232 ... Blackberry in Bed (Bam-ba-Lam)

I brewed my 232nd batch of beer on Good Friday.

232nd all-time. 7th of the year. 1st of the quarter.

Sadly, my closest home-brew shop is closing. While I was in there looking for going-out-of-business deals, I saw they had some Blackberry puree and flavoring.

The Beer Model had mentioned that she thought a Blackberry Beer would be good, so I decided to snag the puree and flavoring.

I also picked up a new 15 gallon brew kettle pretty cheap from the closing shop. Friday was the first brew day for my new bigger pot.

Because I had a much bigger pot, I decided to do a 7 gallon batch this time to take advantage of the extra capacity.

I considered a few names. Most had to do with song lyrics.

"Back in Blackberry" was a strong possibility ... derived by AC/DC's "Back in Black".

I almost named it "Never Go Back".

I went with "Blackberry in Bed" after listening to the Squeeze song "Black Coffee in Bed". I have fond memories of college days drinking and listening to that song with friends.

For the recipe, I went with my standard "Summer Lovin" base. I'll add the puree in secondary and the flavoring at kegging time. The formula works for me. I don't really have any reason to change it up.

Blackberry in Bed American Wheat

3 Saisons

If you follow this blog, you've probably picked up that generally, I brew 4 saisons a year Winter / Spring / Summer / and Autumn. I call these my Seasonal Saisons.

It is rare that I have more than one saison on tap at the same time. I usually finish drinking the previous season's saison before brewing the next one.

However, this year I decided to add a 5th Season. 

At the beginning of April, my 2019 Melting Stream Spring Saison was ready to drink. 

I still had a little of my Arctic Vortex Winter Saison left, and I had plenty of the 5th Season Blood Orange Saison too. 

3 Saisons at once!

Alcatraz

As you may remember from recent posts, The family visited San Francisco for Spring Break this year.

You know we took many many pictures of The Golden Gate Bridge.

You've also seen pictures of us hiking in Muir Woods.

Another of our activities was to visit Alcatraz.

Both kids told us that their favorite part of the trip was this Alcatraz visit.

The day was beautiful and the boat ride if pretty fun. Plus, when it comes right down to it,  Alcatraz is pretty awesome.

Really a must-see when you visit San Francisco. Here are some photos:

C is for ????

I have lots of choices for my "C" Brewery.

• Call to Arms Brewing Company
• Cerebral Brewing
• Cheluna Brewing Company
• CO Brew
• Colorado Plus Brew Pub
• Crazy Mountain Tap Room + BBQ
• Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project

I don't really know what to pick.

I would love to visit Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project, but they specialize on sour beers and if The SheppyBrew Beer Model goes with me ... she would probably rather stay away from that one.

I've had quite a few Crazy Mountain beers, and I have visited that location when it was Breckenridge, so I think I can mark Crazy Mountain Tap Room + BBQ off the list.

2019 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

It blows my mind, but the first quarter of 2019 is over. But, it is. It really really is.

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 SheppyBrew Brewery had a big Q1, brewing 6 batches of beer and 30.5 gallons:

• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Popcorn Barley Rye (PBR)
• Mardi Bock
• 5th Season Blood Orange Saison
• Melting Stream Spring Saison
• Bridge Fog California Common

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Muir Woods

Remember from Golden Gate Bridge that we visited San Francisco for Spring Break this year?

Well, on Monday of the week, we headed across the bridge up to Muir Woods National Monument for some hiking.

I think this was my favorite part of the visit.

I loved walking in the redwood forest.

The size of the trees was just awe inspiring. Truly awesome.

We could have spent a lot more time here.
Luckily my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) is a thorough planner and made the proper reservations. She also was clever enough to identify that there isn't cell service there so taking an uber wasn't a great option.

Here are some of the pictures we took:

B is for Briar Common Brewery + Eatery

As I mentioned in A to Z Denver Breweries, I'm starting over at the beginning of the alphabet.

My "A" brewery this time around was ... A is for Alternation Brewing Company. After "A" comes "B", so I needed a Denver Brewery that started with the letter B.

Last time, I chose B is for Baere Brewing Company, so obviously I couldn't pick that one. 

Turns out that there are a bunch of choices for "B" breweries in Denver.

After my brew day last Friday, for no particular reason, The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I drove to Briar Common Brewery + Eatery in the Jefferson Park neighborhood of Denver.

2298 Clay St. Denver CO 80211. Right on the corner of 23rd and Clay street. A few blocks from Mile High Stadium.

The "Eatery" part meant we could have lunch there without bringing our own food. That was nice.

B is for Briar Common Brewery + Eatery

Bridge Fog California Common (Batch 231)

As I mentioned in Golden Gate Bridge, we spent a few days in San Francisco last week.

I took the whole week off work, but we returned Wednesday. This meant I had Thursday and Friday to do with as I pleased.

So, I decided to buy beer ingredients on Thursday and brew on Friday.

Fun, right?

As we had just returned from San Francisco, Anchor Steam was on my mind. I decided to brew a California Common.

Between a clone recipe in a Zymurgy issue, and Jamil's recipe in Brewing Classic Styles, I developed my own recipe.

Feel free to check it out on the website:

Bridge Fog California Common

Golden Gate Bridge

The kids had spring break this week.

We'd never been to San Francisco, and heard good things from friends and family who had visited recently. So, we decided to spend some time there for our vacation.

We stayed right in town by Fisherman's Wharf and ended up walking a bunch.

While there, I took a bunch of pictures.

Many of these pictures that I took were from the Golden Gate Bridge.

Here are some of those that I took.

2019 Melting Stream Spring Saison (Batch 230)

Hard to believe ... at least here in Colorado where we just had the "Bomb Cyclone" a week or two ago ... but spring is here.

Wednesday March 20 was already the first day of Spring. Vernal Equinox. Spring has sprung!

Spring means that it is time to brew my Melting Stream Spring Saison.

Obviously, Melting Stream Spring Saison is the Spring version of my Seasonal Saisons. It is very light in color, very dry, and quite hoppy.

It uses WY3711 for that delicious and refreshing saison flavor.

Bridesmaids Gift Boutique: Ice Ice Baby

Remember "Joe" from my post Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug?

Well .. after posting my review ... he asked if I'd like to do the same for something on another website that he is involved in. He offered to send me something from Bridesmaids Gift Boutique.

He thought maybe drink ware on the site might fit with my blog:

https://www.bridesmaidgiftsboutique.com/collections/drinkware

To be honest, nothing really jumped out at me like a bunch of the stuff from Groovy Guy Gifts did.

However, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) took a look and liked the "Ice Ice Baby" insulated tumbler.

So, we had Joe send us one.

Snowshoeing

It has been awhile since I've shared any wilderness adventure pictures.

As the kids get older, it is harder to get them up in the morning, and so most of my weekend days are wasted waiting for people to get up.

Saturday though, we got the kids up (fairly) early, and drove up to the mountains to do some snowshoeing.

It was nice to get out, and it was a beautiful day.

Here are some pictures from the day:

SheppyBrew.com Update

So ... Remember in SheppyBrew 2018 Year-End Brewing Stats, I mentioned:

"www.sheppybrew.com has been having issues. I hope to work on the website this year to correct those problems. I'm not sure what exactly is going on, but the website isn't always rendering the correct page."

The issue that I was referring to was that the server was caching my pages. This would have been fine, but the web server was not treating query strings as different content.

Smoked Pork Steaks and Sausages

I don't know if you can tell from this blog, but I really enjoy Smoking and Grilling meat.

I'm not great at it ... I won't be winning (or entering) barbecue competitions any time soon ...   but I really enjoy doing it and the food tastes great despite my lack of talent.

I'm learning.

I like meat.

I'd make a horrible vegetarian. I'd be a complete failure as a vegan.

So, I try to cook something outside at least once a weekend. For the most part I succeed in that goal.

A is for Alternation Brewing Company

As I mentioned in A to Z Denver Breweries, I'm starting over at the beginning of the alphabet. I published my first "A" brewery, A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company, in March of 2015. At the time, I think it was the only Denver brewery I found that started with A.

4 years later, there is another one. A is for Alternation Brewing Company.

Usually when I do one of these A to Z Denver Breweries on this blog, I spend some time on their website before visiting.

Alternation doesn't have much on their website (www.alternationbrewing.com). From google maps, however, I found them at

1539 S Broadway, Denver, CO 80210

Their hours are

Wednesday and Thursday 4 PM to 10 PM

Friday 1 PM to 10 PM

Saturday 12 PM to 10 PM

Sunday 12 PM to 8 PM

Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug

So ...

A week or two ago ... "Joe" at Groovy Guy Gifts emailed me. He wanted to know if I would be willing to write a product review on the blog in exchange for a free personalized gift.

