Blogging in June 2012

Speaking of Beer Can Chicken .... well, ok we weren't, but I thought maybe we should.

But first ... since May of last year, every month blog has had more "page views" than any other month in the history of this blog.

As I write this, it looks like this blog's streak of record-breaking months is going to stop with June. The number of page views don't look like they will get over May's total. Today is the last day of the month and weekends never get a whole lot of traffic here. It is close enough that had this been a weekday, I would feel more confident. But I think the streak will be over.

It was a good run. It looks like June will still be #2 all-time and had this been a 31 day month, it would easily get to the top spot even with this last couple days being weekend days.

Firestone Walker Union Jack

As I shared just a few days ago, I have moved on to Zymurgy's 2012 Best Beers in America list from the 2011 version of the list.

There were only 7 beers on the list that I have not tried, and amazingly enough, all except one are theoretically available here in Colorado.

A week ago Wednesday after working out, I stopped by my liquor store and found #11-Firestone Walker Union Jack and #16-Firestone Walker Double Jack.

I am pretty sure that Firestone Walker has been distributing to Colorado for less than a year, so it is nice for me that they appeared on the list this year (as opposed to last year or the year before when I would have had more trouble getting some).

Echo Lake Summer Pictures

This past weekend, we went up to Echo Lake to escape the Denver heat and wander around a bit.

I've posted pictures of my family around Echo Lake a few times on this blog. As far as I remember, the only other pictures have been during the winter (like this and this)

Here are some summer pictures for your enjoyment:

The kids in front of the lake

Brewing up some Summer Lovin'

I brewed one of my wife's favorite beers today.

SheppyBrew's Summer Lovin' Wheat was first made last year because my Beer Model (aka my wife), wanted to brew a crisp and refreshing summer wheat beer (see Beer Model Brew Day). It turned out as designed, and my wife really liked having it on tap until her family came to visit and wiped it out (see Helpful #HomeBrew Thieves).

It really was a nice summer beer to have around, and the Beer Model has mentioned a few times that she would like me to brew it again.

And, so I did.

Kegged the Cheap Bastard

This morning, I kegged my Cheap Bastard American Mild Ale. (see Brewing Cheap Bastard).

It finished with a 1.011 specific gravity, which makes it a 3.7% ABV beer. I am pretty sure this is the lowest alcohol beer that I have ever brewed. It is certainly the only time I have intended to brew something this low in alcohol.

It is also the least expensive beer I've ever created. Well, technically some of my Mr. Beer batches with the free ingredients cost me less to make, but this is much cheaper than what I should have paid for those.

I've been thinking about making this beer for some time, and I am looking forward to having it on tap.

Kegging and Bottling Wetta Berry

Tonight, I finally kegged up my Raspberry Wetta Berry "beer".

I blogged about brewing it with Wetta Berry Mr. Beer Batch.

I blogged about adding raspberry puree to it with Raspberry Wetta Berry.

I didn't take an original gravity reading, but based on other Mr. Beer batches, I figure it was about 1.045. It finished at about 1.010. This means that without the raspberry puree, the ABV would have been right around 4.4%. The raspberry puree doesn't add much sugar, so this is almost certainly under 5%. I would guess around 4.7% ABV.

Tonight, I mixed in 4.5 ounces of sugar into the keg and bottled 6 liter bottles, 3 bombers, and 4 12-ounce bottles. The rest (about half I would say) stayed in the keg.

2012 Best Beers in America

So, Zymurgy's 2012 Best Beers in America list just came out.

If you follow this blog at all, you know that for the past two years, I have been seeking out and writing about beers on previous versions of this list (see my Zymurgy BBIA label for the blog posts I have done). In fact, my last blog post was Sam Adams Noble Pils (tied for #20 on the 2011 list).

Now that the new list is out, I am done with 2011. I have tried 42 of the top 52 beers there. Now it is time to start trying to get through the 2012 list. Of course, lots of the same beers are on the 2012 list that were on 2010's and 2011's, so I have a pretty good head start.

Pliny the Elder is #1 for the 4th time in a row. You may remember that I liked Pliny (see Pliny the Elder), but did not really consider it in such high regard that I would call it the best beer in America. Obviously, this is a very subjective list.

Sam Adams Noble Pils

It has been awhile since I have had a beer from my list. In fact the last one was Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA back in March. Recently, though, I grabbed Sam Adams Noble Pils in the liquor store. I had one a couple weeks ago.

Noble Pils is tied for #20 on my Zymury's 2011 list of the best beers in America. I have to say I like it much better than many of the beers ranked higher on the list.

The Sam Adams website says Noble Pils is a traditional Bohemian Pilsner brewed with 5 Noble hops. When I first targeted this beer on my list, it was a spring seasonal, but I believe it is now a year-round beer.

It is very good with a distinct, unique (or at least I think it is unique) hop character in both the flavor and aroma.

Still More @Untappd Badges 4

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 , and Still More @Untappd Badges), and Still More @Untappd Badges 2 and Still More @Untappd Badges 3. Here are some more:

Sheppy's Beer Can Chicken

This past weekend, for the first time, I made beer can chicken on my grill. It turned out awesome. I loved it.

This is only the 2nd time I have done a whole chicken on my grill. My "new" grill (got it back in October, so it is not really all that new) has a rotisserie motor and spit rod, which I have used once. This beer can chicken blew away the rotisserie chicken that I made before.

What, you may ask, is beer can chicken?

Well, here are the basics:

1. Drink half a can of beer.
2. Stick the remaining half can of beer up a chicken's butt
3. Cook the chicken on the grill

Now, as you may imagine, there are tons of variations on just how you prepare the chicken. If you google Beer Can Chicken Recipes, you will get more ideas than you can ever actually make. At least, I will never go through and try them all.

Brewing Cheap Bastard

Back in the fall, I bribed my coworkers with beer. I told them that whoever donated to the 2nd Wind Fund of Metro Denver would receive some Stouticus and some of another yet-to-be-conceived beer (which ended up being HopToberfest). I got a fair number of people who responded by donating, which was awesome.

As I was distributing to the kind-hearted generous souls who were nice enough to help me out, I got a few comments like "Oh! I meant to donate, but just forgot" or (from one guy whose wife also works there) "Didn't we donate? Oh [my wife] was supposed to. Are you sure?"

One honest person told me that he would have liked to have donated, but was a lazy bastard, and just didn't do it.

Sand Dune Pictures

As you may have surmised from some of my recent blog posts, last weekend, we went camping with a group of people to the Great Sand Dunes National Park.

The Great Sand Dunes are always fun. My family spent a weekend in the park's campground last year, and had a blast (see Laser Camping in the Salt, Videos from Laser Camping in the Salt, and Guitar Lady Goofy Kid) . I especially suggest going back and looking at Videos from Laser Camping in the Salt as it features some pretty cool videos of sledding down sand dunes.

One cool thing about the dunes is a shallow, wide creek at the base of the dunes. It dries up in the summer, and so last year we didn't get to see it (or play in it). This year since it was earlier in the year, the creek was still around, making the whole experience even more fun.

Here are some pictures of this year's camping trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park:

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.

May 2012 Blogging

It was May 2011 that this blog started its current trend of record-breaking "page views" every month. May 2012 continued the streak. I was pretty excited back in the blog post Record Breaking! Now that month's 1383 page views seems pathetically small.

May started out real active on the page views and slowed down a bit at the end, but it was still enough to carry.

This month, the majority of the most viewed pages are actually written this month. I suppose you would think this makes sense, but it is not usually the case.

Father and Son Backpacking trip Part 2

It is now time to continue the story of SheppyQuest Lite and Father and Son Backpacking trip Part 1.

When we last left you, the brave young adventurer and his timid frightened father had camped in a random spot just off a forest service road on the way to the Wigwam Creek trail head.

We woke up Saturday morning and had some granola bars for breakfast. We packed up our camp and continued along the road toward the trail head.

We got to the trail head around 9AM. I have never seen the parking lot here so crowded.

At the trail head

We got a photo of my son at the trail head. Not sure where the smoke haze was coming from. It was a bummer for scenery pictures.

Raspberry Wetta Berry

Last Friday while waiting to begin SheppyQuest Lite with my son, I brewed up a quick double batch of that last of my Mr. Beer HME / UME combos (see Wetta Berry Mr. Beer Batch).

This afternoon, I stopped by my LHBS and picked up some raspberry puree. Then, tonight while the kids were reading to me, I transferred the beer from the two Mr. Beer fermentors onto the puree.

I think perhaps the three pound can of raspberry puree is a bit much for this amount of beer. The color came out ruby red. It reminded me a bunch of the color of New Belgium's Frambozen. Perhaps you remember (although you probably don't watch my blog closely enough to have even read it), In Frambozen I wrote:

"It does have an amazing ruby red color that I would love to recreate in one of my beers."

It looks like now I have recreated the color. I suppose this means the raspberry flavor will be too much for me. I might end up giving away most of this beer.

I'll be letting this sit on the raspberries for another couple of weeks. I will most likely let you know how the Beer Model and I like it.

Father and Son Backpacking trip Part 1

As you may remember from yesterday, my son and I were backpacking this weekend in the Lost Creek Wilderness area. It was not a very long trip, but since it was his first time, we didn't want to over-do it.

Friday afternoon, I picked Scooter up from school. I had to take him back home because one of us had forgotten something. Weird, because it is something I (... er ... I mean one of us) NEVER forget(s) to take with me (... er... I mean us?)

He was excited. I was excited. It was an excited couple guys heading off to the wilderness.

Since it would be pretty late by the time we got to the trail - head, our plan was always to camp somewhere along the way out of the mini-van on Friday night. My intention was to try to stay in Kelsey Campground, which is an actual drive-in campground along the way. We got there and all the sites had been reserved for that night. This is weird because I am sure that the reservation site says there are supposed to be two "first come first serve" campsites there. So, we had to go on.

This got Connor even more excited. It meant that we would be finding a spot along one of the Pike National Forest service roads and just setting up the tent. My wife and I used to do this often, but since we've had kids we have camped in "official" camp-grounds. This whole drive-and-hope-you-can-find-a-spot-on-the side-of-the-road thing was new to him.

SheppyQuest Lite

Last year while we were camping, my youngest son surprised me by saying he wished he could go back-packing.

I like to think we are an outdoorsy (is that really a word? My spell check seems to think it is) family. Both our children started camping before they could walk (I even have online pictures ... follow this link for some of Connor's) and we go on more camping trips every year than most other families I know. The kids always have fun when we camp.

Sometimes (quite often, actually), though, my kids complain about hiking or biking on weekends we are home. If it were up to me, we would go on a hike or bike ride or do something active outside every weekend, but too often my kids tell me they would rather stay at home and play wii.

So, the fact that I have to force the kids to do something active outside made me think that getting my kids to back-pack would be an uphill battle. This is why it surprised me when Connor said he wanted to go back-packing.

Wetta Berry Mr. Beer Batch

I brewed today.

I have had some cans of Mr. Beer HME and UME (hopped malt extract and unhopped malt extract) for quite some time. In fact I am pretty sure I have not bought my own since Peter from Mr. Beer gave me some after the 2010 GABF. A couple of the "use by" dates on these cans are coming up.

So, today I had enough free time to whip up a batch of beer (a Mr. Beer batch, not a "real" batch) and decided to go ahead and use up these cans of extract.

It has been a LONG time since I've done a straight Mr. Beer batch of beer, but decided I didn't want to go through the effort of coming up with anything, so my recipe is simple.

SheppyBrew and the Sour Mash

I have mentioned a couple of times on this blog that SheppyBrew Brewery wants to brew a sour beer (most recently in 2012 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats). Unfortunately, I'm not quite as confident as Scott, my buddy at SNB Brewing with his Sour Ale Project. I just don't feel ready to introduce souring bugs into my fermentation process yet.

So, my solution is to try a sour mash.