25 Beers of December part 2

Remember 25 Beers of December part1?

Everyday in December up until Christmas, I'm drinking a different beer. 

Some of them are from the "Twelve Days of IPA's" 12 pack that my wife bought me. Some of them are homebrews. Some are from local breweries.

We left off on the 9th of December, which means we have the 10th of December up until today to account for.

Irregular Eric vs Deviant Dales

Recently, I brewed Irregular Eric Double IPA ... the 5th beer in my Homebrew Colorado 6 pack.

Good stuff. If you're interested, you can read about my brew day at Irregular Eric Double IPA (Batch 273).

I designed Irregular Eric Double IPA as a tribute of Oskar Blue's Deviant Dale's IPA.

Sadly, Deviant Dale's doesn't exist anymore.

Spare Ribs

I smoked some spare ribs last Sunday.

I love to eat them, but out of all the things I smoke, I feel like I'm most inconsistent on my spare ribs.

I never really know how best to fit them on my Weber Kettle.

I use my Web Rib Rack. Sometimes I leave the ribs pretty much whole. Sometimes I cut them in half.

Sometimes I place them down the middle with charcoal on each side. Sometimes I only have charcoal on one side of the kettle.

I never really know if I should trim them up or just dump them on the smoker.

Sometimes I go a bit hotter and less time. Sometimes I do more of a traditional 3-2-1 method.

They always turn out wonderful, and I think Sunday's version turned out the best, but I'm not sure I've figured out the best way.

25 Beers of December part 1

On the 1st of December, my wife brought home a Stone Brewing Company "Twelve Days of IPA's" 12 pack.

I thought this was a cool idea for a mixed 12 pack. I don't think I've ever seen one quite like this. You can have a different beer every day for 12 days.

Taking that line of thought a step farther ... \I thought it would be fun to drink a different beer a day until Christmas. Sort of an Advent calendar of drinking. I had almost half covered with Stone IPA's. I am sure I can come up with another 13 different beers to drink before Christmas.

So ...  

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner (Batch 275)

Schreck Gartenzwerg. Fright Gnome. 

Last year, I came up with a German Pilsner recipe.

The grain bill was 100% floor malted German pilsner malt.

The flavor hops were the "new" German hops Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon. I also included an ounce of each in dry hops.

Maybe not a completely traditional German Pilsner, but it was really delicious.

I thought it was an awesome beer. I even brought the keg into work to share at a "happy hour". It was well received.

Of course, that meant it didn't last long. 

At the time I thought I should brew it again. Maybe multiple times. Since that first batch, I have not brewed it.

Until the weekend after Thanksgiving.

Schreck Gartenzwerg Pilsner

2020 Thanksgiving Turkey

I smoked my third turkey last Thursday (Thanksgiving).

I'm pretty comfortable doing it now, although since I only smoke a turkey once a year, it still makes me a little nervous that I'll screw it up.

I didn't screw it up. I am pretty sure this was my best one so far.

Last year, I spatchcocked the turkey. I didn't like it as much as the previous year, so I went back to smoking the whole bird without cutting out the backbone.

Just like both my previous turkeys, I brined the bird around 24 hours before cooking it.

It was a simple brine this year.

• One gallon of SheppyBrew beer
• 1 gallon water
• 3/4 cup salt
• 1/4 cup garlic salt

The brine went into a large plastic bag which I put into a bucket. Over the bag, I put a bunch of ice. I stored that in the garage overnight. 

It was cold enough here in the Denver area to keep the bird cold. There was still ice on top in the morning.

C is for Cerveceria Colorado

If you read this blog, you probably know that round 3 of our A to Z Denver Breweries Project is underway.

If you missed A to Z Denver Breweries Round 2, go ahead and take a few minutes to read up on it.

Then, just for the fun of it you can check out A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply and B is for Bierstadt Lagerhaus.