I like free. Personalized gifts are cool. Sometimes I type things into a blog. Yes, I was willing.

Based on the content of this blog, he suggested that I might like one of the following ...

• Personalized Bottle Opener
• Personalized Growler Cooler
• Personalized 16oz Gunmetal Beer Mug
• Personalized 18oz Giant Beer Mug

He was correct. I liked all those items. I was also very interested in several other items on the website.

Pretty much everything in the "Bar & Drinking Gifts" section.

Most of the "All Gifts" section too.

It was difficult to choose, but eventually, I decided to have "Joe" send me a Big Slug Mug (aka Personalized 18oz Giant Beer Mug).

I think it looks cool.

Especially with "SheppyBrew Home Brew" engraved on it.

Pandemonium Jambalaya

I do most of the cooking for my family on the weekends. For the most part, this means something on the smoker or grill.

Quite often, though, I take advantage of our crock-pot so I can put everything together in the morning and not worry about it for the rest of the day. Usually that means some sort of chili, but I'll mix it up from time to time.

This a couple Saturdays ago, I decided to make jambalaya.

However, to change things up a little, I thought I'd use my smoker to add flavor to the chicken I was using as meat.

I composed the recipe by looking at various recipes such as Easy Slow-Cooker Jambalaya. Of course, I don't do a great job of following recipes ... but this is basically where the recipe ended up:

1 is for 14er Brewing Company

As I mentioned in A to Z Denver Breweries, I finally finished up my A to Z Denver Breweries Project on this blog, and I thought I'd start over again at "A". Hopefully it doesn't take me 4 years this time.

Well, I started over again, but in my list of breweries, I noted that some of the Denver Area breweries start with numerals rather than letters.

For example, there is a Denver brewery called "14er Brewing Company". Sure, I could bring it in as an F, but I wanted to give it a try sooner... so the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I headed downtown Saturday to check it out.

As it turns out, 14er Brewing Company has two locations fairly close to each other. I planned to hit one of them. The SheppyBrew Beer Model thought we were going to the other one.

She ordered lunch from The Walnut Room for us to eat at our brewery. It is on the same block of one of the locations. It is a bit longer of a walk from the other.

5th Season Blood Orange Saison

I brewed my 229th batch of beer Sunday.

Last time I kegged a saison (2019 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison), I harvested the yeast from that batch.

Generally, I brew 4 saisons a year Winter / Spring / Summer / and Autumn. I call these my Seasonal Saisons.

I didn't really want to keep the harvested yeast until time to brew the Spring Saison, Plus, I sort of want to experiment with my homebrewed saisons some.

So, I decided that I would brew an off-cycle experimental saison. A "5th Season" as it were.

Nothing too crazy on the experiment. I thought a Blood Orange Saison would be good.

And that is what I made this Sunday.

5th Season Blood Orange Saison

A to Z Denver Breweries

Back in February of 2015, I was embarrassed by the huge number of Denver Breweries that I had never visited.

It struck me that if I went down the list, the starting letters of the brewery names represented almost every letter of the alphabet. That was when I started my A to Z Denver Breweries Project on this blog.

I had to cheat a little (aka "take artistic license"), but I was able to visit breweries and write blog posts for every letter in the alphabet. It took me way longer than I expected, but I got through 26 breweries.

Mardi Bock

I brewed my 228th batch of beer on Saturday. It was one of those brew days on which I brought my brewing stuff over to a friend's house and brewed there.

Anyway ... you may remember my homebrew friend "Doc" from Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout and Learning to Homebrew.

The weekend before, SheppyBrew Beer Model and I had met Doc and his wife at a new brewery for some beers. He had mentioned that he was brewing Saturday with "Dan", another homebrewer we know.

He invited us over.

The Beer Model couldn't attend, but I decided to go.

I had to decide what to brew. SheppyBrew's PBR was almost done in primary, so I had lots of lager yeast I could harvest. I wanted to do a big lager.

The Beer Model said we should make a "Mardi Gras Beer". It took us a bit, but we came to the conclusion that a Bock would be a good Mardi Gras / Lent Beer.

SheppyBrew's PBR

Remember in SheppyBrew 2018 Year-End Brewing Stats, I mentioned that I wanted to brew more new recipes in 2019?

Remember in SheppyBrew 2018 Year-End Brewing Stats, I mentioned that I wanted to brew more lagers in 2019?

