Sheppy's Blog

Seriously? Why? (poison rationality)

2012-01-30T00:02:00.000-07:00

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).

Eric's Red is fermenting nicely, BTW.

By about half time of the NFC Championship game, I had to leave the dinner table and lie down in bed. I "watched" most of the 2nd half of that game in sort of a fever-induced-stupor-sleep-zombie state. I never really recovered into anything close to feeling human until Monday morning. At some point, I measured my temperature at 103 degrees.

I am the kind of person who just does not call in sick to work. I've done it maybe twice in all my working life. I was seriously considering doing it Monday morning, though. Eventually, I decided that based on things going on, not coming in would end up being more painful catching up Tuesday than getting up and dragging myself out the door Monday.

By the end of the day Monday, it was hard to believe that I had ever felt bad enough that I was even considering wasting a PTO day. I felt that much better. Not 100%, but not bad. I even made my regular work-out-night at the health club. It was a short one (an hour on the elliptical machine and then back home), and I only got through one of my Colorado Craft Beer Radio podcasts.

Tuesday, I felt 100% better, and pretty much since then have felt completely over the Beetle Flu.

But ... a few weird, possibly-Beetle-related things have popped up during the week. There is nothing overtly bad about any of this stuff. It is just weird and when a bunch of weird things happen to me like this, I always suspect the Tweedle Beetles are up to no good.

I got a piece of paper that announced a pay raise with a new salary. My official documented annual salary is a dollar amount followed by 36 cents. Seriously? Really? This new big corporation that I am part of cannot round off that 36 cents? I guess I don't really care. It is just very odd to me. Maybe this is just how big corporations do things. Poison Rationality? Now how the Tweedle Beetles could influence my salary ... I don't know. Why? I am even more clueless. But, it makes more sense that this would be Tweedle Beetle related than a large corporation wouldn't just round off that 36 cents.

Sometime during the week, I took a look at this blogs Page View stats. A couple of old posts have just been "blowing up" on the weekly and monthly page views. Both have been so popular recently that they both broke into the top 10 all-time list. One of them is "Female vs. Male Brain" posted Oct 28, 2011. The fact that this post is getting attention is sort of weird, but at least this post is somewhat amusing and was fairly popular when posted.

The other one makes no sense at all. It is "Sheppy Brew Web Stats" posted Dec 8, 2010. "Sheppy Brew Web Stats" has no redeeming entertainment value whatsoever. There is only one person in the world who might want to refer to this post and that person (me) would never look at it enough to launch it into the top 10 viewed blog posts of all time. My page views don't count towards the total anyway. Again, Why? There is no logical reason that actual people would be hitting this page so much, so it must be Tweedle Beetles in some complicated passive-aggressive plot to attack me. If there is one thing Tweedle Beetles excel at, it is doing illogical things.

Another weird thing that happened this week (Wednesday) is that I became Foursquare "mayor" of my church. Foursquare posted to my facebook wall that I "ousted [name deleted] as the mayor of Abiding Hope Lutheran Church!" My sister was nice enough to point out that it "Doesn't seem very Christian-like to oust someone". She is, of course, right. I feel horrible about my hostile takeover of the mayor-ship. I actually had no idea that I was even close to being the church mayor, and the announcement took me as much by surprise as anyone. But, truth be told, bumping out [name deleted] and obtaining new minions does make me feel powerful.

Bow before me minions! I'm sure it is the Tweedle Beetles making me say that.

Speaking of facebook ... my Untappd account is not posting my check-ins to facebook. Not sure how or why, but I'm sure the Tweedle Beetles are behind this one too.

So the last weird thing that I'm going to share started Wednesday night while I was working out. For those of you who don't know, my wife and I have an agreement that I get to work out at the health club on Monday and Wednesday nights while she takes care of dishes and puts the kids to bed etc ... she gets Tuesday and Thursday while I do the dishes and put the kids etc ... I already shared that Monday was a short workout because of the Beetle flu. Wednesday was to be a short one too because of the church meeting (where I displaced [name deleted] as mayor ... bow before me minions).

While working out, I usually listen to various beer-related pod-casts. There is a local Saturday noon-time show called Colorado Craft Beer Radio . I never listen to it on Saturday. Instead I download the podcast Monday morning and try to listen to it the following Monday. Sometimes it ends up being Wednesday because they are late posting the pod-cast or because I just don't get to it. It is the only one of my pod-casts that I try to actually keep up with on a week to week basic. The rest pod-casts I listen to a month or more after the actual "brew-cast" date.

This week was unusual in that I had 2 Colorado Craft Beer Radio (CCBR) pod-casts to listen to at the beginning of the week (they had technical issues and did not get it out the week before). As I mentioned, I listened to the first one on Monday. Wednesday night all of a sudden at the end of the podcast it was announced that Gary V (one of the two hosts) was leaving the show. There was no explanation other than that he had a new business opportunity and the more information was forth-coming. And then the show ended.

Thursday morning, I discovered through CCBR's facebook page that Gary was starting a new craft beer radio show on another local radio station. Turk (the other host) was promoting Gary, so it certainly appears that there are no hard feelings. It may be hard to determine from reading this blog, and I know I do a great job of keeping it secret, but the subject of Craft Beer interests me quite a bit. Knowing that there were going to be 2 craft-beer-related radio shows in my local market was great news. More beer talk radio is a good thing.

However, I discovered by following the facebook trail that Gary's new show is going on at the same time as Turk's "old" show. Really? Seriously? There are exactly two craft beer shows on in all of the Denver Metro Area and the new station picked to put it on at the exact same time as the only other one? Again, I am not sure how or why, but I am quite certain the Tweedle Beetles are to blame for this.

Of course, as I have always listened to CCBR on podcast and will do the same for Gary's new show, this is not something that affects my listening habits in any way. However, there are only so many craft beer-geeks out there. Even in a fantastic craft beer area as Denver, I am not sure there are enough of us to support two shows on at the same time. I'm afraid that dividing the craft-beer enthusiasts between two shows will eventually kill both shows. I'm sure this is what the Tweedle Beetles are counting on.

AND ... the old show has a new show name, logo, facebook page, twitter feed, and web site in the works. This also seemed weird to me. It has been explained to me since then. The explanation seems almost plausible, so at this point I'm not 100% sure this is a Tweedle Beetle attack as well. It is just illogical enough for me to wonder, though.

There are other little weird things that happened during the week that I am sure are symptoms of Tweedle Beetle activity. I have probably already completely lost your attention, so I won't share more of the minutia.

Hope everyone has a great week. Happy Ground Hogs day on the 2nd everyone!

Just a weird picture of a strange kid.

By the way ... in case you are wondering ... the "new" Colorado Craft Beer Show has a facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Colorado-Craft-Beer-Show/344704912216107 . The new American Craft Beer Show facebook page is here: https://www.facebook.com/AmericanCraftBeerRadio

Hopslam Ale

2012-01-28T16:56:00.000-07:00

It has been awhile since I've had any of the beers on my Best Beers in America List (see A couple more beers from my list for the last report on this blog.) I am lucky that my buddy Scott (whom I usually refer to as CrazyBrody) has been looking out for me. Do me a favor and check out his Homebrew Blog.

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.

As you might imagine from the name, Hopslam is an IPA (what a surprise, right?) Actually, it is a double IPA. The back of the bottles says it is "a biting, bitter, tongue bruiser of an ale. With a name like Hopslam, what did you expect?" It is also a 10% ABV beer, which is something I didn't take the time to check until I started typing in this blog post. If I say something wildly inappropriate during this post, I blame the alcohol. To be honest, it doesn't taste like a 10% ABV beer to me (this is a good thing). I am feeling the affects now, but never during the glass did I feel like this tasted like a huge beer like this.

And, I gave blood today. Maybe today wasn't the best day to try this ....

Anyway, Hopslam uses a lot of hops and it uses a bunch of different kinds of hops. Bell's websites says it adds 6 different hop varietals in the kettle and a "massive" dry-hop addition of Simcoe. This is a hoppy beer, but it doesn't come across as completely bitter as lots of double IPAs. I think it does a pretty good job of blending those hops into the whole malt bill.

The malt base of the beer is substantial with a slight honey taste (the bottle actually says "brewed with honey"). I do think the beer is pretty well balanced considering how extreme it is in its ingredient list.

Overall, I've had better double IPAs, but I have had much worse ones as well. I'm glad my buddy CrazyBrody is so on top of things to have gotten me this beer so efficiently. Now, if I can only get my act together and return the favor to him.

Hopslam was #5 on my list. I have now tried all 5 of the top 5. I have tried all 10 of the top 10. I have now had 37 of the entire list (52 total). I have far surpassed my expectations of how I would do this year. Scott even says he'll send me a couple of Three Floyds beers (motivation for me to get off my butt and get him some beers). I also have the Avery Maharaja sitting in my fridge right now. I might get well into the 40's on this list. Last year I only got to 25, and was happy to get to 50% (well, a little less than 50% since the list actually had more then 50 on it).

In case you are wondering, here are the ones still left on my "not tried list":

12. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine ... limited selection. not sure if I will find this in CO.

T16. Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA ... year round beer. Should be able to find in CO.

19. Bell’s Expedition Stout ... doesn't distribute to CO. Should have had my sister look for this.

T20. Samuel Adams Noble Pils... spring seasonal that I should be able to find in CO.

T20. Surly Furious ... I should have made an effort to get this while in MN.

T20. Troegs Nugget Nectar ... PA brewery. Can't get in CO.

T29. Three Floyds Alpha King ... A Chicago-land beer. Can't get in CO

T29. Three Floyds Dark Lord ... available one day a year in April at the brewery

T34. Dogfish Head Indian Brown ... year round. Might be able to find in CO.

T34. Avery Maharaja ... have a bottle of this in one of my beer fridges

T34. Three Floyds Gumballhead ... don't even see this beer on their website.

T38. Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA ... limited availability

T43. Russian River Blind Pig ... not sure if I will be able to get this in CO.

T48. Dark Horse Crooked Tree ... Midwest distribution only.

T48. Summit EPA ... Another MN beer I should have had my sister look for.

You can look at the entire list here: http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/pages/community/news/show?title=2011-best-beers

47 Pints @bonfilsdotorg

2012-01-28T08:58:00.000-07:00

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.

Apparently, January is National Blood Donor Month. I would have given today regardless, and I know the month is almost over, but if you don't give blood regularly you might as well use January as an excuse to start. It generally takes less than an hour from the time you walk in the door to the time you finish your cookies and juice. It is painless and easy. There are donation centers and mobile buses all over the place and you should be able to find something close. If you live in the Denver Metro area, consider stopping by Bonfils donation page to see when and where you can do it. If you live else where, just Google it.

Personally, I am always impressed with how painless and smooth the whole process goes.

Here are some interesting "Blood Facts" listed on the Bonfils website:

One whole blood donation can save and enhance the lives of up to three patients.
Every two seconds someone in the U.S. requires a transfusion of donated blood.
Bonfils’ highest gallon donor has donated 75 gallons of blood or 600 pints, saving and enhancing nearly 1800 patients lives.
The need for blood is constant. Red blood cells are useable for only 42 days and platelets are useable for only five days.
Blood products are used in a variety of medical treatments including helping kids with cancer feel better and saving the lives of car accident victims.
O- blood type is the universal donor. O- blood can be transfused to any patient regardless of their blood type.
The most common blood types are O+ and A+.

Go to "Blood Facts" to read more.

Anyway, there you go. I feel I've done my part for National Blood Donor Month. Just in case you were wondering, they need blood in February too.

Eric's Red brew day

2012-01-23T20:30:00.001-07:00

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.

My Columbus hops were much higher in alpha acids than the package I had been using for last week's brew day, so I had to switch up the recipe a bit, but not too much. If you memorized the recipe last week and this week noticed that the amount of hops was less, that is why.

My sparge did not get stuck, but I am still getting some grains beneath the false bottom in the mash tun. I forgot to ask at the LHBS for tips to prevent this. I'll have to try to remember next time I go. My pre-boil volume and gravity was just about perfect. Sweet.

The boil was pretty uneventful. I did not use hop bags this time, and the gunk in the bottom of the brew-pot at the end seemed to reflect this. I really should start always using the hop sacks I guess. I got a little more than 5 gallons of wort into the fermenter at about 1.056 gravity. I probably could have diluted a bit to get down to the 1.053 gravity planned for this recipe, but decided that I was close enough to the target.

I pitched the yeast right around 60 degrees. This morning there was nice activity and the temp was right at about 60 or 62 or so. The yeasties are going even better now. I am looking forward to drinking this batch of beer.

That last picture doesn't have anything to do with beer. My boys and I have just been playing around with different effects on my phone's camera. I like this picture of the boys in Cherry Creek Reservoir State Park on Saturday. They are getting so big.

Eric's Red failure

2012-01-16T22:40:00.000-07:00

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.

I drove home after the worship service at church while the rest of the family was at AHA (what our church calls Sunday School) to get the mash started. This part actually went smoothly. I overshot my strike temperature, but brought it back down just fine using ice. Pretty typical stuff. Thermodynamics to the rescue. I got back to church in plenty of time to pick up the wife and kids and got back to the brew house in plenty of time to sparge the mash.

I connected the tubing from the mash tun to the brew pot, opened the value to get the first wort and NOTHING CAME OUT. Oh course, this bugs me as I thought this would not be a problem with the false bottom in the mash tun. But, this is something I've had experience with. In fact because of my experience from the Worst brew day ever, I actually was experienced and pretty well prepared for handling this type of thing.

I got out my grain bag, put it in my brew pot with the sparge water, and dumped the grain in. I was a little high on the boil volume, but my specific gravity reading was almost right on, so this method was not going to affect my final beer at all. At this point, I was feeling pretty good about myself.

During the boil, I got out my wort chiller and my hoses. While washing off the wort chiller, I discovered that someone must not have completely drained the wort chiller last time. This same person stores his wort chiller in the shed. The water in the chiller had frozen and broken through the copper tubing. Obviously, I was mad at myself for this. This was stupid, and would mean I would have to buy a new wort chiller, but I had a back-up homemade wort chiller. I had actually made it to be a pre-chiller, and I knew it probably would not get the wort down as far as I would want, but I figured that I could get the wort down cold enough for the carboy and then let the snow in my back-yard do the rest of the cooling. Not ideal, but workable.

Well, as my home-made chiller was designed as a pre-chiller, it had never been in hot liquid. About 10 minutes into the cooling, I noticed that not much was coming out of the hose. The tubing on my home-made chiller had come undone in the pot and the cooling water was flowing right into the pot.

I didn't even bother swearing at myself. At this point, I just had to laugh. I caught this problem pretty quick, but had very watered down wort. I considered just boiling off a couple of gallons of water, but decided instead to check my OG and see if I could salvage the beer as a low-alcohol session beer. My OG was right at 1.040, which is actually not bad for a session beer. I would expect it to ferment out to about a 4% ABV. Not too bad.

I filled up 2 of my Mr. Beer fermenters, let them cool in the backyard snow and awhile later, pitched part of my starter and a few old Mr. Beer yeast packs.

My RDWHAHB beer.

Considering all the things that went wrong, I probably should have just dumped the batch. Who knows, maybe my low-alcohol session beer will be fine. The worst that can happen is that I don't like it. I can always dump it later (or give it all away). I'll let you know in a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, apparently I need a new wort-chiller. I also need to talk to Jeff at my home brew shop about how to prevent grains from getting under the false bottom.

I guess I'll have to brew Eric's Red again. Maybe this coming weekend. It is impossible to have 2 bad brew days in a row, but next time will go perfect, I'm sure.

Eric Shepard and the King of Beers

2012-01-13T12:39:00.000-07:00

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".

All the Boston mayor did was communicate his lack of knowledge about beer. If I lived in Boston, what the mayor said would offend me more because it portrays Boston as an unsophisticated, uninformed beer town. Lots of the beer-related pages I "like" on face-book picked up on the mayor's comments and lots of the comments did seem angry at the mayor. I can't even bring myself to be offended. I just feel sorry for the poor guy's uninformed pitiful ignorance.

The original Denver Thibault (image from denverpost online)

Actually, it offends me more that part of the Denver's mayor response was, "the moment Sam Adams sells more beer than Coors, then he can come talk to me."

Anyway ... speaking of weak beers ...

Image from The Beer Sessions

Have you heard the news? Apparently, Coors Light overtook Budweiser as the #2 selling beer in the United States.

I've seen the news on several internet news sources, but I first saw it when Google Alerts emailed me a link to an article in STLToday.com called "The King of Beers slips another notch". And why did Google Alerts email me this link? It is not because I am interested in Budweiser or in Coors Light. It is because my name appears in the article. Yes, I have a Google Alert configured to email me when my name appears on the internet. Perhaps this is a bit vain, but seeing where my name showed up was one of the things that interested me when I decided to start setting up Google Alerts.

Apparently, Eric Shepard (not related to me in any way that I know) is some big-shot beer industry expert that writes for "Beer Marketer's Insights". As you can tell from this blog, I am far from a big-shot expert in anything, let alone the beer industry.

By the way ... how many of you readers realized I actually had a name other than ESheppy or Sheppy or Shep or the SheppyBrew Beer Master?

Of course, Eric may be this big-shot beer expert, but if you google "eric shepard" beer, the first page of results has a lot more hits that have to do with me than ones that have to do with him.

Image from The Beer Sessions

So, anyway, not as many people are drinking the King of Beers or maybe the same number of people are just drinking less. This doesn't surprise me. It certainly doesn't bother me. Personally, even before I was a craft beer snob, I never was a fan of Bud. I did like their Super Bowl commercials (still do for the most part); I mean who doesn't like the Bud-Wise-ER frogs (ok, bad example. Man those frogs got annoying ... didn't they)? But, drinking even one Budweiser gave me a headache. I don't like headaches so I stayed away from Bud even while drinking some pretty nasty fizzy yellow stuff. I am not sure why I had that reaction to Bud when other similar beers didn't do that to me.

Obviously, Bud is still a popular beer. Anheuser-Busch InBev sold 17.7 million barrels of it in the U.S. That is a lot of beer. Even the largest craft brewer in the country (Boston Beer Company) only sells a little over 2 million barrels of beer a year. That is over all the types of beer they make. In fact, according to the Brewers Association, all U.S. craft brewers sold less than 10 million barrels of beer in 2010. Across all its brands, Anheuser-Busch InBev sells over 100 million barrels of beer a year in the U.S. (I got this information from the AB - InBev website, but had to do some math to convert hectoliters to barrels). 17.7 million is a lot of beer; 100 million barrels of beer is a ridiculous amount. It sure makes my pitiful 3 barrels in 2011 seem pathetically small.

I suppose Miller-Coors is happy that their Coors Light overtook Bud in the #2 spot. Of course Bud Light is still #1, so maybe not. And there is that little issue that the big breweries keep losing market share in the united states to smaller craft breweries.

Well, I guess that's enough talk about the (former?) King of Beers. I'm going to go drink a finely crafted home-brew.

Wetta Blonde Coffee Mug by SheppyBrew
Browse other Sheppybrew Mugs

Oh ... another piece of beer news that my buddy Eric Shepard commented upon: Yuengling becomes largest US-owned brewery. Good for them. I don't drink much Yuengling ... they don't distribute to Colorado, and I only had it a couple times while visiting family "back east". It is good to know, though, that there are some still some big American breweries. Maybe we should start calling the Yuengling Lager "The King of Beers".

Go Broncos!

Wanna have some fun?

2012-01-13T06:19:00.000-07:00

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!

Eric's Irish Red #HomeBrew

2012-01-11T05:34:00.000-07:00

When I shared my latest brew day for Stone Soup (see Another batch of Stone Soup), I mentioned that my next batch was going to be Eric's Irish Red.

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.

Eric's Red has always been a beautiful deep red color with substantial body and great head formation and retention. It has been on the malty sweet side of the BU:GU ratio. It has always been around 5% ABV, which makes it a session beer in my mind.

My all-grain recipe has a bit more bitterness on the BU:GU scale, but I would still consider it balanced. I am shooting for the same color and using the same finishing hops I used before. I'm using a clean-fermenting neutral yeast. I think it will make a nice Irish-style Red Ale.

I'm thinking that I'll brew it up this coming weekend. Should be fun. Be sure to ask for it next time you find yourself at the SheppyBrew Brewery.

Prohibition was Bad

2012-01-07T12:01:00.000-07:00

I came across the graphic below because I subscribe to Drink with the Wench (see Prohibition Did What?: A Beer-Goggled Look at the Volstead Act of 1920).

I found the graphic informative, educational and entertaining enough to share with my readers as well. Thank goodness prohibition was long over by the time I was of drinking age.

Enjoy.

Via: Rehab International

Some more Badges @Untappd

2012-01-05T18:27:00.000-07:00

So, I've been sharing the badges that I've earned on Untappd (see First Month of Untappd and Running for Mayor @BallyFitness). I'm sure you're not all that interested in my badges, but it gives me a topic to add to my blog, so I'll tell you what I've earned since last time.