With colder weather coming on and the rising number of COVID cases in Colorado, I don't know how likely it is that we'll make a whole lot of progress in the next few months.

But, we do have a "C" brewery for you. Actually, we hit our "C" brewery before either A or B. 

C is for Cerveceria Colorado

On a nice sunny Halloween day, the Beer Model and I packed a lunch, got on our bikes, and headed to Downtown Denver to check it out.

Puppy Monkey Baby (274)

Puppy. Monkey. Baby. PuppyMonkeyBaby.

There was an incredibly stupid commercial during Superbowl 50. (Go Broncos!)

Puppy. Monkey. Baby. PuppyMonkeyBaby.

The commercial was for some sort of weird Mountain Dew flavor. Not something I ever tried. I am fairly certain I'm not missing anything.

I keep a list of potential beer names on my phone, and for some reason, at some point (I assume during or shortly after the Superbowl), I added "Puppy Monkey Baby" to my list of names.

A couple weeks ago, I decided that my next beer would be a low alcohol American Blonde ale, and I as I was trying to decide on a name, "Puppy Monkey Baby" jumped out at me.

I honestly don't know why. It is a stupid beer name. But, it does amuse me. I guess that is reason enough to choose a name.

I brewed it last Sunday on my Anvil Foundry.

Puppy Monkey Baby Blonde Ale

Irregular Eric Double IPA (Batch 273)

Early in 2020 ... I started seeing a lot of traffic to my "Colorado 6 Pack" post on the blog, and I decided that it would be fun to take that list and homebrew batches that matched up with the list. 

See Sheppy's Blog: Homebrew Colorado 6 pack.

So far, from the "6 Pack" ... I've brewed:

• Stone Soup IDA (inspired by Tommyknocker's Hop Strike Black IPA)
• Foothills IPA (inspired by Odell IPA)
• Blackhawk Black (inspired by New Belgium's 1554)
• One Hundred Hoppy Brown Ale (inspired by Boulder Beer Company's Flashback India Brown Ale)

Next up, it was time for me brew something like Oskar Blue's Deviant Dale's IPA. 

Deviant Dale's doesn't exist anymore, but the idea was that it was essentially Dale's Pale Ale, only more. More hops. More malt. More ABV. More Body. More deliciousness. It was an 8% ABV, 85 IBU double IPA with lots of citrus, grapefruit rind and piney resins in the aroma and flavor.

I didn't really have a recipe that was close, so I designed one.

Irregular Eric's Double IPA

B is for Bierstadt Lagerhaus

If you follow my blog fairly regularly, you likely know that I began round 3 of my A to Z Denver Breweries Project with A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply.

If you follow the English alphabet, you likely realize that after "A" comes the letter "B".

And ... it doesn't take a huge leap of deductive reasoning to conclude that next up I would be trying to add a brewery that starts with the letter "B".

The Colorado Brewery List has quite a few "B" breweries in the Denver area. In fact, "B" looks to be the most common letter to start a brewery name with in the Denver area.

... Or maybe it is "C" ... I didn't actually count. 

Regardless, I had lots of  "B" breweries to pick from, but in my mind there was one logical choice.

B is for Bierstadt Lagerhaus

Honestly, it is a little crazy that I have not visited this brewery. I've enjoyed their beers on several occasions, but never made my way to the brewery.

Lithuanian Autumn vs. Falling Leaves

When I kegged Lithuanian Autumn Ale, and tasted the sample of the beer, I thought "Wow ... that really tastes a lot like Falling Leaves Autumn Saison".

A couple days later, on election day, I thought I'd run a blind triangle test on myself between these two beers.

Traveling Brew Checklist

 Remember in Lithuanian Autumn Ale (Batch 270), I mentioned that I actually spent the time to make a checklist to help remember what to bring along with me when I travel to other Home Breweries to brew.

Here is that List:

• 5 gallon BB P.E.T. Carboy with air lock and Star San. (x 2)
• Brew kettles and measuring stick. 
• Propane and burner
• Brew Bucket 
• Mash and Kettle hoses
• Mash paddle 
• Metal spoon
• Star San spray bottle
• Floating thermometer 
• Whirlfloc
• Fermcap
• Refractometer 
• Small bowl
• Mash tun
• Grains / hops / etc ...
• Wort chiller (if host doesn't have one for me to use)
• Beer

I think this is all I brought. I may add to this list if I come up with other things I may need.

Learn to Homebrew Day: X-Mas Ale 2020 (272)

Saturday was the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day. The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I have made it tradition to brew together on that day every year.

Of course we both know how to homebrew, but Saturday was the first opportunity for the Beer Model to brew with the Anvil Foundry I recently purchased (see Bud Lite Lime (271) on the Anvil Foundry).

There are two main reasons that the idea of electric brewing was extremely attractive to me.

First: most of the electric units I know about allow the ability to set a timer to start heating water. This means you can get your water all ready the night before and have the strike water to temperature when you get up in the morning.

That way, you can start the mash process immediately when you get up. 

Both times I've used the Anvil Foundry, I've taken advantage of this feature, although when brewing with the Beer Model, we get started so late, it wasn't as big a deal for me.

A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply

Here we go! 

Round 3 of my A to Z Denver Breweries Project.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model and I finished A to Z Denver Breweries Round 2 with Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company (again), and we're starting right over at the beginning of the alphabet.

As I mentioned in A to Z Denver Breweries Round 2, I have breweries for A through C picked out already.

In fact, the Beer Model and I biked to a "C" brewery last weekend.

You'll have to wait to see what that "C" brewery is, but I'll tell you right now what I picked for "A".

Big A. Little a. What begins with A?

A is for Altitude Brewing & Supply 

A. A. A.

Altitude Brewing & Supply is actually primarily a Denver Homebrew Shop, but they also have a little tap room area with a decent selection of beers.

Bud Lite Lime (271) on the Anvil Foundry

Well ... I got a new toy. A new piece of brewing equipment. 

I decided to enter the world of electric brewing with the Anvil Foundry.

If you looked closely at my pictures on Lithuanian Autumn Ale (Batch 270), you might have noticed I actually used it during that brew, but I only used it to heat strike water on that day.

So, what is the Anvil Foundry?

It is one of the many electric "all-in-one brewing systems" that have become popular over the past few years.

According to my friends at The Brew Hut (my local home brew shop) ... the Anvil Foundry is extremely popular, they told me it is their favorite "all-in-one brewing system". It is not as pricey as most of the similar systems, and seems to get great reviews.

A to Z Denver Breweries Round 2

I made it through round 2 of my A to Z Denver Breweries Project. Hooray for me!

What is the A to Z Denver Breweries Project? 

Well... 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.

In some cases, I couldn't find breweries that started with whatever letter I was on, so I took some artistic license, but every letter was represented. Twice.

Round 1 started in March of 2015 and ended in January of 2019. That's almost 4 years. 0.55 breweries per month.

I made it through Round 2 much quicker. It started in February of 2019 and ended earlier this month with Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company (again). Less than two years. 1.32 breweries per month.

Groovy Guy Gifts: Viking Beer Horn

As I mentioned in Groovy Guy Gifts: Louisville Chugger ... my buddy "Joe" recently sent me a couple of items from the Groovy Guy Gifts website. 

In addition to the Louisville Chugger, he kindly sent me a Viking Beer Horn.

I thought the  Viking Vessel looked completely bad-ass. Really really cool looking. 

Lithuanian Autumn Ale (Batch 270)

If you've been following the blog over the past few months, you may remember that I've been playing with a Lithuanian Farmhouse yeast that I was able to harvest from a local brewery.

The awesome thing about this yeast is that it ferments fairly clean beers when fermented in the 80's and 90's Fahrenheit. 

I've brewed Sveikas Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale, Lithuanian Lovin' Wheat and Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale in the heat of the summer.

But, Denver weather has been cooling down. I still have some harvested Lithuanian Farmhouse yeast. I thought it would be interesting to see how the yeast performed in Autumn weather.

And, so I designed an Autumn Ale recipe ...

Lithuanian Autumn Ale

Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company (again)

Ok. Yes. 

I already did Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company.

After Y is for Over Yonder Brewing Company, the Beer Model and were thinking about "Z" breweries last weekend.

As far as I know ... there are not any breweries in the Denver area that start with the letter "Z" other than Zuni Street Brewing Company.

There are a couple breweries that have the letter Z in their name, but Saturday was such a beautiful day, we thought we should take a bike ride. 

I didn't think she would like the busy roads we'd have to ride on to get to those.

Zuni Street Brewing Company is a fairly convenient location for bicycling. From our house, we can get within a mile or two on bike paths and the rest of the way on bike-friendly city roads.

Last time I went to Zuni Street Brewing Company without the Beer Model, and she convinced me that we should be able to use it as our "Z" brewery again because she had never been.

Well ... ok. 

Z is for Zuni Street Brewing Company

Groovy Guy Gifts: Louisville Chugger

 Do you remember Groovy Guy Gifts? Groovy Guy Gifts from Groovy Guy Gifts: Big Slug Mug?

Joe at Groovy Guy Gifts got back in touch wondering if I'd be interested in to try out anything else from the Groovy Guy Gifts website.

I responded, "Yes, I would be interested".

He mentioned that the site was promoting:

• Viking Vessel
• Brew Bearer
• Gunmetal Mug 
• Bro'ster Holster
• Louisville Chugger

2020 Falling Leaves Autumn Saison (Batch 269)

It is autumn. 

The weather is getting cooler and the leaves are beginning to fall.

... and you know what that means .... right?

Time to brew my 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.

Last Sunday, I did. I brewed it. I brewed the SheppyBrew Autumn Saison.

Obviously, I brew a lot of saisons. There isn't any question that I brew more saisons than any other style of beer. 

One Hundred Hoppy Brown Ale vs Flashback India Brown Ale

So ... if you've been paying attention ... you know that fairly recently I brewed the 4th beer in my Homebrew Colorado 6 pack.

See One Hundred Hoppy Brown Ale (266).

Y is for Over Yonder Brewing Company

As you know if you follow this blog, I am in the process of working my way through local breweries alphabetically.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, take a look at Sheppy's Blog: A to Z ... and I think you'll get the idea.

After the complete debacle of X is for Mad Jack's [JaX] Mountain Brewery, I thought I should redeem myself fairly quickly with a "Y" brewery.

Even though it wasn't my fault. That was all the Beer Model's doing.

Luckily, she's extremely attractive, and so people are able to overlook these sort of things.

This past Saturday, we went on a hike in the foothills over Golden, Colorado. After the hike, we stopped by Golden's 

Y is for Over Yonder Brewing Company.

2020 Q3 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: Sheppy's Blog: Brew Stats.

On Your Left

Just like Q1 and Q2 we brewed a bunch in Q3, and I am on pace to brew over 150 gallons in 2020 ... significantly more beer than any year in the past. 

In the third quarter, I had 8 brew days, 9 batches, 47 gallons of beer.

#GCCUSA 1000 Miles

I did it. I cycled over 1000 miles over the month of September for the Great Cycle Challenge, and thanks to several generous donors, I raised over $3100 to help fight Childhood Cancer.

It certainly wasn't easy, but I knew I could ride over 1000 miles in 30 days because I did it last year.

X is for Mad Jack's [JaX] Mountain Brewery

Before I go too far .... I'm just going to say ... this was completely the SheppyBrew Beer Model's idea.

I agreed because ... well ... you know ... Happy Wife. Happy Life.

Blame her. Not me.

