Racing Against Time x2
I started the wine making process on the peaches. In one short year libations will be served, maybe in time for the celebration at the end of ETI.
The recipe calls for 25lbs peaches, and I upped it to around 32. I'll make it a bit dryer than the recipe calls for, so I want more flavor, and it also allows me to add more water to get the carboys (fermenting bottles) to the desired level. This recipe calls for adding syrup several times during the ferment, and I found it tended to settle to the bottom so I'll be making much thinner syrup to ease the mixing, which I think disturbs the must when you agitate it too vigorously. The 'must' being the fermenting mixture. How about that, a wine making vocabulary lesson. The end result is I will have more wine, and the added water should dilute it nearly back down to the recipe recommendation. Just where I want it to be.
One of the challenges is I only have capacity to boil 5 gallons of water at a time. I could break out the old barbecue and use the side burner boil 5 gallons in the kettle, and use my three large soup pots on the stove for the other five gallons. The problem is I forgot to ask if the new bucket could handle boiling water, so I decided not to dump boiling water in it -- fearing potential disaster. In order to us the smaller bucket I filled the bathtub with cold water, so I could cool it after the first round.
So there I am, wiping the fuzz off the peaches, rinsing them, then splitting and pitting. As Helen said the peaches were wonderful on Wednesday, so I had to get done last night. No time tonight, and not enough room in the fridge, which would make them less suitable for wine. It may be urban legend, but most wine-making books recommend avoiding refrigerated fruits. (I wonder why that is worse than using the concentrated juices from kits.) I was tickled with myself for realizing that instead of cutting the peaches straight down the middle to offset to about the 1 O'clock position while still going across the 'poles.' I could still twist one half of the peach off the pit, and it left the edge of the pit exposed so I could easily and quickly flip it out of the other half. While patting myself on the back my roommate Aaron said loudly from the other side of the house, "Why do you have..."
"What? I can't hear you!" Why had I left the bathtub running. Shit. I forgot to turn off the tap and it turns out the overflow drain doesn't work very well. I started mopping up water to keep more from dripping downstairs while Aaron dashed off to get a shop vac. It was raining in my garage, and dripping a bit in the downstairs bathroom. I had another flooding incident about five years ago while making wine, and it was five or six gallons of must. Not as much found it's way downstairs that time, but it was a pretty sticky business. Luckily this time it was plain old tap water. I did some mopping downstairs, and it appears Aaron caught the problem just as it got to full drip. Books and clothes near the area got sopped, and ironically a goodly portion dripped into the washing machine. The tap water was not clear by then, and I had to rewash the brand new shirts for my suit a couple times.
We caught it before any extensive or serious damage, the only sheetrock it dripped on was water resistant and already on my slate for replacing. The ceiling in the garage is plywood, which looks like it will finish drying today, as will the upstairs carpet. So with things back under control I was back to getting the peaches processed. I ate a few slices as I worked. They were so tasty I got a little tingling, a pleasant version of the raising hairs when a breath of icy air touches your neck. Now I've over a dozen spectacular peaches in the fridge to eat, freeze, and dry. Hope they are as good on Friday.
The recipe calls for 25lbs peaches, and I upped it to around 32. I'll make it a bit dryer than the recipe calls for, so I want more flavor, and it also allows me to add more water to get the carboys (fermenting bottles) to the desired level. This recipe calls for adding syrup several times during the ferment, and I found it tended to settle to the bottom so I'll be making much thinner syrup to ease the mixing, which I think disturbs the must when you agitate it too vigorously. The 'must' being the fermenting mixture. How about that, a wine making vocabulary lesson. The end result is I will have more wine, and the added water should dilute it nearly back down to the recipe recommendation. Just where I want it to be.
One of the challenges is I only have capacity to boil 5 gallons of water at a time. I could break out the old barbecue and use the side burner boil 5 gallons in the kettle, and use my three large soup pots on the stove for the other five gallons. The problem is I forgot to ask if the new bucket could handle boiling water, so I decided not to dump boiling water in it -- fearing potential disaster. In order to us the smaller bucket I filled the bathtub with cold water, so I could cool it after the first round.
So there I am, wiping the fuzz off the peaches, rinsing them, then splitting and pitting. As Helen said the peaches were wonderful on Wednesday, so I had to get done last night. No time tonight, and not enough room in the fridge, which would make them less suitable for wine. It may be urban legend, but most wine-making books recommend avoiding refrigerated fruits. (I wonder why that is worse than using the concentrated juices from kits.) I was tickled with myself for realizing that instead of cutting the peaches straight down the middle to offset to about the 1 O'clock position while still going across the 'poles.' I could still twist one half of the peach off the pit, and it left the edge of the pit exposed so I could easily and quickly flip it out of the other half. While patting myself on the back my roommate Aaron said loudly from the other side of the house, "Why do you have..."
"What? I can't hear you!" Why had I left the bathtub running. Shit. I forgot to turn off the tap and it turns out the overflow drain doesn't work very well. I started mopping up water to keep more from dripping downstairs while Aaron dashed off to get a shop vac. It was raining in my garage, and dripping a bit in the downstairs bathroom. I had another flooding incident about five years ago while making wine, and it was five or six gallons of must. Not as much found it's way downstairs that time, but it was a pretty sticky business. Luckily this time it was plain old tap water. I did some mopping downstairs, and it appears Aaron caught the problem just as it got to full drip. Books and clothes near the area got sopped, and ironically a goodly portion dripped into the washing machine. The tap water was not clear by then, and I had to rewash the brand new shirts for my suit a couple times.
We caught it before any extensive or serious damage, the only sheetrock it dripped on was water resistant and already on my slate for replacing. The ceiling in the garage is plywood, which looks like it will finish drying today, as will the upstairs carpet. So with things back under control I was back to getting the peaches processed. I ate a few slices as I worked. They were so tasty I got a little tingling, a pleasant version of the raising hairs when a breath of icy air touches your neck. Now I've over a dozen spectacular peaches in the fridge to eat, freeze, and dry. Hope they are as good on Friday.
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