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