Kucumber Kölsch

For some reason, The SheppyBrew Beer Model is under the impression that she likes cucumber flavored kölsch.

I suspect it is because she has tasted a cucumber kölsch that she enjoyed. Maybe more than one ... although how many Cucumber Kölsch beers can there be out there?

Anyway ... I was thinking about what to brew. I thought maybe that a Cucumber Kölsch might be fun to try to make. I asked the Beer Model and she said it was a good idea. She liked it much better than the spruce tip beer idea that I was also thinking about.

So ... it seems to me that a Cucumber Kölsch should be pretty simple. Brew a Kölsch. Add Cucumbers. Not very hard. I've already brewed a Kölsch, which was a big success. My local grocery store sells cucumbers. The only question is how many cucumbers should I add?

Lost Park Backpacking Photos

Two weekends ago, we went backpacking in the Lost Creek Wilderness.

We didn't pack in real far ... maybe 3 or 4 miles, but we sure did hike a lot.

It is a beautiful area. My photos don't do it justice. NOTE: some of the pictures I took with my cell phone (which was basically a camera and GPS device for this weekend since we were way out of phone or data range). We also took pictures with a "real" camera.

This post only has the cell phone pictures. I'll post the camera pictures later.

Here are cell phone pictures:

The first night, we drove into Lost Park Campground and set up camp before the trail head.

2016 Q2 SheppyBrew Stats

As you may know, the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed. You can see all these updates (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link: http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

Q2 of 2016 at the SheppyBrew Brewery was fairly busy. I brewed 2 batches in April, 1 in May, and 3 in June.

That is 6 batches for the quarter:

• Mor'du Scottish Ale
• Muggled Pale Ale
• Tortuga Golden Ale
• #WeAreGroot
• Hail Storm Summer Saison
• T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager

Mor'du Scottish Ale

Finished up Great Cycle Challenge

Well, as you know if you know if you've been following my posts on "The Great Cycle Challenge", I signed up to ride my bike throughout June to raise money for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

I promised to ride 645 miles over the month of June. As a result, donors pledged $727.08 some of which included a matching gift from various sponsors of the program.

I had to finish early because I visited my in-laws in Nevada for the last few days of the month.

I am glad to say, I got in all my promised miles.

I officially finished the month with 659.1 miles, which is obviously more than the 645 miles I promised.

I am pretty certain that this is the most biking I've done over a month ... probably ever and certainly a lot more than I've done since I was a kid. It was worth the effort.

Thank you everyone who donated. That was awesome of you.

My page is still up for now ... so check it out if you want ...

Eric Shepard's Great Cycle Challenge Page

You can still make donations if you want too.

T.Ra.Sh. Light

I have not shared how my T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager brew day went.

I brewed it the Sunday before last, Brew day went great. Thanks for asking.

So, you may recall that I have brewed T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager a few times before. Stylistically, it was closest to a Vienna Lager, but it probably isn't as dark in color and it is hoppier than you would expect a Vienna.

But still, most of the people who the T.Ra.Sh. Mexican Lager are more light lager type drinkers, and I always thought that I would need a lighter beer for most of those drinkers. Lighter in color. Lighter in body. Lighter in alcohol.

So, the T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager simply did that. It become a lighter version of T.Ra.Sh.

Weekend Camping and RMNP Photos

Well, as you may remember from yesterday's Weekend Camping and Kayaking Photos, we went camping over Father's Day Weekend.

Day 1 was kayaking ... and I showed you those photos already. (Weekend Camping and Kayaking Photos)

Day 2 was spent in Rocky Mountain National Park.

Here are Day 2 and 3 pictures....

The first part of the day Saturday was spent hiking along the Colorado River ...

Weekend Camping and Kayaking Photos

This past weekend was Fathers' Day Weekend and my kids decided to go camping for the weekend.

With the help of their mother, they reserved us a campsite on Granby Lake. It was an awesome weekend. Perfect weather. Lots of fun activities. Great fun.

Here is the view from our campsite ...

Here is our tent and canopy in the photo to provide context.

