Roll-a-Style 10 ... Kellerbier

After Roll-a-Style 13 ... Bière de Garde ... I thought I'd try another Roll-a-Style.

I rolled the Online 20 sided die and rolled ...

10 corresponds to Historical Beer: Kellerbier.

Gypsy Magic Bière de Garde (Batch 339)

Remember I said I am running low on beer?

Well ... because of that, I decided to brew on the 4th of July this year.

This is already my 14th batch of beer this year, and my 339th batch ever.

If I'm counting correctly, this would be my 218th unique recipe.

You'll remember I had decided to brew a "Bière de Garde" next on Roll-a-Style 13 ... Bière de Garde.

Of course, Bière de Garde isn't a style of beer I see a bunch in breweries or liquor stores, so I probably won't get a chance to compare my batch to a commercial example ... but that's ok ...

Gypsy Magic Bière de Garde

2023 Hail Storm Summer Saison (batch 338)

It is summer, and that means it is time to brew my Summer Seasonal Saison.

We've had a lot of company and the over the last few weeks, and of course we had 2023 Fathers' Day Weekend.

This prevented me from brewing over most of June AND all these visiting people have been drinking my beer.

So .. my beer inventory is lower than usual.

I mentioned in 2023 Q2 Brewing Stats, that my Hail Storm Summer Saison would be the next beer I brewed.

Last Sunday, I did ...

Hail Storm Summer Saison

Roll-a-Style 13 ... Bière de Garde

Ok ... after having people visiting and drinking a bunch of my beer, I need to brew to get my inventory back up.

In order to determine what to brew next, I decided to start the SheppyBrew Roll-a-Style.

So ... I used my online 20 sided die and rolled ...

On my list, 13 just happened to correspond with style 24C. Bière de Garde.

Y is for Black SkY BrewerY

We're getting close to the end of Round 4 of the A to Z series of posts.

It was almost a month ago that I posted X is for Los Dos Potrillos MeXican Restaurant and Brewery.

Of course, after "X" comes "Y" ... and shortly after that ... "Z".

As I mentioned, the Colorado Brewery Map & List doesn't really have anything in the "Y" section close enough that we could use.

We used Y is for Yak and Yeti Restaurant and Brewpub, Y is for Over Yonder Brewing Company, and Y is for Wild Blue Yonder Brewing Company in rounds 1 to 3.

We really had to take a little artistic license for this one ...

Y is for Black SkY BrewerY

2023 Q2 Brewing Stats

As I type this, there are still a few days left in Q2 of 2023, but I am not going to brew again this month, so I can actually get my SheppyBrew Brewing Stats for the quarter in.

You may remember that Q1 was a busy brewing quarter, and this quarter was basically just as busy.

I keep saying I'll slow down to get a more reasonable total in 2023, but so far I have not managed to slow down very much at all.

My excuse this quarter was that my youngest son graduated high school and I needed beer for various family members to consume for our celebrations.

Regardless of the reason, I brewed another 6 batches of beer in Q2, matching my Q1 total and bring my total for the year up to 12 batches of beer.

Melting Stream Spring Saison brew day

Double Pork Butt

So ... remember in Double Chuck Roast, I doubled up on Chuck Roasts to feel family visiting for my younger son's graduation from high school.

Well, this past weekend, we had more family visiting, again mostly to celebrate my son.

This group was even bigger.

This time, I decided to go with a couple of 9ish pound pork butts so I'd have plenty of meat for the big group of family we have visiting.

Early Saturday morning ... around 3am ... I got the kettle ready and the pork on the fire by 3:30 ish.

I let the pork shoulder smoke for around 6 hours. 

SheppyBrew Roll-a-Style

So ... Remember in 2021 BCJP Styles to Brew ... I have several BJCP Styles that I have not brewed.

There are a significant number in that list that I don't really want to brew, but most of those are beer styles I'd at least like to try.

There is a homebrew podcast that I listen to "Homebrew Bound", and they do a thing every few episodes that they call "Roll-a-Style". Basically they have a set of descriptors listed. They roll a 20 sided die to come up with new (weird) styles of beer.

I thought it would be fun to (sort of) steal the idea.

 

Captain Serious vs Westbound & Down Italian Pilsner

Right now, my favorite SheppyBrew Beer on tap is Captain Serious Pilsner.

