Laser Salt and The Beer Model

"Not too hoppy and not too dark".

She isn't just a gorgeous face and hot body. The SheppyBrew Beer Model also brews beer once and a while. She, of course, helped me brew the first batch of 15 Year Amber Ale. I helped her brew a batch one of her favorite beers, Summer Lovin' American Wheat. (see Beer Model Brew Day).

Both those beers turned out fantastic, so obviously she is a great brewer. And, let's be honest, the pictures on this blog of her brewing are much more pleasant to view than ones of the usual SheppyBrew Brew Master. She adds some tasteful class to the whole SheppyBrew Brewery persona. I am quite certain our sales would be practically nothing without her as our Beer Model and part time brewer.

Where'd My ManGo Wheat

So ... last Saturday was the AHA's Learn to Homebrew Day, and I used that as an excuse to get the SheppyBrew Beer Model to join me for a brew day.

I try to get The Beer Model to brew at least once a year for legal reasons.

... sort of ...

You see, Colorado (like most states) allows the adult head-of-household to brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

I basically brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

However, sometimes I go a little over.

The law also allows a second adult in the household to brew 100 gallons of beer per year.

As young as she looks, the SheppyBrew Beer Model legally qualifies as an adult in our household.

So, by having her brew ... I figure the SheppyBrew Home Brewery is allowed 200 gallons of beer per year.

Big Brew Day ... Halfway to Helles (Batch 375)

It was the American Homebrew Association's annual Big Brew Day this past Saturday.

If you follow along on this blog, you may remember that Big Brew Day is quite often a day that the Beer Model and I brew with one or more our homebrewing friends "Du" and "Doc".

But, "Du" recently moved out of state and "Doc" was busy doing something else this year. So, the Beer Model and I did a brew day all by ourselves.

I had a Pork Butt thawed, and we decided to make a feast even though it was just the two of us.

If you are a regular on this blog, and were paying attention to the Roll-a-Style posts, you might actually have a guess as to which beer recipe we brewed:

Halfway to Helles Leichtbier

Beer Model Brew Day

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, this past Saturday was National Home-Brew Day , and my wife decided to help brew a wheat beer that she called Summer Lovin' American Wheat. This was the Beer Model's second brew day, and SheppyBrew's first all-grain wheat beer (BIAB).

The brew day gets started a little later when I have to wait for the Beer Model to wake up.  But, it is ok, because she is so pleasant to look at.  We pretty much shared the brewing workload, although somehow I got stuck with the clean-up.

Here are some pictures of the Beer Model and her brew day:

Filling the brew pot

Removing / draining the BIAB bag

Adding Hops

Orange Zest

Siphoning wort into carboy

The Brewing day went pretty well.  We got a bit over 5 gallons into the carboy, and it was bubbling away nicely on Sunday and Monday.  I would have preferred to get a bit more wort with a little less of the cold-break material.  I think I need to start designing my recipes to leave a bit more of the wort behind in the brew kettle.  I'm also thinking I may want to get a pre-chiller for cooling down my wort in the summer.  The wort went into the carboy at around 70, which is ok, but I prefer to get it down closer to 60.  Plus, the weather was nice and warm, but not as hot as it will get later in the summer, so cooling will just be getting more difficult as the weather gets warmer.


Another thing we did was compare beers from the newest version of Buckwheat's BPA.  This batch was an experiment where I brewed up 5 gallons of wort and split the it into 2 Mr. Beer fermentors.  In one fermentor, I pitched SafeAle US05 yeast and in the other I pitched Safbrew S33 yeast.  The idea, of course, was to see which beer the Beer Model preferred.  Personally, I tasted a little more of a subtle fruity "Belgium" character in the S33, but not enough of a difference to declare one my favorite over the other.  The Beer Model decided that she did prefer the S33, which was a bit of a surprise to me.  I am pleased with this result, though, because it means I probably picked the right yeast in the original recipe.  The fact that I picked up a little of the Belgium funk in the S33 makes me feel a bit better about calling this beer a Belgium Pale Ale as well.  I think we are done experimenting with Buckwheat's BPA.  S33 is the winner!

Newest BPA comparison

The boys built a fort in the living room during the brew day.

Fort in our living room

Summer Lovin' American Wheat looks like it will be a beautiful pale-gold color.  It should be light and refreshing with a subtle orange zest and coriander flavor.  It should be on the malty-sweet side with just a touch of honey flavor.  It will be pretty dry and relatively low in alcohol.  We are going to keg this beer, and if it lasts, share it with the Beer Model's family when they come to visit this summer.  If it does last until then, I don't expect it will last much longer.  We might have to brew it up again before the summer is over.

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 342)

If you follow along on this blog, you might have caught that I try to have the Beer Model (aka my wife) brew from time to time.