If nothing else, untappd has some really nice looking badges that you might not ever see if you are not using untappd yourself. I get a strange sense of satisfaction and excitement to "earning" the untappd badges. Yes, I realize it makes me a childish geek. I've come to terms with my immature nerdishness (in all kinds of areas) long ago.

Social Drinker ... I got this badge by commenting on 10 check-ins by my virtual friends in a month. The beer I was drinking that unlocked this badge was a Mañana by Del Norte at Hacienda Colorado.

Just as an aside, I thought Mañana was a completely fantastic Mexican Amber lager. I've heard of Del Norte before, but never had their beer (as far as I remember anyway). It is a local brewery to me. I'll have to make an attempt to visit their tasting room sometime ... assuming they have a tasting room.

Merry Brew-mas (2011) ... I got this by drinking a beer on Christmas Eve. The beer I drank to unlock this badge was Psychotically Dark and Bitter IDA by SheppyBrew at SheppyBrew Brewery.

Untappd Groupie ... I got Untappd Groupie by drinking at least 5 beers that the founders of Untappd have had. I don't know which 5 they were except the 5th beer was an Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. that I had at SheppyBrew Brewery.

Speaking of Arrogant Bastard Ale, SheppyBrew Brewery has developed a beer recipe in honor of and in celebration of my fascination with AB and Stone's refusal to give out their recipe. The SheppyBrew beer is called Pompously Illegitimate Red Ale and I will probably let you know when I brew it.

Find the Source ... Apparently I got this by drinking at least 10 beers at Microbreweries. The 10th beer was the same Arrogant Bastard Ale by Stone Brewing Co. that I had at SheppyBrew Brewery to get the Untappd Groupie badge.

NOTE: the next four I got on new-years-eve-day. I had no idea I was going to get any one of these four.

Beer Party ... Not 100% sure, but think I got this because I checked-in at a place that at least 4 other people checked into around the same time. The check-in that got me this was 2220 Red Ale by Breckenridge Brewery at Breckenridge Brewery Ballpark Pub

Bar Explorer ... I got this one for checking in my beers at 10 different venues. The beer that got me this one was the same that got me the Beer Party: 2220 Red Ale by Breckenridge Brewery at Breckenridge Brewery Ballpark Pub

Journeyman ... 50 unique beers tried on untappd. I got this with Lucky U IPA by Breckenridge Brewery at Breckenridge Brewery Ballpark Pub

Winter Wonderland ... Got this by trying 5 different "winter beers". I would be interested in knowing which 5 they were. The 5th one was XMas Ale 2009 by SheppyBrew at SheppyBrew Brewery

The fact that I added SheppyBrew Brewery as a venue for checking in beers on untappd is just more evidence of my immature nerdishness. Don't judge me.

Happy Brew Year (2012) ... All I had to do to get this one was drink a beer on New Year's eve (after 9pm). I could have had one anytime on New Year's day too, but I had mine on New Year's eve. Unlike the last 4, I knew that I would be getting this one when I drank the beer. The beer I drank was Snow Day by New Belgium Brewing Company.

New Brew Thursday (Level 2) ... New Brew Thursday is apparently another one of those badges that have "levels". Every time you try a new beer on 3 Thursdays in a 30 day period, you achieve another level. I drank Palo Santo Marron by Dogfish Head Craft Brewery at SheppyBrew Brewery to get this new level. (note ... I have had this beer before, but this is the first time I've logged it into Untappd.

One of my favorite beer blogging celebrities recently posted an article "My Untappd Code of Ethics". Billy is one of my untappd friends. I have so few friends and he has so many that he probably doesn't even notice my check-ins. I am hoping he doesn't consider this series of blog posts "bragging", though (see #1 on his list). Billy actually commented on my comment on his post:

"I remember your post a few weeks ago about getting into Untappd. That was a good read. It made me excited to get my smartphone shortly after."

It makes me feel good that Billy reads my blog and that I might have influenced him some with this blog. Billy, though, if you are reading this, please leave a comment. PLEASE. (everyone else leave one too).

Again, if you use untappd, come make a friend request to me. I promise I'll confirm you as my untappd friend: http://untappd.com/user/esheppy.

I'll leave you with this cool video about the Denver Beer Culture:

And another one on the GABF:

2011 SheppyBrew Stats

2012-01-02T08:54:00.000-07:00

So, here at the SheppyBrew home-brewery we are at the end of another quarter (and the end of another year). You know what that means, don't you? It is time for me to share some more of my brewing stats (see SheppyBrew 2009 Stats, 1st Quarter Stats, 2nd Quarter Stats, 3rd Quarter Stats, SheppyBrew 2010 Stats, 1st Quarter Brewing Stats, 2nd Quarter Brew Stats, SheppyBrew Stats Q3 2011).

So here we go ... for the 4th quarter of 2011:

I brewed 5 batches. This puts me at 23 for 2011 compared to 33 batches in 2010.
3 of the 5 batches were brand new recipes. This means I brewed 10 new recipes in 2011 compared to 18 in 2010.
I brewed almost 25 gallons of beer this quarter putting me at almost 98 gallons for the year. In 2010 I brewed about 76 gallons of beer.
I brewed another lager, bringing me to 3 in 2011. That tops the 2 lagers I did last year.
I didn't brew any batches with Mr. Beer ingredients this quarter. The total for 2011 is still 2. Last year, I did 9.
One of my batches was an extract recipe making my total for the year 3. Last year, I did 14 extract batches.
I brewed a partial mash this quarter, which is my 2nd for the entire year. Last year I did 9 partial mashes.
3 of my 4th quarter batches were all-grain bringing me to 18 all-grain batches for 2011. In 2010, I did 10 all-grain batches.
I kegged 2 of the batches this quarter. This makes 8 batches kegged this year. Last year, obviously, I didn't keg anything.

So, as you can see, I am continuing to trend away from extracts and towards all-grain brewing. So far, I am really liking the 10 gallon gott cooler with a false bottom for my mash / lauter tun (see Back to the mash tun).

Obviously, I did not get to 100 gallons for the year (see 100 Gallons of Beer). I easily could have brewed up a quick Mr. Beer batch, but decided 98 gallons was close enough. I suspect that in 2012 I won't brew anywhere close to 100 gallons. 100 gallons is actually quite a bit of beer to have to deal with.

Along with my latest batch of Stouticus (see Thankyou Stouticus), I distributed quite a bit of my Hoptoberfest Vienna Lager (see Bottling Hoptoberfest) to people who donated to the 2nd Wind Fund. Hoptoberfest turned out fantastic. It might be a little darker than you would probably consider a Vienna Lager to be, but I like the flavor so much I'm not changing the recipe to lighten up the color.

I brewed my first Gluten Free beer this quarter "Free the Glutens! APA". It got some good comments from the few people who tried it, but there is something about the flavor I don't like. You can read more about this following my Gluten Free blog-label. One of the things I mentioned was that my guy at my LHBS told me about White Labs' "Clarity-Ferm" as a way to get rid of gluten protein in beer. I think my next attempt at a gluten-free beer will use Clarity Ferm instead of trying to stick with gluten-free ingredients.

