Well, the CQ can’t happen this weekend. I was banking on the fact that I had seen agave syrup at Bulk Barn, a Canadian bulk retailer. I’m talking bins and bins and bins of nuts, flour, and just about anything that’ll give you type 2 diabetes. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that I called 6 locations and none of them had Agave syrup.
“Not a problem,” says I. I will pay more and go to the grocery. It’s the cost of doing something glorious. I bought out the store…all 1.18 liters. That’s no where near enough to make 7 gallons. It might make just under a gallon, but that’s not nearly enough for a meaningful run on the still. I scoured the city and came up with…nothing. It was with great reluctance that I pulled out the laptop and went shopping. The good news is that I now have 7 kilograms of agave syrup on the way. The bad news is that the timeline has been pushed back by at least 2 weeks. The other bonus here is that I can make well over 7 gallons with 7 kg (about 15.5 pounds). I might be able to get the Chapman and the Spike going. I might also attempt multiple batches in a single fermenter to tweak the recipe. Honestly, I’m leaning towards the latter…but we’ll see. I really am a sucker for instant gratification. I may or may not be interested in doing consecutive batches. I guess I have enough time to consider options and solicit feedback from a few of my friends.
I can also consider a few other things as well. For example, I’m out of copper mesh for the still. Do I want more mesh for the column? Do I want to try to pack it with something else (ceramic, etc)? It’ll also give me the opportunity to carefully consider where I want to do the distillation (not an urban event typically speaking).
I guess every gray cloud does have a silver lining…but every silver lining has a touch of gray. Yeah, that makes no sense.
The Distiller's Journal 