Great Cycle Challenge: Halfway Through

Well ... the month of June is half-way done.

Yesterday, the Ides of June, was "Kick Cancer's Butt Day". Every donation made (up to 250,000) to the Great Cycle Challenge was matched by various anonymous donors and sponsors.

Pretty cool, but I wish this would have been announced / implemented sooner. I didn't feel it right to ask people who have already donated to donate again for the double credit. If I would have known it was coming, I could have mentioned it and let people know to hold off donating.

Oh well. I did post to my facebook page that the matching was happening. My total dollar amount did increase a little because of it.

Feel free to go out and look at my Great Cycle Challenge Page to make a donation or just to see how I'm doing.

2016 Hail Storm Summer Saison

I brewed my Hail Storm Summer Saison on Sunday. Technically it isn't Summer, yet, so it is a little early to be brewing it, but it will be Summer by the time I'll be drinking it. It will be nice to have it available early in the season.

This is the third time I brewed this beer.

The recipe this year is the same as it was last year other than hop boil times moving a bit to take into account differences in alpha acids.

Hail Storm, is the summer version of my Seasonal Saisons series of beers. It is fairly hoppy, and its ABV is a bit on the low end of saisons stylistically. It is pretty light in color. Other than the fact that I brew this recipe to be cosummed in Summer, there is nothing really special about it making it a "Summer" saison rather than Winter, Spring, or Autumn.

Week 1: Great Cycle Challenge

Well, I've been doing this "Great Cycle Challenge" thing for a little more than a week, and I've gone a little more than 210 miles for the cause.

Feel free to go out and look at my Great Cycle Challenge Page.

In order to accomplish the 645 miles that I've committed to, I need to average 21.5 miles per day.

After 8 days, I'm averaging a little over 26.5 mile per day, so I am easily on track to complete the goal.

I do need to work a little bit on increasing my cushion between what I've ridden and what I need to do, because I think there will be whole days toward the end of the month where I won't be able to ride at all.

But, that shouldn't be too difficult to accomplish.

I've done some Mountain Bike riding. I've done lots on my "road" bike. I've even done some on the stationary bike at 24 Hour Fitness.

#WeAreGroot Sweet Potato #HomeBrew

At some point in my life, I thought that it would be fun to brew a beer using potatoes as an ingredient.

Not sure why. I just thought it would be an interesting thing to try.

Recently, I got it into my head that really sweet potatoes would be an even better idea.

Not sure why. I just thought it would be an interesting thing to try.

In principle, brewing with potatoes or sweet potatoes isn't much different than brewing with corn, rice, or pumpkins. Starch gets converted into sugar by enzymes on your grain. Sugar gets eaten by yeast. Alcohol is formed.

Day 1: Great Cycle Challenge

Just a couple days ago I mentioned on this blog that I was participating in the Great Cycle Challenge. (see 19 Miles a Day)

The Great Cycle Challenge raises money for the Children's Cancer Research Fund.

At the time, I had committed to riding 560 miles ... almost 19 miles a day.

Since then, I got another pledge, which forced me to increase my goal to 595 miles. I have committed myself to ride 20 miles a day in June.

If you want to make me do even more (or if you just want to check up on to how I'm doing) ... feel free to visit

Eric Shepard's Great Cycle Challenge Page

So, yesterday being June 1, I officially began my challenge month riding by riding my bike to work.

19 Miles a Day

You may have come across this on Facebook or Twitter, but I have signed up for

The Great Cycle Challenge.

Great Cycle Challenge encourages riders across the United States to challenge themselves and set their own personal riding goal throughout June to fight kids' cancer.

I'm not literally fighting cancer by riding a bike, of course. The bike riding is simply a mechanism to ask people to give money to the Children's Cancer Research Fund, which is dedicated to finding a cure for childhood cancer, funding innovative research, family services and education to improve the way families experience cancer treatment and life afterward.

For more about the Children's Cancer Research Fund, follow this link.

If you have some money you want to donate to the cause ... I'd appreciate another pledge. You can donate on ...

Eric Shepard's Great Cycle Challenge Page

Tortuga Golden Ale

Well, as you know if you've been following this blog, I've been brewing beers in the "new" categories of the 2015 version of the BJCP Guidelines.

See http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php

Or even go straight to the pdf ...

http://www.bjcp.org/docs/2015_Guidelines_Beer.pdf

Next on my list to brew was the Category 12. Pale Commonwealth Beer.

Looking through the list, I decided the one that most interested me at the moment was 12A. British Golden Ale.

"A hop-forward, average-strength to moderately-strong pale bitter. Drinkability and a refreshing quality are critical components of the style."

Sounded pretty good to me.

J is for JoyRide Brewing Company

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries that I had not visited, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

It has been awhile since I've done one, but I decided to work through the alphabet visiting breweries.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company More breweries for C; D; E; F; G; H; And the last one was I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub.

Yes, it has been a long time since I've done one.

But, on a snowy late-April Saturday, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) dragged our kids to another one ....

J is for JoyRide Brewing Company

2016 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

As you may know, the Brewery likes to post quarterly updates on how much we have brewed. You can see all these updates (including the one you are reading right now) by following this link:http://blog.ericshepard.com/search/label/Brew%20Stats .

Q1 of 2016  at the SheppyBrew Brewery was busy early in the quarter, but then slowed down. I brewed three batches in January alone, but then only 1 in February and none in March.

In case you don't want to do the Math, that's 4 batches:

• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Ulterior Motive Amber Lager
• Brother Bear Dopplebock
• Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner

Those batches were each 5 gallons, putting my total first quarter volume at 20. I'm on pace for only 80 gallons this year. Last year, I brewed 6 batches in Q1. I'm off that pace.

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Mosaic Muggled

Recently, I decided that I wanted to brew something hoppy. I didn't really want to come up with a new recipe, so I went through some of my older ones. I thought maybe Tommy Hawk APA or Chelsea Dagger Pre-Prohibition Lager would be good ideas.

Then, something made me think about Mosaic Hops.

I've never used Mosaic. To be honest, I don't think I've tasted a beer with Mosaic Hops. I'm not even sure what made me think about them.

Also known as HBC369, Mosaic is the first born child of Simcoe. Some have described it as Citra on steroids, but it’s much more than that. Rich in Mango, lemon, citrus, earthy pine, tropical fruit, herbal and stone fruit notes.

It does sound like a hop that I should at least try.

Mor'du Scottish Ale

In the 2008 version of the BJCP Guidelines, Scottish Ales were in a category with Irish Reds.

In the 2015 version, Scottish Ales had their own category. I've brewed an Irish Red, to satisfy the 2008 category, but had never brewed anything in the new 2015 Category 14, Scottish Ales.

See http://www.bjcp.org/stylecenter.php

So, yesterday, I brewed a "14B: Scottish Heavy". You can see the recipe on the SheppyBrew website at:

Mor'du Scottish Ale

2016 Melting Stream Spring Saison

I brewed last Sunday.

Melting Stream Spring Saison

Of course Melting Stream is the Spring version of SheppyBrew's Seasonal Saison series of beers. It is the lightest in color of the series. It is the biggest in alcohol of the series. It is the hoppiest of the series.

It does follow my basic philosophy about Saisons, though. Of course, I use Wyeast 3711 French Saison yeast ("The Real Super Yeast"). It isn't overly high in alcohol or saison funk. And it gets its flavor from real beer ingredients.

Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner

Recently, I asked my wife what I should brew next for "her" side of the keggerator.

Her answer was Buckwheat's BPA or Ello Poppet. I have brewed Buckwheat 11 times. Ello Poppet only once. I call Ello Poppet a Czech-Style Pilsner, and it is pretty hoppy with 6 different types of German (mostly noble) hops.

My wife swears she doesn't like hoppy beers, but what she really means is that she doesn't like bitter beers. And, usually she only really associates American "C" hops with "hoppy".

So, Ello Poppet is one of those beers that The Beer Model and I both really enjoy. (or at least last time I made it ... back in 2012 ... that was the case)

So, Last Sunday I decided to brew

Ello Poppet Czech Pilsner