Last year, I mentioned that I would probably brew less in 2011 than 2010. Obviously, I did brew less batches but more total volume.

I said I would probably concentrate more on my favorites and have less of a variety of beers than I did in 2010. I think it is safe to say that was the case. Next year, I think maybe I'll try more new things.

I also mentioned that I would try to give away more beer. I did by a lot. I hope to keep that trend going in 2012 as well.

I said most of my beers would be all-grain, but I would continue to make all the different types (HME, extract with steeping grains, partial mash, and all-grain). This prediction was true and will continue in 2012 I think.

I also thought I might get a "real" 5 gallon fermenter to do bigger batches. Obviously, I did (actually a 6 gallon one).

I mentioned, "I would love to get into kegging my beers, but I do not know if that will happen." It did happen, and if anything, I am kicking myself for not doing it sooner. I will keg more beer in 2012. Having my Beer Gun is really great because I can keg up the batch quickly and then bottle as I want from the keg.

Sometime in 2012 (probably early on), I'm going to try to brew a sour beer of some sort. At the moment, I think I'm going to try to do a recipe close to Jamil's Flander's Red in Brewing Classic Styles. Instead of using bugs in fermentation, I think I'm going to first try a sour mash. I'm also thinking of doing a secondary fermentation on tart cherries to add a bit more of that flavor. If this approach doesn't work how I want, I guess I'll move to some sort of yeast / bacteria blend in fermentation to do the souring. But I'm a bit leery of just jumping in all the way into fermenting with bacteria, so I'll try the sour mash first. I guess I'm just a wimp that way.

So, that is all I can think of as a brewing 2011 review and look ahead to 2012. As always, I'll continue to let you know how it is going through the year. Happy Brew Year everyone!

EDIT (1-4-2011): I just noticed that my virtual brewing buddy, Scott (sometimes referred to as "CrazyBrody") started publishing his brew stats. Check it out on his blog post "2011 Brewing Stats". I think this might be the first time anyone has ever accused me of being "organized".

December Bogging

2012-01-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

December, 2011 is now the 8th month in a row of increased "page views" for this blog. I know I say this every month, but there is no way January will be able to continue the streak.

Over the past 30 days, the most viewed posts on this blog have been:

A couple more beers from my list Dec 3, 2011 ... Checking off some beers from "my list".
Pre-event #GABF Post Sep 29, 2011 ... I am still not sure why this GABF post gets more attention than any of my other GABF posts. It is now #4 all-time.
Another batch of Stone Soup Dec 12, 2011 ... If I were a reader of this blog, I would certainly be happy to read this post.
Women and Beer Jul 23, 2011 ... #2 all-time and still gets decent viewership. Makes sense.
Tweedle beetles Mar 2, 2006 ... #3 all-time. Why? I honestly have no idea.
Stouticus Chili - icus Dec 13, 2011 ... Beer and chili. Good stuff.
Happy #RepealDay Dec 5, 2011 ... Celebrating the 21st amendment.
First Month of Untappd Dec 6, 2011 ... Drinking beers "socially".
Running for Mayor @BallyFitness Dec 17, 2011 ... My quest to become "mayor" of my health club.
Mayor of SheppyBrew Brewery Dec 23, 2011 ... Success in becoming "mayor" of my "brewery".

For what it is worth, I beat my sister for the month.

Happy New Year, everyone!

X-Mas Ale Verticle Tasting

2011-12-31T17:07:00.000-07:00

Every year, (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) SheppyBrew brewery brews an X-Mas Ale. Every year (since way back in 2009 when I started home-brewing) I get out a bottle of all the years' X-Mas ales and try them together. This year was no exception, although it did take me longer this year to get around to it. New Year's Eve (yes the very last day of the year).

X-Mas Ale left to right 2009, 2010, 2011.

So today, I poured an X-Mas Ale 2009, an X-Mas Ale 2010, and an X-Mas Ale 2011 from the SheppyBrew brewery.

The 2009 is the oldest beer ever tasted from the SheppyBrew brewery, and has stood up very well.

Visually all three are very close. This year's has a bit better head, but not really very much so. They are all a dark brown. 2010 might be a bit darker. Not much, though. 2009 had some floaties in the beer (cherries?). Nothing so extreme to distract from the drinking experience, though. The head colors were the same.

All three had a very malt driven aroma. I could smell the clove quite a bit in 2009 and the apple pie spice in 2010. Of course the hazelnut came through in the 2011.

All three had a very nice rich caramelly flavor. No hop flavors came through. 2009 and 2010 (especially 2009) obviously had some cherry flavor in the malt. 2011 replaced that cherry flavor with hazelnut. 2009 has a bit of tart sourness from the cherries. 2010 had a bit less, but some none-the-less. 2011 was sweeter despite the fact that its bitterness contribution from the hops was much higher.

I would be proud to serve any of these three beers to anyone. I don't think I have a favorite. All three are distinctly different, and very nice to drink.

I still have a 2009 for next year's tasting. I have 5(?) 2010 beers. I have lots of the 2011 batch.

I am looking forward to next year's vertical tasting.

----

I noticed today that the SheppyBrew.com page for the X-Mas Ale 2011 has 12 facebook "likes" (one of which is mine). This is an unusual number of likes for a page on SheppyBrew.com without me knowing of a logical explanation. The only recipe on SheppyBrew.com that has more likes is Stouticus American Stout , and I know Stouticus is mostly my co-workers whom with I shared both the beer and the link to the beer's page. For some reason, X-mas Ale 2011 is famous. I wish I knew why.

Anyway ... I hope everyone who reads this had a great 2011 and an even better 2012.

Happy Brew Year everyone!

Bowen Beer Bottle Band

2011-12-25T08:11:00.000-07:00

Here is a little Christmas music for your entertainment.

The Bowen Beer Bottle Band performs using only beer bottles, where each band member is in charge of two notes. They are really good:

Thanks to Logan from Blog About Beer for posting these videos earlier in the month.

Some Christmas Videos

2011-12-24T09:01:00.000-07:00

I shamelessly stole these from Blog About Beer.specifically from the article "Christmas Beer Commercials – 12 Days Of Christmas Fun – Day 6".

Please visit the blog and let Logan know I sent you. This will ease my guilt for being a shameless thief.

Mayor of SheppyBrew Brewery

2011-12-23T00:02:00.000-07:00

So, remember I told you I had joined foursquare and decided I was making it my mission to become the mayor of something? I mentioned that the health club I go to is probably the best bet (see Running for Mayor @BallyFitness). Just so you know, I am totally on track to become mayor of my Bally Total Fitness club. I've checked into Bally 6 times in 8 days, so I'm on pace to overtake the current mayor easily in the next 60 days as he is averaging one check-in every two days (30 check-ins in a 60 day period). If my calculations are correct, and if I maintain this pace, I will get to 30 check-ins in about 32 days from today.

Turns out that I was forgetting someplace I go even more ... SheppyBrew Brewery.

