Metric Century and Beef Flanken Short Ribs

March has been fairly snowy in Denver. 

It is nice to get the snow, but snowy weather makes getting in bike rides a little challenging.

I can always ride in the gym on a stationary bike, but that isn't nearly as fun. Plus that doesn't do me any good on my #10Everestsin2021 goal.

This past weekend, the weather was great for cycling, and Saturday I started out early with the intention of gaining a lot of elevation.

My legs were not "feeling it", so I changed my route to move away from the big climbs fairly early in the ride.

I decided that this ride would not be much more than a "recovery" ride.

Updating the Homebrew Colorado 6 pack

If you've been following my 6 Pack Project posts, you know that I matched up 6 of my homebrew recipes with my Colorado 6 pack list that I put together back in 2013.

As I was brewing beers in my Homebrew Colorado 6 pack, I noted that 3 out of the 6 beers no longer existed at their commercial breweries, so I was unable to compare my beers to the beers that they were meant to represent.

Melting Stream and Spare Ribs

In February of 2014, I brewed Arctic Vortex Winter Saison for the first time.

Since that day, I've been brewing at least one saison for every season.

I call these series of beers, my Seasonal Saisons.

Summer. Autumn. Winter. Spring. 

They all use French Saison yeast except the rare occurrence that my LHBS is out of stock and I have to substitute some other yeast. 

They are all dry with simple malt bills. They are all fairly hoppy and use mostly noble hops.

None of them use spices or other flavor additives other than malt / water / hops / yeast.

They range in color from very light (summer) to very dark (winter).

Obviously, I find these beers delicious (otherwise I would stop brewing them).

As this past weekend was the beginning of Spring 2021, it was time to brew my Spring Saison ....

Melting Stream Spring Saison

Smoked Mac-n-Cheese

My son is home from college for Spring Break.

His favorite thing I smoke is Smoked Mac and Cheese, and so I made a batch this past Saturday.

He also wanted to go hiking on Saturday. Since my kids don't get up until fairly late in the day, I prepared the Mac and Cheese in the morning so I could just throw it on the smoker in the afternoon.

If you would like to see the recipe ... go to my blog post Smoked Mac and Cheese. 

It is basically the recipe I (sort of) followed.

I started by cooking the bacon on my grill.

As the bacon was cooking, I started the sauce inside on our stove.

BBQ in the Snow

This past weekend, it snowed a lot in the Denver area. Like a historic amount of snow between late morning Saturday and Sunday night.

I don't know exactly how much snow we got here, but there were drifts over 4 feet in my driveway and yard.

Most of the day Sunday, the roads were pretty much unpassable without high-clearance four wheel drive.

Lactic Pickles and Jalapeno Sauerkraut

It's been awhile since I posted about making Fermented Food or Sauerkraut partially because its been quite awhile since I've made any Fermented Food.

It actually keeps a really long time.

A weekend or two ago, I used up a jar of homemade Sauerkraut, and I needed to make more.

When my wife last asked me if I wanted anything at the grocery store, I mentioned that I wanted cabbage, jalapenos, and cucumbers. 

Obviously, to make some Lactic Fermented Food.

Today, I prepared some Lactic Pickles and Jalapeno Sauerkraut to ferment over the next week or so.

2nd Everest of 2021

As I mentioned in  #10Everestsin2021 - February Progress Report, I am on track to climb the elevation of Mt. Everest 10 times in 2021.

On Monday, March 8, I went on a ride that brought my total for the year up over 59,803 feet.

As I'm sure you know, Mt Everest is 29,032 feet high. 2 x 29,032 = 58,064. 

So, I've climbed Everest a little more than twice so far this year. (2.06 Everests)

Galena Dave's Pale Lager (Batch 283)

I was going to brew Sunday. Then I didn't.

I actually had Monday off work, so on Sunday I thought I was going to brew Monday. 

Later on Sunday, I decided that I wouldn't brew the next day. 

I was on a walk Monday morning when I thought that it was silly to not brew on my day off.

And then I decided to brew. 

If I had followed through with the original plan, I would have done an over-night mash, so by waffling like I did, I totally engaged in the kind of delay I complain about when the SheppyBrew Beer Model brews with me.

Oh well.

I had the ingredients all ready for ...

Galena Dave's Pale Lager

#10Everestsin2021 - February Progress Report

Don't forget ... I'm raising money to help fight Childhood Cancer by signing up for the Great Cycle Challenge again this year.

My plan is to ride 1000 miles in September. Between now and then, I'll beg for people to donate money on my GCC Rider Page:

https://greatcyclechallenge.com/Riders/EricShepard

If you can afford it ... head over there and make a donation. I'd really appreciate the support. If you don't want to do it now ... don't worry ... I'll be reminding you at least once a month until at least the end of October.

If you're my facebook friend or follow the SheppyBrew Facebook Page, I'll nag you even more often. Sorry. (not really that sorry)