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

I gave up beer for lent

 I gave up beer for Lent.

Sort of.

I made the decision a little late, so I had a few beers the first Friday and Saturday of Lent.

I'm also letting myself have beer on Sundays, which some people don't consider part of Lent.

The main reason I'm giving up beer (Monday thru Saturday) is that my wife and kids are all giving up something, and I didn't want to be the only one not giving up anything.

We are also all giving up "electronics" on Sundays for Lent. No computers, cell phones, tablets, video games, TV, etc ... THIS is much more difficult than giving up beer the rest of the week.

Plus, my beer supply was getting a little low.

It isn't a huge sacrifice for me to give up beer.... especially since I am excluding Sundays.

Brewing the Brother Bear Dopplebock

As I mentioned in Return of Brother Bear Dopplebock, I planned to brew Brother Bear Dopplebock a couple of weekends ago.

No surprise. I did brew it.

Of course, part of the recipe for Brother Bear Dopplebock. Required that I harvest yeast from the smaller lager Ulterior Motive Amber. Usually when I harvest yeast, I'll end up with 4 mason jars of yeast, which can be used for 4 separate batches.

In Search of the Haunted Hotel

I had Martin Luther King Jr. Day off from work this year, and we went to Eldorado Canyon State Park.

This is one of the places that we go a fair amount. Usually, we "hike" and play along the "Streamside Trail", but Monday there was some construction going on that forced us to take another trail, "Fowler Trail".

While on this trail, we read a little about "Rattlesnake Gulch Trail", which intersected our route for the day. "Rattlesnake Gulch Trail" leads to the remains of the historic Crags hotel. We were not really prepared to make that climb Monday, but both kids thought it would be cool to come back and see the Hotel Ruins.

Return of Brother Bear Dopplebock

Do you remember the "Ulterior Motive" of my last brew day?

The last beer I brewed (Ulterior Motive Amber Lager) was basically a big starter batch so that I could build up enough WLP833 German Bock Lager Yeast to brew a proper dopplebock.

The fact that I'll get a batch of beer to put in my keggerator is a bonus.

As you probably know, lagers generally require more yeast to get the fermentation job done.

Big lagers obviously require even more yeast, and a dopplebock is a great big beer.

I've used the technique of "yeast harvesting" from smaller lagers into bigger lagers before, and it ultimately ended up with my award-winning Maibock, Helles in a Hand Bock-sket. It is less expensive than buying extra vials of yeast, and of course, I also end up with 5 gallons of a smaller beer to enjoy.

Keg Tap Cap

If you follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, or my twitter feed, you may have noticed that I posted another article to The Homebrew Academy.

Check it out please ...

Keg Tap Cap Review

I won't spend a bunch of time talking about the article here ... go read it yourself ....

And ... take a look in the comments section where Matt, the owner of the Keg Tap Cap company added in a promotion code for 20% off any order. It is good for the next 60 days ...

Awesome.

Again ... check it out ...

Keg Tap Cap Review

I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub

You may remember that as I was composing the list of Denver breweries to visit, it struck me that most of the letters of the alphabet were covered by the beginning letters of the brewery names.

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

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

And then, of course, E ... E is for Epic Brewing Company

After E, I predictably went to F ... F is for Factotum Brewhouse

And for G? What did I pick for G? G is for Great Frontier Brewing

You probably know that after G comes the letter H. And ... H is for Hogshead Brewery 

If you know your alphabet, you can easily figure out that next in my list is the Letter I.

I is for IronWorks Brewery and Pub

Ironworks was established in 1990, making them the oldest brewery in Lakewood, CO.

Ulterior Motive Brew Day

As promised, I brewed an International Amber Lager this past weekend.

I named it Ulterior Motive Amber Lager because I my my ulterior motive for batch is to use it as a starter for a dopplebock that I will brew it a few weeks. That is also why I picked WLP833 German Bock Lager as the yeast.

I have not published the dopplebock recipe yet, but I have mostly entered it into Beer Smith. Stay tuned at the SheppyBrew Website to see what the final recipe looks like.

The Ulterior Motive brew day went very well.

It was cold outside, and my patio was snow-covered, so I decided to brew in the garage.

This isn't unusual during the winter.

Some Snowy Pictures

From time to time, we go snowshoeing.

For the most part, snowshoeing means we walk a little. The kids fall to the ground and start playing and/or wrestling for awhile. And then we continue for a bit.

It is not the sort of thing where we cover much ground. But, the kids have fun. And when the kids have fun, the parents are happy.

Here are some snowshoeing pictures from the last time we went ... actually, the boys both decided to not wear snowshoes to aid in their falling, wrestling, and playing.

At the beginning of the "trail"

SheppyBrew 2015 Styles: International Amber Lager

So, if you have been following this blog for awhile, you know that in 2013 I made a pretty big effort to make sure I had brewed at least one beer in all of the 2008 BJCP Categories.

On 12/30/2013, I finished up this goal, brewing Schnockered to Comfortably Numb Barleywine (see Brew Day: Schnockered to Comfortably Numb).

But, of course, then the BJCP updated their style guidelines last year (see 2015 Style Guidelines). Now there are more Categories to brew.

Last year, I did brew a Pre-Prohibition Lager ... or at least something that I believe satisfies the guidelines (see Brewing Chelsea Dagger) ... to check off the new Category 27. Historical Beer. Other than this one style, I have not made any progress on the new 2015 style guidelines.

H is for Hogshead Brewery

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.

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

Next up was B ... B is for Baere Brewing Company

After B comes C ... C is for Comrade Brewing Company

Are you recognizing a pattern here? ... D is for Draw, Boggy (I took a little artistic licence to change Boggy Draw into Draw, Boggy)

And then, of course, E ... E is for Epic Brewing Company

After E, I predictably went to F ... F is for Factotum Brewhouse

And for G? What did I pick for G? G is for Great Frontier Brewing

You probably know that after G comes the letter H. And ...

The 2016 Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

Well, I brewed my third batch of the Arctic Vortex Winter Saison on New Year's Day.

Arctic Vortex was the first of the "Seasonal Saison" series of beers I brew. It is my "Winter Saison", and I made it a black Saison to signify longer nights in this season.

If you are interested, you can look at the recipes for Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn. But for now, we are only talking about ...

Arctic Vortex Winter Saison

When I stopped by my favorite Local Home Brew Shop, they were out of my favorite Saison Yeast. WY3711 (aka the Real Super Yeast). I asked the manager if he had anything similar. He suggested I give the INIS-291 Saison : Farmhouse yeast from Inland Island a try. He even said he'd give me two vials for the price of one.

Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale

I brewed Laser Salt Sandy Blonde Ale on 12/13/2015 and kegged it on 12/28/2015.

As I type this, the beer is still carbonating.

I already mentioned it in 2015 Year-End SheppyBrew Stats, so this post (like my past several "brew day" posts) is very late.

I won't say a lot about the brew day. It went well. The fermentation went well. The beer was very clear going into the keg and wonderfully hoppy. I expect to enjoy this beer very much.

As always (so far), this beer uses White Labs Clarity-Ferm ("The Gluten Killer"), making this a gluten reduced beer. My wife's friend "Gretchen" might be able to drink it, although chances are it will be gone before we see her again.
Here are some pictures of brew day: