Tafel Mystère Belgian Single (Batch 336)

Yeah, I've been brewing a lot lately. Contrary to what I keep "saying" on this blog, right now, I'm on track to brew more beer this year than even 2021.

I still believe I'll slow down enough that this year's total will be less than last year's, but as we get farther and farther into the year, it seem increasingly possible that I am wrong about that.

My excuse right now is that my wife's (aka The SheppyBrew Beer Model's) family is coming to visit in June, and I'll need a lot of beer for this group.

Anyway, after finishing off Melting Stream quicker than expected, I thought I needed another batch of beer going.

I had a mason jar of yeast in the fridge that I was fairly sure was Wyeast 1214 Belgian Ale Yeast, but not 100% sure.

I thought I'd use that to make a "Belgium Table Beer".

Tafel Mystère Belgian Single

W is for Westbound & Down (Denver)

I went on a bike ride Saturday morning. I couldn't go on a very long bike ride because the Beer Model (aka my wife ... aka the Pedego Owner) wanted me back so we could go on a bike ride together.

You see ... she wanted to knock off the next brewery on our  A to Z Breweries series of posts.

As I mentioned in V is for Very Nice Brewing Company, The Colorado Brewery List actually has a couple choices for "W".

I had on in particular in mind, but I was open to suggestions.

Regardless, the Beer Model liked the brewery I was thinking of, and thought she could make the bike ride.

W is for Westbound & Down (Denver)

T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager (batch 335)

I had a rare Friday brew day yesterday. 

We actually will be having a few sets of visitors coming by in the next few weeks, so I need to make sure we have plenty of beer to serve.

And ... it being a long weekend, the CEO of the company I work for told us to take off early ... so I used some of the extra time to brew.

I'm actually planning on brewing another batch tomorrow or Monday.

That should get me caught up, but we'll see how much the Beer Model's family wipes out my inventory.

Anyway ... The beer I brewed yesterday was ...

T.Ra.Sh. Light Mexican Lager

Mac and Cheese on the Kettle

My youngest son graduated from High School this past weekend.

This makes me feel old. Where did all the years go? As they say ... "The days are long. The years are short".

Anyway ... with my oldest son visiting to celebrate his little brother, I made my world-famous comfort food ...

Smoked Mac and Cheese.

I made it a little different than I ever had before. Usually, I use either bacon or sausage as the meat. This time I used both.

And ... the bacon was just laying on the top of the dish as opposed to having it mixed into the noodles and cheese mixture.

Captain Serious Pressure Transfer

Well ... I've finally gotten a pressure transfer to work.

It happened slower than I would have liked, and I still wish there was a way to know where the level of the beer in the keg was, but at least I got Captain Serious Pilsner into the keg from a pressurized fermenter.

So, I pressure fermented Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333).

Four days into the fermentation, I dry hopped the beer by pulling sous vide magnets that were attached to hop bags in the fermenter.

That worked really slick.

Designing a New SheppyBrew IPA

So ... for various reasons, I want to brew an American IPA soon.

Atypical to most homebrewers, I don't actually brew very many IPA's. I like them (a lot). But, they are a little higher in alcohol than I generally like to have gallons and gallons of at home.

And ... every brewery I know brews several IPA's. If I want an IPA, I can find them commercially at any one of hundreds within bike riding distance. Not to mention grocery stores and liquor stores now have great craft beer selections.

But, every once and awhile I like to brew an IPA.

Unless I'm forgetting any (which is possible, but not likely I think) I've brewed 5 beers that could be called traditional American IPA's: 

2023 Big Brew Day ... Summer Lovin

So ... this past Saturday was the AHA's Big Brew Day.

This is one of those days that my brewing buddies and I try to get together to brew.

This time, my friend "Doc" wanted to host, so I headed over to "Doc's Brewery".

Travel Brewing is always a different experience than my typical brew day. I have to keep my recipe as simple as possible and always accept that I might be distracted enough that the beer might not turn out as planned.

A big part of it is that I don't typically drink while brewing unless the Beer Model makes me.

But, on these Travel Brewing I have to try the beers from both the host and the others who always bring growlers.

One of the things I typically do ... at least if I'm brewing all-grain ... is start my mash at home and let it go through the drive over to whoever is hosting.

Captain Serious Pilsner (Batch 333)

As you probably know if you follow this blog at all, the Chicago Blackhawks are my favorite professional sports team.

And ... my favorite recent player has to be Captain Jonathan Toews (Captain Serious)

The Blackhawks really have not been a good team for several years now, and Toews has had health issues.

This past year, the team decided that Jonny would not be coming back to the team as they are concentrating on bringing on young (cheap) players to go all-in on their rebuilding process.

While, I don't disagree with the decision, the separation makes me sad. 

But, in honor of "Captain Serious" I decided to brew a beer named after him.

Captain Serious Pilsner

V is for Very Nice Brewing Company

It was less than a year ago that we started our 4th round of our A to Z Breweries series of posts.

And ... we had to cheat a little for "U", but last week we knocked it out with U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company.

It blows my mind that we are already up to "V" in this round.

After this post, we only have 4 more to go to get through the end of the alphabet.

Crazy!

As I mentioned in U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company, I had a "V" brewery in mind but wasn't sure the Beer Model would be willing to make the trip.

As it turns out, she was ok with the brewery I had in mind ... 

V is for Very Nice Brewing Company

U is for BlUe SprUce Brewing Company

It wasn't too long ago that I posted T is for Tommyknocker Brewery.

Of course if you're familiar with our  A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, you know that next up comes "U".

Even if you're not familiar ... it isn't really all that difficult to figure out.