So ... last weekend I brewed a beer that was both a new recipe and a lager.

Bam!

At first, I thought I was going to brew a Standard American Lager (BJCP Category 1B). This category call for using corn as an ingredient. I've brewed Popcorn Beers in the past, and I thought it would be fun to add popcorn to this one too.

For some reason, I thought it would be funny to make a beer name for which P.B.R. could be an acronym.

Popcorn was a great start for the "P".

It took me awhile, but eventually, it hit me that "Popcorn. Barley. Rye" would work for "P.B.R".

I already had Popcorn and Barley as part of the recipe. It certainly isn't difficult to add some Rye.

Voila ... I had the malt bill for my new lager.

Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company

Z. I'm finally to Z. Hooray for me.

Yes, I am finally down to the last letter in my A to Z Denver Breweries series.

I bet for awhile there you probably never thought I'd get here.

Well, way back in February of 2015, I composed a list of Denver Breweries that I had never visited. I was embarrassed by the large number of breweries I had never been to, and decided to try to make an effort to get to more.

It struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names. I thought a fun way to get through a bunch of un-visited breweries was to start with A and work my way through Z.

If you follow this blog, you likely caught that I hit "Y" just a little while ago.

Now I'm at Z.

Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company

X-Mas Ale Vertical Tasting

You may have gathered from Sheppy's Blog: X-Mas Ales that I brew a different X-Mas Ale every year.

I started this back in 2009, and have continued every year up to and including 2018.

I'm certain I'll brew a new X-Mas Ale recipe in 2019 as well.

Back when I first started and for several years thereafter, I bottled extra bottles that I let sit in the beer fridge for several years. The idea was to be able to perform vertical tastings of the various years.

Now that I keg everything, I have not been great at putting aside beers, but I still have quite a few left from 2011 through 2015.

Y is for Yak and Yeti Restaurant and Brewpub

Big Y little y. What begins with Y? Yak and Yeti Restaurant and Brewpub. Y. Y. Y.

Yes. I am finally down to the second to last letter in my A to Z Denver Breweries series.

What the hell am I talking about?

Well, way back in February of 2015, I composed a list of Denver Breweries that I had never visited. I was embarrassed by the large number of breweries I had never been to, and decided to try to make an effort to get to more.

It struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names. I thought a fun way to get through a bunch of un-visited breweries was to start with A and work my way through Z.

I started with A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

By the end of 2015, I had worked my way through G is for Great Frontier Brewing

I made great progress in 2016, getting to T is for TRVE Brewing Company before 2017 began.

2017 brought U is for Ursula Brewery, V is for Vine Street Pub and Brewery, and W is for Wits End Brewing Company.

Then I got lazy for over a year.

SheppyBrew 2018 Year-End Brewing Stats

The 2018 is over.

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. We only brewed 3 beers.

• X-Mas Ale 2018
• Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale
• Resilience IPA Clone(ish)

Those 3 batches totaled 16 gallons of beer, bringing my 2018 total to 18 batches and 93 gallons brewed. Hooray ... I'm a legal homebrewer this year!

2018 X-Mas Ale

2019 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Here it is. Winter again.

Among other things, winter means that it is time to brew Arctic Vortex Winter Saison.

Yum!

As you probably know if you follow SheppyBrew Brewery, we brew at least 4 saisons every year.

Winter Spring Summer Autumn.

I call them my Seasonal Saison series of beers.

The Arctic Vortex Winter Saison happens to be a black saison, because winter is generally dark ... and it would be boring to make all my saisons look the same.

This weekend, I brewed this year's Arctic Vortex Winter Saison.

Christmas Ribeye Roast

As I mentioned in Double Smoked Ham, I had a couple of Christmas dinners to make this year. The first was the Sunday before Christmas with some family. I cooked that ham on my smoker.

The second was our family Christmas dinner. This one was a 6 lb Ribeye Roast that our local super market had on sale for Christmas.

I had never made a Ribeye Roast before this year. It really isn't difficult at all.

Pretty simple, really.

The night before, I trimmed a bit of the hard fat on the roast and applied Montreal Steak Seasoning over the whole thing. I let it sit in the fridge overnight.

Around 10 the next morning, I started up the smoker with charcoal and hickory chunks. I put the roast on the smoker in a roasting pan around 10:40.

Double Smoked Ham

Happy New Year!

