Sheppy's Blog

X-Mas Lager 2026 (Batch 401)

2026-11-12T06:39:00.000-07:00

I'm not brewing an X-Mas Ale this year!

Every year since I started homebrewing (way back in 2009), I've brewed an X-Mas Ale to have around the holidays.

The base beer is always a pretty similar Winter Warmer. High(ish) in alcohol. Dark amber to brown. A caramel malt flavor.

On top of the base beer, I've added all kinds of flavoring to make the beer more "holiday". Over the years, I added wood spirals, vanilla, cherry pomegranate, chocolate, peppermint, peanut butter, hazelnut, cherry, and many other flavorings.

But this year, no X-Mas Ale. This year I decided to brew ...

X-Mas Lager 2026

Really, it is the same thing other than using a lager yeast rather than an ale yeast.

FWIW ... the flavoring / seasoning is Coriander Seed this year. I'm thinking about adding cinnamon sticks to the keg as well, but we'll see.

Last Sunday was brew day for this batch. Saturday was actually Learn to Homebrew Day, which is usually a day the Beer Model and I will brew something, often with my Homebrewing buddies Doc and/or Du.

I was ready to brew Saturday, but we didn't have plans with anyone, and the wife decided we would visit O is for Odell Brewing Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse. So, I brewed Sunday instead.

I did actually did get started on Saturday with an overnight mash. My plan was to get started earlier enough to get the brew day done before church.

But, I was forgetting that we had to go early to help set up things, so getting everything done didn't quite happen.

I actually decided to start the boil ... and then turn off the boil around half way to three quarters of the way through while we left for church.

My thought was even though the boil wasn't done, it would probably remain close enough to boiling that I'd still get evaporation and whatever else might happen if I was actually boiling.

As it turns out, after I got back home, the OG was a point low, but close enough that I considered it fine.

So, I chilled down to the 50's and pitched the yeast. The fermenter was in the basement by 10:30, and the yeast pitched shortly after that.

Then, I just had to clean up.

The one thing I forgot on brew day was the Coriander Seed, which I simply added the next day.

We'll see how the beer turns out, but I'm sure it will be great. Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: X-Mas Lager and I'm sure you'll see something in the future about this beer.

As always keep watching the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with my BBQ, Beer, Biking: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.Of course, don't forget to visit this blog often as well!

O is for Odell Brewing Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse

2026-11-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

So, there was a bit of a delay in our A to Z series between M is for Mad Macks Brewing and N is for 4 Noses - Broomfield.

And now ... we're up to the letter "O".

If you follow this blog, you know what I'm referring to ... but ....

If you don't know what that means ... my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I work our way through the alphabet, visiting a local brewery for each letter.

We've done this 6 full times and are working on #7. At "N", we're more than half-way through round 7!

Last round when on the letter "O" we picked O is for Odell Brewing 5 Points. This time we're going with another Odell Location:

O is for Odell Brewing Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse

Odell Brewing Sloan’s Lake Brewhouse is located at 1625 Perry St. Denver, CO 80204, just across the street from Sloan's Lake by Edgewater, Colorado.

I thought it would be a great bike ride, but the Beer Model disagreed and we walked around the lake before visiting the Brewhouse.

The building is really cool, with a nice downstairs bar and eating area. They also have a really cool rooftop area.

We have Odell beer all the time, but even so, I was able to assemble a flight of beers we've never had.

I liked them for the most part, even though a couple were fruit beers. Odell makes some of my favorite beers. I think their flagship IPA is one of the best in the country.

This location has fantastic pizza too.

It is a wonderful spot. I feel like we would be able to spend hours here on a nice sunny day.

And ... now that we've checked off "O", it is time to look for a "P" brewery. The Colorado Brewery Map & List has a couple possibilities for "P". I think we'll end up going to another location of a brewery we've visited before.

Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z and see were we end up.

N is for 4 Noses - Broomfield

2026-11-05T06:50:00.000-07:00

It has been over a month since we've posted anything to the A to Z series of posts.

If you're following along on the A to Z series of posts, and/or read M is for Mad Macks Brewing, you know we are up to the letter "N".

If you don't know what that means ... my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I work our say through the alphabet, visiting a local brewery for each letter.

We've done this 6 full times and are working on #7. At "N", we're more than half-way through round 7!

I mentioned last time that we are likely headed to Broomfield ... and Halloween Saturday we packed a lunch and headed up to ...

N is for 4 Noses - Broomfield

In Round 5, we used their other location with N is for 4 Noses - Park Hill, and 4 Noses is fairly popular in area restaurants, so we've had quite a few 4 Noses beers.

Even so, we were able to get a flight with mostly beers we have not had before.

Premium Lager ... Smooth and refreshing American lager with a crisp, bright taste and soft, light finish.

Teocalli ... Mexican lager. In collaboration with the chefs at Teocalli Cocina, this lager is brewed with heirloom blue corn.

Raspberry Blonde ... Fruited Blonde. Refreshing and lightly tart blonde ale made with hundreds of pounds of raspberry puree.

Peachopotamus ... Peach Wheat. Crisp and sessionable wheat ale made with thousands of pounds of local Colorado peaches.

'Bout Damn Time ... American IPA. The beer we've had before. A West-Coast IPA with bright hoppy citrus flavors and aromas and a crisp assertive bitterness.

Flatiron Fog ... Hazy IPA. A hazy and juicy IPA brewed with Citra and Centennial hops, smelling of fresh citrus and bright tropical fruit.

Paul Rebeer ... Amber Lager. Nice malt body with a mild sweetness to finish it off.

All the beers were good, although I wasn't really a fan of the fruit beers, and the Beer Model wasn't really a fan of the IPA's.

And now ... we're up to the letter "O".

I'm not sure exactly what we'll pick. The Colorado Brewery Map & List has at least one good option we have not posted on this blog.

Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z and find out what we pick.

October Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

2026-11-03T06:52:00.000-07:00

As you know if you follow this blog, I generally give a monthly update on my fitness / Strava goals. I'm sure no one besides myself really cares, but I figure sharing these publicly give me a little extra motivation because of the extra accountability.

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava.

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals, although a couple of aches and pains (not quite injuries) do seem to be slowing me down a bit (at least on running).

