It’s official! We kicked off production of our first ever starting batch of Hot For Peacher at the winery this last week. Hot for Peacher is our peach jalapeño sparkling mead. Nothing ever goes according to plan of course despite the best of intentions. The peach purée arrived a day earlier than expected. Some of the honey had frozen and needed to be thawed before we could get it into the fermenter. Making good sparkling mead takes time and patience.
This starting batch of Hot For Peacher called for almost 20 pounds of puréed jalapeños. Since the peach arrived a day early, I had only one afternoon to prep the jalapeños – by hand. I ended up going to four different local stores to get all the jalapeños needed.
But alas, the mead gods were proud of our efforts. We got it all into the fermenter and fermentation kicked off without a hitch. Pouring the jalapeno purée into the fermenter made the entire winery smell spicy and herbaceous. Thankfully none of the other winemakers complained about the delicious scents wafting in the air.
Now that fermentation is started, we’ll add some yeast nutrients throughout the first week. Then we wait another week or so for fermentation to complete. And then we get to try our first taste of the starting batch of Hot For Peacher … stay tuned!
Leave a Reply