Recently, we had a couple of Christmas Dinners that had to be prepared.

We had some family over to the house on the 23rd, and decided to do a Christmas dinner for them.

The kids wanted a ham.

We decided to cook it on the smoker. I had never done a ham before, and it provided extra oven space for other things.

To make things easier, we decided that I might as well just do a pre-cooked spiral cut ham.

As luck would have it, I had come across a recipe ... How To Smoke A Honeybaked Ham.

Smoked Pulled Pork Sandwiches

I didn't brew last weekend, but I did Barbecue.

Last time I got Pork Butt, they were on sale for 99 cents per pound. I got two and froze one of them for later.

I decided to cook it up last Sunday (12/16/2018).

As you may know, last Sunday was the big Bears vs. Packers game. The Bears won the game and the division.

I love to see the Packers lose. It is even better when the Bears do the beating. Of course, it has been a loooong time since that happened.

Hurray for the Bears!

Anyway ... I decided to smoke pork shoulder. Since it was frozen, I had to thaw it over the week before, so I was committed by the time Sunday got here.

Resilience IPA

As a general rule, I don't brew clone beers.

However, late in the year, the "Camp Fire" devastated Northern California and it hit close to home for Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. While the brewery was spared, many of Sierra Nevada’s employees, patrons and neighbors lost everything as the Camp Fire ravaged northern Californian.

To help raise much needed support for the recovery efforts, Sierra Nevada created a beer called Resilience IPA. Sierra Nevada, along with many of its professional brewing peers, brewed and sold Resilience IPA with all proceeds donated to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief Fund through Golden Valley Community Bank Foundation.

On the AHA Website, they posted a clone recipe for Sierra Nevada Resilience IPA, and wrote:

"It is our hope that homebrewers will make a batch of Resilience IPA in solidarity with Sierra Nevada and pro breweries across the country. While we can’t sell our creations and donate the proceeds, please consider donating to the Golden Valley Community Bank Foundation if you are able."

X is for WestFaX Brewing Company

Well ... Damn.

I was so close to finishing up my little A to Z Breweries project.

After V is for Vine Street Pub and Brewery, I cheated a little with "W is for Wits End Brewing Company" ... I only had X, Y, and Z left.

I even visited WestFaX Brewing Company back in the summer of 2017.

And then I just never finished up writing this post. After a few months, I thought that I should visit it again.

And then I forgot about the whole thing for awhile. I got lazy I guess.

Just in case you're new to this blog, and the concept of what I'm talking about ... check out Sheppy's Blog: A to Z ... I think you'll be able to figure out the concept. Pretty simple, I'm attempting to visit local breweries that I have not been to. I decided to go down the alphabet.

Cherry Wood Smoked Thanksgiving Turkey

Well ... as you know if you've been following this blog, I've taken up barbecue as a hobby.

My wife bought me a smoker as a gift last Christmas, and I've been using it pretty regularly.

One of the things I've really been looking forward to doing is smoking a Thanksgiving Turkey.

If you follow the SheppyBrew Instagram Feed or Facebook Page, you probably know that I did make our family's Thanksgiving Turkey this year on the Smoker.

If I'm honest, I was a bit nervous about doing it. I've never really smoked anything that big, and I certainly didn't want to screw it up.

I've done quite a few whole chickens, though, and a turkey is basically just a big chicken ... right?

As it turns out, it was great, so I was ok.

Learning to Homebrew

So ... Saturday, November 3 was the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day.

My homebrewing friend, "Doc" invited me to his house to brew. You may remember that earlier in the year, I went to house for Big Brew Day (see Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout).

In addition to the two experienced homebrewers, there were a couple of people there to watch us, and a new homebrewer doing his first "real" homebrew batch.

Again, I packed up my brewing equipment and brought it "on the road". Again, it is a little awkward for me to do this.

I need a checklist.

But I was able to get enough of the stuff to Doc's house that I wasn't missing anything. The only thing I had to borrow from him was his wort chiller.

2018 X-Mas Ale and Tri-tips

So, I brewed my 2018 X-Mas Ale a couple Sundays ago.

As you may remember, every year I brew a different X-Mas Ale. You can read about most of them right here on Sheppy's Blog: X-Mas Ales.

They are all winter warmer base beers with various flavorings.

This year's version was designed to be slightly lighter in color.

The unique flavoring this year is Peanut Butter.

As you might have noticed over the years from my GABF posts, that my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) really enjoys trying out Peanut Butter beers.

