They're building us a still!

At this moment in time we still have a cover page over the site that says "Look for us this summer!" Yea, so, it's summer. And if anybody's looking for us, they're gonna keep looking. Everything is under wraps until we find a space - and, word to any fellow newcomers to the industry: finding a space is a pain in the ass.

The good news is the still is under construction. It's a small one but it's got options and enough output to keep us happy for quite a while. It's from Still Dragon and they are building it as I write - gonna take a few months. 

Meanwhile, we have our mickeymouse gear - that means a 5-gallon convertible still from StillSpirits in New Zealand. This is a pretty cool machine that can produce about a gallon of booze per distillation. It comes with a stainless steel fractionating column but you can also opt for an additional copper hat for pot distilling, which we did. We've already made some impressive vodka using the column and it's much less difficult than classic pot distiling. The copper pot still attachment - well, we'll see. I've got some blueberry raw brandy ready for a second distillation. It's a little imperfect but I have faith.

The thing about the current operation is, it's INSANE! Run about 90 pounds of blueberries through a Ninja, add yeast, nutrient, pectin enzyme (because it turns into instant blueberry jam). That’s the easy part.

Two weeks later…

It’s like 90 degrees indoors. I rack as much pure juice as I can into a glass carboy. Then, perched on a chair in boxers and a porkpie hat, I shovel great heaps of blueberry muck into a cheesecloth, squeeze it into a bowl, and pour it into the carboy. After about 40 minutes, sweating like a pig and aching from isometric hunching, I laugh maniacally.

I have a sudden mental snapshot of myself.  What if someone were to stop by? Then I go back to shoveling blueberry muck into cheesecloth and squeezing it into a bowl. Is this what old Polish or Romanian dudes do on Sundays in the fall with plums? I felt a sudden desire for a cigar and a bottle of shitty vodka.

So, that happened.

The honey I mentioned in the last post is STILL fermenting, but reaching an end, so next week that's up.