I don't have very much left because one of my favorite brother-in-laws (I have like a hundred of them) ... visited a couple weekends ago. It was also his favorite of my beers on tap, and he drank a lot of it.

I don't know if I've shared this, but Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333) was (at least partially) inspired by W is for Westbound & Down's Italian Pilsner.

In W is for Westbound & Down (Denver), I did share that this Italian Pilsner was one of my favorite commercial beers right now.

I had a few cans of the Westbound & Down's Italian Pilsner in my fridge when he was visiting.

I brought it out and told him Captain Serious had been inspired by Westbound & Down's Italian Pilsner. We both had a pint of Captain Serious and shared a pint of Westbound & Down's Italian Pilsner.

2023 Fathers' Day Weekend Pictures

The past few Fathers' Days, I've posted photos of camping trips my wife and kids have taken me on.

I love camping, and my family knows this so Fathers' Days are pretty much the only guaranteed times that I actually get to go camping.

This past Fathers' Day, my family took me to Cow Creek South Campground by Green Mountain Reservoir just north of Silverthorn, Colorado.

It's been real rainy here in Colorado for several weeks and this weekend was no exception.

We got quite a bit of rain, but it was still a great trip. I'd rather be camping in the rain than sitting on my couch at home any day.

Double Chuck Roast

We had my wife's family visiting this past weekend to help celebrate my younger son's graduation from high school.

On Saturday, we wanted some BBQ, but of course my wife also wanted me to spend time with the family.

If you follow this blog at all, you probably have seen posts about me smoking chuck roast for shredded beef sandwiches.

Chuck roast takes a long time to get tender enough to shred the beef, but I like to smoke it for a few hours in the morning and then put it in the Crock Pot for several hours afterward.

That way, I don't have to pay attention to the cooking meat for the majority of the time it is cooking ... at least after that couple of hours on the smoker.

Tri-tip

While in the grocery store last week, I noticed that Tri-tips were on sale.

I love tri-tip, but hardly ever see them around me, and when it is it usually is too expensive for me to want to purchase it.

So, when I saw them on sale, I had to grab one. In retrospect I wish I would have picked up another ... but oh well ...

This past Sunday, after my Brew Day, I cooked it up.

This was actually a much bigger cut than I've ever had here in Denver, but that just makes it even better.

I added SPG onto the meat early in the day.

Alpine Tundra IPA (Batch 337)

If you follow this blog, you knew it was coming ... 

I told you I was brewing an IPA soon.

I did it. Sunday I brewed an IPA. I do believe this is the IPA-est IPA I've ever brewed.

A total of 8 ounces of hops. 4 ounces in the boil. 4 ounces in dry hop.

Citra / Galaxy / Mosaic / Talus.

Up until this past Sunday, I've brewed 336 batches of beer, and only about 11 of those batches could be considered IPA's.

Unfortunately, it feels like most craft beer fans consider IPA the only craft beer style. 

It is sad that for a movement that is supposed to be so much about variety, so many people have such a narrow view.

Regardless, I do love a good West Coast IPA, and will brew one to have a hoppy beer on tap.

Alpine Tundra IPA

X is for Los Dos Potrillos MeXican Restaurant and Brewery

After W is for Westbound & Down (Denver), we just have 3 letters left to finish off round 4 of our  A to Z Breweries series of posts.

Wow! 

I started off Round 1 of the project with A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company way back in March of 2015 because I was embarrassed at how few Denver Area Breweries I had been to.

It took me almost 4 years to finish Round 1. I got through Round 2 in less then half  the time.

At some point, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) joined me, and since then we have been flying through the list.

Round 4 started with A is for A Bit Twisted Brewpub in June of 2022. Here it is, less than 1 year later and we're already on "X".

X is for Los Dos Potrillos MeXican Restaurant and Brewery

Sandwiches on the Kettle Griddle Plate

So ... I'm a little surprised it hasn't shown up on this blog before, but I have this Hunsaker Smokers Griddle Plate for my 22 inch Weber Kettle.

I got it for a Christmas or birthday (or maybe Father's Day) gift awhile ago.

I use it mostly for smash burgers on the kettle.

When I got it, I thought I'd do breakfast eggs and bacon on it ... but I've yet to try that.

This past weekend, I was using up some of the left over pork butt from the last time I made pulled pork, and I thought I'd use the Griddle Plate for sandwiches.

So, I got myself some peppers and cut them up with onions.

Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 336)

Yeah, I've been brewing a lot lately. Contrary to what I keep "saying" on this blog, right now, I'm on track to brew more beer this year than even 2021.

I still believe I'll slow down enough that this year's total will be less than last year's, but as we get farther and farther into the year, it seem increasingly possible that I am wrong about that.

My excuse right now is that my wife's (aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model's) family is coming to visit in June, and I'll need a lot of beer for this group.

Anyway, after finishing off Melting Stream quicker than expected, I thought I needed another batch of beer going.

I had a mason jar of yeast in the fridge that I was fairly sure was Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast, but not 100% sure.

I thought I'd use that to make a "Belgium Table Beer".

Tafel Mystère Belgian Single

W is for Westbound & Down (Denver)

I went on a bike ride Saturday morning. I couldn't go on a very long bike ride because the Beer Model (aka my wife ... aka the Pedego Owner) wanted me back so we could go on a bike ride together.

You see ... she wanted to knock off the next brewery on our  A to Z Breweries series of posts.

As I mentioned in V is for Very Nice Brewing Company, The Colorado Brewery List actually has a couple choices for "W".

I had on in particular in mind, but I was open to suggestions.

Regardless, the Beer Model liked the brewery I was thinking of, and thought she could make the bike ride.

W is for Westbound & Down (Denver)

T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager (batch 335)

I had a rare Friday brew day yesterday. 

We actually will be having a few sets of visitors coming by in the next few weeks, so I need to make sure we have plenty of beer to serve.

And ... it being a long weekend, the CEO of the company I work for told us to take off early ... so I used some of the extra time to brew.

I'm actually planning on brewing another batch tomorrow or Monday.

That should get me caught up, but we'll see how much the Beer Model's family wipes out my inventory.

Anyway ... The beer I brewed yesterday was ...

T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager

Mac and Cheese on the Kettle

My youngest son graduated from High School this past weekend.

This makes me feel old. Where did all the years go? As they say ... "The days are long. The years are short".

Anyway ... with my oldest son visiting to celebrate his little brother, I made my world-famous comfort food ...

Smoked Mac and Cheese.

I made it a little different than I ever had before. Usually, I use either bacon or sausage as the meat. This time I used both.

And ... the bacon was just laying on the top of the dish as opposed to having it mixed into the noodles and cheese mixture.

Captain Serious Pressure Transfer

Well ... I've finally gotten a pressure transfer to work.

It happened slower than I would have liked, and I still wish there was a way to know where the level of the beer in the keg was, but at least I got Captain Serious Pilsner into the keg from a pressurized fermenter.

So, I pressure fermented Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333).

Four days into the fermentation, I dry hopped the beer by pulling sous vide magnets that were attached to hop bags in the fermenter.

That worked really slick.

Designing a New SheppyBrew IPA

So ... for various reasons, I want to brew an American IPA soon.

Atypical to most homebrewers, I don't actually brew very many IPA's. I like them (a lot). But, they are a little higher in alcohol than I generally like to have gallons and gallons of at home.

And ... every brewery I know brews several IPA's. If I want an IPA, I can find them commercially at any one of hundreds within bike riding distance. Not to mention grocery stores and liquor stores now have great craft beer selections.

But, every once and awhile I like to brew an IPA.

Unless I'm forgetting any (which is possible, but not likely I think) I've brewed 5 beers that could be called traditional American IPA's: 

2023 Big Brew Day ... Summer Lovin

So ... this past Saturday was the AHA's Big Brew Day.

This is one of those days that my brewing buddies and I try to get together to brew.

This time, my friend "Doc" wanted to host, so I headed over to "Doc's Brewery".

Travel Brewing is always a different experience than my typical brew day. I have to keep my recipe as simple as possible and always accept that I might be distracted enough that the beer might not turn out as planned.

A big part of it is that I don't typically drink while brewing unless the Beer Model makes me.

But, on these Travel Brewing I have to try the beers from both the host and the others who always bring growlers.

One of the things I typically do ... at least if I'm brewing all-grain ... is start my mash at home and let it go through the drive over to whoever is hosting.

Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333)

As you probably know if you follow this blog at all, the Chicago Blackhawks are my favorite professional sports team.

And ... my favorite recent player has to be Captain Jonathan Toews (Captain Serious)

The Blackhawks really have not been a good team for several years now, and Toews has had health issues.

