You may recall that the Beer Model and I have a kid-swapping arrangement with another family. We take care of their two boys on weekends when the parents want to get away from the kids and they repay the favor by taking our two boys on other weekends.
The matriarch of this family (whom I have decided to name "Gretchen" on this blog and on the SheppyBrew website to protect the innocent) has a gluten sensitivity. This gluten intolerance sort of sucks (really really really sucks) as she likes to drink beer from time to time. After I rudely gave "Gretchen" and her husband beer as a thank-you after they had taken care of our boys over the 2011 GABF weekend, I decided to design and brew a gluten-free beer. I called it "Free the Glutens! APA". You can read about it on this blog on the posts "Free the Glutens!" and "Tasting Free the Glutens".
Apparently "Gretchen" likes the Gluten-free beer. As I still had half the base ingredient (brown rice extract syrup) left, and "Gretchen's" birthday is coming up, I decided to make another batch this weekend.
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Racking on Puree
So, as you may remember, SheppyBrew is brewing an Apricot Lovin' Wheat Ale (see Apricot Lovin' Brew Day if you want to refresh your memory).
My last real fruit beer was a failure. My fifth batch of beer in March of 2009 was called "Girly Berry" that I brewed with raspberry flavoring specifically for the Beer Model to enjoy. She didn't like it that much. After that batch, I changed the "Girly Berry" recipe by simply pulling out the fruit flavoring. The new non-fruit attempt turned out great, and so the subsequent batches of "Girly Berry" contained no fruit or fruit extract at all.
This failure was early on in my brewing career, but I have just never had the desire to try another fruit beer. Recently, though, one of the Pastors at my church (who will forthwith be called "Chad" on this blog so I don't have to keep typing "one of the pastors at my church") requested an apricot wheat beer, and I decided to go ahead and give fruit beer brewing another try. For Apricot Lovin', though I got some recipe advice from my LHBS and Dry Dock Brewing Company, so I think I should be ok.
Part of the recipe / process is adding 3lbs of Apricot Puree to a secondary fermentor and racking the partially fermented beer on top of the fruit. I had already decided to get another carboy, and so brewing this beer was an excuse to use a gift card I had for an order to Northern Brewer. The order came in this week, and on Thursday I finally added the fruit into the new carboy and put the base beer on top of the fruit.
I tasted the flat base beer and thought it was great. I face-booked "Chad" that if the apricot ruins the beer he can expect a couple of cases.
I am planning on leaving the beer on the fruit for a couple weeks or so. If it turns out good, I'll let you know. If it turns out bad, Chad will get a bunch of beer.
My last real fruit beer was a failure. My fifth batch of beer in March of 2009 was called "Girly Berry" that I brewed with raspberry flavoring specifically for the Beer Model to enjoy. She didn't like it that much. After that batch, I changed the "Girly Berry" recipe by simply pulling out the fruit flavoring. The new non-fruit attempt turned out great, and so the subsequent batches of "Girly Berry" contained no fruit or fruit extract at all.
This failure was early on in my brewing career, but I have just never had the desire to try another fruit beer. Recently, though, one of the Pastors at my church (who will forthwith be called "Chad" on this blog so I don't have to keep typing "one of the pastors at my church") requested an apricot wheat beer, and I decided to go ahead and give fruit beer brewing another try. For Apricot Lovin', though I got some recipe advice from my LHBS and Dry Dock Brewing Company, so I think I should be ok.
Part of the recipe / process is adding 3lbs of Apricot Puree to a secondary fermentor and racking the partially fermented beer on top of the fruit. I had already decided to get another carboy, and so brewing this beer was an excuse to use a gift card I had for an order to Northern Brewer. The order came in this week, and on Thursday I finally added the fruit into the new carboy and put the base beer on top of the fruit.
I tasted the flat base beer and thought it was great. I face-booked "Chad" that if the apricot ruins the beer he can expect a couple of cases.
I am planning on leaving the beer on the fruit for a couple weeks or so. If it turns out good, I'll let you know. If it turns out bad, Chad will get a bunch of beer.
Wednesday, February 22, 2012
Still More @Untappd Badges
Despite the fact that I am quite sure no one cares, I've been sharing the badges that I've earned on Untappd (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness , and Some more Badges @Untappd ). I am not sure what is wrong with me. I just don't have anything interesting or insightful to write, so I just post uninteresting drivel like this. Hope you don't mind too much.
