May 2013 Blogging

May did not did not beat the page-view record on this blog, but it did beat April and was second all-time behind March. Some days in May the traffic was pretty strong, some days pathetically light. Colorado 6 pack gave the blog a much-needed boost at the end to make the month finish somewhat respectable.

And ... for your reading enjoyment ... here are the top 10 viewed posts over the past 30 days:

Blind Pig at Parry's Pizza

I have not talked about it very much since GABF, but you may remember that for the past 3 years I have attempted to find and drink as many of the beers I have not had on Zymurgy's Best Beers in America lists. I started out having already tried most of the 2012 list (see 2012 Best Beers in America, so there has not been very much to report this year.

Last I reported, I had tried all but 3 on the list. I still needed:

• Troegs Nugget Nectar (#34)
• Russian River Blind Pig IPA (#37, tied)
• Russian River Pliny the Younger (#48)

Yesterday, I rode my bike to work and beforehand told my wife and kids that they could come "rescue" me with the mini-van and see my new work-location. Then we could go have pizza at a place we like called "Parry's Pizza".

Parry's has 4 locations. Before last night we had been to the one in Highlands Ranch, but when I bike home I always pass by the one in Greenwood Village, and I've thought to myself it would be nice to check it out.

The reason I like Parry's Pizza is that they have a spectacular selection of craft beer on tap. The Highland's Ranch and Greenwood Village locations each have 50 taps, and all of them are craft beer.

Plus, we all think that the Pizza is great.

Colorado 6 pack

Not too long ago, I got a tweet and then a subsequent email from one of my virtual blogging / brewing buddies, @BryanDRoth at This Is Why I'm Drunk. He had this crazy idea for a blogging collaboration. He wanted to get 6 different bloggers from six different states to each come up with a 6-pack of beers that "best represent your state and/or state's beer culture".

It is actually very similar to Denver's 5280 Magazine's 6 packs that they put out from time to time. Check out Billy Brew's article "What's Your State's Dream Team Six Pack" and you can also read more about the 5280 six packs on my blog.

@BryanDRoth had some rules:

• Must pick a six-pack of beers that you feel best represent your state and/or state's beer culture
• Beer must be made in your state, but "gypsy" brewers are acceptable, so long as that beer is brewed with an in-state brewery and sold in your state
• Any size bottle or can is acceptable to include
• Current seasonal offerings are fine, but try to keep selections to year-round brews as much as possible. No out-of-season brews preferred. (ideally that could be another post)

3 Balls per Barrel

Remember the whole thing last year around GABF about  Wynkoop's Rocky Mountain Oyster Stout? If not, check out that handy hyperlink I included.

Of course, you remember that my wife and I both tried it at GABF (see 2012 #GABF Friday Night). I didn't taste testicles at all. The Beer Model thought it tasted a little meaty ... almost like a bacon beer. I actually thought it just tasted like a standard Foreign Extra Stout. I didn't taste the 3 BPB at all.

Since GABF, the Wynkoop brewery has actually made more of this beer and even canning it 2-packs (I am not even making that up). I was at my liquor store awhile ago and made an impulse buy of one of those 2-packs.

It is honestly a little weird seeing that sign in a liquor store. The lady who rung up my purchases made a comment about the 2-pack before she realized what the beer was. I just thought it amusing that she commented on the packaging before making a comment about the bull testicles.

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.

Bike to Work Week

Did you know it is Bike to Work Month? Did you know it is Bike to Work Week? I didn't know it until late Tuesday, but according to the League of American Bicyclists, May is Bike to Work Month and this week is Bike to Work Week. Today is even Bike to Work Day.

According to the League's 2013 Bicycle Friendly State Rankings, Colorado is ranked 2nd in "bike-friendliness", and since moving to Colorado I always told myself I should commute to work more. When I was a consultant, it was often hard as I had to be driving to various clients. I ended up riding a couple times a year.

Since joining a "real" company with an actual day-to-day location, though, I had ridden to work maybe 3 or 4 times in 3 years. My main excuse is that after a 15 mile bike ride, I am generally very sweaty. My old building did not have a shower, and I used that as an excuse not to ride.

Still More @Untappd Badges 9

It has been a long time since I've posted about my newly earned untappd badges (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness , and Some more Badges @Untappd , and Still More @Untappd Badges), and Still More @Untappd Badges 2 and Still More @Untappd Badges 3 and Still More @Untappd Badges 4 and Still More @Untappd Badges 5 and Still More @Untappd Badges 6, and Still More @Untappd Badges 7 and Still More @Untappd Badges 8).

I just don't come across as many opportunities to get them. I have 92 of them, and am running out of ones I don't have, and other than the special day or event ones, most of them are ones that are not necessarily easy for me to get.

Laser Salt and Eldorado Canyon

Last year, we were invited to go with a group of people to the Great Sand Dunes National Park. The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I designed and brewed a beer to bring with us for that trip, calling it Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale. You can read quite a bit about the whole experience (including this blog post at http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Laser%20Salt).

Once again, we are invited to go with the same group. The Beer Model and I were planning on brewing Laser Salt again on Big Brew Day, but as you may recall, we had to brew something else that weekend (see Brewing for the Nationals). So, we had to move this year's Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale brew day to this past weekend.

I got started much earlier Saturday than we got started Big Brew Day. In fact, I was starting to chill the wort this weekend about the time we got started last time. My wife doesn't believe in doing anything before the sun comes up, especially brewing.