I've been surprised quite a few times since this year's GABF, when I mention peanut butter beers (or chocolate peanut butter beers) how surprised / disgusted people initially are.

2018 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

The 3rd quarter is done.

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.

Hail Storm Summer Saison brew day

2018 Falling Leaves Autumn Saison

On the last day of September, I brewed my 2018 version of Falling Leaves Autumn Saison.

Falling Leaves is, of course, the Autumn version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers. It is darker in color than the Spring and Summer Saisons, but not as dark as the black Winter Saison.

Just for the fun of it, I threw some pumpkin in the recipe as well.

The beer is pretty interesting.

It gets most of its color from a Dark Munich malt from Gambrinus Malting Corporation. The malt flavor is heavily Munich breadiness, but it does have the distinct French Saison taste from the yeast and lots of late Saaz hops.

It is a delicious beer.

2018 #GABF Photos

Well, as you probably know, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I go to the Great American Beer Festival almost every year.

Like last year, since I'm so far behind getting blog posts up, I won't say much about this year's except:

• It was fun as always
• The food trucks they had this year were much better food than the regular vendors
• I do not like Brut IPA's
• I do seem to like Milk Shake IPA's
• It didn't feel quite as crowded this year
• I really liked hitting the State Brewery Guilds.
• For the first time, I used the GABF Phone App to take notes, and it was much better than carrying pen and paper.
• Getting into the building was even a smoother process than in past years.

Scallywag Czech Dark Lager

Barbecue and Homebrew. Can you think of a better combination on a beautiful September afternoon?

I can't think of one.

Add in some football; it doesn't get much better than this.

I brewed and barbecued exactly two weeks ago today.

The homebrew of the day was a new SheppyBrew recipe called Scallywag Czech Dark Lager.

I'm not real familiar with the Czech Dark Lager style. It is there in the newest BJCP guidelines, but I don't think I've ever actually had one.

I am in love with Czech Pilsners (now referred to as Czech Pale Lagers in the BJCP Guidelines). I figured I would simple make my My Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner and add some color.

That is what I did.

Scallywag Czech Dark Lager

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.

2018 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale

I have gotten bad at getting my blog posts out. This post should have been published at least 2 weeks ago.

But ... oh well ...

Here we go.

On Sunday, September 9 I brewed the 2018 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale.

For some strange reason, my wife REALLY loves pumpkin spice beers.

That being the case, in 2014, I designed a pumpkin spice ale. And I brewed it.

Happy wife ... happy life ... right?

It is actually pretty good. The base beer is fantastic and the pumpkin spice is subtle enough that I can drink it, while still being present enough for my wife to enjoy the beer.

Only highly skilled brewing craft men can walk that fine line. Good thing I'm awesome like that.

Some people will tell you that you don't need pumpkin in a pumpkin spice ale. I disagree. So, I put pumpkin in.

Rocktoberfest Lager 2018

The Colorado Rockies are in the hunt for the playoffs this year.

As I type ... they are 1.5 games out of the 2nd wildcard spot, but only a game out of first in the NL West. They have plenty of games left with Arizona, so they basically have their playoff destiny in their own hands.

But ... they are the Rockies ... so they are likely to need all the help they can get.

You may not know this, but the Colorado Rockies have never won a division title.

And so ... I figured it was time for me to do my part and help by brewing some

Rocktoberfest Lager.  

A couple of weekends ago, I did just that.

Brewing Near-Sighted Swine IPA

I don't make a lot of IPA's, but the other day I started thinking I really should get one brewed.

Quite awhile ago I brewed an IPA that I really enjoyed, named Near-Sighted Swine IPA. Rather than come up with a new recipe, I decided to use this one.

I did update the hops a little. But, it is essentially the same recipe as it was back then.

Last Sunday (not this past Sunday ... the one before), I brewed the beer.

I started the brew day somewhat late for me ... after the sun was up ... around 6AM or so.

The skies looked like rain, but I started on the back patio.

About the time that the mash was done, I felt a bit of rain hit me from the skies and I made the decision to move the garage.

2018 Hail Storm Summer Saison

Summer time. Hooray for summer. It is going too fast.

Of course, with the change of seasons, I am required to make another Seasonal Saison.

Hail Storm Summer Saison to be more precise. Yum.

Yes ... Sunday, I brewed my Summer Saison.