In the United States, an individual homebrewer is allowed to brew 100 gallons of beer a year. A household with two or more adults over 21 years of age is allowed a maximum of 200 gallons.

The SheppyBrew "Brewery" brews significantly over 100 gallons most years, and we're on track to get over 100 again this year. 

So ... mostly jokingly, I say that the Beer Model has to brew in order to keep me out of jail.

I'm honestly not sure who is supposed to enforce this 100 (or 200) gallon limit. I suspect that no one actually does, so I don't think I'm in any real danger of going to jail for brewing too much beer.

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.

P is for Public Offering Brewing Company

Well ... even though it's been awhile since I posted O is for Odyssey Beerwerks, we're chugging along pretty good on Round 5 of the A to Z Breweries Series of Posts.

We started round 5 in August with A is for AC Golden Tank Room, and we're already more than halfway through the alphabet.

I mentioned in A to Z Denver Breweries Round 4, that we were running out of breweries in certain letters and actually were considering not doing a round 5.

While we have had to use "Artistic License" on some of the letters, we've really not had too much trouble finding breweries to use for every letter so far.

After O comes "P". We had plenty of "P" breweries to choose from, and The Beer Model picked:

P is for Public Offering Brewing Company

A is for Arms, Call To Brewing Company

Well, if you follow this blog at all, you probably realize that we recently finished up A to Z Denver Breweries Round 5.

While we certainly have a bunch of breweries left on the Colorado Brewery Map & List, I wasn't sure if we'd continue along with the A to Z series of posts.

There are a bunch of letters (including the letter "A") that we have to fudge a little to cover Denver-area breweries.

We had a good run working our way through the alphabet 5 times, but I wasn't sure it made sense to continue down the alphabet.

But, apparently, my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) was (and is) sure, and we're continuing. I don't even have a choice....

A is for Arms, Call To Brewing Company

Suffer Ring

I dropped by my favorite LHBS a couple days ago.  After I purchased what I came for, I thought it would be silly not to visit Dry Dock Brewing Company next door for a pint.  At the Dry Dock, I was sitting at the bar minding my own business when some delivery guy asked the bartender if she knew what the 3 rings of marriage are.

She knew engagement ring and wedding ring.  She didn't know the third.

He told her that the 3 rings were

• Engagement Ring
• Wedding Ring
• Suffer Ring (suffering)

The delivery guy laughed heartily at his own joke.  The bartender chuckled, politely.  I couldn't help it; I smiled.

The delivery guy pointed at me and said, "This guys knows it!".
"No comment," I laughed.
"No comment is the same as giving a comment," he said wisely.

I had to admit that he was correct.  It would have been rude to argue with such a jolly fellow. Whether or not it's true (I'm sticking to the "no comment" on that one), it is funny.  Not LMAO or ROTFL funny or maybe even not LOL funny, but funny none-the-less.

By the way.  The pint I had was a U-Boat Hefeweizen.  Am I the only one who doesn't really think that a hefe smells or tastes like banana?  I know that is the flavor / aroma usually associated with hefeweizens, but I've never really had one that reminded me in any way of bananas. 

I do remember that the Beer Model, my brewing assistants, and I were having dinner with the Beer Model's cousin and his wife one time.  For some reason, the subject of home-brewing came up.  The Beer Model's cousin (let's call him "Jerry" so I don't have to keep typing "the Beer Model's cousin") is friends with his neighbor who just happens to be a home-brewer.  Apparently the home-brewing friend had just shared a vanilla porter (actually several porters if I remember correctly) with  Jerry and they both thought it was very good.  Apparently they got to talking about what sort of cool, crazy, unique things might be used to flavor a beer and one thing Jerry and his friend came up with was using banana to flavor a porter.

The Beer Model (let's pretend her name is Tracy so I don't have to keep typing "Beer Model") crinkled up her nose and said "banana in a beer ... eweeeee" (or something very close to that).  I gave her a quizzical look and asked her what she was drinking.  You can probably guess the answer, but I'll tell you anyway.  She was having a hefeweizen.  I asked her for a taste because my own beer was getting empty (less full for you optimists out there) and I didn't know when the waitress would be back.  I pretended to savor the beer flavor, handed Tracy back her glass and asked her if she knew what fruit flavor was most often associated with a hefeweizen.

"Banana?" she guessed correctly (that was the answer I was looking for).  Tracy pretended to taste and savor her beer and said "Hey, I guess it does taste a little like banana.  Maybe a banana porter would be awesome."

I don't know if I would like a banana porter or not.  Like I wrote above, I don't really associated hefeweizens with banana.  For me the whole point was to make fun of my wife and was an excuse to take some of her beer for me.

Can you guess which spouse in our marriage probably has more rings?