We didn't have any local "X" breweries. 

Even last time around, we cheated (errr ... I mean we took artistic liberties) with X is for WestFaX Brewing Company.

The SheppyBrew Beer Model suggested we head over to Bailey, Colorado and use Mad Jack's Mountain Brewery as our "X" brewery.

What?

2020 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale (batch 268)

The SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) brewed this weekend.

Really, she did.

I helped, but she was the Brew Master Sunday. In fact, I had to leave right when the boil started, so for a significant portion of the brew day, she was the only brewer.

Every Autumn since 2014, SheppyBrew has brewed a pumpkin spice ale, "Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale".

The base beer is an awesome Autumn Ale, and we basically flavor it with a pumpkin pie spice tincture.

I wouldn't brew it if the SheppyBrew Beer Model didn't like pumpkin spice beers, but you know what they say ... Happy Wife - Happy Life.

Anyway, Sunday we brewed it. 

As with all brew days that the Beer Model participates in, we got started later than my usual start time.

W is for Woods Boss Brewing Company

If you're following along, you may remember that I the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I visited Vail Brewing Company to knock out "V" in our "A to Z Denver Breweries Project".

Vail Brewing Company isn't really a local brewery, but there were not really a whole lot of choices close to Denver.

And, it was local to where we were when we visited.

Anyway ... 

As you may or may not know ... 

After "V" comes the letter "W", and so we had to find a brewery that starts with the letter "W".

There were actually a couple of local options for "W" breweries in the Denver area.

Last Saturday, we packed up a lunch, got on our bikes, and headed down the bike trails to downtown Denver.

W is for Woods Boss Brewing Company

I got my Spiderman GCC Jersey

 As I mentioned in my post "#5000MilesIn2020" ... I raised enough money on my Great Cycle Challenge to earn a "Super Hero" jersey.

I think it is real cool looking. Based on the pictures below ... maybe I should have gone a size smaller. 

Chances are, though, I'll find the SIP weight I lost, so maybe I should not have gone smaller.

Anyway .. I received the jersey last week and wore it on several rides, already. 

As you probably know if you've been following me on this blog or Instagram or Facebook, I've committed to cycling 1000 miles over September.

As I am a little ahead of schedule. You can always check out my page to see exactly how far I've ridden when you read this. 

And ... if you wanted to donate ... you sure can do that as well.

Sheppy's Great Cycle Challenge Page

Galena Dave's Pale Lager (Batch 267)

Remember my brother-in-law, Galena Dave?

Back in December, he gave me some wild hops from his yard. He had been keeping them in his freezer since picking them.

He let me take them home and brew a beer with it.

I brewed a beer with them around the end of January.

Galena Dave's Pale Lager

I got a text from Dave around the end of August letting me know it was about harvest time and asking me if I wanted him to send me hops again.

I said "Yes", and he mailed some to me. This time, I got a lot more and they were considerably more fresh. It should be really interesting to see how they turn out in a beer.

#5000MilesIn2020

 I did it.

Sunday, I went on a couple of bike rides that pushed me over 5000 miles for the year.

V is for Vail Brewing Company

So, I don't know if you remember, but before shelter-in-place mandates around the pandemic, I was flying through breweries on the 2nd round of my "A to Z Denver Breweries Project".

I started with A is for Alternation Brewing Company on February 26, 2019.

Only a little over a year later, I was already on S is for Station 26 Brewing Company published on March 3, 2020.

Averaging over 1.33 breweries a month, which is way faster than my first time through.

Then, COVID hit and breweries closed.

So, I was on timeout on my brewery list for a few months.

Finally, at the end of July, I was able to get back into the project, with a bike ride to T is for Two22 Brew. 

I thought I was back on track, but I had a difficult time coming up with a "U" brewery, and had to cheat a little with U is for oUter Range Brewing Company.

On the same trip, my wife and I visited ...

V is for Vail Brewing Company

One Hundred Hoppy Brown Ale (266)

Before I get started ... the day this post will publish is "Kick Cancer's Butt Day". 

A generous donor will be matching up to 1.2 million dollars donated today for the Great Cycle Challenge.

So, if you've been waiting to donate to the challenge, today is the best day to do it.

If you are able, feel free to hit the "Donate Now" button on my Rider Page ... 

I would appreciate the support.

And now ... on to the regularly scheduled blog post ...

I brewed and barbecued on Sunday. I also got a bike ride in to continue my Great Cycle Challenge.

It was a busy day.

The recipe I brewed was one that I've brewed before ...

One Hundred Hoppy Brown Ale

Century Ride

I did a Century Ride last Friday.

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 you know if you've been paying attention at all ... September is the month that I'm riding for the Great Cycle Challenge. 

I pledged to ride 1000 miles over the week of September, and convinced a bunch of people to donate money to help fight childhood cancer.

The money goes to support the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

Anyway, 1000 miles is a lot of biking to do in one month. I've never done a century ride. I thought it would be fun to see if I could do it. 

If I'm honest, I knew I could do it. 

U is for oUter Range Brewing Company

As far as I know, there is one brewery in the Denver area that begins with the letter U, and I used that in round one of my "A to Z Denver Breweries Project".

U is for Ursula Brewery.

I knew from the beginning of round 2 that I'd have to take liberty on some of the letters.

Not only does this "U" brewery not begin with the letter "U", but it also is not a Denver Brewery.

Oh well ... 

You get what you get. Don't throw a fit.

My wife, aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model, and I traveled up into the mountains last weekend, and for lunch on the way up, stopped in Frisco, Colorado.

After lunch, we stopped at ...

August Progress on #5000MilesIn2020

If you follow this blog fairly regularly, you might remember that I've made it a goal to ride 5000 miles in 2020.

If you don't know what I'm talking about ... you can catch up by checking out Sheppy's Blog: #5000MilesIn2020.

Now that August is complete, I thought I'd give another quick update.

As you may remember from July Progress on #5000MilesIn2020, my goal was to ride 600 miles in August.

I only got to 406 miles.

Already over 100 Gallons in 2020

Last year, I brewed more gallons of beer than I ever had before. I hit 100 Gallons in 2019 before December.

That is ridiculous!

This year, has been even more ridiculous. In fact with Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale (265), I've now surpassed 100 gallons.

Spoiler alert, I'm going to brew more before the end of the year, and I only need two more batches to surpass last year's record setting volume. I am likely to do that before the end of the 3rd quarter.

Wow!

Lithuanian Farmhouse Yeast

So ... if you've been following along on this blog, or SheppyBrew's Facebook Page or SheppyBrew's Instagram Page, you know that the brewer / owner of one of my local breweries, Great Frontier, pulled some  Lithuanian Farmhouse Yeast off his fermentor and gave me a quart of slurry.

That was certainly nice of him. I really appreciate that he did that for me.

So far, I've brewed 3 batches of beer using this yeast.

• Sveikas Lithuanian Farmhouse (262)
• Lithuanian Lovin' Wheat (263)
• Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale (265)

The radical thing about the Lithuanian Farmhouse Yeast is that it ferments hot and fast with a fairly clean flavor. I fermented all three between 80 and 90 degrees for basically 2 days. 

For reference, most of the ales I brew at between 60 and 66 degrees, and are ready to keg in about 2 weeks. Most yeasts would kick out off-flavors if fermented in the 80's.

The yeast-derived flavors that I'm getting from these Lithuanian Farmhouse beers are real subtle. There is a little saison-like peppery flavor, and some citrusy lemony esters in these beers, but not overpowering at all, and in fact, I probably wouldn't notice these flavors if not "looking" for them.

Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale (265)

So ... if you've been following along on this blog, or SheppyBrew's Facebook Page or SheppyBrew's Instagram Page, you know that I've been playing around with Lithuanian Farmhouse Yeast. 