If you follow my brewing patterns on this blog or social media, you probably have realized that I brew at least four Saisons a year. One for every season (saison is French for season). I call them my Seasonal Saison Series.

The Summer Saison is fairly light in color. Golden to light orange. It is designed to be around 5.5 to 6% ABV. It is fairly hoppy with Tettnang hops, but not at all bitter. Like most of my Seasonal Saisons, I use WY3711 French Saison (The Real Super Yeast).

Delicious.

Fermented Cauliflower and Broccoli

At work the other day people were talking about cauliflower. Weird thing to talk about at work ... right?

Lately, I've seen quite a few posts on instagram and facebook about cauliflower. Or at least more than I ever remember seeing before. I guess it is healthy. It seems to be a big part of some popular diet at the moment.

Anyway ... I mentioned that I sometimes ferment cauliflower. People were intrigued. I said I would bring some in sometime and let a few people try it.

And ... as you might have seen on the SheppyBrew Instagram Feed or Facebook Page, I prepared some.

Actually, I got myself some Cauliflower and Broccoli.

Of course, I had to also add in some jalapenos.

Obviously.

RMNP Photos

We went camping again this Fathers' Day Weekend.

Here are some pictures:

Beer Can Chicken

Over the years, I've experimented quite a bit with grilling or smoking whole chickens.

I've tried Beer Can Chicken.

I've made Rotisserie Chicken.

I've done simple indirect heat Grilled Chicken.

I've grilled chicken standing up like Beer Can, but without the beer.

I've smoked Apple Wood Smoked Chicken.

Yum!

I like grilling / smoking chicken. As you can probably tell, I always do it a little different. It always turns out awesome. I'm not convinced one technique is significant'y better than any other. As long as you cook for the right amount of time at a decent temperature, it turns out great.

Last Sunday, I added a new twist on my latest Smoked Chicken.

Pulled Pork Green Chili Recipe

Remember that a couple weeks ago, I smoked a port shoulder and had pulled pork sandwiches?

Well, if not feel free to check out Smoked Pork Shoulder and Brew Day. Go ahead. I'll wait.

I had a pound or two of the butt left over in the freezer.

I have decided that one of the best ways to use up extra smoked pork shoulder is to put it in a crock-pot of chili.

This past Saturday, I decided to make some green chili to use up the most recent pork butt.

It was delicious. Yum!

You may remember my Smoked Chicken Green Chili from a few weeks ago. It was fantastic, but some of the steps I used in that were dependent on having time to smoke some stuff.

Saturday, I didn't really have much time, so I changed up the recipe some. A couple people on various social media channels asked for the recipe.

Here it is:

Smoked Pork Shoulder and Brew Day

You may remember that back in January, I smoked a pork butt for pulled pork sandwiches. See Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork if you need a reminder.

It turned out great. And it was lots of fun.

At least it was lots of fun for most of the day.

To get that 9 lb pork shoulder done in time for dinner, I got started very early in the morning and kept the meat on the smoker for 13 hours.

My smoker is not a set and forget cook, so I was paying attention to the cooking meat most of the day.

At the end of Hickory Smoked Pulled Pork, I mentioned that in the future I would consider getting the butt to the wrap and then finish off in the oven.

Electric Smoker Guy

So, you may remember that I got a grill / smoker for Christmas. Technically, I got a picture of the grill / smoker ... but that is a story of its own. And ... eventually I got the actual grill and the actual smoker box.

As a result of this gift, I've gotten into smoking meats.

If you want, you can take a look at all the blog posts about the smoking I've done so far: Sheppy's Blog: Smoked

I have started looking at different Barbecue / Smoker forums because ... well ... because I now have a smoker.

Cinco de Bealtaine Irish Stout

The 5th of May was the American Homebrew Association's Big Brew Day.

One of my Homebrewing Friends ("Doc") hosted an event at his house and invited me to brew at his house.

I usually brew alone, and I've never brought my equipment "on the road". Generally, I'm pretty inefficient at fetching and readying my equipment during brew day. I usually get the next piece of equipment or brewing ingredient "Just in Time", and quite often take several trips down to the basement rather than bringing everything up at the same time.

This helps my fitbit stats, but is rather inefficient. A manufacturing engineer would never approve of my process. A Time and Motion Study would yield all kinds of low-hanging-fruit-improvements to make the process smoother.

I don't care. It works for me.

However, it does mean that I'm not used to getting everything I need together for a brewing road trip.