My first Brew In A Bag (BIAB)

I have done a reasonable number of beer brews using kits, but decided this year that I really wanted to do a brew from scratch. After a bit of research I found that Brew In A Bag (BIAB) is one of the most common ways of brewing so I decided to give it a go.

Since I had the equipment required for brewing kits I just needed to supplement this with a huge pot, a wort chiller, a grain bag, hop bags and a fake bottom for the pot (of which I used an upside down metal colander).

I bought a 50 litre pot with a 0.5cm thick base (I suspect it's a bit thinner) on Trade Me and made a wort chiller (I will write a separate post about that).

I decided to follow the BIAB Pale Ale recipe from Brewers Coop. This consisted of the following key ingredients:

• 5.3kg Pale malt
• 300g Pale crystal malt
• 300g Carapil malt
• 73g NZ Cascade pellet hops

I purchased all the ingredients from Brewers Coop and they also combined all the malts.

The pot is rather huge on the stove. 

I put 26 litres of water in the pot (with fake bottom inserted) and it took about 30 mins to get up to 68 degrees Celsius. I then turned the heat off and put the grain bag into the pot (with the top of it coming over the sides, poured the malt into it and left it to sit (with some insulation of towels) for 90 mins. The grain bag was unfortunately a bit too small so I couldn't have it over all edges, but it was good enough.

I then turned up the heat to get the brew up to the mashup temperature of 76 degrees Celsius, whilst stirring along the way. This was followed by removing the grain bag from the wort (the name given to boiled up malt) which was quite heavy and made more difficult by the pot being up high on the stove and also wanting to hold it there for as long as possible to get the wort pouring out of it straight back into the pot. I got about another couple of litres by just leaving the bag sitting in another pot (with another fake bottom), but didn't apply pressure since I was worried that over extraction would taint the flavour. The fake bottom was also removed at this point (after a bit of a struggle fishing for it).

I boiled up the wort and 30 mins later added 14g of hops (for bitterness), 30 mins later added another 14g of hops (for flavour) and 15 mins later added 28g of hops (for aroma); given I had acquired 73g I had some left over. I put each of the hops into hop bags so that I could easily remove them at the end of the brew.

After 80 mins of boiling, I added a teaspoon of Irish Moss and inserted the wort chiller so that it could be sterilised for 10 mins before I turned it on. At the same time I turned on the wort chiller I removed the hop bags. The wort chiller took the boiling wort to 22 degrees Celsius in about 15 mins. It is important to cool quickly to get a "cold break" and reduce the risk of infection.

With the help of Jane, we then strained the wort into a cleaned and sterilised fermenter. The wort in the pot was very heavy and it was quite a struggle. I suspect I should look at syphoning for future brews. I then took a hydrometer reading (1.06 OG) and added some rehydrated Safale US-05 yeast. The resulting brew was about 16.5 litres (from the 26 litre starting point. The resting temperature was initially 24 degrees Celsius, but it has already dropped to 23 degrees and should come down overnight (18-20 is where I tend to like it) and hopefully the fermentation will start tomorrow. All going well, I should be bottling in 2-3 weeks.

My favourite hikes in the Waitakere Ranges

I have been doing quite a bit of hiking in the Waitakere Ranges over the past year and was recently asked what my favourite hikes were.

1. Whatipu Road at top of Omanawanui Track --> Omanawanui Track --> Whatipu (Lunch on the beach) --> Kura Track (it is long and steep near the end). This is a very scenic track and there are some challenging portions.
   
2. Scenic Drive --> Waitakere Reservoir --> Fence Line Track --> Long Road Track --> Upper Kauri Track --> Cascade Track --> Anderson Track --> Waitakere Tramline Track back to the Reservoir. This is a decent walk and from recollection took about 4 hours.
   
3. Arataki Vistor Centre (on Scenic Drive) --> Slip Track --> Pipeline Track --> Lower Nihotupu Dam Road --> Hamilton Track --> Huia Dam Road --> Huia Store for lunch and then the return trip.
   
4. Constable Road --> Goldie Bush Walkway --> Mokoroa Falls Track and then back via the Mokora Stream Track (if you want a technically challenging walk that you _will_ get wet feet on.
   
5. Piha Road --> Kauri Grove Track --> Kitakita Falls --> Kitekite Track --> Piha for lunch and then back by whatever mixture of tracks.

Flatter tracks that have something vaguely interesting that come to mind:

1. Beach walk from Karekare to Whatipu (or Pararaha) and back. There is a small tunnel along the way you can go through too.
   
2. Auckland City Walk in the Cascades portion of the Waitakere's is apparently a good introductory walk. I haven't done it. It is only 1.5km so is very short.
3. Walk around Lake Wainamu near Bethells Beach. There are also huge dunes here. Don't attempt Houghton Gully Track (if you're after a flat track) since it goes up and up and feels like it will never end. The walk around the lake isn't huge.
   

Food Truck Garage, Auckland.... Disappointing

I recently went to the Food Truck Garage for dinner in Wellesley Street. I had previously had an excellent meal from the truck so was looking forward to another excellent meal.

The garage itself looks like an upmarket garage and had a nice vibe. I had a Beefroot burger and the baked chips. The burger itself was quite bland and nothing special at all. The chips were okay and included potato, swede, beetroot and some lime.

Maybe I ordered badly, but I won't be rushing back and am hopeful to see some better meals emerging from the truck.

Te Mata Estate Coleraine 2006

Te Mata Estate is a superb vineyard in the Hawkes Bay and Coleraine is often regarded as New Zealand's best red wine. Deep red in colour, this wine has delicate nose of dark berries. Dry to taste this is a full bodied wine packed with cherry, plum and dark berry flavours. quite tannic with a nice level of acid, yet quite smooth. Possibly a bit early for drinking, but it is still enjoyable. It could easily handle further cellaring.

Kokako Cafe & Roastery, Grey Lynn

We had brunch today at Kokako Cafe & Roastery in Grey Lynn and had two excellent meals and two different types of cold coffee (because we could). Kokako's menu features organic vegetarian cuisine and is located in an old post office that has lots of character.

I had the Organic Potato Hash which consisted of organic free range eggs, hollandaise, a smoked eggplant relish and some braised greens. It was a superb dish that I would definitely order again.

Jane had the Organic Free Range Omelet that was filled with organic pumpkin, feta, red onion jam and more. It was also accompanied by a thick piece of ciabatta. The omelet itself was a decent size and the flavours complemented each other nicely.

For coffee, I had Kokako's Cold Brew Coffee which is soft brewed for 8 hours and very mellow to taste. Served with ice in a beautiful glass that accentuated its aroma, it was a very different flavour to what I expect from an iced coffee. It also came with the remainder of the coffee in a jar that made it look like medicine (which coffee obviously is). I started off really not sure if I liked it or not but by the end was enjoying it a lot more but still not 100%.

Jane had Kokako's Cold Drip Coffee which had been filtered for 4 hours through a cold drip. I found the taste of it to be quite bizarre but Jane in fact preferred it over mine.

The food arrived in a timely manner but the staff could learn how to smile and actually engage with their customers.

Barilla Dumplings, Dominion Road, Auckland

Today I had the best dumplings I have ever had. We decided to try out Barilla Dumplings on Dominion Road, and were lucky to get a table. This is one busy place, with people eating in and lots getting takeaways too.

We had two dishes and this was more than enough for two people. In fact a couple of times I stopped and said I'd had enough, but because the food was so good I ended up having some more.

We ordered the Lamb and Cabbage dumplings (20 for $12), and had these steamed (we had the option of boiled, steamed ($1 more) or fried). The casing was beautifully soft and there was no doubt these dumplings had been very freshly made. The dumplings were very flavourful, particularly when accompanied with the chilli and soy sauce that was on the table. Jane also enjoyed having them with a bit of vinegar in addition to the chilli and soy sauce too.

Based on a few recommendations on Foursquare, we ordered the Fried French Beans with Spicy Salt ($14). The beans were beautifully cooked, still had a bit of a crunch, and the salt, cumin and chilli added a nice flavour. 

In terms of service, the food arrived quickly but the staff weren't exactly friendly. They were efficient at taking orders and bringing out food but that was about it.

The decor is very basic, in fact the tables even had a plastic cloth on them.

I'm looking forward to going back and sampling some of the other dishes on the menu.

Tokyo: Obaida, Robots, Toyota Mega Web, Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and Shibuya

I had another epic day today. Today I decided to head over to Obaida which is on a man made island in Tokyo Bay and was amazed at what I got to see.

I even got to see the statue of liberty! The bridge in the background is the Rainbow Bridge and it seems to have funky colours at night.

The Fuji TV building (on the right) looked very cool; even the statue raised her arm in agreement.

Walking through the Symbol Promenade Park there were some great sculptures (and a mammoth robot) to be seen.

Inside the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST) there were also other robots on display and an excellent display in multiple languages of their uses. The therapeutic robot was a cool seal that reacted when you patted it in various places or spoke to it due to many sensors it has. It has proven to be useful as a “pet” for people and to make them happier.

This robot is capable of standing up, lying down and maintaining its balance. It could be very useful, and what’s also great is that they have open sourced its platform to enable others to innovate further with it with OpenHRP (Open Architecture Humanoid Robotics Platform).

I then found a couple of geocaches nearby and picked up a trackable to bring back to NZ.

Toyota’s Mega Web was pretty good. It is a bit of a showroom, concept room, history of Toyota, Racing games, simulators and more. There was a huge emphasis on hybrid and electric vehicles and education about how they work.

The Venus Fort shopping complex was almost empty and done in the style of an 18th century European town.

The historical part of the Toyota Mega Web is also in Venus Fort showcasing various old cars. I can’t say I was super excited by it.

I then headed back into town

and went to the Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden. Since it was closing 40mins after I arrived (it closes at 16:30) I had to rush around but still got to see a fair bit of it. The 200 yen cost was worth it and I can imagine it being beautiful when the cherry blossoms are out.

Some fish even came to say hi.

I then walked into Shibuya (via Harajuka) and saw some more cool sculptures around the Shibuya train station.

For my last evening meal in Tokyo I had some superb yakitori  at a busy restaurant (Yakitori Akivoshi) on the western side of the station (which incidentally has lots of guitar shops nearby. Since I could decide between beer or sake I decide that obvious solution was to have big bottles of each; it worked.

On a Friday night, Shibuya seems to be a great place to be and Shibuya crossing was great. I even took a video of it. Enjoy!