My 2026 Fitness / Activity Goals are:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth
As of July 2021, I've cycled at least one Metric Century every month, and this month was no exception (Indigenous Peoples Metric Century). This is 63 straight months (over 5 years) I've done this. I've already done on in November as well.
#7000MilesIn2026
This is significantly lower than my #8200MilesIn2025 goal, but I figure with the running, 7,000 miles is still a big cycling number. As of the end of September, I have logged 6,325 miles for the year.
#13EverestsIn2026
Also significantly lower than the #16EverestsIn2025 because of the added running goals. My goal is to climb 13 x 29,032 = 377,416 feet on the bike. At the end of last month, I've logged 328,093 feet climbed on my bikes. This is over 11 "Everests".
#Run700Miles2026
700 miles is just under 100km per month. With my Great Cycle Challenge (#GCCUSA) in September, I concentrated on Cycling and didn't run at all, but I started up in October and got back on track with just over . However, I was so far ahead of this goal pace that I'm still pretty much on track with just over 573 miles so far this year.
Run a Half Marathon
CHECK ✅
I finished my Runna Half Marathon plan and completed the Platte River Half Marathon in mid-May. I even ran the Half Marathon faster than planned and blew away my 2:20 goal. BTW ... I signed up for a Marathon in 2027, so that will be a goal next year.
VO₂ Max > 44 ml/kg/min
CHECK ✅
As measured by my Garmin Watch, I started the year as 42 ml/kg/min. Right now, I hit 45 for most of the month in June and July. That is good enough for me to say I've hit this goal.
15 Stone
At my heaviest, I was over 260lbs. I've been as low as 214 last year and this year I started at 221. This month, I sort of ignored this goal, although I did hit 212.7. 15 Stone is 210 lbs, which would be lighter than I've been since my early college days. I'm "ok" on this, but it will get more and more difficult.

With the huge cycling #GCCUSA month, I've flipped over into the "green" completely in September.

Month	Miles	YTD		Elevation	YTD
January	500	500	-94	28,741	28,741	-3,235
February	454	955	-177	23,250	51,991	-9,015
March	470	1,424	-301	25,481	77,472	-15,588
April	576	2,001	-300	31,463	108,935	-15,150
May	659	2,660	-236	32,319	141,254	-14,880
June	659	3,318	-153	33,347	174,601	-12,500
July	650	3,969	-59	33,398	207,999	-9,145
August	723	4,692	+32	37,462	245,451	-5,806
September	1,012	5,704	+469	51,135	296,597	+14,310
October	621	6,326	+519	31,494	328,091	+13,752
November	...	...	.	...	...	.
December	...	...	.	...	...	.

As always, stay tuned on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer, barbeque, biking and other things in my life: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.

About Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch

2026-10-31T13:55:00.000-06:00

So ... I brewed Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch a little over a month ago (see Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch (Batch #399)), and kegged it towards the beginning of October.

Despite the name, this is not really a Kölsch. And ... no Khupacabras were harmed in the brewing of this beer. Come to think of it, Kolorado isn't really a thing either.

The yeast I used for this beer was from a small Colorado yeast lab "Propagate Lab", and they named it Colorado Kolsch (#MIP-511). I harvested this from my newest version of Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch, which also wasn't really a Kölsch. I had harvested that yeast from my latest batch of Bad Lands Kölsch, which actually is a Kölsch style beer.

So ... if Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch isn't really a Kölsch, what is it?

Originally I thought it would be closest to an American Pale Ale. After tasting it, though, it seems more like a Session IPA. It is a light, dry low ABV hop-forward beer. The dry hopped IPA hops come through nicely.

As I mentioned in 3 Blondes and a Redhead, I was surprised when my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) said she liked the beer.

Quite often, she says she doesn't like "hoppy" beers, and certainly stays away from anything named "IPA".

It probably shouldn't have surprised me, though. Quite a few of my most hoppy beers are ones she calls her favorites ... as long as I don't call them "hoppy" or "IPA" or "American Pale Ale" or "bitter" or something similar.

But regardless, Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch did turn out to be a nice, drinkable, hoppy beer, and we've been drinking the heck out of it.

Why Khupacabra in the name?

Well ... I often see coyotes on various bike rides or hikes in the area by the SheppyBrew Brewery. From time to time, I see a strange looking coyote. It is darker in color and it looks like the fur isn't as full and bushy as a "normal" looking coyote. When I see these weird-looking ones, I think and tell people I am seeing a chupacabras.

For the beer name, I switched the "C" with a "K" to match the "K" in Kolsch.

Similarly, "Kolorado" is Colorado with a "K" instead of a "C".

Yes, probably weird, but I will name my beers what I want. You name the beers you make what you want.

Anyway ...

As always ...keep an eye on the regular SheppyBrew Channels to see what is happening with beer, barbeque, biking and other things in my life: SheppyBrew's Facebook Page; Sheppy's Twitter Feed; SheppyBrew's Instagram Page; and SheppyBrew's Website.

Random Photos

2026-10-28T19:03:00.000-06:00

I have not posted on this blog in awhile.

I don't really have anything to say, but here are some random photos:

Brain Freeze Rauchbier in front of an evening "fire".

Some spare ribs I made a couple weeks ago.

My wife, my oldest son, and I attended a wedding in Northern Minnesota.

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch, Brain Freeze Rauchbier, GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA.

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA on a Thursday Night Football that I got to watch the Bears.

The wife and I got to attend 11-time-national-champion Denver University Hockey game.

We also attended a Colorado School of Mines football game.

1519 Barker Exportbier (Batch 400)

2026-10-21T06:04:00.000-06:00

I had a day off on Monday after being away for a wedding in north Minnesota (stone throw from Canada) over the weekend.

I did a run in the morning. Then I went on a bike ride.

After the ride, I had lunch and then lay down for a little nap.

I had grains for a brew day ... and around 2pm ... I decided to brew a batch of beer.

It just happens to be my 400th batch of beer I've brewed since I started making beer.

This is actually the third time I've brewed this particular recipe ....

1519 Barker Exportbier

1519 Barker Exportbier is my attempt to capture the spirt of "classic" Michelob (not the absolutely awful low-carb "Ultra" watery beers) that I remember from my college days.