Hurray for #HomeBrewing in Alabama

At the beginning of 2013, there were still 2 states in which Home-brewing beer was illegal.

In March, Mississippi finally passed a bill to legalize home-brewing, leaving Alabama.

And now, the Alabama senate finally passed a bill that legalizes home-brewing beer in their ass-backwards state. As soon as the Governor of Alabama signs the bill, thousands of home-brewers will officially be legal.

See the American Homebrewers Association's Alabama Homebrew Bill Passes Senate .

Congratulations on joining the rest of the country, Alabama. It is about time.

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.

The Business of Brewing

Ooops!

I'm late. I had every intention of getting this posted Friday. I actually started the article a few weeks ago. I was going to finish it up Thursday night, but as it turns out, something exciting happened in my imaginary Brewing life that made me work on a different blog post on Thursday night. It was Kind of a Big Deal for me.

So, I decided to post this a little later. We can call it a Beer Blogging Sunday instead. Hope the rest of beer blogging community understands and doesn't shun me for my late submission.

Here it is ... time for another month's "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday).

This month's topic comes from Chuck at allbeers.

He is interested in reading about The Business of Brewing. 

He writes:

 "In this Session, I’d like to invite comments and observations from bloggers and others who have first-hand knowledge of the complexities and pitfalls of starting a commercial brewery. What were the prescient decisions that saved the day or the errors of omission or commission that caused an otherwise promising enterprise to careen tragically off the rails?"

Well, here at the SheppyBrew Brewery,  we have not "gone commercial", but we like to make believe that we are a real brewery, or someday could become one. So, I don't have the "first-hand knowledge" that Chuck is looking for, but for the purposes of this article I will pretend I know what I am talking about.

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.

April 2013 Blogging

April did not beat the page-view record on this blog, but it did end up in 2nd place all-time behind March. I think this is more reasonable behavior than the steady rise the blog had from May of 2011 through January of this year. Some months should be up some should be down.

Since I know that the curiosity is killing you (yeah, right) the top 10 most viewed posts in April are:

Kegging TommyHawk and Grilling Steaks

The regular season is over for my Blackhawks. Tonight the playoffs start. The Blackhawks did finish with the President's trophy, which means they will have home-ice advantage all the way through the Stanley Cup finals.

The mighty Blackhawks will soon be opening up against the eighth seed evil Minnesota Wild.

SERIES E TIME (ET) #1 Chicago vs. #8 Minnesota Networks
Tuesday, April 30 8 p.m. Minnesota at Chicago       NBC Sports Network, CBC
Friday, May 3 9:30 p.m. Minnesota at Chicago       NBC Sports Network, CBC
Sunday, May 5 3 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota       NBC, CBC
Tuesday, May 7 9:30 p.m. Chicago at Minnesota       NBC Sports Network, CBC
*Thursday, May 9 TBD Minnesota at Chicago       CBC
*Saturday, May 11 TBD Chicago at Minnesota       CBC
*Sunday, May 12 TBD Minnesota at Chicago       CBC

I can't wait. Go Blackhawks!

Geocaching Bike Ride

My son making pancakes

It was a glorious spring weekend day this past Saturday. The kids told their mom that they would like to go on  a bike ride. Connor said he didn't want to go to the Cowboy Playground and didn't want to do the Waterton Canyon trail again. He wanted to go on a new bike ride. 

I decided to introduce the boys to the Highland Canal path. The Highland Canal is one of the Denver Metro's biggest bike trails. It runs from south of C470 up to Aurora, snaking along quite a bit. Depending on where I try to get the information, the total distance is anywhere from 48 miles to 71 miles.

Follow this link and you can see a map: http://www.denvermetrotrails.com/maps/highline%20canal%20trail.html

Of course the total distance does not matter that much. My wife and kids were not going to ride the whole thing.

I picked a little 7 mile section running from Writers Vista Park in Littleton to deKoevend Park in Centennial. Both these parks are right on the bike path.

Biking to Work

We are a one-car family this week. This is inconvenient. My work hours do not really correspond well with school and various other activities my kids engage in. Most days, my wife needs the car to get my kids where they need to be. My work place is far enough away that it doesn't really make sense for her to drop me off and pick me up.

The most obvious solution is that I can ride my bike to work. My workplace is about 15 miles away from my home. On a good day, my drive is a little bit over half an hour. With normal "rush-hour" traffic it can take 45 minutes. I should be able to bike it on my trusty hybrid in a little over an hour.

Brewing TommyHawk, doing Taxes

As far as I can remember, I have always left doing my taxes until the last weekend before they are due. This is partially because I know I always owe money, and I don't want to write the government a check until I absolutely have to. More to the point, though, is that I am a procrastinator when it come to doing things I don't like to do. I have always been this way and for the most part it works out very well for me.

Well, Sunday, in addition to being the day I had to prepare to file my tax returns, was a brew day. I had to brew TommyHawk APA (which is actually an IPA). Also, there was a BlackHawk's game I had to watch. Of course, Sunday I need to take the family to church as well.

So, it was going to be a busy day.

Will Drink in May

 Not too long ago, I facebook "liked" SheppyBrew's Helles in a Hand Bock-sket with the comment:

Kegging my Helles in a Hand Bock-sket #homebrew beautiful gold beer 7.5 ish abv. Will drink in May.

One of my facebook friends commented:

I like "Will drink in May" - I know what you mean but it sounds so decisive. Like an event, or a bumper sticker

Kinda like "will work for food," but not sad and needy.

Well, as you may remember (but quite likely don't), the SheppyBrew Brewery does have official brewery merchandise that we sell on Zazzle. Not very many people have ordered from the store (I can count them on one finger), but it is there in case the brewery ever gets fans who might want a hat or a mug or a stein or something else that says SheppyBrew on it.

More Grilled Chicken

I grilled another whole chicken the past Sunday. (see Grilled Chicken along with some of the links from that blog post). This time, I grilled the bird standing up as if it were a Beer-Can chicken, but I skipped the can of beer. According to "MeatHead" in Debunking Beer Can Chicken: A Waste Of Good Beer (And It Is Dangerous), this is the best way to grill a whole chicken (other than cutting it up in pieces).

Soaking in Brine

2013 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 .

It has been busy brewing quarter. As you may or may not remember, I decided to try to round out my brewing experience by making it my goal to have brewed at least one recipe in all 23 beer categories of the BJCP. At the beginning of the quarter, I had 11 categories left. After having brewed Sasquatch Hunter Altbier, Snowball's Chance Helles, Khazad-dûm Black Lager, and Helles in a Hand Bock-sket, I now only have 7 more categories (English Pale Ale, English Brown Ale, Porter , German Wheat and Rye Beer, Belgian Strong Ale, Strong Ale, Smoke-Flavored and Wood-Aged Beer ) to brew. See SheppyBrew Styles for additional information on this little project.

Biking with the Sheep

It was about a year ago when I reported that my youngest son had finally finished learning to ride his bike. Hard to believe it has only been a year. Very soon after that, he started asking me to get him a mountain bike. The little one-speed bike apparently was not doing it for him. He wanted a bike with multiple gears and hand brakes like the rest of the family. He always enjoyed riding his little bike, but thought it could be better.

The boy turned 8 on Friday, and we finally got him that mountain bike. He loves it and was very excited to try it out. We made the mistake of giving it to him very close to dinner time, and it took us awhile to get him back to the house to eat.

We let him decide what our family Saturday activity would be. He picked (not surprisingly) to go on a bike ride.

Finding Beer Balance

Here it is ... time for another month's "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday).

This month's topic comes from Bryan at This Is Why I’m Drunk. Bryan wants to know about "Finding Beer Balance".

He says:

"It’s a discussion I hope will offer a variety of responses as people consider their interests outside of finding the perfect pint."

Basically, I think he wants to know what us beer geeks do when we are not beer-geeking. 

Brewing Some Buckwheat BPA

I don't have a favorite beer. I drink way too promiscuously to profess one beer to be my preferred. My wife, on the other hand, does say that she has a favorite, and it just happens to be a SheppyBrew creation. As it is my wife's official favorite beer, it is the one beer recipe that I have brewed the most. It is also the beer I have experimented with the most.

The beer is called Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale , and I brewed it again on Saturday.

The recipe is pretty close to how it started. The recipe has gone from a partial mash to the old 2.5 gallon single infusion mash to BIAB to my bigger all-grain batches. I've experimented with different yeasts, picking based on my wife's blind taste test. But, basically, the recipe is still pretty close to where it started.

March 2013 Blogging

Well, you may or may not remember that February was the first month in forever in which this blog did not break its "page view" record. March recovered nicely and blew past the record.

And since I know you're dying to know what people have been looking at most, here are the top 10 most viewed blog entries for the past 30 days.

Arvada Beer Co.

Arvada Beer Co. is one of the tons of little Denver-area breweries that have popped up in the past couple of years. Shamefully, I had not visited them until this past weekend when I had to drop of my 2013 National Homebrew Competition entries*.

According to Google Maps, Arvada Beer Co is located a mere 12.6 miles straight North of my house, which is less than a half hour drive. Heck, I should be able to ride my bike there in around an hour.

5600 Olde Wadsworth Boulevard
Arvada, CO 80002

I had never been there, but I felt sort of like I knew Cary and Kelly Floyd, because I hear them about once a month on my pod-casts of the Colorado Craft Beer Show, which I listen to every week. Turk and the Gubna currently broadcast once a month from Arvada Beer Co.

Denver Breweries

I came across my Beer Drinkers Guide to Colorado map the other day. If you are unfamiliar, it is much like the map they are selling here: http://www.beerdrinkersguidetocolorado.com . It is a real cool full-sized map which lists every brewery in Colorado.... or at least it listed every brewery in the state at the time the map went to the printer.

It also has a ton of information and lots of coupons. They say over $250 in value.

Mine is the 5th edition, and has significantly fewer breweries in it than the current 6th edition. Based on the ridiculous number of breweries that seem to be opening every month round here, I have to assume the 6th edition is woefully out-of-date already too. I know the couple who put it together tried to include breweries that were on their way .... but still ... there is no way a map like this can be up-to-date.

In case you didn't know, Colorado has lots of breweries. Lots of these breweries are in the Denver area, and I am sad to report that I have not been to most of them. Actually, I have been to a pitifully small proportion of them.

Brewing Helles in a Hand Bock-sket

I brewed Helles in a Hand Bock-sket Saturday. This was my 5A. Maibock/Helles Bock beer for my goal to expand my brewed recipes to at least one beer in all 23 BJCP beer categories. After finishing up this Maibock, I now only have 7 more categories I need to cover.

