

Sunday was a rest day.

As I post this, I have actually finished up my #1000MileSeptember, so I was fine taking that break.

The Saturday afternoon "Brewers Only" session has always been my favorite session.

It was interesting have family attend with us.

Anyway ... here are some photos from Saturday night ...

2023 #GABF Friday Photos

This past weekend, I took a break from my Great Cycle Challenge.

Don't worry, I'll still finish my #1000MileSeptember with miles to spare.

There is still plenty of time to donate to fight kids cancer ...

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

This year, the Great American Beer Fest was earlier in the year by a couple of weeks than usual, so it interrupted the Great Cycle Challenge. Next year it will be back in October so I won't have to worry about it.

Anyhoo ... it is a tradition for the Beer Model (aka my wife) to attend GABF. 

Like usual, we attended both Friday night and Saturday afternoon ...

Roll-a-Style 9 ... Historical Beer: Kentucky Common

After pretending to Roll-a-Style 9 ... Hazy IPA ... I actually did roll the Online 20 sided die 

I rolled: 

On my Roll-a-Style list, 18 corresponded to Style 27A. Historical Beer: Kentucky Common.

A Kentucky Common is:

An American original, Kentucky Common was almost exclusively produced and sold around Louisville, Kentucky from some time after the Civil War until Prohibition. It was inexpensive and quickly produced, racked into barrels while actively fermenting, and tightly bunged to allow carbonation in the saloon cellar. Before the style died, it accounted for about 75% of sales around Louisville.

Some have speculated it was a dark variant of Cream Ale, created by immigrant Germanic brewers who added darker grains to help acidity the local carbonate water.

Shoddy IPA (Batch 343)

Well ... if you read Roll-a-Style 9 ... Hazy IPA, you already know that I brewed Sunday.

When I planned the brew day and bought the ingredients, I thought that I was hosting a brew day with my friends Du and Doc, but plans changed and it was a solo brew day.

I always thought that a Hazy IPA would be a great beer to use "Short and Shoddy" techniques to brew.

The short boil time in particular is something that I think helps keep haze in a beer, and the recipe I developed used a 15 minute boil because of that theory.

Kveik Voss is also a great IPA yeast and since you don't have to chill the wort very far to use Kveik yeast, this is also a time-saving ingredient.

Also, to save time in the morning, I decided to do an overnight mash so that I could skip that mash step on Sunday.

Shoddy IPA

Roll-a-Style 9 ... Hazy IPA

Well ... I thought I was going to have a group brew day coming up, and I have a bunch of IPA hops in my freezer.

I pretended to roll the Online 20 sided die and pretended that I rolled ...

9 Corresponds to 21C. Hazy IPA.

A Hazy IPA is

An American IPA with intense fruit flavors and aromas, a soft body, smooth mouthfeel, and often opaque with substantial haze. Less perceived bitterness than traditional IPAs but always massively hop-forward.

Another #GCCUSA2023 Century Ride

I did another Great Century Challenge Century Ride yesterday (Labor Day).

Yep, 100 miles.

That's right ... On my bicycle.

Yep, in one day.

No, my butt is fine.

Nope, I'm not crazy.

Yes, I know you don't like to drive that far.

As I type this, I've done a total of 321 miles in September. By the time you read this, I will almost certainly have even more miles ridden.

So far, I've raised $2,911, hoping to get to $5,000 by the end of the challenge.

If you'd like to help out or just follow along, feel free to visit my GCC profile page:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

First #GCCUSA2023 Ride

Yesterday, I started my Great Cycle Challenge with a Century Ride.

Yep, 100 miles.

That's right ... On my bicycle.

Yep, in one day.

No, my butt is fine.

Nope, I'm not crazy.

Yes, I know you don't like to drive that far.

I have committed to riding 1000 miles over the course of September. I always try to get a good start over the first few days and the long Labor Day Weekend so that I'm not worrying about miles towards the end of the month when who knows what might be going on.

By the time you read this, I will probably have gone on another long ride. If you'd like to follow along or make a donation ... follow the link:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 342)

If you follow along on this blog, you might have caught that I try to have the Beer Model (aka my wife) brew from time to time.

In the United States, an individual homebrewer is allowed to brew 100 gallons of beer a year. A household with two or more adults over 21 years of age is allowed a maximum of 200 gallons.

The SheppyBrew "Brewery" brews significantly over 100 gallons most years, and we're on track to get over 100 again this year. 

So ... mostly jokingly, I say that the Beer Model has to brew in order to keep me out of jail.

I'm honestly not sure who is supposed to enforce this 100 (or 200) gallon limit. I suspect that no one actually does, so I don't think I'm in any real danger of going to jail for brewing too much beer.

More Tri-tip photos

As I mentioned in Tri-tip photos, I got buy-one-get-one-free Tri-tips last time I bought tri-tip.

So ... I had another tri-tip in the freezer to make.

This past Sunday after my #MetricCenturyEveryMonth ride ... I made the second tri-tip from that purchase.

Yum!

As usual, I Reverse Seared it on one of my Weber Kettles.

Hickory smoked tri-tips are delicious.

I got started around 4:30 pm, which is about an hour and a half before dinner time.

2023 Tribute Day Photos

We're getting close!! In September, I'll be cycling 1000 miles in September to help raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer.

It is called the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out, head to my "Rider Page" at 

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

 

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth

If you follow this blog at all (or the SheppyBrew Facebook page or the SheppyBrew Instagram page), you know that I try to raise money every year to try to fight childhood cancer.

The Great Cycle Challenge. Feel free to follow that link and donate.

This is my 8th year doing The Great Cycle Challenge.

My goal is to ride 1000 miles over the month of September, which honestly is not an easy thing to do, so I have stay in cycling shape to have any chance of accomplishing this goal.

Honestly, part of the reason I do this every year is to force myself to stay in shape.

Anyway, I cycle year-round, and part of what I do to stay in shape is to make sure I ride at least one "Metric Century" every month. 100 km or 62.14 miles in one ride. 

This past Sunday, I did my "Metric Century" for August.