This past year, the team decided that Jonny would not be coming back to the team as they are concentrating on bringing on young (cheap) players to go all-in on their rebuilding process.

While, I don't disagree with the decision, the separation makes me sad. 

But, in honor of "Captain Serious" I decided to brew a beer named after him.

Captain Serious Pilsner

V is for Very Nice Brewing Company

It was less than a year ago that we started our 4th round of our A to Z Breweries series of posts.

And ... we had to cheat a little for "U", but last week we knocked it out with U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company.

It blows my mind that we are already up to "V" in this round.

After this post, we only have 4 more to go to get through the end of the alphabet.

Crazy!

As I mentioned in U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company, I had a "V" brewery in mind but wasn't sure the Beer Model would be willing to make the trip.

As it turns out, she was ok with the brewery I had in mind ... 

V is for Very Nice Brewing Company

U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company

It wasn't too long ago that I posted T is for Tommyknocker Brewery.

Of course if you're familiar with our  A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, you know that next up comes "U".

Even if you're not familiar ... it isn't really all that difficult to figure out.

You see ... Back in early 2015, I composed a list Denver Breweries that I had not visited (see Denver Breweries II). As I was composing the list, I realized that most of the letters in the alphabet were covered by the first letters in these brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company .. and worked my way through the alphabet.

We're on our 4th round of the alphabet ... almost done ... we're up to "U".

Anyway ... there are no "U" breweries on The Colorado Brewery List.

2023 Melting Stream Spring Saison (Batch 332)

It is springtime here in the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

Here, that means it gets warm, melting snow ... followed by getting cold and making more snow.

Followed by warm weather snow melts. Followed by cold and snow.

Repeat.

My Spring Seasonal Saison is called "Melting Stream", which is what jumps out to me as the image I most associate with Colorado spring time.

Yesterday, I brewed this beer. Interestingly enough, I also made Spare Ribs.

I didn't plan this, but apparently I made spare ribs when I brewed my 2021 Melting Stream and my 2022 Melting Stream.

Well ... ok ... maybe it isn't THAT interesting, but I thought it was sort of note worthy.

Melting Stream Spring Saison

More Ginger Kombucha

Well back in February, I made some Ginger Kombucha.

I liked it. It needed some carbonation, but other than the lack of carbonation, I really liked it.

More recently, I made Ginger Beer. It was a little too sweet for my taste, but it was nicely carbonated. 

Last week, I decided try Ginger Kombucha again.

Easter Brisket

I like brisket. I like making brisket. I like eating brisket. It's GUUUUD.

I would probably make it more if it wasn't usually quite so big. 

A 10 pound brisket is about perfect to fit on my 22 inch Weber Kettle, but it is rare to find a brisket in my local Sam's Club (which is where I get my briskets) under 15 pounds.

15 pounds is just a little too big. I can make it work, but it isn't ideal.

So ... whenever I see a 10 pound Prime "packer" brisket at my Sam's Club, I grab it.

Well ... about a week and a half before Easter, I saw an 11 pound packer brisket at Sam's. Close enough. I grabbed it.

Pressure Transfer 0 for 2

Well ... I'm 0 for 2 on pressure transfers.

The first failure (Pressure Fermentation (sort of) Fail) was really a bone-headed mistake. Really I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

My second failure doesn't make much sense to me. I know how I'm going to adjust next time, but I'm not sure why this time was as bad as it was.

Anyway ... I brewed No Drums Jack Black Lager (Batch 331) on March 26th. Fermentation started off great. I was seeing signs of fermentation very quickly.

This time I set the spunding pressure to 20psi. I think this was my mistake. I should have had a lower pressure so carbonation wasn't so high during the eventual transfer.

2023 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

Here it is ... already April, which means that the first quarter of 2023 is done. It's time to report on the  SheppyBrew Brewing Stats for the quarter.

I keep claiming that I will brew less beer in 2023 than I did last year, but so far I have not slowed down. At all.

Last year, in Q1, I had brewed 5 batches, 30 gallons.

This year so far I've brewed 6 batches for 31 gallons. 

• Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout
• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Doodle Bop Belgium Single
• Mardi Bock
• Dubbel Minor
• No Drums Jack Black Lager

Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout

T is for Tommyknocker Brewery

Well ... as I'm sure you know if you've been following along on the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, we've made our way all the way through "S" in our 4th round.