I got a much later start than usual for a brew day. Until around 9 AM or so I had not decided whether I was going to brew Saturday or Sunday. As I usually get started before the sun comes up, this brew day felt sort of weird.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It might just be that I am a geek, but I love this song ...

Alcohol

This past weekend, I was looking at the "insights" section of the SheppyBrew Brewery Facebook page (please go like it if you have not already). I was shocked to see a big jump in the numbers of people "reached" and "talking about this".

Looking through the posts on the page for the week, it was easy to see that the article from 9 news.com, Suits: More water, less buzz in Bud, Michelob beer is what got most of the attention. You can go ahead and read the article if you want. The gist of the article is that Anheuser-Busch is defending itself from class-action lawsuits which accuse the company of watering down its beers.

The Problem with Mr. Beer

I am a fan of Mr. Beer.  I have made no secret of the fact that I started home-brewing after receiving a Mr. Beer kit from my sister for Christmas of 2008. I got hooked so quickly that my wife got me a second fermentor for my next birthday which was less than a month after brewing my first batch of beer.

If you look back in the SheppyBrew Brewing Calendar for 2009 and 2010, you will see a crazy amount of brewing, all done in Mr. Beer fermentors. By my count, over those first two years, I did 62 batches of beer at 2.4 gallons a pop. I started with the super simple Mr. Beer recipes. I moved to other extracts with steeping grains and then to partial mashes. Finally, I stepped up to all-grain brewing . All of this in the Mr. Beer fermentors.

The streak is broken

Every month since May of 2011, this blog has gotten more and more page views. February did not have more page views than January, so this epic streak is now over. Part of me is relieved that this happened. The streak was unnatural and creeped me out a bit. According to the average views per day, had this been a 31 day month, the streak would have continued. If it were a 30 day month, we still would have missed it.

If you feel like reviewing the magic ride, feel free to read through the posts at http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Blogging. As it turns out, February comes in 5th all-time behind Oct 2012 thru Jan 2013.

For what it is worth, March is off to a great start.

Beer Audit

Here it is ... time for another month's "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday).

This month's topic comes from Adam at Pints and Pubs. He wants us to take a Beer Audit of our beer cellars. What is in there? What does it tell us about our drinking habits?

I encourage you to read his post: The Session #73 Announcement: Beer Audit. for the nitty-gritty details around his topic. I'm sure I wouldn't do it justice if I tried.

Ok ... so if you are already familiar with this blog, you already know what a nerd I am. I hope those "first-timers" of you who might come across this blog post won't judge me too harshly. It is interesting to me that Adam says that he takes stock of his beer supply a couple times a year, because I know at all times more or less what beers I have in my "cellar". Of course, it sounds like I have less beers in mine than Adam has in his.

5A. Maibock/Helles Bock

Well, if you have been following this blog lately, you know that SheppyBrew's 2013 brewing goal is to expand our resume of beer styles. I want to have at least one beer brewed of each of the 23 BJCP beer style categories. After Khazad-dûm Brew Day, I now have 8 more categories to brew. (see SheppyBrew Styles)

My next category is 5. Bock. I've decided to do a 5A. Maibock/Helles Bock.

Like all Bocks, a Maibock is a big malty German beer. It is lighter in color than other beers in the Bock category, and is usually associated with spring-time. (Mai means May ... as in the month of May ... in German). Generally speaking the Maibock can be drier and more hoppy than other styles of Bock, but it is still a malty sweet beer overall. It should be smooth and clean. Alcohol warming is acceptable for this 6.3 – 7.4% ABV beer.

Three Sisters Park

I dragged the wife and kids out for a day-hike yesterday at Alderfer/Three Sisters Park in Evergreen. It was cold and windy, but for some reason the boys really had fun. My youngest could not stop giggling. Mostly, he just appeared to be having fun throwing snow at his dad.

Here are some pictures:

Still More @Untappd Badges 8

Wow ... it has been over 2 months that I've reported on my untappd badges (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness , and Some more Badges @Untappd , and Still More @Untappd Badges), and Still More @Untappd Badges 2 and Still More @Untappd Badges 3 and Still More @Untappd Badges 4 and Still More @Untappd Badges 5 and Still More @Untappd Badges 6, and Still More @Untappd Badges 7). Lately, the badges have come few and far between, so I didn't really have very many to share.

But, now I am up to 7 new ones since Still More @Untappd Badges 7 . Here are the badges I've earned since mid-December:

Khazad-dûm Brew Day

So, if you've been following my blog or SheppyBrew's Facebook page or my twitter feed over the past few days, it does not come as a surprise that I brewed Sunday. I have made no secret of the fact that I was planning on brewing "Khazad-dûm Black Lager". As I mentioned, this is the Category 4 representative of my quest to brew at least one all-grain batch in every BJCP beer category (see SheppyBrew Styles).

We got some snow overnight, so this brew day was in the garage. I got started around 5 AM and had the mash going by 5:30.

This time, I left the dark malts (Carafa III) out of most of the mash, adding them in with about 10 or 15 minutes left. I decided to try this because various guest on various podcasts say this keeps harsh roasty flavors out of beer. As my mashes are usually pretty long, this seemed like a decent idea to me, so I decided I would try it out with my Schwarzbier. I think next time I do a black IPA, I will use the same technique.