You see ... Back in early 2015, I composed a list Denver Breweries that I had not visited (see Denver Breweries II). As I was composing the list, I realized that most of the letters in the alphabet were covered by the first letters in these brewery names.

I started with A ... A is for Alpine Dog Brewing Company .. and worked my way through the alphabet.

We're on our 4th round of the alphabet ... almost done ... we're up to "U".

Anyway ... there are no "U" breweries on The Colorado Brewery List.

2023 Melting Stream Spring Saison (Batch 332)

It is springtime here in the front range of the Rocky Mountains.

Here, that means it gets warm, melting snow ... followed by getting cold and making more snow.

Followed by warm weather snow melts. Followed by cold and snow.

Repeat.

My Spring Seasonal Saison is called "Melting Stream", which is what jumps out to me as the image I most associate with Colorado spring time.

Yesterday, I brewed this beer. Interestingly enough, I also made Spare Ribs.

I didn't plan this, but apparently I made spare ribs when I brewed my 2021 Melting Stream and my 2022 Melting Stream.

Well ... ok ... maybe it isn't THAT interesting, but I thought it was sort of note worthy.

Melting Stream Spring Saison

More Ginger Kombucha

Well back in February, I made some Ginger Kombucha.

I liked it. It needed some carbonation, but other than the lack of carbonation, I really liked it.

More recently, I made Ginger Beer. It was a little too sweet for my taste, but it was nicely carbonated. 

Last week, I decided try Ginger Kombucha again.

Easter Brisket

I like brisket. I like making brisket. I like eating brisket. It's GUUUUD.

I would probably make it more if it wasn't usually quite so big. 

A 10 pound brisket is about perfect to fit on my 22 inch Weber Kettle, but it is rare to find a brisket in my local Sam's Club (which is where I get my briskets) under 15 pounds.

15 pounds is just a little too big. I can make it work, but it isn't ideal.

So ... whenever I see a 10 pound Prime "packer" brisket at my Sam's Club, I grab it.

Well ... about a week and a half before Easter, I saw an 11 pound packer brisket at Sam's. Close enough. I grabbed it.

Pressure Transfer 0 for 2

Well ... I'm 0 for 2 on pressure transfers.

The first failure (Pressure Fermentation (sort of) Fail) was really a bone-headed mistake. Really I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing.

My second failure doesn't make much sense to me. I know how I'm going to adjust next time, but I'm not sure why this time was as bad as it was.

Anyway ... I brewed No Drums Jack Black Lager (Batch 331) on March 26th. Fermentation started off great. I was seeing signs of fermentation very quickly.

This time I set the spunding pressure to 20psi. I think this was my mistake. I should have had a lower pressure so carbonation wasn't so high during the eventual transfer.

2023 Q1 SheppyBrew Stats

Here it is ... already April, which means that the first quarter of 2023 is done. It's time to report on the  SheppyBrew Brewing Stats for the quarter.

I keep claiming that I will brew less beer in 2023 than I did last year, but so far I have not slowed down. At all.

Last year, in Q1, I had brewed 5 batches, 30 gallons.

This year so far I've brewed 6 batches for 31 gallons. 

• Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout
• Arctic Vortex Winter Saison
• Doodle Bop Belgium Single
• Mardi Bock
• Dubbel Minor
• No Drums Jack Black Lager

Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout

T is for Tommyknocker Brewery

Well ... as I'm sure you know if you've been following along on the A to Z Denver Breweries series of posts, we've made our way all the way through "S" in our 4th round.

We posted S is for 6 and 40 Brewery just a couple weeks ago.

If you're at all familiar with our concept ... it doesn't take much intellectual ability to figure out that next we need a "T" brewery.

There are tons of "T" breweries on the Colorado Brewery Map & List.

However, after filtering out breweries the start with "The", breweries that are too far away from our house, and breweries we've already blogged about in the A to Z Denver Breweries list ... there is really only one good choice....

T is for Tommyknocker Brewery

Tapache!

While going down the whole Ginger Bug rabbit hole, I came across another home-made-soda-type drink called "Tepache".

"What is Tepache?" you ask:

Tepache is a fermented beverage made from the peel and the rind of pineapples, and is sweetened either with piloncillo or brown sugar, seasoned with powdered cinnamon, and served cold.

The natural bacteria and yeast on the pineapple rind ferments the liquid, but not enough for much alcohol.

I thought I'd have to give it a try, and had my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) pick up a pineapple from the grocery store.

No Drums Jack Black Lager (Batch 331)

As I was composing 2021 BCJP Styles to Brew, I was thinking about what I'd like to brew next.

The first style on that list is 2C. International Dark Lager, and as I'm playing around with Pressure Fermentation of Lagers, a Dark Lager seemed like a good choice.

One of the commercial examples of the a Dark Lager is Shiner Bock.

I came across BYO's Shiner Bock clone. One of the ingredients on the clone jumped out at me ...

Grits.

I've never brewed with grits, but I've considered trying it out as a replacement for flaked or popcorn that I've used in other recipes.

I wasn't really that interested in brewing a Shiner Bock clone, but I decided to make my own recipe of an International Dark Lager using grits in the fermenatables.

Hostile Takeover of SheppyBrew

The beer model has been plotting with big beer to execute a hostile takeover of SheppyBrew Brewery.

Shocking, I know. I feel like I've been stabbed in the back.

 

Grumkins and Poppers

My oldest son was home from college this past week. He had never had my homemade Jalapeño Poppers, so I thought I'd better make some.

If you need the recipe ... see Jalapeño Poppers. They are awesome, and everyone should make them from time to time.

I had some of my Grumkins and Snarks Oatmeal Stout while grilling the poppers and chicken.

If you follow along on my Brewing Notes on the Grumkins and Snarks recipe page, you probably read that I have really been enjoying this beer.