We posted S is for 6 and 40 Brewery just a couple weeks ago.

If you're at all familiar with our concept ... it doesn't take much intellectual ability to figure out that next we need a "T" brewery.

There are tons of "T" breweries on the Colorado Brewery Map & List.

However, after filtering out breweries the start with "The", breweries that are too far away from our house, and breweries we've already blogged about in the A to Z Denver Breweries list ... there is really only one good choice....

T is for Tommyknocker Brewery

Tapache!

While going down the whole Ginger Bug rabbit hole, I came across another home-made-soda-type drink called "Tepache".

"What is Tepache?" you ask:

Tepache is a fermented beverage made from the peel and the rind of pineapples, and is sweetened either with piloncillo or brown sugar, seasoned with powdered cinnamon, and served cold.

The natural bacteria and yeast on the pineapple rind ferments the liquid, but not enough for much alcohol.

I thought I'd have to give it a try, and had my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) pick up a pineapple from the grocery store.

No Drums Jack Black Lager (Batch 331)

As I was composing 2021 BCJP Styles to Brew, I was thinking about what I'd like to brew next.

The first style on that list is 2C. International Dark Lager, and as I'm playing around with Pressure Fermentation of Lagers, a Dark Lager seemed like a good choice.

One of the commercial examples of the a Dark Lager is Shiner Bock.

I came across BYO's Shiner Bock clone. One of the ingredients on the clone jumped out at me ...

Grits.

I've never brewed with grits, but I've considered trying it out as a replacement for flaked or popcorn that I've used in other recipes.

I wasn't really that interested in brewing a Shiner Bock clone, but I decided to make my own recipe of an International Dark Lager using grits in the fermenatables.

Hostile Takeover of SheppyBrew

The beer model has been plotting with big beer to execute a hostile takeover of SheppyBrew Brewery.

Shocking, I know. I feel like I've been stabbed in the back.

 

Grumkins and Poppers

My oldest son was home from college this past week. He had never had my homemade Jalapeño Poppers, so I thought I'd better make some.

If you need the recipe ... see Jalapeño Poppers. They are awesome, and everyone should make them from time to time.

I had some of my Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout while grilling the poppers and chicken.

If you follow along on my Brewing Notes on the Grumkins and Snarks recipe page, you probably read that I have really been enjoying this beer.

Ginger Beer

Remember my Ginger Bug post? If not ... feel free to go off and read it.

Go ahead. I'll wait.

Obviously, I didn't make the Ginger Bug for the sake of making Ginger Bug. 

I had to do something with it. Hopefully I'll make several things with it.

I decided to start with Ginger Beer.

I mentioned the @FermentationAdventure Youtube Channel in the Ginger Bug post, and they have lots of videos where they use their Ginger Bug to make homemade sodas.

For my version of Ginger Beer, I decided to use lemonade / limeade as a base.

More Chicken in the Vortex

Well ... like I mentioned in Whole Chicken in the Dutch Oven, I was pretty sure that next time I grilled a whole chicken I would do it in the Vortex ...

... Like I did in Whole Chicken in the Vortex ...

... and ... Another Whole Chicken in the Vortex ...

Lots of people say spatchcock is the best way to cook birds, but I have not found spatchcocking to make my birds turn out as good as cooking the whole thing upright like beer can chicken.

Cooking the bird upright on the kettle brings the top of the chicken close to the lid of the kettle, so at some point I decided to try to cook on the charcoal grate rather than the cooking grate.

The Vortex (or the Dutch Oven) protect the meat from too much direct heat while allowing the bird to be down with the coals.

S is for 6 and 40 Brewery

Well ... if I'm counting correctly, we only have 8 more letters in the alphabet to finish up round 4 of our little A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

We're flying through the alphabet!

We posted A is for A Bit Twisted Brewpub mid-June of 2022 and a little over a month ago we posted R is for River North Brewery.

And ... now ... of course we needed an S brewery ...

The Colorado Brewery List has tons of "S" breweries to choose from. 

But when it came right down to it, there was really only one I thought we should visit.

S is for 6 and 40 Brewery

2021 BCJP Styles to Brew

So you know that as of 17B. Old Ale, I have successfully brewed at least one beer in all 2021 BJCP Categories.