The brewer / owner of one of my local breweries, Great Frontier, pulled some off his fermentor and gave me a quart of slurry.

It is one of those yeast strains that has evolved to handle hot fermentation temperatures with a fairly clean profile.

I've brewed a couple times with it, fermenting beer in the 80's and 90's (Fahrenheit). With that hot fermentation, the yeast rips through the sugars very quickly, and I've been able to get beers into the keg in 3 or 4 days.

The yeast produces a really subtle pepper flavor, similar to saison strains, but much more restrained. It also has a really nice citrus ester.

I thought the citrus of the yeast would compliment traditional American hops in a Pale Ale or IPA, and thought I'd give it a try in my homebrew version of Colorado Strong Pale Ale. 

Lithuanian Strong Pale Ale

Lithuanian Lovin' Summer Lovin' (263 and 264)

So, you may remember that I procured some Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale Yeast from one of my local breweries.

My first batch using it was Sveikas Lithuanian Farmhouse (262).

I decided to follow up fairly quickly with another batch ... mostly because out of town guests helped reduce my beer inventory.

Because I am likely to kill a few kegs soon, I decided to brew a double batch of beer this past weekend.

I decided to brew up 11 gallons the base beer of my Summer Lovin' Wheat. I split up half to be fermented with the standard US05 and half to be fermented with the Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale Yeast.

To be honest, I reduced the amount of wheat in the batch to help reduce the likelihood of a stuck sparge with a larger than usual mash. I also decided to reduce the boil time to half an hour in the spirit of the Short and Shoddy philosophy. This helped save some time.

You can see the recipe at ...

Lithuanian Lovin' Summer Lovin' Wheat

Brisket Flat

I cannot tell a lie. I. Love. Brisket. 

I love cooking it. I love eating it. I even love having left-overs. It is GUUUD!

For quite awhile during the whole Covid Shelter in Place reality, it was difficult to get brisket. Then, you could get it, but it was too expensive for me to want to buy.

Recently, it has become more available and much less expensive.

My wife was going to Sam's Club a week or two ago and asked if I wanted her to pick up anything.

Sveikas Lithuanian Farmhouse (262)

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook or Instagram pages ... you may have seen that I was able to pick up some yeast from Great Frontier Brewing Company.

Great Frontier makes a beer called "Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale". 

It is my favorite beer they make, and I was interacting with the brewer / owner on facebook. He offered to pull some yeast from one of his tanks and let me play with it.

Of course, I didn't need to be asked twice. 

I stopped by the brewery and as promised, he got me a mason jar full of the Lithuanian Farmhouse yeast.

The yeast apparently comes from a local Denver yeast lab, but isn't something they offer to just anyone.

I'm told they literally collected it from a farmhouse in Lithuania. 

This Lithuanian Farmhouse yeast is similar to Kveik strains in that it ferments real hot (80's / 90's / 100's) and finishes in 2 or 3 days. Even at these ridiculous hot fermentation temperatures, it ferments (fairly) clean.

Barbecue Sauce Recipe

If you follow this blog ... especially the BBQ posts, you might have figured out that I make my own BBQ Sauce.

This past weekend, I made some pulled pork for my son's graduation party. Along with that, I made my BBQ Sauce.

A bunch of people said they really liked it and a few said they'd like the recipe.

I sort of have a recipe. I don't really follow the recipe. But, I thought I'd publish a starting point.

July Progress on #5000MilesIn2020

If you follow this blog fairly regularly, you might remember that I've made it a goal to ride 5000 miles in 2020.

If you don't know what I'm talking about ... you can catch up by checking out Sheppy's Blog: #5000MilesIn2020.

Now that July is complete, I thought I'd give another quick update.

As you may remember from June Progress on #5000MilesIn2020, my July goal was to ride 700 miles.