Fermenting

Just added the brandy to the nectarine, apple, blueberry port.

I also used medium toast oak and fresh grape leaves for tannin. It is off gassing like crazy.

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How does one filter such liquid?

Are you going to distil it somehow? If soā€¦ how? Do you have a still? So many questionsā€¦

Here, I could write a book :smile:

So, you donā€™t have to filter. All that yeast gunk (trub, pronounced troob) will eventually fall to the bottom. The microscopic cloudy particles will settle with the application of time, cold, and (Iā€™m not making this up) liquified fish bladders (isinglass finings).

No distillation necessary, before I added the required brandy it was at 8%. Now it is at 18%, which is spot on for port.

I will not comment on ever owning or operating a stainless steel three inch diameter column LM still.

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Now that is a cool new thing for me. They flocculate the fine matter, and sink to the bottom? Please tell me you donā€™t go on to collect that stuff and do some other alchemy with it. At this point I wouldnā€™t be surprised if you somehow used it as a modelling substrate to make adorning, medallion badges for your home-blown glass bottles.

Bravo sir.

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(You pitch more wine on top of it :D)

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Fuck it, I am a terrible Baker and Iā€™m quitting. Nothing ever looks or tastes good. I am a disappointment to the craft.

Wait a second, none of that is true. I am a fucking bread god.

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Yeah, I am gonna throw it in the trash, light it on fire, throw the fire in another trash, and sink it to the bottom of the marinara trench.

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I am really depressed. Where did these come from!?

The home made artisnal vinegars and oils, made from home grown herbs, will you please stop taunting me!?

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Okay, I officially think you are awesome.

I make my own dairy kefir, yogurt, kombucha, vinegars, fermented vegetables (krouts and others). Iā€™ve made wine, beer, honey meadā€¦ but never port, sounds and looks amazing. The recent heat here is making all my active ferments go crazyā€¦they love the heat.

Is that bread sourdough? I make sourdough breads, yet another fermented product. My latest bread craze is sourdough pumpernickel, because it makes the best reuben with homemade krout .

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A light sourā€“never been able to go Full Sour except with rye. Making sourdough always feels like magic, or Iā€™m cheating somehow. ā€œSo you rot flour in a specific way for a bit, then it turns delicious. WTF!?ā€

Iā€™d love to see some photos of your ferments. Port and Sherry are surpringly easy to get something tasty. Super hard to emulate the expensive stuff. (Have 25 years? :D)

My next batch is gonna be sourdough miches with onion jam and asiago, and the next ferment is clover Mead with juniper and quinine. Iā€™ll post the recipes, they are super easy if you have a thermometer.

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The krouts are in crocks so they arenā€™t really photographable, but here are some of my current ferments.

fermented lemons (used mediterranean and middle eastern cooking)

kombuchas

kefir cheese (just about ready to strain, makes a spreadable cream cheese)

kimchi and fermented curry keylimes (korean cooking and indian cooking)

I donā€™t have anything alcoholic going right now alasā€¦ :slight_smile:

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Wanna see a kombucha that got out of control?

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always! :slight_smile: i love kombucha photos. i sometimes browse the ā€œis this SCOBY okay?ā€ boardsā€¦for fun.

ahem

Yeah, nine inch thick scoby. Donā€™t have nightmares!!

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LOL! are you still activly making it from thatā€¦a SCOBY that size would make that amount of tea into kombucha in a day or twoā€¦time to cut a small chunk out of the SCOBY and start a fresh jar!

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I keep meaning to make fermented lemons. I have a recipe in one of my old books for fermented then heavily salted lemons that sounds amazing.

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Donā€™t I know it. I had forgotten about that jar, and now it is more of a ā€˜biggest pumpkinā€™ type challenge.

I think Iā€™m gonna snip a few pieces of and make balsamic. If it doesnā€™t turn into cthulu first.

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Sourdough, oregano, smoked gouda baguette. More pics inā€¦ 32 minutes.

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With care, one can also use gelatin to clarify. It takes more work. And thenā€¦ thereā€™s always filtration, such as with DE and fine mesh.

Looks yummy, btw. Would love to taste.

Gelatin works great. For fermented beverages it isnā€™t the best clarifier, but when it does precipitate it stays on the bottom. I like to use gelatin with a two part clarifier.

It drops then stays.


ETA isinglass is a natural form of two part clarifiers. It really depends on the audience for the consumable and how rigid they are.

For example, in a clear wine that used isinglass, there is zero isinglass. But some vegetarians/vegans have an ick factor to the idea.

Another, some people who are gluten free insist on non barley vodka. Even though the vodka has no gluten.

And same with gelatinā€“you get more animal particulate in your system driving past a farm than having a glass of wine that settled with gelatin.

to be clear, I do not disparage Peoples dietary choices

But I do make fun of what is basically homeopathy and superstition.

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