Ridorkulous by Mary Frame

Author:Mary Frame [Frame, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-05-09T18:30:00+00:00

12

Life is about balance. The good and the bad. The highs and the lows. The pina and the colada.

—Ellen DeGeneres

Fitz

“I’m making pomegranate flavor for the holidays,” Granny tells us as we’re tromping across the backyard, over the manicured lawn, and back to the giant dark-blue barn behind the house.

Never seen a blue barn.

Annabel lifts her brows. “Pomegranate moonshine?”

“It’s festive,” Granny insists.

“Is this legal?” Annabel asks.

“I have a license to distill.”

“You do?” Now Reese’s brows lift.

“Well, I did once. Probably still do. Those things don’t go bad.” She yanks on the giant barn door.

The yeasty smell of bread mixed with the tart tang of apples hits me as the door swings open. This barn isn’t used for animals, obviously, although there are a few stalls. The center of the space is taken over by large metal cylinders, barrels, and plastic tubs. Hoses in different sizes and shapes hang up on one wall alongside various tools. From where we stand near the entrance, it’s clear a couple of the stalls have been converted to an office and a storage space.

Brass light fixtures hang from the ceiling, casting an orange hue over the gleaming silver stills. High, inset windows reveal the glow of the setting sun.

“I need some help getting the seeds out of the pomegranates for the mash. Annabel and Jude, y’all can help me with that. Beast, will you use those big arms of yours to grab a couple bags of sugar from the storage stall?”

“What do you need from me?” Reese asks her.

“Why don’t you get the still fired up.” She nods at me. “Show him where to stick the hose. The mash on the south end should be ready to go.”

“You’re gonna show me where to stick the hose, huh?” I follow Reese over to the big still in the rear of the barn.

“I’m sure her phrasing wasn’t an accident.” She pries the lid off the bucket of mash, then gestures to what looks like a small metal fridge nearby. “Will you grab a hydrometer, sample tube, and baster from the sanitizer over there?”

I open it up and glance over the contents. The baster is easy, the sample tube is larger, and I think I find what must be the hydrometer, a glass test tube with measurements stenciled on one side. There’s not much else to choose from. I hand them to her. “This it?”

“Yes.”

She uses the baster to fill the larger sample cylinder and then puts the hydrometer in the liquid. I crouch down next to her while she spins the tube. “What does this thing do?”

“It measures gravity. The specific gravity of water is one. When we initially set up the mash, it has a higher density because of the sugars. When it ferments, the yeast consumes the sugars, lowering the density and therefore the specific gravity. You’ll know it’s ready and the fermenting is done when the specific gravity measures less than one.”

She points out the reading on the hydrometer and I nod even though I have absolutely no idea what the heck she’s talking about.

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