More on the Sour Pumpkin Wit

Do you remember me blending my my Rationalité Poison d'Ereeeek with my Whacko Wife Pumpkin Witbier? If you don't, no worries ... you can go check out my blog post at Blending the Sour Pumpkin Wit. Go ahead ... check it out ... we'll wait. You can continue reading this one when you get back.

So, I blended and bottled back in January. I primed with sugar just as I usually do when bottling. The 2-week carbonation period was over last weekend. I tried a couple of bottles this weekend.

On untappd, I called the combination Poison Pumpkin Sour Wit.

I like the beer.

4C. Schwarzbier (Black Beer)

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 beer style categories. After my 1D. Munich Helles, I now have 9 more categories to brew.

Next up is  Category 4 — Dark Lager. The sub-category I have chosen for this category is 4C. Schwarzbier (Black Beer).

A Schwarzbier is another clean German lager. As the name suggests, it is dark in color and has a decent amount of roast in the flavor and aroma. It is generally very balanced between the hop bitterness and malt sweetness. It can have a fair amount of noble hop character, although the guidelines say it should be restrained. The base has a nice bready Munich malt flavor.

Birthday Edition: Brewing QLC

Yesterday was my birthday. I don't feel a day over 43. Not bad.

This year, I decided to take PTO and brew on my birthday. I got this idea when Scott at SNB Brewing mentioned that he has did the same thing this year. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

And what better to brew on my birthday than my world-famous Quarter Life Crisis? Obviously, my life is over a quarter over now. It is closer to being 27%, but I am ok with that.

Brew day began at 5AM. I overheated the strike water a bit and had to add cold water to bring it down to the desired temperature. I went too low, so I added more hot water. Eventually, I got the mash more-or-less where I wanted it. This yo-yo style of getting to the right temperature probably is not the best practice for precision brewing, but I find it always works out fine.

Ground Hogs' Day in Breckenridge

My loving family decided to bring me up to Breckenridge for the weekend before my birthday. Breckenridge is a nice weekend getaway spot for us. We've developed a couple of family traditions there over the years. We go there just about every year for the Duck Races. We also go up there quite often to check out the International Snow Sculpture Championship. As far as I can tell, I've only blogged about last year's (see Beervertising and Snow Sculptures), but we have been several times. Breckenridge is just an easy town for our weekend get-aways.

And, this year, we got-away for the Ground Hogs' day weekend. (aka Sheppy's birthday weekend).

I suppose the Breckenridge Ground Hog saw his shadow (see how sunny it is below). Of course, if he was smart he would not have ventured out into the cold.

Some Family Pictures

Recently, I noticed that it had been quite awhile since I posted on a topic other than beer. I have done those monthly "look-what-people-are-viewing" posts, but other than those (which also do deal quite a bit with beer-related content), it has been a long time.

This blog started out as a personal blog and talked a lot about things the family was doing together. I think there are some readers who probably miss that. The last "kids" blog post was back in October (see Eric the Awful ), and of course that was about a home-brew that was based on a game I play with them.

So, now I am posting some pictures of the family taken since October or so.

January 2013 Blogging

January continued the  streak of increasing monthly record breaking page-views.
Blah blah blah can't continue forever blah blah blah

Et cetera.

Here are the most viewed pages over the past 30 days:

San Diego Super Yeast

Soon, I am brewing SheppyBrew's world-famous Quarter Life Crisis Hoppy Red Ale. My birthday is coming up, and my life will be almost 27% over. Obviously, this is a great time for a Quarter Life Crisis. I can't, after-all do a mid-life crisis yet.

If you've been following this blog long enough (or just followed the link above), you may remember that this beer came about after I received  Jamil Zainasheff's and John Palmer's book Brewing Classic Styles as a gift on my 40th birthday. It is a hoppy "West Coast" Red ... or at least that is what I call the style. Basically, it is hopped like an IPA, but is darker in color and more complex in the malt bill.

How I Love Beer

Before I get started, the SheppyBrew Facebook Page has not gotten new "likes" in awhile. If you have not already, please go to the page and like it. You can use it to follow SheppBrew updates and other brewing news.

Now that I have shameless plug out of the way ....

Here it is ... time for another month's "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday).

The February topic comes from Ryan at Montana Beer Finder who asks

"In light of it being about two weeks before Valentine's Day, I thought it would be a good time to talk about how we love beer. Pay attention now, as I said 'how,' not 'why.'"

He goes on to explain,

"You can say to your partner, 'Honey, I love you.' But think of the saying, 'actions speak louder than words.' From my personal experience, it's always better to show your partner the ways you love them instead of saying simply, 'I love you because you make me happy.'"

If you need more, check out Ryan's Blog Post: How We Love Beer: Session #72 (Announcement).

So, how do I love beer?

Gnasty the Gnome

I have an irrational fear of gnomes.

It creeps me out the way these little creatures sneak around causing mischief. The way they pretend to act like real people is unnatural. Their little voices send chills down my spine. Oddly enough, leprechauns and tommyknockers don't bother me. I can't completely put my finger on what it is, but something about gnomes are completely frightening. Quite often when I see several gnomes together, I scream like a little girl.

I can't help it, they freak me out. My wife has a similar issue with spiders.

The thing that freaks me out the most about gnomes is the unnecessary silent g. I want to pronounce it "Ga-nome", and I can see them smirk when I do that. Even when I don't actually see a gnome, the silent g makes my mind flash to those little smirks. Oddly enough, the g's at the beginning of gnats and gnus don't affect me nearly as strongly as the gnome g (probably because gnats and gnus don't flash me that evil smirk when I try to pronounce the hard g sound).