My first two batches of this beer turned out great, although I have no idea how close they were to Michelob. I just don't have the flavor memory from over 30 years ago.

Based on research, I suspect that Ground Hog Premium Lager is much closer, but as the classic Michelob doesn't seem to exist anymore, I have no way to actually verify.

Someday, I'd like to brew these two beers close enough together to compare them to each other. Maybe I'll brew Ground Hog soon.

Anyway ... it was actually 2:30 before I got the mash going.

The mash went for about an hour, which is actually less than the recipe calls for. I was draining the mash by 3:30.

My pre-boil gravity was right on, but my volume was a little low. I decided to add some water to get the volume, making the gravity just a little low.

The boil went fine. I was able to try a few of the SheppyBrew Beers on tap during the brew day.

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch, Brain Freeze Rauchbier, and GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA are still tasting great. I'm sure Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale is too, but I didn't have any of that beer during the brew day.

I was chilling before 5:45 and I had the yeast pitched with the cooling pumps running by dinner time.

With clean-up, I'd say this was a 3.5 hour brew day, which is pretty good for a non-short-and-shoddy batch.

The fermentation was bubbling by mid-day the next day. I'll be fermenting "cold" (under 60F) until this weekend, at which point I'll let fermentation go to ambient basement temperature. I guess you can call this my "diacetyl rest".

My Brewing Calendar says I'll keg this on November 1st.

I'm sure I'll post something sometime about how this batch turns out.

3 Blondes and a Redhead

2026-10-14T06:19:00.000-06:00

So .... I actually have 4 wonderful SheppyBrew beers on tap right now. It has been awhile since it has been the case that all my taps have a beer on them.

Catching up with Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 398) and then Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch (Batch #399) seem to have done what I hoped.

The beers I have "on tap" are

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA
Hoppy "Cold IPA" ... a hoppy rice beer brewed as a lager with IPA hops. The citrus hops come through nicely in a crisp, clean base.
Brain Freeze Rauchbier
My Roll-a-Style 6B. Rauchbier, which is basically a smoked Marzen. The amount of smoke malt is less than 10% of the grain bill, which isn't really as much as most Rauchbiers. I the smoke comes through nicely without being overpowering.
Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale
This SheppyBrew Classic has been brewed 15 times with various grain bills and yeasts. The past few times have been pretty consistent. I refer to this as "fat tire light". The Beer Model says this is her favorite SheppyBrew Beer, which is why it has been brewed so often.
Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch
Actually not much of a "Kolsch" ... it really presents more like a session IPA. It was designed a my first "No-chill" beer with only CTZ in the boil, but Cascade, Centennial, and Citra added as a dry-hop.

It has taken awhile for GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA to clarify, but it is finally where I thought it should be right away. I expect the hops just wouldn't let the gelatin clarify quickly.

I love the way the hops are coming through. It is delicious. Even Doc's wife (a professed anti-hoppy-beer person) likes it because the hops "don't linger". MY wife, however doesn't much care for it (also very much a anti-hoppy-beer person).

After pouring myself a flight this past weekend, I refilled everything for the Beer Model to try.

Unsurprisingly, she wasn't really a fan of GNorthside or Brain Freeze, and really enjoyed the Buckwheat's BPA.

It did surprise me that she liked the Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch, as it is a hoppy beer. I actually find that when I name a beer something that doesn't "sound" hoppy, she tends to enjoy it more even when these are actually hoppy beers.

So, I'm not really convinced she is a "anti-hoppy-beer" as she claims. But, whatever.

I really like all four of these beers. I don't think Khupacabra in particular will last very long because it is such a delcious session beer, that I've been grabbing it a bunch.

2026 Q3 SheppyBrew Stats

2026-10-07T06:09:00.000-06:00

Well ... it is October, putting us past the 3rd Quarter of 2026. We can report on the SheppyBrew Home Brewery "Brewing Stats" for Q3.

If you read the Q1 report, you know 2026 started off very slow. Slow enough that I was on track to brew the least amount of beer EVER.

In the Q2 report, I had brewed a little more, and was no longer on track for the least volume of beer ever, but still probably the lowest since my Mr. Beer days.

Wild Cow (sort of) Kölsch

This quarter, I actually caught up quite a bit. I'm still on track for way less than 100 gallons, but the past 3 months were actually pretty busy.

I brewed 6 whole batches this quarter:

This totaled 30 gallons of beer. This puts me on track to finish the year with 88 gallons. Respectable, I think.

Potato Barley Rye (PBR)

Of the 6 batches, 4 were brand-new recipes (PBR, GNorthside, Brain Freeze, Khupacabra). Brain Freeze was the first Roll-a-Style / BJCP Goal beer I brewed in quite awhile ... only my 2nd this year. I believe this means I've brewed 92 of the 108 BJCP Styles.

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA

PBR, GNorthside, and Brain Freeze are lagers, bringing my lager total to 8 for the year. I only brewed 5 lagers in 2025. I am planning on brewing more this year.

Brain Freeze Rauchbier

All the beers were "All Grain". All except Buckwheat's were brewed in my Anvil Foundry. Buckwheat's, of course was my "Travel Beer" brewed at "Doc's".

Buckwheat's BPA Brew Day

The Beer Model helped me brew Buckwheat's and Khupacabra, so even though I won't brew over 100 gallons this year, I would be legal if I did.

I expect the 4th quarter won't be another 6-brew quarter, but I guess we'll see. Stayed tuned here to see how my brewing goes for the rest of the year.

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch brew day

September Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

2026-10-05T06:04:00.000-06:00

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava.

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals, although a couple of aches and pains (not quite injuries) do seem to be slowing me down a bit (at least on running).

My 2026 Fitness / Activity Goals are:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth
As of July 2021, I've cycled at least one Metric Century every month, and this month was no exception (#GCCUSA2026 Ride #48). This is 62 straight months (over 5 years) I've done this.
#7000MilesIn2026
This is significantly lower than my #8200MilesIn2025 goal, but I figure with the running, 7,000 miles is still a big cycling number. As of the end of September, I have logged 5,704 miles for the year.
#13EverestsIn2026
Also significantly lower than the #16EverestsIn2025 because of the added running goals. My goal is to climb 13 x 29,032 = 377,416 feet on the bike. At the end of last month, I've logged 296,597 feet climbed on my bikes. This is over 10 "Everests".
#Run700Miles2026
700 miles is just under 100km per month. With my Great Cycle Challenge (#GCCUSA) in September, I concentrated on Cycling and didn't run at all. However, I was so far ahead of this goal pace that I'm still pretty much on track with just over 513 miles so far this year.
Run a Half Marathon
CHECK ✅
I finished my Runna Half Marathon plan and completed the Platte River Half Marathon in mid-May. I even ran the Half Marathon faster than planned and blew away my 2:20 goal. BTW ... I signed up for a Marathon in 2027, so that will be a goal next year.
VO₂ Max > 44 ml/kg/min
CHECK ✅
As measured by my Garmin Watch, I started the year as 42 ml/kg/min. Right now, I hit 45 for most of the month in June and July. That is good enough for me to say I've hit this goal.
15 Stone
At my heaviest, I was over 260lbs. I've been as low as 214 last year and this year I started at 221. This month, I sort of ignored this goal, although I did hit 214 again. 15 Stone is 210 lbs, which would be lighter than I've been since my early college days. I'm "ok" on this, but it will get more and more difficult.

With the huge cycling #GCCUSA month, I've flipped over into the "green" completely in September.

Month	Miles	YTD		Elevation	YTD
January	500	500	-94	28,741	28,741	-3,235
February	454	955	-177	23,250	51,991	-9,015
March	470	1,424	-301	25,481	77,472	-15,588
April	576	2,001	-300	31,463	108,935	-15,150
May	659	2,660	-236	32,319	141,254	-14,880
June	659	3,318	-153	33,347	174,601	-12,500
July	650	3,969	-59	33,398	207,999	-9,145
August	723	4,692	+32	37,462	245,451	-5,806
September	1,012	5,704	+469	51,135	296,597	+14,310
October	...	...	.	...	...	.
November	...	...	.	...	...	.
December	...	...	.	...	...	.

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch (Batch #399)

2026-10-03T06:30:00.000-06:00

Last Saturday, the Brew Model and I normally would have probably gone on a bike ride.

However, the Denver Century Ride was going on, and we didn't really want to navigate bike paths with potentially hundreds of others.

Originally, Saturday the 26th was going to be "Doc's Quad Brew Day", which meant my buddy Doc would brew a batch. His wife would brew a batch. The Beer Model would brew a batch. I would brew a batch.

Plans changed and we did it the previous Saturday, with Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 398). And, our hosts decided they would only do one batch that day.

When they were not doing two batches, we decided to "only" do one too.

This meant that we had ingredients ready to brew with. Last Saturday we used them on the "original" planned brew day without Doc and his wife .

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch

Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch was designed to be a travel brew. IE ... designed to save time and effort during brew day.

Originally, I was going to start this mash at home, making for a slightly longer mash. But, since we ended up brewing it at home and didn't decide to brew until fairly late in the day, the mash ended up being more like an hour.

It was also designed with a short half hour boil time. And ... I designed the beer to be "no-chill". I have a sealable bucket to store hot wort in. Again, this was to save time when brewing away from home. But, even brewing at home, I wanted to give it a try to see how it turned out. That way, I can use the technique next time we brew away from home.

Since it was no-chill, I moved what would usually be "flavor / aroma" hops in the boil to dry hops.

So, even though we did really have to do any of these things we tried it out. Again, if it turns out well, this is something we can use on our next travel brew day.

Doc's wife claims we might do a "Quad Brew Day" some time when they have more of their day open.

Anyway ... my wife has notes she references when we brew together. All these strange things we did sort of screwed up her understanding of the normal process.

But we got everything done that needed to get done.

We had lunch while brewing.

The no-chill experiment seemed to turn out well. The next day the wort was around 70-ish degrees.

I racked into my Anvil Stainless Bucket, which has the ability to add the cooling coils, and I used those to get the wort even further down.

With a yeast starter, the fermentation took off in a couple of hours. I didn't get the dry hops in until Monday morning, when the Tilt said the gravity was down around 1.018.

At this point, fermentation seems to be done. I'm not sure when we'll keg this, but it will be soon.

I'm sure I'll post something about how it turns out.

I finished #GCCUSA2026

2026-10-01T06:47:00.000-06:00

Yesterday, I got in an 18 mile ride to finish up my 1000 mile September, raising over $5,300 to help fight Childhood Cancer with my Great Cycle Challenge.

The rider / donation page will remain available for at least another month ... and I'll be signing up for my 12th year in 2027 ... so if you want to donate, you still can:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

I finished with 1,012 miles over 52 rides. That is just under 19.5 miles per ride.

I averaged 33.7 miles per day.

Over those miles, I climbed over 51,000 feet of elevation.

In previous years, I front-loaded my miles, allowing me to coast towards the end of the month. This year, I was closer to just following the 33.3 miles per day I needed to average.

I was behind the average 12 of the 30 days, and ahead the remaining 18 days.

My longest ride was 63.01 miles (#GCCUSA2026 Ride #48)

My biggest day was Saturday 9/12 ... 63.48 Miles ... 2 rides #GCCUSA2026 Ride #21 and #GCCUSA2026 Ride #22.

My shortest ride was 4.83 miles ... #GCCUSA2026 Ride #32

My shortest day was Friday 9/18 ... 15.28 Miles ... 2 rides #GCCUSA2026 Ride #31 and #GCCUSA2026 Ride #32

So, that concludes my 2026 Challenge. As I mentioned ... there is still lots of time to donate at https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard.

Plus, I'll be doing this again next year. Stay tuned. I'm sure I'll let you know about it again in 2027!

M is for Mad Macks Brewing

2026-09-30T05:53:00.000-06:00

If you're following along on the A to Z series of posts, and/or read K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar, you know we are up to the letter "M".

If you don't know what that means ... my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) and I work our say through the alphabet, visiting a local brewery for each letter.

We've done this 6 full times and are working on #7. At "M", we're basically half-way through round 7!

Considering we only hit A is for Alley Brews Brewery & Coffee Shop this past April, we're flying through this round of the alphabet.

And, as promised ... "M" is one of those letters that we actually had a good choice, and this past Friday, we visited ...

M is for Mad Macks Brewing

Mad Macks Brewing is a tiny brewery located at 1921 Youngfield St Unit 210 Golden CO, 80401.

We actually visited this location back in early 2020 with O is for Ohm Brewing Company. I actually don't know when Ohm closed and/or when Mad Macks took over.

From the website:

"Mad Macks Brewing is an independent craft brewery located in Golden, Colorado. Rooted in bold experimentation and community connection, Mad Macks is more than just a place to grab a pint, it’s where neighbors become regulars and strangers won’t be strange for long. With a constantly rotating lineup of boundary-pushing beers, a welcoming dog and family friendly taproom, and a crew of self-proclaimed ‘Agents of Chaos’, Mad Macks invites everyone to embrace their inner trickster and raise a glass to the moments we share. At Mad Macks, community is brewed into every batch."

I got a flight, and the Beer Model got a couple of 5oz pours.

The beers were pretty good, but not anything I'd call great. They do have lots of games, and we played Connect Four. I won.

They don't really serve any food, but just across the street is Teller's Taproom where we had a great dinner.

There are a couple other close restaurants where you can pick up food to bring into Mad Macks.

Incidentally, the server we had at Teller's was the best we've had anywhere in quite some time. We never once felt like we were waiting on her, which is extremely rare since co-vid shutdowns (at least in our experience).

I feel like we will do this Mad Macks for drinks / Teller's for dinner again.

Regardless, we are now moving on the the letter "N".

I'm not sure exactly what we'll pick. The Colorado Brewery Map & List has at least one good option we have not visited, so we might head to Broomfield next.

Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z and find out what we pick.

#GCCUSA2026 Hero Jersey Shots

2026-09-28T05:44:00.000-06:00

In #GCCUSA2026 Jersey Shots, I shared photos of me in GCC Jerseys.

I left out the "Hero Jerseys" that I've earned over the years, so I thought I'd post those.

Here they are:

2020 "Spider Man"

2021 "Wonder Woman"

2022 "Captain America"

2023 "Red Superman?"

2024 "Iron Man"

2025 "Wolverine"

2026 "Robin"

GCC "All Star Jersey"

We're getting to the end of the month, but there is still plenty of time to donate:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

#GCCUSA2026 Jersey Shots

2026-09-25T06:34:00.000-06:00

As you know if you've been following along, I'm riding 1000 miles this month as part of the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out with a donation ... here is my rider page:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

I've been doing this thing every year for the past 10 years and over that time have collected quite of few GCC Jerseys.

As of a couple days ago, I've taken selfies of all these jerseys (other than 2016, which doesn't fit me and is now in my wife's closet).

Here are those photos:

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

2025

2026

I'm making good progress. As I type this, I've logging over 760 miles, which puts me slightly ahead of the 33-miles-a-day I need to average to hit 1000 by the end of the month.

By the time this publishes, I should have completed over 830 miles, and I don't anticipate it being a problem to finish off the mileage for the challenge.

Keep an eye on https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard if you'd like to follow along or make a donation.

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale (Batch 398)

2026-09-23T06:14:00.000-06:00

So ... remember in Brain Freeze Rauchbier (Batch 397), that my friend "Doc" had a plan to help us "catch up" a little on our low beer inventories?

Well, his plan was a "Quad Brew Day" at his home brewery.

I would brew a batch. My wife would brew a batch. He would brew a batch. His wife would brew a batch.

As it turned out ... neither his nor my wife really planned on brewing a batch themselves, so really it would be Doc brewing two batches and Me brewing two batches.

And ... they ended up needing to babysit their new grand child later in the day, so they decided to just brew one batch.

Honestly, I had not been excited about having to transport (and set up and clean) both my brewing set ups. So, when they said they might be doing one batch, I told them "we" would only be doing the Beer Model's batch....

Buckwheat's Belgium Pale Ale

When I do "travel brewing" ... I'll usually get a chuck roast started early on the grill. Before heading out, I'll put the chuck roast into the crock pot where it can continue to cook so that we'll have the meat ready to go at dinner time.

I'll also usually get the mash started at home, so by the time we get to our destination, the mash it done or almost done.

Saturday, I did both those things.

We got to Doc's Brewery a little after 10am. I got things set up and told the Beer Model she was all set to get "her" batch brewed.

Well ... at the beginning, she did a bunch of "the things", but we got further and further into the process, I ended up doing more and more while she was "busy" talking with Mrs. Doc.

I'm really glad we didn't decided to bring a 2nd brewing set up. It would have been extremely frustrating trying to get two batches done.

Note to self ... don't agree to do a 2-batch day at Doc's house ever again.

The mash was drained, and the Beer Model had me heat up and add sparge water the the tun. We let it sit for awhile. She stirred and drained sparge.

Pre-boil gravity was pretty much right on. We actually don't have a good way to measure kettle volume in this setup, so we trusted that our calculations were good.

I started the boil kettle. She kept a timer and added the hops.

We designed this to be a short (half hour) boil to make it a little faster brew day.

And, we ended up getting the boil finished about 15 minutes before the other batch, so we were first up on the wort chiller.

Doc's wort chiller is not as efficient as ours, and the wort was probably close to 80 when they were ready to start chilling.

I had purchased a sealable HDP bucket that I intended to use for "no-chill" on the other planned batch.

The recipe design included diluting the wort in the fermenter.

So, I figured 80 was ok. We'd let it cool down more over a few hours.

Both batches finished sort of early as a thunderstorm was rolling through. We ended up hanging out a couple of hours catching up with our friends.

Doc did have a couple really good beers on tap. The one he thought would "blow" still had some left at the end of our time together.

We got home very early for a typical travel brew day. I put a gallon of water in our Fermonster, and placed it in our deep freeze.

I also rehydrated the yeast during this time.

After (maybe?) an hour, I got the Fermonster out, and poured the wort onto the cold water. Then, I pitched the yeast.

I'm actually not sure what temperature the wort was out. The yeast took off real fast, so the wort was probably still on the warm side. I'm sure it will turn out ok, but I wish I would have let everything cool a little more and/or paid attention.

Being a Belgium beer, it probably isn't as important. I guess we'll see how it turned out. I'm typing this on Monday after the Saturday brew day, and it has already stopped bubbling.

So ... it won't be long before I keg it (there is no way I can expect the wife to do that step).

I'm sure I'll share how this beer turns out.

Regardless, it is always fun to spend time with Mr. and Mrs. Doc.

Now, I have to figure out when to brew Khupacabra Kolorado Kolsch.

Brain Freeze Rauchbier (Batch 397)

2026-09-17T06:38:00.000-06:00

Even though I have 4 beers on tap, I feel like my beer inventory is pretty low. Every time I pour a beer, I think a keg is going to blow.

Apparently, my friend "Doc" hasn't brewed much this summer, and is in the same boat.

He proposed a plan to help with both our inventory issues, and it will allow us to catch up a little. We're planning on brewing together at Doc's Brewery soon-ish.

PBR vs. PBR

2026-09-14T05:59:00.000-06:00

If you follow along on this blog, you likely remember that I screwed up the Potato Beer.

I won't go into details ... if you need a reminder you can check out the I screwed up the Potato Beer link. For now, I'll just say SheppyBrew's Potato Barley Rye (PBR) is a bit salty.

It isn't completely undrinkable, and I don't have a lot of HomeBrew "Inventory", so I still have the beer on tap.

I actually happen to have some Pabst Blue Ribbon in my beer fridge. Even though these are not comparable beers, I compared them on Labor Day.

I swear Pabst Blue Ribbon is better now than it was when my father-in-law loved it. Actually not bad.

It is, of course, crystal clear, where Potato Barley Rye (PBR) is still fairly hazy. My beer has that salty flavor and is considerably more hoppy.

The one clear advantage Potato Barley Rye (PBR) has is it's head is long lasting and thick, whereas Pabst Blue Ribbon has a head that disappears almost immediately.

I actually wonder how commercial light lagers make beers with such bad head. None of my beers are like that, even when I use adjuncts.

I certainly have to re-brew Potato Barley Rye (PBR) without sodium filled potato flakes. I'm sure I'll do another comparison when have a decent example of this beer brewed.

Our Labor Day meal was ribeye steaks and corn on the cob grilled on my Weber Kettle.

This combination was wonderful.

As is usual for my steak, I reverse seared them. They turned out just about perfect. The steaks actually were very close in doneness, which doesn't always work out when I cook steaks.

The corn was perfect too. I liked how I did them this time.

I removed the husks, cooked them for 15 or 20 ish minutes on the indirect side of the grill. Then at then end I seared them.

I guess it is sort of a reverse sear on the corn as well.

K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar

2026-09-10T05:54:00.000-06:00

If you're following along on the A to Z Series of Posts, and read L is for Landlocked Ales, you know we skipped over "K".

It just so happened that there wasn't really anything close to our house on the Colorado Brewery Map & List that would really work for us.

But ... we had plans to stay up in the mountains over Labor Day weekend, and my wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) came up with a fantastic idea.

We were staying up in Copper Mountain, which is a short down-hill bike ride down to Lake Dillon.

So, we brought our bikes, and on Saturday morning we headed down to visit ....

K is for Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar

You probably know this if you follow my socials at all, but I'm riding 1000 miles over September to help raise money and awareness for Childhood Cancer Research with my Great Cycle Challenge.

So, in addition to checking off "K", I was also able to get my Great Cycle Challenge miles in.

If you'd like to help out with a donation, or just follow my progress, check out my rider page at

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/riders/EricShepard

The ride is spectacularly beautiful. We were sort of expecting the bike path to be crowded on the long weekend, but it really wasn't at all.

My photos probably don't do the scenery justice ...

The ride is all down-hill to get down to Lake Dillon.

We did stop quite a few times to enjoy the views and take some pictures.

With Colorado being in a pretty severe drought, Lake Dillon is very low, but still beautiful. We're hoping for a snowy winter in Colorado to hopefully help fill our reservoirs.

Eventually, after a leisurely hour long ride, we made our way to Steep Brewing LaKeside TiKi Bar.

From their website ...

"Tiki culture lives in beach towns. The whole genre is a postwar tropical-fantasy-meets-rum thing born in Hollywood, California in the 1940's. Most tiki bars sit at sea level by design.

We're at 9,017 feet. The reservoir's surface is the elevation of a respectable Colorado fourteener's halfway mark. Aspen sits at 7,908. Park City, Utah at 7,000. Vail Village, 8,150.

We checked the records. The Tonga Hut in North Hollywood, the oldest tiki bar still operating, sits at 707 feet. Don the Beachcomber's various locations: all at sea level. Trader Sam's at Disneyland: 360 feet.

So when we say highest tiki bar in the U.S., we mean it as a stat, not a marketing slogan. The mountains do the work for us."

The bar is located right by the water with a little marina for boats and/or personal watercraft to come right up.

And, of course, it is right on the bike path.

They have many drinks, but the beers are mostly from Steep Brewing, which is located in a nearby ski town, Keystone.

If I'm honest, the beers we had were not the best. They were fine, just not spectacular. The view is the star of this place.

The food was pretty good.

Of course, the ride home was quite a bit more strenuous, as most of it was uphill. The Beer Model has her e-Bike Pedego, so it was quite a bit easier for her than me.

Still, it was spectacularly beautiful.

And ... now we've checked "K" off our list. And we have already done "L" as well (L is for Landlocked Ales).

We're up to "M". The Colorado Brewery Map & List has a couple good choices, but I don't know what we'll pick

Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z and find out what we pick.

3 Floyds Zombie Dust

2026-09-08T06:26:00.000-06:00

So ... remember Zymurgy's Best Beers in America?

Zymurgy is the American Homebrewers Association's magazine. As a member, I continue to get it, but don't really get around to reading it much.

One of the issues I always looked forward to was their Best Beers in America lists. For awhile, I would look at the list, make my own list of beers I had never tried and then attempt to track them down to taste them.

I would share these on Sheppy's Blog: Zymurgy BBIA. The last time I posted an article mentioning the list was early 2015.

Some of these beers were fairly easy to find, but many of them were not distributed to Colorado, so I had to try to get them when I traveled.

One of the beers on the list that I really thought I'd be able to track down was 3 Floyds Zombie Dust, "an intensely hopped and gushing undead pale ale will be one's only respite after the Zombie Apocalypse."

3 Floyds is located in Indiana close to Chicago. I have family in Illinois and visit from time to time. But, I was never able to track it down.

There was one time that we were meeting Illinois family in South Dakota during my attempts to obtain beers from the BBIA list. I thought they'd be able to bring me a 6 pack.

But, apparently, even them as Illinois people were unable to grab some.

Instead, they brought me 3 Floyds Dreadnaught, which was very nice of them.

But, I was never able to get Zombie Dust. And, eventually, I stopped looking for beers on the Zymurgy BBIA list. I don't think they actually do this anymore, but I just might have missed it the past few years.

Anyway .... apparently 3 Floyds now distributes to Colorado, because I saw Zombie Dust in the grocery store one day.

And a few days later, I picked up a 12-pack from my liquor store.

And a few days after that, I spent some time on my patio trying the beer.

It is slightly hazy and gold with a persistent white head. It is a very hoppy 6.2% "Pale Ale" which showcases only citra hops. Honestly, I would categorize it as an IPA, but 3 Floyds calls it an American Pale Ale.

The hop flavor and aroma is wonderful juicy citrus with some tropical fruit and pine. It finishes fairly dry with just the right amount of bitterness.

This was honestly one of the best IPAs / Hoppy Pale Ales I've had in quite awhile, which actually surprised me considering it had to travel to get to me.

I'm glad 3 Floyds is distributing to Colorado now.

August Update on 2026 Fitness Goals

2026-09-06T15:21:00.000-06:00

Plus, from time to time I'll look at older updates just to see where I was in the past.

In previous years, my goals have been mostly around cycling, but starting this year, I've started running as well.

If you're interested, You can always track these workouts on Strava.

So far, I'm tracking pretty well to my 2026 Fitness goals, although a couple of aches and pains (not quite injuries) do seem to be slowing me down a bit (at least on running).

My 2026 Fitness / Activity Goals are:

#MetricCenturyEveryMonth
As of July 2021, I've cycled at least one Metric Century every month, and this month was no exception. This is 61 straight months (over 5 years) I've done this.
#7000MilesIn2026
This is significantly lower than my #8200MilesIn2025 goal, but I figure with the running, 7,000 miles is still a big cycling number. As of the end of August, I have logged 4,692 miles for the year.
#13EverestsIn2026
Also significantly lower than the #16EverestsIn2025 because of the added running goals. My goal is to climb 13 x 29,032 = 377,416 feet on the bike. At the end of last month, I've logged 245,461 feet climbed on my bikes. This is over 8 "Everests".
#Run700Miles2026
700 miles is just under 100km per month. With my Half Marathon (see #5) training, I'm ahead of this pace with just over 513 miles so far this year. I am still fighting "runners knee", and I slowed down quite a bit towards the end of the month. I'm probably not going to run much in September because of the Great Cycle Challenge, I'll probably not run much. But I'm far enough ahead that I'm still on track.
Run a Half Marathon
CHECK ✅
I finished my Runna Half Marathon plan and completed the Platte River Half Marathon in mid-May. I even ran the Half Marathon faster than planned and blew away my 2:20 goal.
VO₂ Max > 44 ml/kg/min
CHECK ✅
As measured by my Garmin Watch, I started the year as 42 ml/kg/min. Right now, I hit 45 last month for most of the month. That is good enough for me to say I've hit this goal.
15 Stone
At my heaviest, I was over 260lbs. I've been as low as 214 last year and this year I started at 221. This month, I sort of ignored this goal. 15 Stone is 210 lbs, which would be lighter than I've been since my early college days. I'm "ok" on this, but it will get more and more difficult.

I am finally catching up to the "daily tracking lines" on my yearly cycling goals. With a huge cycling month coming up, next month I'll be all green here.

Month	Miles	YTD		Elevation	YTD
January	500	500	-94	28,741	28,741	-3,235
February	454	955	-177	23,250	51,991	-9,015
March	470	1,424	-301	25,481	77,472	-15,588
April	576	2,001	-300	31,463	108,935	-15,150
May	659	2,660	-236	32,319	141,254	-14,880
June	659	3,318	-153	33,347	174,601	-12,500
July	650	3,969	-59	33,398	207,999	-9,145
August	723	4,692	+32	37,462	245,451	-5,806
September	...	...	.	...	...	.
October	...	...	.	...	...	.
November	...	...	.	...	...	.
December	...	...	.	...	...	.

L is for Landlocked Ales

2026-09-03T06:33:00.000-06:00

If you've been paying attention to the A to Z Series of Posts, you might have noticed that we had to stretch a little for the past few letters.

The whole idea of A to Z is to help pick local breweries.

But ...

H is for Homegrown Tap and Dough is a pizza restaurant / tap room.

We just blatantly gave up and skipped the letter on I is for IDK.

We visited a beer bar on J is for Jake's Beer Bar.

My wife (aka the SheppyBrew Beer Model) came up with a great idea for "K", but we are actually going to come back to that one.

For now we're skipping ahead to "L". Big L. Little L. What begins with L?

L is for Landlocked Ales

Landlocked Ales is the closest commercial brewery to our house.

3225 S. Wadsworth Blvd. Lakewood, CO 80227.

On Saturday we decided to pack a lunch and ride our bikes there. We took a very round-about route, making it a longer bike ride than it had to be.

There was some sort of something going on in the parking lot. There were a bunch of tents set up and a band. We were not expecting that, but it was cool to listen to music while having lunch.

We have had most of the beers on tap, and decided to grab pints rather than sample flights.

Their Beers on Tap page is a good place to see what they have.

They had a couple of nice food trucks, and it looks like they quite often do. As I mentioned we packed our own lunch.

It was a fun little bike ride to a brewery.

Now, we will come back to a "K" brewery. Stay tuned on Sheppy's Blog: A to Z and you'll see what the Beer Model picked.

2026 Tribute Day Photos

2026-09-01T16:02:00.000-06:00

Here it is ... September already.