Interesting story ... I noticed that my virtual buddy Scott (remember Scott from SNB Brewing Blog?) was checking in on untappd to the SNB Brewery. SNB Brewery is to Scott as SheppyBrew Brewery is to Shep. SNB Brewery is what he calls his house in context of his home-brewing. Just like me, he is a "real" brewer in his own mind.

So, that observation made me realize that I could add my own venue to untappd (which I suspected was by doing it through foursquare). And, yes, I added SheppyBrew Brewery to foursquare and checked in.

Ok, so maybe "interesting" is a bit of an exaggeration.

But, now, I am the person in the last 60 days who has checked-in to the SheppyBrew Brewery the most, which by definition makes me the MAYOR OF SHEPPYBREW BREWERY!

Impressed, aren't you? Bow down before me, minions!

The Beer Song

2011-12-22T10:29:00.000-07:00

Recently, a guy I know was telling me what a wine-snob he is.

For some reason, this reminded me of the Beer Song by ElbowSkin. I posted it before on this blog (see Interesting / Amusing "news"). The video made me LOL, and I really enjoy the tune as well. I think the video deserves to be posted again.

Beer Song by ElbowSkin from Alister Robbie on Vimeo.

I suppose, being a beer snob, I have no right judging someone for being a wine snob. But, I have to be honest, I lost a little respect for this guy. I already didn't consider him much of a "guys' guy", but now I consider him a step or two away from being a chick.

This probably doesn't say as much about him as it does about my close-minded attitude towards things I don't like. I suppose I should work on that.

Enjoy the song.

Here's another video in case you are upset that I am re-using content:

Not nearly as good as the Beer Song, but it might amuse you none-the-less.

Pale Ale

2011-12-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

According to the BJCP, an American Pale Ale can have an SRM anywhere from 5-14.

This beer is a 5 SRM:

and these are almost 13:

My APA is somewhere in between at 10:

SRM stands for standard reference method, and is a measure of the darkness of beer. One would measure an SRM using a spectrophotometer. If you are interested on reading up on SRM, go to the wikipedia entry on it. I actually do not own a spectrophotometer, so when I tell you the beers above are a certain SRM, I am trusting my brewing software which has calculated my SRM and the lovibond values that are listed on the grains and extracts that I buy from my local home brew shops. Chances are decent that when I post my SRM's, I am posting them with incorrect values, but the actual numeric color value is not something I care too much about.

But, trust me. There is a wide range between an SRM of 5 and one of 14. If you want, take a look at the 5 on this chart and then compare that to the 14:

I stole this chart from The Screwy Brewer (who probably stole it from somewhere)

One thing I hear from time to time is "I don't like dark beers". It bugs me when I hear someone say that. You see, "dark" is not a flavor, and there is quite a difference between the taste of different dark-colored styles. A Russian Imperial Stout is much different than a Black IPA, for example. Both taste much different from a dark dopple-bock. My wife used to say "I don't like dark beers" sometimes, although she is starting to learn that "dark" is not a flavor and has started substituting "coffee flavored" for the word "dark". "Coffee flavored" is a much better flavor description than "dark".

It is interesting to me how many people who have tasted Stouticus American Stout (which is a dark beer) told me that they don't usually like "dark beers", but really did like Stouticus.

It seems to me that lots of the people who say they don't like "dark" beers also don't like hoppy beers. I sort of expect that if these people were to come out of their little American-light-lager mind-sets and try a few dark and/or hoppy beers they would start to come to realize that they like some dark and/or hoppy beers. But, generally, people are set in their ways.

Anyway, those of you who discriminate against beers of a certain color, please stop. Every beer deserves a chance, and color really doesn't mean as much as you think.

Wandering through Golden

2011-12-19T05:52:00.000-07:00

Connor and I visited Golden, CO on Saturday.We just sort of wandered around through the down-town area. Here are some pictures.

Right in the down-town area of Golden is the Clear Creek History Park. The park consists of a bunch of old-time buildings representing what life would have been like in the old gold-rush days. It is sort of fun to walk around and look at the buildings.

In front of the school-house.

Chickens

The creek had lots of ice and snow on it. We could walk out into the middle in some places.

Standing on Clear Creek.

There was a Christmas parade on Saturday.

Santa on his Motorcycle.

We had lunch at the Old Capital Grill. Connor likes this place because the kids' meals include an ice cream cone.

Connor's favorite part of Golden.

Looking over the Creek.

This used to be a huge tree.

It was a nice fun relaxing time. Hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Running for Mayor @BallyFitness

2011-12-17T05:43:00.000-07:00

After using Untappd for a month, I shared the badges that I had "earned" (see First Month of Untappd). Since then, I decided to check out foursquare . Mostly because Untappd can share its check-ins with foursquare.

The first place I checked in was my health club Bally Total Fitness. When I checked in, foursquare told me that "the mayor" was currently there. Interestingly enough, I recognized the face, although I don't really know the guy. I might have said "hi" to him once or twice, but maybe not. Of course, I had no idea what being a fourquare mayor meant, but I knew I had to try to become the mayor of something.

Since then, I have determined that to be a "mayor" of a particular location, I have to have more check-ins at that location than anyone else in a 60 day period. I honestly can't think of anyplace I would be able to check-into more than the health club.

Last Wednesday, the mayor of my Bally had been there 30 times in the 60 day period. That is a little more often than I go to the health club, but I can totally step up my game in the next two months, and I think I can get to that level if I really set my mind to it. Of course, I have no idea what that target number is going to be in the future, but that is part of the fun.

So, here I go. Today, I'm going to start my campaign to become Mayor of my Bally Total Fitness. Wish me luck. I may or may not report my progress.

If you are currently on foursquare or decide to join, become my friend. My profile is here: https://foursquare.com/esheppy

----------

Since the blog post First Month of Untappd, I have earned a few more badges:

Oktoberfest: I think I earned this by drinking 3 different Oktoberfest-style lagers. The third one that got me the badge was a Samuel Adams Octoberfest by Boston Beer Company.

Night Out: I'm not sure what the criteria is for this badge. I suspect it is checking into an actual location after a certain time of night. I got it while checking in a Fat Tire at Fogo de Chao, which is where we had our company Christmas party.

I Believe in IPA! (Level 2): Apparently, if every time you try 3 IPAs in a 30 day period, you are able to climb a "level" on this badge. I don't know how many of the other badges have levels. The beer that actually got me this promotion was Hoptree Double IPA by Lone Tree Brewing Co. at Lone Tree Brewery.

If you would like to be my Untappd friend, look me up here: http://untappd.com/user/esheppy

Not that it is a competition

2011-12-16T06:13:00.000-07:00

I mentioned last year what a loser I am. Last year, I was completely dominated by my sister (Mrs. Bluefield) in our unofficial monthly blog post "competition". In the article, I mentioned that as of December 2010, I had "won" 3 months during the year to her 8 months. We ended up in a tie in December, and I had to work really hard to scrap for the tie. She coasted through the month effortlessly.

From The Accidental Blogger

This year, I am being dominated again. Through November (if my math is correct), she had 173 blog posts for the year. I have more posts than I have ever had for a year, but still fall short of her total with only 134 blog posts. Just like last year, she has won 8 months and I have won 3.