E is for Someplace Else Brewery

It's been awhile since we've posted to the A to Z series of posts.

D is for Denver Beer Company, Olde Town Arvada posted over a month ago.

But, the series is still on our radar, and after D, we needed an "E" brewery to visit.

You may remember from D is for Denver Beer Company that there are no "E" breweries on the Colorado Brewery Map & List for use to use in the Denver area.

But, as you know if you've been following along, we don't let that sort of thing stop us.

We're more than willing to take artistic license if we don't have a new brewery starting with a letter.

This time, we picked ....

E is for Someplace Else Brewery

Laser Salt and the Beer Model Part 2

Watch this video of my wife sliding down a sand dune:

When my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) saw this video she asked me, "how did you know I would scream?"

I just gave her a look and said "I just knew". We have been married a long time.

So, when we last left you in part 1 of Laser Salt and the Beer Model, We had to narrow down "not too hoppy and not too dark" to an actual style of beer. We needed to do this so that we could develop a recipe. We needed the recipe to buy ingredients. We need ingredients to brew the beer.

There were a couple more requirements.

O is for Odyssey Beerwerks

It's been awhile since we posted N is for 4 Noses - Park Hill.

We've just been doing other things, and have not had an opportunity to head out to another brewery.

This past Saturday, though, the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) decided it was about time to hit our next A to Z Brewery.

Since we did "N" last time, now it was time to find an "O" brewery.

According to the Colorado Brewery Map & List, we had a few to choose from, and the Beer Model picked out ....

O is for Odyssey Beerwerks

2019 Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale (batch 240)

Pumpkin. Spice. Ale.

If you follow this blog at all ... you probably know that the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) enjoys drinking Pumpkin Spice Ales.

Mid September, 2014, I brewed my first Pumpkin Spice Ale. Mostly, I did it to make my wife happy.

Happy wife. Happy life.

I'm not proud of it, but I am pretty good at brewing Pumpkin Spice Ales.

I'll even drink some of mine without complaining too much.

It being close to mid-September, now is the time to brew a Pumpkin Spice Ale for it to be ready by Pumpkin Spice season.

So, last weekend, I made the SheppyBrew Beer Model (aka my wife) help me brew. (I actually can't make my wife do anything she doesn't already want to do).

Since it has been such a hit in the past, we left the recipe pretty much the same as it has been since 2014 ...

Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale

Alex's Golden Paradise Tangerine Wheat (Batch 353)

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I have been talking about what beer we should brew next.

If you follow along on this blog, you may have picked up that the Beer Model will "help" me brew a few batches of beer a year.

It's a fun husband/wife activity that we can share.

Generally we try to make a beer recipe that she is more likely to enjoy, and generally she picks something I've already brewed. If not, I'm the one who comes up with the recipe.

She's sort of been playing around with ChatGPT, though, and she had "Alex" (for some reason, she feels the need to give her ChatGPT a name) come up with a few Wheat Beer recipes.

Through some iterating and getting my input, she ended up with a recipe I could put into Beer Smith and onto SheppyBrew.com

Alex's Golden Paradise Tangerine Wheat

2014 #GABF Members Session

Yesterday, of course, was the Members'-Only session of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF). Of course, the SheppyBrew Beer Model and I attended. It was, of course, a great time.

The members-only session is my favorite. It is one of the great benefits of being an AHA member. In fact, I know people who became AHA members just so they could buy tickets to this session of the GABF.

We got in line pretty early, but even still, we were about 3/4 of the way around the Convention Center. The line went really quick once the doors opened, though. We were in the festival before 15 after.

Big crowd on the way in.

They let the line spread out sooner before the doors this year. I thought this was going to cause a nightmare mess, but it turned out very well. 

Killing the Glutens

As you may remember, my hot beautiful SheppyBrew Beer Model brewed up a batch of beer about a month ago (see Brewing the Laser Salt). We thought it would be fun to bring a keg with us to the Great Sand Dunes National Park where we had been invited to join a bunch of people at one of the group camp sites.

We were invited by our gluten-sensitive friend "Gretchen" whom I have mentioned quite a bit on this blog when writing about my Gluten Free brewing. She is also the person for whom I brewed Free the Glutens! APA.

K is for Kitchen, Lowdown Brewery +

If you've been following along on my A to Z Denver Breweries series ... you might have caught that finding another "K" brewery was going to be tough.

Other than Kokopelli Beer Company ... I don't know of any breweries in the Denver area that start with the letter "K".

I used Kokopelli Beer Company on my first time through the alphabet, so I can't use that one.

Scanning through the Colorado Brewery List, I spotted Lowdown Brewery + Kitchen. "Kitchen" begins with the letter "K". Maybe not ideal, but that appears to be the closest I can get.

I have established a precedent of allowing myself to look for letters elsewhere in the brewery names other than the first word.

See D is for Draw, Boggy and X is for WestFaX Brewing Company.

As an added bonus ... Lowdown Brewery + Kitchen is close to [The] Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project. The SheppyBrew Beer Model communicated displeasure with me for visiting Intrepid Sojourner Beer Project the without her.

We decided to hit these breweries this past Saturday.

K is for Kitchen, Lowdown Brewery +

Brewing the Laser Salt

We did it. The Brew Model and I brewed up the Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale, just like I told you we would (see Laser Salt and The Beer Model and Laser Salt and The Beer Model Part 2 ).

Yesterday, of course, was American Homebrewers Association's BIG BREW DAY. This has traditionally been an excuse to get the Beer Model brewing. Coincidentally, this was also a weekend that our kids were spending with the family we trade weekends with.

It is nice not having to do everything on the brew day. I still have to do the lifting of the heavy hot water, and for some reason, I always get stuck with the clean-up, but at least I didn't have to do everything.

Pumpkin Ales

I am brewing a pumpkin ale this weekend. Pumpkin ales are not my favorite, so why am I brewing one? The main reason is that the SheppyBrew Beer Model really likes them, and (let's face it), it is a good idea to keep the Beer Model happy.

Plus, a pumpkin beer is something that I've never brewed before, and it is fun to try new things.

Actually, it is really more surprising that this is the first time I've attempted to brew a pumpkin beer.

You can take a look at my recipe on the SheppyBrew website: Will-o'-Wisp Pumpkin Ale.

SheppyBrew.com

GoDaddy has been sending me warnings that most of my domains were "about" to expire.  GoDaddy starts sending out the notifications ridiculously far in advance (90 days?) and I finally got sick of all the emails and renewed my domains.  At the same time, I registered sheppybrew.com.  You might call it an impulse buy, although it is something I've been thinking about for several months.

So, now if you want to read up on Sheppy Brew's beers, not only can you go to http://beer.ericshepard.com, but now you can go to http://www.sheppybrew.com.  Personally, I'll be getting there through the new sheppybrew.com domain name.  Google has not indexed sheppybrew.com, yet, so my search page still hits beer.ericshepard.com.  I'm sure I'll be able to update that soon.

I set up forwarding to the "brewing" labeled entries of this blog at http://blog.sheppybrew.com, so if you want to read about beer on my blog, but not all the other boring minutia of my life, you can bookmark that url (right ... like anyone would want to come back here more than once). 

Thank you to the Beer Snob Chick who just recently gave me a suggestion on where to buy New Belgium's 2010 La Folie.  You may remember (but most likely you don't) that La Folie was one of the great sour beers that I tried this year at GABF (that stands for Great American Beer Festival for my step-cousin-in-law). As of the time I am writing this, I have not headed up to 14th and Krameria, yet.  I hope they still have some when I arrive.

The hazelnut chocolate Bluefield Ale

This weekend, the Beer Model and I shared a Bluefield Chocolate Ale.  Part of me was dreading the experience, but it did not suck at all.  In fact, I think it makes a very nice dessert beer.  It will make an awesome beer float at some point.  It is very chocolaty and has a very nice hazelnut flavor to it as well.  Even Tyler said it smelled like cocoa, so I guess the aroma doesn't have any of that disgusting beer smell (disgusting for my kids and sister ... or at least my I hope my sister doesn't think it smells or tastes disgusting).  Since I like it and the beer model likes it, chances are my sister will not like it, but hey, we can't please everyone, now can we? Now, I just have to figure out a good way to get some to either Wisconsin or Michigan, so Mrs. Bluefield can give it a try.

The beer model thought Bluefield Chocolate Ale was good.

The kids didn't think it smelled disgusting

I had been planning on cracking open my second taste of Fox Sox Knox Rye Pale Ale sometime this weekend, but never got around to it.  I had my first taste Thursday night.  It is a wonderfully hoppy beer.  The color is a beautiful gold that is not quite like any of my other beers.  It is very similar in taste to Tommy Hawk APA, and I might have to do a side-by-side comparison to decide how close they actually are.

We played up in the mountains by Mt. Evans this Saturday, and stopped by Tommy Knocker brew pub for lunch.   I got to use my AHA membership card to get the pub discount.  This is the first place that I've pulled out the card and had the person actually know what I was talking about.  The beer model and I each got a free pint (I think the deal there is a free pint with an entree ... which is a pretty good deal).  Lunch was nice.  My Hop Strike Black Rye IPA was excellent.  Tracy liked her Jack Whacker Wheat Ale as well.

As always, if you are reading this on facebook, it really looks nicer on my blog:  http://blog.ericshepard.com/2010/12/sheppybrewcom.html.