The GGA Project -- Day #158 "Third & Final Step"

A couple of months back, I wrote about making mead (honey wine) with my friend Brian.  Then, some weeks later, I wrote about step #2 of the process, which was "racking" the wine (removing the sludge that had collected at the bottom).  Finally, today, I learned the final step of this particular wine-making process, which was....


Today's New Activity: Bottling Wine


With the fermentation process complete, it was time to get our concoction a permanent home (homes).  So we took it from these jugs

and used the vacuum device doohicky I described before to get it into bottles.  That part, though a little tricky, went pretty smoothly.


We took a moment to sample the wine, which in an individual glass was a beautiful shade of amber

To be honest, I wasn't as happy with the final outcome as I would have liked.  Brian had a previous version of mead he'd made, which I liked more than this because the taste of honey was very prominent (checking the diligent notes he'd taken 6 years ago when he made it, we learned there'd been 22 pounds of honey used in the making of that batch (!)).  The wine we made was a different take on that, and the recipe included maple and molasses.  Though I'd never tried a mead aside from the two I'd now tried at his house, I can say that, of the two, I definitely had a preference.  Still, it was smooth and novel and certainly worthy of bottling.


We only needed to employ some heavy duty assistance:

The mechanics of the device in the picture are pretty basic.  It's a corking device.  You place the bottle on the black plate, drop a cork in the hole up above, and put all your weight onto a lever that's just out of view, which simply jams the cork down into the bottle.  Brilliant!


It was mini-workout, getting the five large bottles and six small bottles we filled corked.  And look what a lovely collection they made:

The GGA Project -- Day #115 "Meaty Sludge Removal Crew'"

If you'll remember, a couple of months ago my friend Brian introduced me to the art of wine-making (mead, specifically).  What we did that day--the boiling and the stirring and the adding of yeast and acid and the measuring of potential alcohol content--that was all just the first step.


Since then, the mead has been sitting in the glass container we left it in, releasing air bubbles as it fermented and slowly gathering a thick layer of used up yeasty matter (and yes, that's the technical term for it) at the bottom.  Brian had mentioned to me that we should take care of that soon.


Just look at that yeasty matter!

Today's New Activity: Racking Wine


What we needed to do was transfer the clear liquid at the top to a different container so it could finish the fermenting process without taking on the flavor of all that yeast.  The first thing to do was wash out containers for the transfer.  I wouldn't normally feel compelled to share the details of this particular step, except that Brian had the coolest tool ever for this purpose, which we attached to the utility sink in his laundry room.

I know you can't see it very well, but theres a little rubber spout attached to the spigot, which is facing up.  When you place the bottle over it, the bottle's weight triggers the water, which shoots upward all the way into the outer edges of the bottle's bottom.  It was so fun!  Apparently they use these to rinse glasses in bars, but I guess I was never paying close enough attention.

So after our new containers were clean and ready, Brian brought out another tool...basically just a siphoner (which is a word I'll go ahead and make up right here, since I don't know what else to call it other than just a rubber tube--it had a specialized end on the part that went in the wine, though I couldn't tell you what it was for except maybe to keep the large chucks of stuff (like pieces of cinnamon sticks and clove we'd added) from sneaking into the tube).

The tricky part was getting it started without letting the mead escape out of the tube and make a mess on the floor.  And yeah, I failed miserably at that (like I mentioned the first time around....Brian is a very good trainer.  He doesn't just do the steps and tell you what he's doing; he's very patient and explains what needs to be done, then let's you do it (and screw it up) yourself.  It really is nice to actually learn how to do something new.

Almost done!

When we'd transfered all the mead into two 1-gallon containers, we tested it for alcohol content again...it was hanging in there at a solid 16%...it'll be just about right after a couple of weeks in its new home(s).

Finally a preview taste test.  I joked when I smelled the mead that it somehow smelled similar to a little Italian deli called Guiliano's that my parents used to take us to when I was a kid.  "Is it supposed to smell like meat?" I asked.  "No," he said, "it's M-E-A-D, mead, not meat."

No matter...it didn't taste like meat.  It tasted like a rich, sweet, slightly warm going down nectar-like dessert beverage.  I suppose that's exactly what it is.  And it was so smooth going down!  Brian was happy with the outcome, calling it an improvement on past batches, which were a good bit more tart and tough to swallow.  I'm looking forward to tasting the final outcome, after we do the bottling.  For now the mead will sit in its new container for a little while more.

The GGA Project -- Day #64 "Bootleggin'"

What a nice surprise to discover, about a month ago, that I actually do have a friend living closer to me than the 40-minute drive I make to visit most of the people I know.  Turns out my former coworker, Brian, bought a house that is less than 5 miles and 15 minutes away.  Today we had plans for a GGA playdate, and it was such a rare treat to have this take place so close to home!

Shortly after arriving at Brian's, I was given a tour of his good-sized backyard, in which all of the following are growing (or had recently been growing) in the ground, in bushes or on trees: artichokes, peppers, corn, pumpkins, tomatoes, roses, lemons, oranges, white plums, crabapples, persimmons, loquats, calla lilies, and limes.  It was like a freakin' farmers market!

I am totally in awe of people who grow stuff.  Especially people who grow edible stuff.  I think farmers and vegetable gardeners and even flower gardeners are just amazing people who deserve mad props.  It takes a lot of patience and hard work to see seeds through to their final, beautiful ends, and anybody who possesses that knowhow and skill is automatically cool in my book.

In addition to having a produce/floral section for his backyard, Brian also composts (of course) and makes at home all sorts of consumable substances that contain alcohol.  When I say all sorts, I mean all sorts--from beer to Kahlua to something called Limoncello, as well as numerous varieties of mead, the making of which was a process he was kind enough to share with me.

Today's New Activity: Making Mead

Before today, I didn't even know what mead was.  It's basically honey wine.  We sampled the last of a batch Brian made back in 2004 as we made this new batch, and I really liked it.  It smells and even looks like brandy (that particular version--which also contained molasses--did, anyway), but it is sweeter and with a less brutal taste of alcohol in my opinion.  

Additionally, drinking a glass of it didn't leave me with the headache that wine typically does.  Brian explained to me that these wine headaches used to afflict him too, before he started making his own wine.  Apparently a lot of people have allergies to the sulfides that are often added to wines, and he makes his in such a way that adding sulfides is rendered unnecessary.  Bonus! 

First we boiled some water to be used later in the process, when we would need it on hand to quickly cool down our cooked solution.  We also boiled more water to use in sanitizing the container we would pour the finished mead into.  Brian explained that any remnant bacteria in the container would react with the yeast and end up tainting the flavor, or causing mold, or resulting in any number of other undesirable outcomes.

Check out that cauldron!

Next we boiled ¾ gallon of water and added the following:  honey, molasses, maple syrup, all spice, clove, ground cinnamon sticks, and vanilla.  After letting all of this cook together for a while, skimming whatever came to the surface now and then, we added the mixture to the cooled down water from before.

Then came the science part of the process:

Brian poured a small portion of the mixture into a cylinder and then used a hydrometer to measure the potential alcohol content.  This was partially done in order to determine what type of yeast would be best suited for our concoction.

The reading at this point was about 19%, which Brian explained would go down to just about 15% or so when the fermentation process was complete.

After also testing for acidity, we added acid blend, yeast nutrient, grape tannin, and then, just after pouring the whole dang mess into this container (here's Brian), we added the yeast itself.

Brian was a patient and accommodating teacher throughout.  And the fact that he is both a mechanical engineer and an Eagle Scout meant he was ready with knowledgeable explanations for parts of the process that included but weren't limited to the subjects of physics, mathematics, thermodynamics, chemistry, and just plain practicality.

After the mead was poured, we corked the bottle with a device called an airlock, which allows gas to escape while preventing oxygen from getting it.  Pretty cool!  Nothing left to do but wait about a week and a half, when the fermentation process should be well underway, "rack" it once (remove any sediment that is present at that point), and then let it sit for a good two months to make sure the yeast has ceased to react (thereby avoiding any bottle explosions), then bottle it.

I plan to return for the next two steps, just to see the thing through to its end.

This was a really fun new experience.  I would never have thought it would be so easy to make wine.  Well, it was easy for me because Brian had already done all the reading up on the subject, performed the trial and error, and had a good deal of practice under his belt, which made the process go smoothly and relatively quickly.

It was so seamless, in fact, that we were able to catch up a little on the 6 or 7 years of life that had passed since we last worked together or hung out, in between the mixing and the boiling and the skimming and the whatnot.

That in itself was a pleasant experience.  I was telling Brian that it's nice to reconnect with him now, when all this time has passed.  It's like the essence of him is the same, but with all kinds of life experience to add wisdom and insight.  Not that he didn't have wisdom or insight before, but I don't remember really talking with him about heavy stuff back in the day, and he proved to be an excellent listener.  I felt lucky to discover this, as it seems I had plenty to talk about today (!)

To be honest, I was in a pretty yucky funk this morning.  For a minute I entertained the idea of canceling today's plans and opting instead to putz around on the internet feeling sad and lame instead.  Brilliant, right?  But however anti-social I was feeling initially, I was pretty sure going through with the plans would be good for my state of mind in the end.

And having that come to pass just confirmed for me yet again how happy I am to have begun this project.  Today, it forced me out of the house, out of my gloomy mood, and into the company of somebody with a friendly and positive outlook, as well as a genuinely cool and very new-to-me skill to share.

It occurs to me that healing is not always a giant arc of a process that involves looking ahead and thinking long term.  It is happening bit by bit, everyday.  Every joyful experience and every moment in good company and every sip of something tasty moves me further down the road and deeper into the soul journey.

Cheers  J