P I C N I C

With some leftover cherries from jam making Elle and I made some cherry wheat beer. We brewed it on Sunday. Yesterday we added the cherries after racking out of the primary and oh my gosh, we did not think through what an introduction of very sweet cherries would do to the fermentation! It went bonkers and exploded sometime during the night, sending a jet of cherries, foam, pits, and beer 4 feet up the walls of the closet. Next time the cherries should be added to an open fermenter and then after the fermentation has subsided rack to a carboy.

But all is not lost. I poured the two smaller carboys into a big one and everything should be alright.

What did I do on the cart this week? I finished installing the septic system. It has some leaks, so I need to fix those. I cut the floor to size and drilled holes in it to accommodate bolts and plumbing tank vents. Then I started making the rafters. These are cut in a tricky shape, as you can see. Basically I’m ripping down a 2×6 to be a 2×4 but I have fancy joinery at each end. That’s what the protractor is for.

Lindsey, Elle, and I drove down to Sherwood Orchards for their pie cherries. They were at the top of a little hill, with the sun behind them. They were very soft, almost translucent, and more closely resembled a grape then any cherry I was familiar with. The skin was thin and taunt, inside was a quivering and sticky jelly. They were very tart, good for jamming Lindsey thinks.

Since we picked 40 pounds we needed some more jars, so we headed up to Jim’s jar shop. He runs this out of his garage and it was truly awesome. We got 9 cases of 8 ounce canning jars.