Brewing Snowball's Chance

As I mentioned last week (see 1D. Munich Helles), I was planning on brewing Snowball's Chance (in) Helles this weekend. I followed through with the plan Sunday.

Snowball's Chance (in) Helles  is a Munich Helles, a German light lager which I am brewing to take care of BJCP Category 1, Light Lagers (see SheppyBrew Styles). Of the Light Lager styles, the Munich Helles is the most flavorful with a significant, slightly sweet, somewhat rich malt profile.

Brew day started early. I was wondering as I dug my propane and burner out of the shed how many home-brewers have to use a flashlight as part of their brewing equipment. It is an important part of mine, as the sun is usually not up when I start brewing.

Thank you John

EDIT ... 01/23/2013

The following "Dear John" letter is meant to be ridiculously sarcastic. Apparently, I failed miserably in conveying the sarcastic tone.

Today, I got an email from my Contact Me form asking how much of a "boatload" of money I was able to get. It sounds like the individual who emailed me got a similar email from John or someone else and was considering my "response" as validation that he might himself become wealthy from this "opportunity".

As I mentioned in Neil Zhang, the emails I got and others like them are [obvious] scams.

I do apologize for my apparent failure. If you come across this blog post because you are considering contacting John or Neil or others like them DON'T.

see

• http://www.firetrust.com/en/blog/chris/domain-name-scams?page=13
• http://www.hoax-slayer.com/domain-name-application-scam.shtml
• http://blog.ericshepard.com/2012/02/neil-zhang.html
• http://blog.eset.com/2012/07/24/asia-domain-name-scams-still-going-strong
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_scams
• or just google Domain Name Scams.

1D. Munich Helles

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. After my 7C Düsseldorf Altbier, I now have 10 more categories to brew.

Next up, is Category 1 — Light Lager. Specifically, I have decided to brew 1D. Munich Helles. A Helles is a light-colored German lager. It has a clean, slightly sweet, malty flavor with low to moderately-low spicy noble hop flavor and aroma. It is low in hop bitterness. It is low in alcohol and easy drinking, making it a great session beer. It is also one of those beers that will ease non-craft-beer-drinkers into more flavorful craft beers (aka gateway beer).

Blending the Sour Pumpkin Wit

Today, bottled up some beer.

Remember when I brewed my Whacko Wife Pumpkin Witbier, I had about one extra gallon of wort that I let ferment in a separate fermentor? If you don't remember, you can refresh your memory at Whacko Wife Pumpkin Brew Day. I mentioned that my plan for that extra gallon was to blend it with my Rationalité Poison d'Ereeeek, which is my sour Flanders Red style beer.

It has been awhile, but finally decided to go ahead and blend the two beers and bottle up the result.

My bottling experience was a bit "old-school" for me. For quite awhile, when I've bottled beers, I have used my keg and Beer Gun to fill the bottles. Today, I decided to use my Mr. Beer "bottling bucket" and bottle-filling wand. I don't even remember the last time I bottled using this technique before today.

First, I transferred the gallon of Witbier from the fermentor to the bottling container. I added enough priming sugar to handle 2 gallons of beer.

Brewing and Drinking

I skipped last month's "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday). I just had a hard time focusing on the topic. Nothing against the topic. I actually do think about beer hype quite a bit. I just didn't feel I had my blogging head around it last month.

When I saw the announcement for this month's topic, though, I had JUST been talking to someone about it. Yes, surprising as it sounds, sometimes I talk to people about beer. Quite often, really.

This month, John at Home Brew Manual is hosting the topic Brewers And Drinkers. He brings up that it surprises him how many beer bloggers out there don't brew. For him (as for me), the overall enjoyment of beer has changed since becoming a brewer.

I have shared several times with lots of people (I've probably even mentioned it on this blog) that I never really appreciated (or really liked all that much) American IPAs until I had been brewing for awhile.

I've shared similar sentiments about Belgium beers. I sort of doubt I would necessarily be into Sour Beers without being a brewer. It is clear that I have a much deeper knowledge and appreciation for beer now that I brew my own beer.

2012 SheppyBrew Stats

Yes, 2012 is over. SheppyBrew Brewery was busy 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: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

For quite awhile I was thinking my 4th quarter was just crazy, but as I told you in Correction: 2012 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats, I accidentally ended the 3rd quarter early on my brew stats spreadsheet. So, I was thinking that Q3 was low and Q4 was high. Since then, I have fixed my spreadsheet.

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. 

December 2012 Blogging

So, December continued this Blog's infamous streak of increasing monthly record breaking page-views. I needed all 31 days to beat November's total. That last week between Christmas and New Years Eve was pretty slow, but the blog viewers got it done for me.

And as I know you are incredibly curious, following is a list of the most viewed blog posts from December. This month, unlike November, I got a few posts that were actually written during the month.

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.

2012 X-Mas Ale Verticle Tasting

Every year, (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) SheppyBrew brewery brews an X-Mas Ale. Every year (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) I get out a bottle of all the years' X-Mas ales and try them together. This year's vertical tasting was (appropriately enough) on December 25 (Christmas for those of you who don't know).

Yesterday, I poured an X-Mas Ale 2009, an X-Mas Ale 2010, an X-Mas Ale 2011, and, yes, an X-Mas Ale 2012 from the SheppyBrew brewery.

They are all relatively high in alcohol with a dark brown color and substantial body and head. Visually, it is amazing how close they are. 

I feel fine

Good thing it isn't a competition

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

Sigh.

SheppyBrew Styles

I think the SheppyBrew Brewery has done a pretty good job of brewing a wide variety of beer styles. Recently, I decided to go through the BJCP categories and see which of those categories I have not brewed. As it turns out, of the 23 categories, I have brewed at least one all-grain batch in 12.

A little over half is pretty good considering I've only been brewing all-grain batches since Saturday, July 24, 2010 (see AG Brew day). I thought an interesting 2013 goal would be to brew up the style categories that I am missing. With 11 categories left, that is totally doable.

So, I have decided to give it a try. Once I have all the categories checked off, I may start looking at making sure I have all the sub-categories covered.

 Following is a list of the BJCP categories to give you an idea what I will brewing over the next year.

New Truth in Beervertising

Breckenridge Brewery put out another of its Truth in Beervertising videos, and I think it may be the best one yet.

You know how I feel about those absolutely awful mass-produced low-carb beers.

Still More @Untappd Badges 7

I have been sharing the untappd badges that I earn (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness , and Some more Badges @Untappd , and Still More @Untappd Badges), and Still More @Untappd Badges 2 and Still More @Untappd Badges 3 and Still More @Untappd Badges 4 and Still More @Untappd Badges 5 and Still More @Untappd Badges 6).

Yes, I know this is getting ridiculous. No one really cares what untappd badges I have, and if anyone ever does, it is a simple of matter of going to untappd and looking. In fact, here are all my badges: http://untappd.com/user/esheppy/badges . I do not think you even need an untappd account to see them.

But, it is a tradition. At this point I just have to keep on sharing the badges that I've earned on Untappd. Why? I don't know ... I just have to.

Correction: 2012 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

I was looking at my brew-stats spreadsheet and realized that I made a significant error on SheppyBrew's last quarterly report (2012 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats).

Rationalité Poison d'Ereeeek

I made that post thinking that the 3rd quarter ended at the end of August instead of the end of September. I prematurely reported.

Whacko Wife Pumpkin Brew Day

Saturday I mentioned that I was going to brew Whacko Wife Pumpkin Witbier Sunday. I didn't lie.

It has been awhile since my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) killed the keg of Boo Berry Wheat, and we have not really had anything in the keggerator for her since then. We have bottles of stuff she can enjoy, but she likes being able to pour from a tap.

So, I knew I had to make something for the Beer Model.

In September and October, I had been thinking of brewing a pumpkin beer, but just never got around to it. My wife really targeted pumpkin beers at GABF, so I was pretty sure she would like a pumpkin beer. At one point I had a crazy thought about making Whisky Wife Wit with pumpkin. It was just crazy (whacky) enough to be a good idea.

I had to first convert WWW  to all-grain to use as a base beer. Then I just thought I would add pumpkin and appropriate spices to complete this new beer.

On Whacko Wife and other things SheppyBrew

I am not brewing today, but the SheppyBrew Brewery had a somewhat busy morning.

I made a yeast starter for Whacko Wife Pumpkin Witbier . I am brewing Whacko Wife tomorrow, so I probably should have made the starter sooner. Of course if you have been paying attention to my last few brews that used yeast starters, you realize this has become somewhat typical for me. It does seem to get the main fermentation started quicker.

Whacko Wife is interesting. It uses a base of Whisky Wife Wit, which is a beer that I have brewed before as a partial mash. Very recently, I converted that to an all-grain recipe, but I have not brewed the all-grain version of the base, yet. So, for this pumpkin beer, I am brewing the derivative fruit beer before the main beer has been brewed. Just sort of backwards. It will turn out fine. It is just sort of interesting.

I hit 100 Gallons

According to the spreadsheet on which I track this sort of thing, Sunday, I brewed my 21st batch of beer for the year. More significantly, BlackHawk Black brought my 2012 total to exactly 100 gallons of beer.

You may remember that last year I mentioned that I might hit 100 Gallons. Later, at the end of the year, I reported that I had come short and only reached 98 gallons for 2011.

This year, though, I hit the 100 gallons. I am planning on brewing at least one more batch, so my 2012 total will actually break the 100 gallon mark.

Brewing Blackhawk Black Ale

I miss NHL hockey. It seems like we just had a work stoppage, and here we are again with another. I don't care which side is "right". Just work it out and get back to work.

I like sitting in front of the T.V. watching the Blackhawks and drinking homebrew. The SheppyBrew brewery has brewed a couple of beers named in honor of my favorite hockey team, and it seems a shame to waste them on the NBA.

One such beer that I have not brewed in a long time is Blackhawk Black Ale. Apparently, I won't be able to watch the Blackhawks anytime soon, but I can still brew up and drink this SheppyBrew classic.

November Blogging

Here it is December already? Times flies when you are having fun.

Continuing my streak of monthly record breaking page-views, November's total page views beat October's for the new all-time record. Amazingly, the blog did it with the least number of posts of the year. I can probably thank momentum from GABF to help push me over the top.

Are you curious about which articles have been looked at the most? Sure you are. Here are this blog's top 10 viewed posts this month:

42 Smash

I brewed today. The beer that I brewed was a Single Malt, Single Hop (my first one) that I am calling 42 SMaSH Pale Ale. Its grain bill is 100% Marris Otter and its hop is Centennial. It is probably hoppy enough to be considered an IPA, but maybe not and it should be low enough in ABV to be more in the APA range. I am officially calling it an APA.