I have a chance of winning December (I am winning by a real slight margin right now), which would at least mean 2011 can be an improvement over 2010. I guess that would be some kind of moral victory. It doesn't really matter, though; I don't think it is very likely that I'll win December.

	# of blog posts
Month	Sheppy	Bluefield	Winner
January	6	23	Bluefield
February	4	13	Bluefield
March	13	16	Bluefield
April	8	9	Bluefield
May	8	13	Bluefield
June	13	8	Sheppy
July	10	13	Bluefield
August	16	15	Sheppy
September	24	21	Sheppy
October	17	23	Bluefield
November	15	19	Bluefield
December (thru 12/15)	10	9	Sheppy

Good thing it isn't a competition.

For what it is worth, if we were to compare the gallons of beer brewed in 2011, I would be dominating that competition. No contest. (a shutout in fact)

Speaking of brewing beer, SheppyBrew is thinking of making another attempt at The Bluefield Experiment. My last recipe of Bluefield Chocolate Ale was a dark chocolate malt dominated beer with additions of cocoa powder, hazelnut extract, and milk sugar. I'm thinking of replacing the cocoa powder, hazelnut, and milk sugar with peppermint extract. I've mentioned before how much I liked the Leprechaun Stout that I made back at the beginning of 2010. I kept describing it as a liquid version of girl scout thin mint cookies, and think it is the best "dessert beer" that I have made. I think the peppermint really helped accentuate the chocolaty flavors of the dark malts in the beer.

I don't think Mrs. Bluefield will like the new Bluefield Chocolate Ale either, but I also have a suspicion that she has some sort of deep-seeded psychological block that prevents her from liking anything named "beer". It is sad, really, but there is not much I can do about her issues.

Anyway, I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Stouticus Chili - icus

2011-12-13T05:39:00.000-07:00

The former CEO of the company that I formerly worked for announced last Wednesday:

"Because of Beth’s recent chili smack talk, we will have a Chili-icus Cook Off. The competition will be Monday, December 12th. All types of chili will be accepted (...even potentially lame white bean and chicken chili from Ariel…)."

I had the former CEO's chili before, and while it is a fine chili, I would not characterize it as spectacular in any way. It is strikingly mundane. Personally, out of all the chili I've had in the past year, I would rank his somewhere around the 45th percentile. (leave a comment if you come across this, Tim)

I had not made chili in awhile, but I knew that I can make better chili than the chili he has given me.

So, this weekend, I made some chili.

My recipe:

6 Brats Chopped up
1 lb Ground Turkey
2 medium onions.
1 26oz Can Kidney Beans (I used Kuner's Dark Red Kidney Beans)
1 26oz Can Black Beans (I used Bush's Best Black Beans)
1 15oz Can Tomato Sauce.
1 15oz Can Chopped Tomatoes
1 10oz Can Chopped Tomatoes with Green Chills
1 10oz Can Cream of Mushroom soup.
1 7 oz Can Chopped Green Chilis (I used Old El Paso)
1 Bottle Stouticus American Stout.
1 handful* of Garlic Salt.
1 handful* of Oregano
1 handful* of Basil
Some Pepper.
Some sort of secret ingredient or mix of ingredients not to be listed here.

Directions:
Cook the brats and ground turkey on the stove with the spices.
Put it all in the crock pot, mix, and cook for 10 or so hours on low or 4 or so hours on high.

*Note: I never measure spices. I just dump how much I want into my hand. I would guess it ends up being about 1 or 2 table spoons per "handful", but I honestly don't know.

I actually made my competition batch on Saturday and ate some both Saturday and Sunday for dinner. I brought it into work in a Tupperware-like container to be heated up in the microwave. Everyone else brought in their crock-pots, which smelled awesome during the day, but put me at a disadvantage (I think).

My chili was really tasty. Originally came out more watery than I like my chili. I have some thoughts on how to fix that next time. I may share these thoughts, or I may lump them into the "some sort of secret ingredient or mix of ingredients not to be listed here". I bet you can't wait to read about it. Actually, it was watery when I had it Saturday. Less so Sunday. It was actually about perfect for the competition.

As far as the "Chili-icus Cook Off" competition, there were 10 entries. As as the results went, mine was voted 7th. All the chiles were very good, but, personally, I thought mine was easily better than everyone else's. Not to make excuses, but the placement of mine at the end (and the fact that it was not in a crock-pot like most of them) cost me some votes. A couple of people told me they missed mine until after they voted, and that they liked mine the best. Those two first place votes would have put me (I think) in the top 3 or 4. Oh well. I like mine.

Tim's strikingly mundane chili won (leave a comment if you come across this, Tim). Apparently, most of the voters did not find it mundane at all. Obviously, I don't know what makes great chili, because I ranked his towards to bottom of the pack. It was a very good pack, though.

In case you are wondering ... when I said "the former CEO of the company that I formerly worked for", that does not mean that he or I left the company. The owners (including him) sold the company to a much larger corporation. He used to be CEO, but is now "management" of a division in the larger corporation. I used to work for a little company, but now am part of that division of a much larger company. This is, in fact, by far the largest company by which I have been employed.

The former COO of the company I formerly worked for wants "us" (aka me) to brew a "a commemorative batch for the [two companies] union!"

Of course, when I asked for input on what an Acquisition Ale (need to work on the name) would be, I got no direction. I've been thinking about it since mid-October, and I am still not sure what this beer should be.

The thoughts I gave to the group were:

Flander's Red ... tart and sour?
Double IPA ... big and bitter?
American Style Black Ale (black IPA) ... dark and bitter?
Imperial Dopple Bock ... sickenly sweet?

Or ... maybe I should just do another Stouticus batch. Or ... maybe something with Stouticus as the base and some sort of twist (eg ridiculously hopped or maybe a soured stout).

I don't know. If you have an idea, leave a comment.

I can also use help on names. Just brainstorming:

Acquisition - icus Ale
Hostile Takeover
Assimilation Ale

Of course, if I just ignore the request long enough, brewing a commemorative batch won't make much sense anyway and I won't have to come up with a recipe or a name.

Another batch of Stone Soup

2011-12-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

Last Wednesday, I asked on Facebook and Twitter:

Might #HomeBrew this weekend but don't know what. Irish red? Black IPA? Regular IPA? Belgium black specialty ale? What do you think?

I got a vote for Irish Red (which would have been my new recipe of Eric's Red), and I got two votes for Black IPA. Since I really could have gone either way (and my wife didn't chime in with her typical override power), I found myself at the Brew Hut Thursday grabbing the ingredients for my Stone Soup IDA.

When I told Jeff (one of the guys who works at the Brew Hut) the grain bill and he saw the hops I was grabbing, he recognized that I was making a Black IPA. He mentioned that he hadn't brewed a Black IPA in awhile and really needs to make one. I told him that I have been telling myself forever that I need to make this recipe, but just never get around to it. Too many other beers to brew. If you brew beer, you probably know the feeling. He certainly did.

When I was talking to Jeff, I didn't realize it, but the last time I made Stone Soup was before I even started going to the Brew Hut. In February, 2010, I documented the brewing day with the post "Stone Soup IDA". It wasn't until mid-April that I started going to the Brew Hut (documented on this blog with "Another LHBS"). How time flies!

Anyway, this recipe is a bit different than the first one. The original Stone Soup was an extract beer. This one is technically a partial - mash. I almost want to call it all-grain, because the LME I am using is such a low percentage of the total fermentables, but still, it is a partial mash. I am using darker malts for color and more of them to get a blacker color than the first recipe. I also removed the honey to bring down the simple sugar content and total ABV. For the most part, though, I expect this to be very similar to the original batch.

Brew day was pretty smooth. Our back porch is still under snow, so I brewed in the garage.

Turns out we were almost out of brown sugar. I decided to change the recipe rather than go to the grocery store. That shouldn't be a big deal.

The mash went perfect. The temperature was a very consistent 152 throughout. I hit my pre-boil gravity and volume perfectly.

The boil went pretty much the same. No complaints. I ended up a bit high on the OG and a bit low on the final volume in the fermenter. I think I need to adjust my planed boil-off rate, but I am ok with adding water to adjust.

I pitched right at 65 as planned. This morning, there is activity. I am using a blow-off tube right from the beginning on this one.

I will be dry-hopping in a couple of days.

This will be an awesome beer.

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This batch puts SheppyBrew's total number of gallons at almost 98. Not too long ago, I mentioned that I didn't think that I would hit the 100 gallon mark for 2011 (see "100 Gallons of Beer"). Now, I think I might brew a little Mr. Beer-sized batch just to be able to say I did get to 100 gallons. Man, that is a lot of beer.

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Turns out that had I waited to count the votes, I would have gone with Eric's Irish Red. After I bought my ingredients, I got another vote on Facebook. I noticed later that I actually got a tweet from a guy on Twitter. So, most likely, I will be brewing Eric's Irish Red next time I brew.

More #RepealDay Info

2011-12-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

I got an email from the Contact Me form from a person who read my Happy #RepealDay post. She referred me to an article on the accreditedonlinecolleges.org blog: 28 Facts You Should Toast Post-Repeal Day. It is an interesting list of beer (and other alcohol ... but the beer stuff interests me the most) related factoids and links to more information on each of the facts.

I found it interesting and informative. You should check out the whole list: http://www.accreditedonlinecolleges.org/blog/2011/28-facts-you-should-toast-post-repeal-day/

Obviously, the beer facts (especially those on home-brewing) are most interesting to me.

Do you find any of these interesting / informative? (leave a comment).

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Totally unrelated, but I thought this was interesting too: Vintage Weight Gain Ads. I can't think of any adds I've seen recently promoting weight gain... especially for women.

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I'll leave you with this from Beer Ipsum: (thanks to The Beer Babe for pointing out the site)

Zymurgy Malt Extract Hand Pump Lauter Tun Becher Wort Chiller, Brown ale. Hop Back, Mash Pilsner Sparge Autolysis seidel Sulfurlike Winy Barleywine Chill Proof.

Caramel Craft beer Infusion Bottom-fermenting Yeast Infusion Grist Lauter Tun Infusion Caramel Caramel. Specific Gravity Reinheitsgebot Malt Extract Wort Chiller. Sparge Alpha Acid Malt Liquor Pilsner Black Malt Becher seidel; Krug Jeroboam Body. Barleywine Winy Body Enzymes Reboboam: Flocculation IPA Amber. Anaerobic Bottom-fermenting Yeast. Barley RIMS Ethanol or Ethyl Alcohol Bock. Firkin Wit Sparge Saccharification; Infusion. Draugh Salamanzar Specific Gravity Fruity. Lauter Tun; Brown ale Sweet Double Magnum!

Home-Brewed Rocktoberfest Lager by SheppyBrew

First Month of Untappd

2011-12-06T21:09:00.000-07:00

I started using the social media drinking site "Untappd" about a month ago. I've been aware of Untappd for awhile, but never realized that they allowed people to enter their own home-brews to the database. Since most of what I drink is home-brew, it didn't seem like something I would be real interested in.

It does turn out to be an interesting way to track the beers that you drink. If you are a craft beer fan (beer geek), it is somewhat worthwhile to track your beer consumption. It helps remind you what you drank and how you liked it.

So, I've been using Untappd for a month and have already earned 15 badges.

Newbie: I earned the Newbie badge for recording my first beer on Untappd. It was SheppyBrew's Stouticus American Stout, and it was fantastic.

Apprentice: After 25 unique beers, I earned the Apprentice badge. My 25th beer was Longshot Blackened Hops by Boston Beer Company.

Power Month: I got this for drinking 30 beers during a month. My 30th beer just happened to be SheppyBrew's Free the Glutens! APA.

Home Brewer: I got the Home Brewer badge for adding 10 beers to the Untappd database. Most of the beers I've added are SheppyBrew beers. It does not have to be a home-brewed beer to count towards this badge.

Six Pack. I recorded drinking 6 of the same type of beer (SheppyBrew Rocktoberfest Lager) 6 times in a row within a week.

Taste Crazy: I had 5 different types of beers in one day to get this badge. SheppyBrew's Wetta Blonde Ale was the 5th of the day.

Toast King: I "toasted" 15 different beer check-ins of my Untappd friends.

Drinking your Paycheck: I got this badge for having 5 beers on a Friday. The 5th one was SheppyBrew's Phychotically Dark and Bitter IDA.

New Brew Thursday: I got this badge for drinking at least one new beer on 3 Thursdays during the month. My third Thursday new beer was Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale by Stone Brewing Company.

I Believe in IPA!: To get this badge, all I had to do was drink 3 different IPAs in a 30 day period. My third IPA was USS Enterprise IPA by Dry Dock Brewing Co.

Brewery Loyalist: I got this badge for drinking 10 beers from the same brewery (SheppyBrew nano-brewery) during a 30 day period. The 10th beer just happened to be my world-famous Phat & Tyred Amber Ale.

Playing the Field: I got Playing the Field by having 10 different beers in a row. Ironically, I got it on the same Phat & Tyred Amber Ale that got me the Brewery Loyalist badge.

Your Wish Came True: I had 10 beers from my "Wish List" during a 60 day period to get this badge. My 10th beer from my wish list was SheppyBrew's Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale.

Stout Day 2011: I drank a Stout on International #StoutDay . The beer that officially got me the badge was Two Tasks American Stout by Dry Dock Brewing Co, but I also had my SheppyBrew Stouticus and Tweedle Beetle Imperial Stout later on #StoutDay.

Beer-giving (2011): All I had to do was drink a beer on Thanksgiving. Sadly, the beer that got me the badge was Summer Shandy by Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company. This was one of the worst beers I've had in quite awhile.

Most of these badges are low-hanging fruit. It will be impossible to ever earn this many badges in such a sort amount of time again. I do have my eyes on a couple more badges for December, though.

I realize that lots of you would consider untappd.com a waste of time, but I find it sort of fun. If you like to try different craft beers ... especially if you have a smart-phone with which to check-in, go sign up and give it a try. Make sure you become my friend: http://untappd.com/user/esheppy.