Well ... actually, since "I Lied" ... this isn't technically true, but let's pretend that we're still in the days where we didn't really realize there additional categories past 27. Historic Beer. I promise that I'll get to 28. American Wild Ale and 33. Wood Beer at some point this year. 

But ... I spent the time typing up this post before I realized that I Lied, and I hate to think I've wasted that effort.

Looking through the guidelines, there are still lots of individual styles I'd like to brew, so I think I'm going to start seeing how many I can get through before the next version of the Guidelines come out.

I don't think I want to brew one of every style because there are a couple I don't really think I'd like to drink.

If I'm counting correctly, there are 42 styles of beer (see below) that I need to brew to have one batch of each in the guidelines (WOW!).

For now, I'll remove Historical Beers, Sours, and 3 "Specialty" IPA's that I don't really like to drink.

I'll also remove Eisbock and Rauchbier for now.

If my math / counting is correct ... that leaves 25 styles of beers to brew. That will almost certainly take me over a year, especially because I won't JUST be brewing these.

But ... here are a list of styles that I have not brewed yet ... 

Ginger Bug

So ... after my Ginger Kombucha post, I have gone down a few youtube rabbit holes which have lead me to being interested in homemade sodas.

This lead me to making a Ginger Bug starter last week.

Considering how long I've been border-line obsessed with fermentation, I'm a little surprised I have not come across ginger bug until last week, but I had not heard of it until I started watching youtube videos on Ginger Beer.

What is Ginger Bug?

A ginger bug is a wild-fermented starter culture made with sugar, ginger, and water. It takes about a little less than a week of daily diligence to make one, and you can use it to make probiotic, naturally bubbly soft drinks, sodas, herbal beers, and tonics.

 

I lied

I lied!

As of 17B. Old Ale, I claimed to have successfully brewed at least one beer in all 2021 BJCP Categories.

Well, apparently, I completely missed entire categories after 27. HISTORICAL BEER.

For some reason, I thought the Historical Beer category was at the end. There were a couple more pages to go:

17B. Old Ale

After brewing Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout (Batch 326) and Doodle Bop Belgium Single (batch 328), I have successfully brewed at least one beer in all 2021 BJCP Categories.

In Followup on BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, I also wrote that I also needed a beer in Category 17, Strong British Ale.

However after a little research and thinking about it some ... I decided that I have actually satisfied this category with some of my bottled X-Mas Ales from previous years.

Specifically ... 17B. Old Ale.

"A stronger-than-average English ale, though usually not as strong or rich as an English Barley Wine, but usually malty. Warming. Shows positive maturation effects of a well-kept, aged beer.

Deep amber to very dark reddish-brown color, but most are fairly dark. Age and oxidation may darken the beer further. Clear, but can be almost opaque. Moderate to low cream- to light tan-colored head; retention average to poor."

Pressure Fermentation (sort of) Fail

As I'm typing this blog post, I'm drinking the Mardi Bock that I brewed on Super Bowl Sunday. 

You may recall (if you read that article) that this is the first (and so far the only) batch on which I've used my new 7.9 Gallon Fermenter King Chubby.

I got the "Chubby" because I thought it would be fun / interesting / educational to try Pressure Fermentation.

Pressure fermentation is the process of fermenting beer inside a closed and pressurized vessel. 

Typical fermentations allow CO2 to escape the fermenter through an airlock or blow-off tube. In pressurized fermentation, the fermenter is sealed and the CO2 produced by the fermentation is trapped inside.

You can't just let all the pressure remain in the fermenter, you need a valve that allows pressure to escape above a certain psi. This valve is called a "spunding" valve.

Dubble Minor at Du's Brewery

Well ... damn ... in SheppyBrew 2022 Year End Brewing Stats, I mentioned that I would probably brew less this year than I have for the past few "covid" years.

But, as of now, I'm on track to brew 160 gallons, which is about as much as I brewed in 2020.

Despite evidence to the contrary, I do still think my 2023 totals will be down. It's still early in the year.

But, for now, I'm brewing a bunch.

I brewed this past weekend, because my friend "Du" invited my friend "Doc" and me to his house in Ft. Collins.

It would have been rude to say "no". So ... on Saturday, I traveled to brew a new recipe ... 

Dubbel Minor

Ginger Kombucha

Since Sauerkraut Yogurt Kombucha in 2023, I've pretty regularly been "brewing" up kombucha.

I've brewed 4 batches this year. 2 green tea and 2 black tea. 