Brew day was far from perfect and I have no idea how this beer will turn out.

Last time I brewed, I broke my floating thermometer, and I forgot to buy a new one when I bought my ingredients. So, early this morning after I realized my mistake, I used a meat thermometer to measure my strike water temperature. It made me miss my floating thermometer that I could just leave in the water and in the mash. I'm not sure I trust the accuracy of the readings either.

Bottling the X-Mas Ale

Today I bottled my 2012 X-Mas Ale.

You may or may not remember that I brewed this batch towards the end of October (see Brewing the 2012 X-Mas Ale if you would like to refresh your memory).

It had a very vigorous fermentation with lots of blow-off. After a week, I racked it into a secondary fermentor along with about 1 tbsp of peppermint extract. It has been in the secondary almost 3 weeks.

I thought the sample I had today seemed like about the right amount of peppermint, but I think maybe this beer is going to be another one that has a schizophrenic flavor. Some days I will think it seems awesome and on other days it will seem to have too much peppermint. Last year's X-Mas Ale was that way with its hazelnut flavoring.

My Thanksgiving Beer Lineup

If you subscribe to as many beer blog RSS feeds as I do, you have probably seen a bunch of blog posts about pairing beer with Thanksgiving dinner. For example, there is a Denver Post "First Drafts" article called Thanksgiving dinner is a perfect time to try a pairing with Colorado beers. There is a post at BeerChow called Thanksgiving Craft Beer style.

There are tons of other articles out there. It is becoming more and more popular to pair beer with food, and Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday meal of them all. Beer has an advantage over wine in that there is such a wide variety of flavors that make it fun to pick and choose to match up with the food.

To be honest, I am not great at picking and choosing my beer based on what food I am having. I tend to like all kinds of beers with all kinds of foods. Sometimes I think about and choose my beer based on what I am eating, but it is not something I really try too hard at.

I don't really drink wine, so my adult beverage of choice for any meal is beer, and over the past several years, especially, it has always been local craft beer with my Thanksgiving meals. Last year, I was at my sister's house in Wisconsin, so I had some midwest regional beers. This year, I am in Colorado, so I am drinking (mostly) Colorado Beers.

Sasquatch Hunting

If the Mayans were correct and the end of the world is December 21st, I am really going to feel stupid.

I spend most of my daylight hours in front of a computer typing in cryptic instructions. To make things worse, sometimes the computer doesn't even obey my cryptic instructions. Sometimes I don't even completely understand what it is that I am typing into the computer.

When I go outside for a few minutes at or around lunch-time, the sky is usually a gorgeous blue, and I see snow-covered mountains in the distance. I would much prefer to be hiking or biking or snowshoeing or just-about-anything-ing outside than sitting inside staring at, typing into, and arguing with a uncooperative computer.

All-Grain Version of the White House Honey Ale

I am disappointed with the results of the recent presidential election. I am not a fan of the president's policies, and I think the country would be better off with a change of leadership.

One thing that I am a fan of, though, is that some of the White House staff home-brews. That is cool.

#StoutDay 2012

Here it is International #StoutDay again.

I was going to go out and grab a half-growler of some local small brewery's stout today, but things just got too busy at work and I decided to just head home after. I do, after all, have beers at home.

I was able to earn the 2012 untappd Stout Day badge tonight with my world-famous Stouticus American Stout.

Still More @Untappd Badges 6

It is now a tradition that I cannot stop ... sharing the badges that I've earned on Untappd (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness , and Some more Badges @Untappd , and Still More @Untappd Badges), and Still More @Untappd Badges 2 and Still More @Untappd Badges 3 and Still More @Untappd Badges 4 and Still More @Untappd Badges 5.

Since last time I did one of these ... I have earned:

Perfect Beer World

You may remember that last month, I participated in "The Session" (aka Beer Blogging Friday) with Novelty Beers ... Oct 2012 "Session". It was fun and I think maybe it drove a few new beer geeks to my blog, so I am doing it again this month.

If you are unfamiliar with "The Session", I'll let you read more about the concept here: http://brookstonbeerbulletin.com/the-sessions/

 November's topic is hosted by Jorge at Brew Beer and Drink It. His topic is "The Perfect Beer World", which is pretty much wide-open. We know the world of beer isn't perfect. What would I do to improve it?

Low Carb Beers

Well, first off, I know for certain that a perfect beer world would not have those absolutely awful mass-produced low-carb beers. If you are worried about carbs and calories, just drink water. It has about as much flavor as these low-carb beers. I have a quote I put on some of my beer bottle labels:

"People who drink light 'beer' don't like the taste of beer; they just like to pee alot."

This pretty much summarizes what I feel about people who drink Michelob Ultra or Miller 64. Generally, I will not ridicule someone for drinking a particular sort of beer, but I will make an exception if I see you drinking one of these.

So, if I had a magic-beer-world-improving-wand, the very first thing I would do is ban Low-Carb beers.

October Blogging

Well, the October page-views blew away September's on this blog. This of course continues the streak of monthly record breaking page-views that has been going on since May of 2011. This is not too much of a surprise as GABF seems to attract significant traffic to this blog every year.

And what have my readers been looking at? Glad you asked. Here are the top 10 view pages over the past 30 days: