Lassen Volcanic National Park ~ Ridge Lake back country skii

Back country skiing  ~ Round trip to Ridge Lake

   It has been constantly snowing this winter in California.  It was dry winter last a couple years and there was not much snow.   This year, there was a lot of snow in Lassen Volcanic National park as well.   I went back country skiing last weekend.

    For back country skiing, Lake Tahoe area is also a good area.  However, it usually very busy area due to many ski resorts.  There are so many cars on the major roads and I prefer Lassen Volcanic NP area.  It is quiet area and there is no traffic jam even in weekends.   The last a couple weeks, it was snowing over there and it was not a good time for back country skiing.  Finally, the weather forecast would be good last weekend and decided to be there on Saturday, January 28th.

   The original plan was climbing up to Mt. Diller.  However, it was really warm day and it is good just T-shirt during ascending.   The snow is really wet and sticky.   Thus, there was a lot of snow on the climbing skin and I took more time than I originally thought.   I decided to turn back at Ridge Lake instead.

   The snow was wet, however I enjoyed ski down from there.   Even without climbing skin, a lot of snow still stick to the skies when I stopped and I had to take it off before next move.

   There were many families to play with snow near the parking lots at the south entrance.  However once people away from the area, it was really quiet and nice.

    I will probably be there for skiing a few times this season.

Fermentation is in progress

Started brewing this winter!

　As I posted before, I started brewing Japanese SAKE this winter.  The point for this brewing is using up to 60% milled rice for SAKE, which is "Ginjo" quality,  instead of a regular rice we typically eat.   I bought it from an online store.  I also get a "raw Koji" instead of dry version.

   The brewing started on Jan 16 and additions were done on Jan 20th, 22nd and 23rd.   It is work in progress now.   Due to my calculation error, the recipe was not what I originally planed.  However, it is probably not a big problem and fermentation is on going now.

Different rice for SAKE
   The special rice which is milled up to 60% for SAKE brewing looks a similar as what we typically eat.  There is much difference just looking at each pieces.  However, if you fill into a cup or grab some, I feel difference.  It seems space between each pieces is probably smaller. 
   The condition after cooking is also different.  The way I used to use is using a rice cooker to cook rice instead of steaming rice as a traditional way to cook rice for SAKE.  This method is from many information from the internet to make "DOBROK", which is non-filter version of SAKE for personal brewing.   Based on the method, we might be able to get a similar result as steaming rice.  It is not exactly the same result with steaming rice, however, it is probably acceptable for personal brewing.  However, when I cook the special rice this time is not very good result.  Rice where near surface of cooker is too soft and the middle is under-cooking.   The result is not uniform.  It is probably due to the space between each piece of rice and distribution of the water with rice.  The dimension of each piece might be very small difference between the special rice and the regular rice, however, it is probably one of key factor of the result.   Based on the first result, I increased amount of the water for cooking a little bit, then the middle portion got better.  But rice where is near surface for the cooker is very soft.  It might be different kind of rice, but the different milled rate is probably primary factor in my opinion and this is a big reason the traditional method uses "steam" instead of boiling.

   We may improve to longer time to put in the water.  However, the complete improvement, we might need to steam rice instead of using a rice cooker.  Based on the past result, as long as we use a typical rice for eating, it is probably fine to use a rice cooker.  But this is just a easy method for personal brewing.   This time, except the first one, I use a scale for sticky (sweet) rice water level on the cooker instead of regular "white rice" with more than 2 hours rice in the water.

Different KOJI
   This time I also use "raw" or non-dried KOJI instead of dried-KOJI.   The required water amount is different.  However, I did miscalculation for the amount of water.  It is much less than what I originally thought.   However, I use more water for cooking and it is a sort of balanced and it does not seems to be a big problem.

Problem this brewing and future improvements

   The error in the recipe and how to cook rice is the area where I need to improve in the next brewing.   However, the current brewing will take more than a mount and it might be hard to have another one this winter.   Therefore, the next brewing will be the next winter.

   The next time, I will re-calculate the distribution of the amount for each adding for rice and water, and how to cook rice.   Let's see how it goes this winter!

Mt. Whitney Lottery 2017

East side from the switch-back

   As usual the Mt. Whitney Lottery application will be accepted from Feb 1 to March 15.

   For detail, you can visit Inyo National Forest Web site.

   I posted many times about hiking to Mt. Whitney.   To hike Mt. Whitney usually requires a permit, especially through the most popular rout Mt. Whitney Trail in a typical hiking season.   Most of weekends and around major holidays are very popular and probably hard to get the permit.  I think it is better to try the lottery to get permit for your expected dates. 

   I publish a book, to talk about Mt. Whitney hiking last year.  I described more detail for the process to get the permit.  Please also refer the book if you are interested in hiking over there.

Mt. Whitney Hiking Guide “Hiking the highest mountain in California”

·         Go to Amazon.com

Garmin fenix 5 is announced!

   CES 2017 is on-going in Las Vegas now.  From Garmin, a new model of "fenix" has just announced.  It improves the battery life, different bezel size and etc.  Those are a sort of minor improvement and major functions stay similar.

   According to Garmin website, it will be available within 5 to 8 weeks from now.  On the other hand, the price of fenix 3 HR is updated to lower price.  It is about USD $50 lower than the previous retail price.   I guess it might be a good deal if people who do not care those minor updates.  The basic feature is very similar.


   I do not plan to get it any time soon because I got fenix 3 HR late last year.  I really satisfy fenix 3 HR.  I already mention about this in my past posts.

Brewing Japanese Sake 2017

Sample from a batch last winter

   Recently, I try to post a similar article as what I post to my Japanese blog.  I am not sure how many people are interested in brewing Japanse sake.  But I will also try to post the progress of the brewing this winter.

   Since I live in California in the US, all imported product from Japan is expensive and Japanse sake is one of them.  Three years ago, I started brewing ale and it is really fun and it is not so difficult.  Some people I knew did brewing Japanese sake and I also tried it.   The past two winters, I did some try-and-error to establish a easy way to blew sake, which is using a regular rice with regular way to cook it.   In the traditional way, steamed rice is used instead of regular way to cook it.  However, when I search how we can brew sake on the internet, I found many similar articles about brewing sake.  Most of them are non-filtered sake, which is called "doburoku" in Japanese.  Technically, brewing sake without proper license is illegal in Japan.   Therefore, there are not many people doing it.  Brewing "doburoku" is easy way to make small amount of "sake like" beverage.

   Based on the easy method, I also started with "doburok" and finally I was trying to brew "filtered sake" with a regular rice.   I think I establish a process to brew Japanese sake at home.   However, I felt the taste is slightly different from one which is sold in the market.  I thought it is because of rice since rice which is used for brewing sake usually milled more than regular rice we usually eat.  But it is not easy to get it.  That is the primary reason, I use a regular rice from the grocery store.  However after 1 year storage, the taste is getting better and close enough to the commercial products.

   Anyway, this year, I have just ordered a special rice for sake on the internet and I will try the special rice if there is any significant difference or not.   The process to cook the rice will stay the same, I will use a regular rice cooker to cook it.  the only change this winter is just rice itself.

   I will keep posting the progress.  Let's see how it goes!