Side Swiped!!

Hey Everyone. I just realized that although I'd written this on my iPod last week, it got saved as a draft and then never published. Sorry for the delay.


With the advent of the new pineapple just around the corner, so many old traditions are being rekindled after being forgotton with the end of the last season:
•regular self-surgery to remove troublesome spines lodged in the skin after weeding and harvest
•semi-permanent rust colored fingernails and knees from planting keiki in the soil
•constant discussion over the morning coffee about where, how, and when to plant the next bay
•the weekly (progressing to daily) walks through the bays looking for ripe pineapples

And, of course, it also features the return one of one of my favorite aspects of the growing season - swipe!

Last year was a learning experience, to say the least. I learned that double-boiling before adding sugar makes for a clearer, less acidic (yet less potent) drink. I learned that adding spices at the end of boiling rather than at the beginning or before the fermentation seems to add more flavor. I also learned that three mason jars of the stuff on New Years Eve is a bit too much.

For those who don't know, swipe is a name for a very unrefined quick-brew type of alcohol, usually made from fruit. With an over-ripe fruit, a little bit of yeast, and some time, you can make a very cheap, very rough type of wine. And if you're in prison, you can make it in the toilet. Of course, it's shank or be shanked (of course), but I digress.

This year, with a hand from Kalewa and his brewing experience, we're getting a bit more professional. Carboys, fermentation locks, and all kinds of other things I don't even know about yet will be brought in and implemented to provide a smoother, tastier, slightly-more-civilized way to get me falling out of the chair drunk.

Just kidding. I've learned to always just start on the floor in the first place to prevent injury.

At any rate, it has begun. As a departure from last year, this first batch is a melomel, which is a kind of mead made with both honey and fruit juice. For this batch, we've mixed pineapple with lilikoi (passion fruit) which we collected here on the property, not a stone's throw from the yurt. As I type, it's in the fermentation bottle, bubbling away. It's been about a week since it's been going, and while it's starting to slow down, I figure it's got at least another week or two before I have to decide if that's good enough (and therefore start bottling) or if it'd be better to start a secondary fermentation process.

I don't know if the mead is ultimately the best route to take, but hey, I'm willing to try anything in the hopes of producing a beverage that people (besides myself) would enjoy. While the worst batch of swipe so far was made at Kilzer's place (with reason....yellow pineapple, not white; canned, not fresh; etc.), I've also made some here that was only slightly better, which I'm sure could only be appreciated by the creator and/or fan of inexpensive alcohol. On the other hand, I also made some very nice batches last year, upon which I hope to improve.

***UPDATE***

I had my first glass (jar) of my melomel/swipe concoction last night.  While the taste is still nowhere near where I'd like it to be, the potency is pretty darn good.  I don't know if I'm just out of practice or something, but that one last night had some kick to it!