As you know if you follow me at all, I'll be cycling 1,000 miles in September to help raise awareness and money to fight childhood cancer.

It is called the Great Cycle Challenge.

If you'd like to help out, head to my "Rider Page" at

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

If you follow me on Facebook, you might have seen me posting about "Tribute Day" on Wednesday, August 26.

The GCC streamed photos of riders on a Times Square billboard. My huge head was on the billboard for a few seconds.

This happens every year, and someday I hope to be there in person, but at least the GCC people were nice enough to send me a photo of the billboard when my head flashed on it.

Their photo is much better quality than the screen-shot I took on the "Live Stream" the GCC provided.

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

Starting today, I'll be logging my miles to get to that 1,000 miles, and you'll probably see a bunch from me on Facebook, Instagram, and this blog about the GCC.

Sheppy's Blog: #GCCUSA

Roll-a-Style 10: 6B. Rauchbier

2026-08-31T06:08:00.000-06:00

The last time I did a Roll-a-Style post on this blog was Roll-a-Style 4: 9C. Baltic Porter back in February.

Yeah ... that was a long time ago.

So, it is probably worth a quick reminder: I created a list of BJCP beer styles that I've never brewed. When I want to decide which beer style to brew next, I originally rolled a virtual 20-sided online die, and brew the style that corresponds with the number that comes up.

Pretty simple, right?

After my 9C. Baltic Porter, I was down to 12 beer styles to brew, so I'm now using a 12 Sided Die.

It is close to Oktoberfest season, and I've unofficially declared this the "Year of the Lager". There is actually a style that fits Oktoberfest perfectly.

So .... I pretended to roll a

10 ... corresponding to 6B. Rauchbier.

"A beechwood-smoked, malty, amber German lager. The expected Märzen profile of toasty-rich malt, restrained bitterness, clean fermentation, and a relatively dry finish is enhanced by a noticeable to intense smoke character."

Generally, I think a smoked beer is pleasant ONLY if the smoke is very subtle. Too much gets overpowering very quickly.

So, I came up with a classic Märzen recipe with less than 10% smoked malt. You can look at that recipe at Brain Freeze Rauchbier.

I don't know exactly when I'll brew it, but to be consumed during Oktoberfest season, it will have to be fairly soon.

Keep an eye on Sheppy's Blog: Brain Freeze, and you'll find out when I brew it.

Now my Roll-a-Style list looks like this:

Number	Beer Style
1	9B. Eisbock
2	28A. Brett Beer
3	22D. Wheatwine
4	16D. Foreign Extra Stout
5	10C. Weizenbock
6	12C. English IPA
7	13B. British Brown Ale
8	28B. Mixed-Fermentation Sour Beer
9	32A. Classic Style Smoked Beer
10	Re-roll
11	10A. Weissbier
12	33B. Specialty Wood-Aged Beer

My "Bench" now includes:

NOTE ... there a few BJCP Styles that I purposely left off this list. At some point I might re-evaluate these missing styles, but I guess you'll have to stay tuned and see if I add more.

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA (Batch 396)

2026-08-28T06:40:00.000-06:00

If you're new here, it will probably surprise you to know that I hate Gnomes.

Well ... that isn't technically true. I don't HATE them. It would be much more accurate to say that Gnomes absolutely terrify me.

It creeps me out the way these little creatures sneak around causing mischief. The way they pretend to act like real people is unnatural. Their little voices send chills down my spine. Oddly enough, leprechauns and tommyknockers don't bother me. I can't completely put my finger on what it is, but something about gnomes are completely frightening. Quite often when I see several gnomes together, I scream like a little girl.

I can't help it, they freak me out. My wife has a similar issue with spiders. It certainly doesn't help that the use an unnecessary "G" in their name. Uggggg.

Why do I have Brewing Gnomes, then?

Well ... after one of the episodes of me seeing several gnomes together, and screaming like a little girl ... in front of my young boys no less ... my loving family thought getting me a "therapy gnome" would be a good idea.

For Christmas 2012, my family adopted Gnasty Gnome. Gnasty loves beer and the Chicago Blackhawks. The idea was that having so much in common would help me start to overcome my irrational fears.

I started to recover some, and it wasn't too long before Gnaughty Gnome also joined us. Again, Gnaughty loves beer and is also a Chicago Bears fan. How can I feat a kindred Bears fan?

Interestingly enough, having these brewing buddies made some people think I like Gnomes. (can you image people thinking I LIKE gnomes?)

At some point, a Chicago Cubs Gnome joined the group. For some reason, I never gave this Gnome a name (or maybe I just don't remember doing it) until recently.

He also never had the opportunity to design a beer like Gnasty and Gnaughty (and even Gzombie) did.

Well, here it is August of 2026, and Gnorthside Gnome finally contributed a recipe to SheppyBrew Brewery.

GNorthside Gnome Cold IPA

We brewed it Sunday.

I won't waste your time explaining what a "Cold IPA" is. I'm sure you already know. You're probably not one of those people who would say "aren't all IPA's cold?"

Brew day went well. I didn't get started all that early. I basically got the mash going in the morning, letting it go through going to church.

After returning, I continued on the brew day.

The mash and boil went great, although the bag of Jasmine rice my wife had gotten me was less than I thought it would be, so I had to modify the recipe to accommodate.

Don't worry ... it was still "in style".

I also accidently measured out too much Mosaic hops, and was too lazy to get them out of the cup and put them back in the bag. So ... there are more Mosaic hops in this beer than Gnorthside Gnome originally intended.

Don't worry ... he didn't mind ... and it is also still "in style".

Technically, even though IP A stands for India Pale ALE, a cold IPA is a lager. (I didn't make this style ... I just followed Gnorthside Gnome's recipe )

So ... the beer is fermented with 34-70. The style calls for fermenting a little higher than a "traditional" lager.

I pitched my yeast at 60 - ish Farenheight.

As I type this, fermentation has not kicked off yet. By the time you read this, it certainly has. I'll have added one round of dry hops when you read this too. I'll add more dry hops into the keg too.

This is (probably?) the most hops in any SheppyBrew recipe. Gnorthside likes it that way.

We're looking forward to trying this beer.