One of those black tea batches is currently carbonating with Black Cherry Pomegranate juice right now.

One of those green tea batches is in the kombucha jar right now, fermenting.

 

R is for River North Brewery

Ok ... we got through "Q" fairly unscathed in our A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts.

We're getting close to the end of Round 4.

Next up ... "R", which you can probably deduce is much more straight forward than "Q" was.

The Colorado Brewery List has tons of "R" breweries to choose from.

In fact, it was a little intimidating to choose just one.

As luck would have it, I actually got an e-gift card from my employer for one of the local "R" breweries ... and that basically made the decision for me.

Well, technically it narrowed the choices down considerably, because this brewery has two locations ...

R is for River North Brewery

Mardi Bock and other Sunday Activities

Yesterday was Super Bowl Sunday. 

It was also my first Brew Day after Fixing the Foundry.

And ... it was my first brew in which I'm using a new toy and trying out Pressure Fermentation.

Of course, it being Super Bowl Sunday, I had to make food for the game.

And ... it was beautiful out, so obviously I had to get a bike ride in.

It was a busy day for me.

I was up ridiculously early. Not necessarily because I wanted to be. I just couldn't sleep.

But, regardless, I woke up at 4:00am. I sort of half heartedly tried to go back to sleep, but it was not happening. I got up and started brewing ....

Mardi Bock

Whole Chicken in the Dutch Oven

So ... remember Another Whole Chicken in the Vortex?

At some point I realized that I could basically do the same thing in a cast iron Dutch oven.

So ... fairly recently I gave it a try.

It was a snowy work day back in January. 

I placed the Dutch oven down on the charcoal grate and place lit charcoal around it. 

The chicken went on the Beer Can stand up in the middle.

You can see what I mean in the following pictures.

Basically the same as in the Vortex ... only in the Dutch oven.

Fixing the Foundry

As I mentioned in 2023 Arctic Vortex and Chucky and Doodle Bop Belgium Single (batch 328), my Anvil Foundry had an issue. 

It stopped working. It would not power on.

This is not ideal. In fact, it really made me sad. 

I'm well past the warranty, so I had to fix it. I really missed having the Electric Brewing capabilities on my Doodle Bop Belgium Single (batch 328) brew day.

According to my records, I've brewed 48 batches of beer on this thing. When it works, I really like it.

I don't remember what I paid for it. Currently according to the Anvil Foundry it costs $425. I know I paid less than that, but let's use that cost ....

My first brew on the Foundry was Bud Lite Lime (271) on the Anvil Foundry on 11/1/2020. I discovered that it didn't work on 1/15/2023.

If I assume the $425, it means I paid 53 cents per day for the Foundry. That doesn't sound too bad.

I've brewed 48 batches of beer on the Foundry (although I did use it even on a couple of other brew days). Again, assuming the $425 that it costs now ... I paid $8.85 per batch. That is basically a pack of liquid yeast per brew day.

Doodle Bop Belgium Single (batch 328)

I brewed this past Sunday. It was extremely cold out, so it was a brew-in-the-garage day ...

As I mentioned in 2023 Arctic Vortex and Chucky, my Anvil Foundry need fixing. Based on some troubleshooting, I believe the Foundry's power switch needs replacing.

I've ordered a new switch and according to UPS it should be arriving today. Maybe my next brew will be back on the Foundry.

Regardless, it wasn't ready for Sunday's brew day, so I used my "old" cooler-mash-tun-propane-burner-boil brewing system.

The beer I brewed is a new recipe resulting from my desire to brew a beer in the BJCP Category 26, Monastic Ale.

As I mentioned in Followup on BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines, the style I wanted to most brew in this category was  26A. Belgian Single, and so awhile ago I designed the recipe ....

Doodle Bop Belgium Single

Jalapeño Poppers

Last Sunday, after a snowy bike ride and before the football games started, I couldn't get Jalapeño Poppers out of my head.

If you know me or even just follow this blog, I suppose it wouldn't surprise you to know that I really like Jalapeño Poppers.

Strangely, though, I had never made my own.

So ... I decided to rectify that situation.

I had to head over to the grocery store because I didn't have most of the ingredients.

I had to buy cream cheese, bacon, and especially jalapeños.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) suggested that I should get a couple of other things while I was there, but when I was actually there ... I forgot those extra things. 

Oh Well.