Thursday, February 16, 2012
Mayor @BallyFitness
Remember, I made it my mission to become the foursquare mayor at my health club? (see Running for Mayor @BallyFitness)
After 60 days, I was still 1 day away from becoming the mayor. Back in December when I started the quest, the target was 30 times in 60 days, but the mayor I was chasing must have stepped up his game. I had checked in 37 days, and was still a day away. Bummer. I should have forced myself to get there more of those early mornings when I stayed in bed.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Apricot Lovin' Brew Day
At some point during the day, I realized that this is really the first fruit beer I've brewed since one of my greatest brewing failures: the first attempt of "Girly Berry". Hopefully this fruit beer will turn out better. I have actually used fruit (cherries) in some of my older X-Mas Ales, but I don't really consider those fruit beers because the fruit in those is subtle enough that the malts still dominate the flavors in those.
And why did I decide to brew a fruit beer? I first got the idea from one of the pastors at my church who wondered on my facebook wall if I could make a Pyramid Apricot Ale. Apparently, he had tasted some at a restaurant somewhere in the area and really liked it.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
2012 Bigfoot Barleywine @SierraNevada
A few weeks ago I saw on my facebook news feed that Sierra Nevada was announcing that it had released its 2012 Bigfoot Barleywine and that I should be on the lookout for it as shipments made their way East. You may recall that Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine was on Zymury's list of the best beers in America, and that I am drinking my way through as many of those beers as I can. You can look at this blog's "Zymurgy BBIA" label to see what I wrote about my experiences with this list.
I called my friends at Davidson's Liquor store and asked if they knew when they would have Bigfoot on their shelves. The guy who answered apologetically told me that Sierra Nevada was not brewing a 2012 Bigfoot, and that Davidson would therefore unfortunately not be carrying it. Poor guy sounded pretty disappointed, and genuinely bummed out for me.
I shared the good news from Sierra Nevada's facebook page, which cheered him up considerably. Apparently he and his roommate are big fans and his roommate had told him that Bigfoot had been replaced this year. He happily went off to ask the beer buying manager when we could expect the Bigfoot to come in. The buyer didn't know, so I said I would check back later.
This past week I checked back, and yes, 6 packs of Bigfoot were indeed in stock and ready for me to purchase. Wonderful.
I called my friends at Davidson's Liquor store and asked if they knew when they would have Bigfoot on their shelves. The guy who answered apologetically told me that Sierra Nevada was not brewing a 2012 Bigfoot, and that Davidson would therefore unfortunately not be carrying it. Poor guy sounded pretty disappointed, and genuinely bummed out for me.
I shared the good news from Sierra Nevada's facebook page, which cheered him up considerably. Apparently he and his roommate are big fans and his roommate had told him that Bigfoot had been replaced this year. He happily went off to ask the beer buying manager when we could expect the Bigfoot to come in. The buyer didn't know, so I said I would check back later.
This past week I checked back, and yes, 6 packs of Bigfoot were indeed in stock and ready for me to purchase. Wonderful.
Friday, February 10, 2012
Beervertising and Snow Sculptures
Remember that back in May I posted 5 youtube videos by Breckenridge Brewery? The "Truth in Beervertising" videos are funny commercials making fun of some of the advertising concepts of big beer companies.
If you don't remember, check them out.
Recently, Breckenridge Brewery posted 2 new to the series: http://www.breckbrew.com/videos:
If you don't remember, check them out.
- If you touch it and it's cold, then it's cold
- "Sevendruple-Hopped"
- Lucky U IPA
- "Gravity activated pouring."
- One that ties all these truth in beervertising commercials together
Recently, Breckenridge Brewery posted 2 new to the series: http://www.breckbrew.com/videos:
Wednesday, February 08, 2012
Neil Zhang
I got an email (see below) from Neil Zhang of the Asian Domain Registration Service in china.
He is trying to scam me. I doubt the emailer is actually named Neil Zhang and I am almost positive that he doesn't work for the Asian Domain Registration Service in china. He is simply a Tweedle Beetle screwing with me. It is fine. I'm used to it.
In his email, he claims that some Asian company is trying to register "sheppybrew" as its "Net Brand", and has applied for a number of domain names such as sheppybrew.asia, sheppybrew.cn, etc ... (look below for the whole list). He is concerned that as I currently own the domain name "sheppybrew.com", I may not want this Asian company to pick up all those similar domains. He is giving me the opportunity to let him know that I did not authorize this Asian company to register the domains.
He is trying to scam me. I doubt the emailer is actually named Neil Zhang and I am almost positive that he doesn't work for the Asian Domain Registration Service in china. He is simply a Tweedle Beetle screwing with me. It is fine. I'm used to it.
In his email, he claims that some Asian company is trying to register "sheppybrew" as its "Net Brand", and has applied for a number of domain names such as sheppybrew.asia, sheppybrew.cn, etc ... (look below for the whole list). He is concerned that as I currently own the domain name "sheppybrew.com", I may not want this Asian company to pick up all those similar domains. He is giving me the opportunity to let him know that I did not authorize this Asian company to register the domains.
Sunday, February 05, 2012
Avery Maharaja
Recently, I was at a local liquor store when I was pleasantly surprised to see a bomber of Avery Maharaja. For some reason, I was under the mistaken impression that the Maharaja was a spring seasonal, but here it is January (or at least it was January when I bought it) and I have some to try.
Maharaja is an Imperial India Pale Ale made by Avery Brewing Company from Boulder, Colorado making it one of my local beers on the 2011 Zymurgy Best Beers in America poll. Obviously, seeing it meant I had to have it. Luckily, my local liquor store was completely willing to sell me this bottle.
The Maharaja is part of Avery's "Dictator Series" of beers, which are all big imperial beers designed to bring you on a " trek further into the depths flavor" and "stretch the boundaries of what beer can be". This is the kind of stuff beer geeks like me just eat up. As an Imperial India Pale Ale, the beer is hoppy and bitter. Avery lists the IBUs at 102 and tells us that they use Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial and Chinook hops. Its OG is 1090 and its ABV is 10.24%. They tell us their malt bill is Two-row barley, caramel 120L, victory. They don't claim to be a balanced beer. They do claim to be a monster hop bomb that pushes the boundries of hop utilization.
Maharaja is an Imperial India Pale Ale made by Avery Brewing Company from Boulder, Colorado making it one of my local beers on the 2011 Zymurgy Best Beers in America poll. Obviously, seeing it meant I had to have it. Luckily, my local liquor store was completely willing to sell me this bottle.
The Maharaja is part of Avery's "Dictator Series" of beers, which are all big imperial beers designed to bring you on a " trek further into the depths flavor" and "stretch the boundaries of what beer can be". This is the kind of stuff beer geeks like me just eat up. As an Imperial India Pale Ale, the beer is hoppy and bitter. Avery lists the IBUs at 102 and tells us that they use Simcoe, Columbus, Centennial and Chinook hops. Its OG is 1090 and its ABV is 10.24%. They tell us their malt bill is Two-row barley, caramel 120L, victory. They don't claim to be a balanced beer. They do claim to be a monster hop bomb that pushes the boundries of hop utilization.
My 500th Blog Post
This is my 500th Blog Post.
Impressed at the big number, aren't you?
I'm sure you're not.
Impressed at the big number, aren't you?
I'm sure you're not.
Saturday, February 04, 2012
Sheppy Birthday
I looked it up. "Venus" by Shocking Blue was the #1 song on the day I was born.
Today, I'm 42 years old. That means that my life is more than 26% over.
Going to have to brew some more Quarter Life Crisis just for the hell of it.
Today, I'm 42 years old. That means that my life is more than 26% over.
Going to have to brew some more Quarter Life Crisis just for the hell of it.
Thursday, February 02, 2012
35 Best Bars in Denver
I got an email from my Contact Me form.
The email was from an employee at 5280 Magazine letting me know that their February issue contained an article about "The 35 Best Bars in Denver". I forget where exactly I read about it, but I do think I knew about the article. Well, I know I must have read it from one of the Denver area beer bloggers. I just don't remember which blogger.
You'll have to read the article to get most of the content. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only been to three of the 35 bars. I'm going to get this issue of the magazine, so maybe I'll use the article as a check-list and attempt to get to some more of the bars.
The email was from an employee at 5280 Magazine letting me know that their February issue contained an article about "The 35 Best Bars in Denver". I forget where exactly I read about it, but I do think I knew about the article. Well, I know I must have read it from one of the Denver area beer bloggers. I just don't remember which blogger.
You'll have to read the article to get most of the content. I'm embarrassed to say that I've only been to three of the 35 bars. I'm going to get this issue of the magazine, so maybe I'll use the article as a check-list and attempt to get to some more of the bars.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Seriously? Why? (poison rationality)
I really have not been myself this past week. I think maybe the Tweedle Beetles are screwing with me again, but I can't quite figure out why or even exactly how.
Last Sunday morning (AKA Eric's Red brew day), started off with me feeling like I had come down with a minor cold. A few sniffles. Slightly sore throat. Nothing to be concerned about. Didn't keep me home from church. Didn't prevent me from brewing. No big deal.
The brew day went great (see Eric's Red brew day if you have not already). After clean-up and the AFC Championship game, I felt a little worse, but I was totally able to chalk that up to finding out that New England was going to another Superbowl (makes us all feel a bit sick, I'm sure).
Last Sunday morning (AKA Eric's Red brew day), started off with me feeling like I had come down with a minor cold. A few sniffles. Slightly sore throat. Nothing to be concerned about. Didn't keep me home from church. Didn't prevent me from brewing. No big deal.
The brew day went great (see Eric's Red brew day if you have not already). After clean-up and the AFC Championship game, I felt a little worse, but I was totally able to chalk that up to finding out that New England was going to another Superbowl (makes us all feel a bit sick, I'm sure).
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Hopslam Ale
Bell's Brewery has recently released its annual Hopslam ale and Scott (who lives in the mid-West where it is possible to purchase beers from Bell's Brewery) knew that this was a beer on my list and offered to pick up a some Hopslams and UPS a couple of them to me. I accepted his offer, he was able to pick some up and get a couple of bottles out to me in a UPS package that also contained a couple of his own home-brewed "Nanci's Brown Ale" (which is a fantastic beer, by the way).
He got them to me last weekend, but it was not until today that I took the time to open one of the Hopslam bottles.
47 Pints @bonfilsdotorg
I gave my 47th pint of blood to Bonfils Blood Center today. This means that next time I give blood, I will get my 6 gallon pin. Since 2003, I have averaged giving blood more than 5 times a year, which is a pretty good since the absolute maximum that Bonfils will let me give blood is 6 times a year.
I happen to "like" the Bonfils Blood Center facebook page, and from time to time I'll see them post a picture of someone reaching some incredible milestone. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, but I am always impressed at the dedication of these people. According to Bonfils' website, Bonfils’ highest gallon donor has donated 75 gallons of blood or 600 pints, saving and enhancing nearly 1800 patients lives. Now, that is impressive! Actually, I'm not sure the math works out on that.
I happen to "like" the Bonfils Blood Center facebook page, and from time to time I'll see them post a picture of someone reaching some incredible milestone. I'm sure I'll get there eventually, but I am always impressed at the dedication of these people. According to Bonfils' website, Bonfils’ highest gallon donor has donated 75 gallons of blood or 600 pints, saving and enhancing nearly 1800 patients lives. Now, that is impressive! Actually, I'm not sure the math works out on that.
Monday, January 23, 2012
Eric's Red brew day
So, you may remember that last weekend, I tried to brew Eric's Red Ale, but failed miserably. See Eric's Red Failure if you want to review. I do have almost 5 gallons of Red Failure fermenting right now. We'll have to see how it goes.
This past Thursday, I purchased ingredients for another batch. Saturday, I made another yeast starter. Sunday, I started brewing up my 2nd attempt in as many weeks. Things went better this time, although on Saturday I discovered that my hops were missing. Usually when I bring home my hops I put them either in the beer fridge or in the beer fridge's freezer as soon as I bring them home. I guess this time I set them on the kitchen counter for some reason. It took me awhile to track them down, but eventually I did. You would think that I'm too young to have senior moments like this, but you would be wrong.
This past Thursday, I purchased ingredients for another batch. Saturday, I made another yeast starter. Sunday, I started brewing up my 2nd attempt in as many weeks. Things went better this time, although on Saturday I discovered that my hops were missing. Usually when I bring home my hops I put them either in the beer fridge or in the beer fridge's freezer as soon as I bring them home. I guess this time I set them on the kitchen counter for some reason. It took me awhile to track them down, but eventually I did. You would think that I'm too young to have senior moments like this, but you would be wrong.
Monday, January 16, 2012
Eric's Red failure
As planned (see Eric's Irish Red #HomeBrew), I had a brew day yesterday. It didn't go very well. It made my Worst brew day ever seem perfect. The experience of adjusting worst brew day ever was sort of fun. Yesterday was not fun at all.
Friday, January 13, 2012
Eric Shepard and the King of Beers
This morning, a co-worker sent out a link to this Denver Post article: Disagreement between Denver, Boston mayors comes to a head. Apparently, the Boston mayor called Colorado beers "weak".
He told a Boston Globe reporter, "We have the best. . . . Colorado Rocky beer? Uck."
I was asked if what the Boston mayor said offended me. The answer is No, not really. I can't be angry at someone who is as obviously completely beer-ignorant as the Boston mayor. If the mayor had talked to Jim Koch of Boston Beer company (who actually knows a little about good beer), he would know that Denver, Colorado is one of the (if not THE) craft beer centers of the world. People who know good beer consider the Denver area "the Napa Valley of Beer".
He told a Boston Globe reporter, "We have the best. . . . Colorado Rocky beer? Uck."
I was asked if what the Boston mayor said offended me. The answer is No, not really. I can't be angry at someone who is as obviously completely beer-ignorant as the Boston mayor. If the mayor had talked to Jim Koch of Boston Beer company (who actually knows a little about good beer), he would know that Denver, Colorado is one of the (if not THE) craft beer centers of the world. People who know good beer consider the Denver area "the Napa Valley of Beer".
Wanna have some fun?
Ok ... do you want to have some fun?
Here is what to do:
Open this link in several browser windows: http://blog.ericshepard.com/2011/08/little-lion-man.html
5 to 8 windows works out great.
This actually doesn't seem to work for me anymore in the newest version of firefox. At the time I'm typing this, it works in IE8, so you probably want to take this into account when choosing a browser.
There is a video of Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons on that page.
Once you have 5 to 8 (or more if you want) browser windows open, start the video on the first window. Wait a couple seconds and start the video on browser window #2. Repeat this process until all the videos are running.
Listen and enjoy. Fun fun fun.
Personally, I think it sounds best on earphones. For the best results, have a few SheppyBrews before you do it. If you don't have SheppyBrew, another type of home-brew probably works almost as well. If you don't have home-brews, I suppose some other beer would work. If you don't have beer, just do it sober. I don't think it is something you can enjoy with wine or hard-liquor.
Happy New Year everyone!
Here is what to do:
Open this link in several browser windows: http://blog.ericshepard.com/2011/08/little-lion-man.html
5 to 8 windows works out great.
This actually doesn't seem to work for me anymore in the newest version of firefox. At the time I'm typing this, it works in IE8, so you probably want to take this into account when choosing a browser.
There is a video of Little Lion Man by Mumford and Sons on that page.
Once you have 5 to 8 (or more if you want) browser windows open, start the video on the first window. Wait a couple seconds and start the video on browser window #2. Repeat this process until all the videos are running.
Listen and enjoy. Fun fun fun.
Personally, I think it sounds best on earphones. For the best results, have a few SheppyBrews before you do it. If you don't have SheppyBrew, another type of home-brew probably works almost as well. If you don't have home-brews, I suppose some other beer would work. If you don't have beer, just do it sober. I don't think it is something you can enjoy with wine or hard-liquor.
Happy New Year everyone!
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Eric's Irish Red #HomeBrew
I've made 6 batches of beer called Eric's Red, making it one of the most brewed beers at SheppyBrew brewery. In fact, only Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (brewed 9 times) and my world famous Phat & Tyred Amber Ale (brewed 7 times) have been brewed more. For a long time, I considered Eric's Red to be SheppyBrew's "flagship" beer. But, I have not brewed it in over a year. And, strangely, until recently I didn't even convert the recipe to all-grain. In fact, all the Eric's Red iterations so far have been based on Mr. Beer Bewitched Red HME with Mr. Beer Mellow Amber UME. Very old-school. I always intended it to be one of my first all-grain conversions. I just never got around to it .... until now.
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