So another step in the development of Oswyn Swann.
I have posted earlier on the banners. They have slightly changed but are largely the same. I have submitted for a badge and household name so some changes have been made. I have the older ones still as I printed them before the badge and name were approved.
The banners needed poles. I worked with a woodworking friend to make them.
To make the banner stands, we cut 2 x 4s to lengths to make the bases and glued a small block to give more depth for the pole. I rounded the corners with a belt sander. We also glued feet to part of the bases. For the poles, I used a palm sander to make the one end slightly less thick to fit in the holes. Holes were drilled in the base. We cut notches in the uprights and drilled holes in the cross pieces. A string will go through the holes of the cross braces and rest in the notches. The banners will hang from clip rings on the cross pieces.
I recently applied for a badge and a household name. I then decided I should update my personal favors. Previously, I used fused glass squares and I may continue to do so. I am especially interested in doing so because a few friends have chosen to wear said tokens as jewelry. I am so honored that they have done so. But as Oswyn Swann evolves, so should the things that represent him.
These are my new favor tokens. They are 1/8 dram (~1 ml) glass vials filled with my Pinot Noir vinegar. There is a tiny label and I just got the wax sticks to seal the cork.
One of the things I wanted to do with the favors is make sure to say who the thanks is from. I have made favors which I have sewn to my shoulder bag. I don’t remember who gave me most of them. I wanted to make sure they whomever remembers who it is from. Unfortunately, the recipient will have be creative to attach it to something but it is not impossible.
Currently I am sitting on 20 barrels and I will be adding about half a dozen more.
The Medieval Period was definitely one where the barrel was king. Or I should say, cask. The barrel was a specific kind of cask with a specific measure. The following graphic will give you a sense of the measures. Eventually, the barrel is defined as 36 imperial gallons. Smaller casks also existed, the kilderkin was ~18 gallons, the firkin at ~ 9 gallons, and the pin at 4.5 gallons.
Now, casks are mostly defined as liters. The “pin” is about 15 liters.
Modernly, hobby brewers can get barrels from 1 to 20 liters. Professional distilleries and breweries can get them much larger, up to 200 liters.
Before use, the cask needs to be cleaned out. Fill with clean water and rinse until it always runs clear. Most likely, there is some loose wood to be removed. This will not hurt your liquor but it might clog your spigot.
Most casks are toasted to varying degree. Toasting converts some of the wood chemicals to vanillin and removes some of the more harsh resins. It also imparts a darker color to the liquor. It is why whiskey and bourbon are brown in color. But after a few agings, the chemicals and color will fade. The cask is considered “neutral” at that point. It is fine for storage but not for imparting flavor to the liquor.
Because smaller casks have a higher surface area to volume ratio, their equivalent “year” is less than the standard 200 liter (53 gallon barrel).
For the most part, I am aging in 2L barrels. My “year” is 4.5 times as fast as the normal year. This is fine for a hobbyist but not for someone who wants to produce enough to sell.
When I was eligible for my arms, I really wanted mottos as well. So I have been paying attention to things I said often or things I wish I said and testing them out. I settled on three.
Raedas gewillum fiðraþ literally is “(Wise) Counsel gives feathers to my will/wish. In Old English, the word for feather and wings are the same, fithrath. What I am trying to say is “Plans gives wishes wings.” It was the closest I could get. I like to plan and by planning, I can make my wishes come true.
Sanguinum Facit Ars is Blood makes art. Again, what I say as a glass artist is “it isn’t art until you bleed on it.” Pithy in English; torturous in Latin. This is much more simple.
This was perfect! They are responsible for the swan-upping so that fits. The Vinters are responsible for all wine and wine products so vinegar falls in that. They were formally established in 1363 and are among the 12 great liveried companies of London. Oswyn Swann surely was a member.
Above is the full coat of arms for the Company. Much of it was granted later than SCA period but it is perfect but I certainly didn’t want to steal it. Pay homage though, that I can do.
The motto of the Company is Vinum Exhilarat Animum – Wine Gladdens the Spirit.
Since my device is a swan already, I went with this.
The Azure Swan as the pub name and Swann’s Sundries for the store front.
The motto Vinum Exhilarat Amici – is in homage to the Worshipful Company. It is Wine Cheers (our) Friends!
The canvas banners will be finished this weekend and I will start on the silk banners shortly.
In Pennsic Project, I started telling you about what I am going to do. Now to tell you about what I AM doing.
If I am going to portray a vinaigrier, I need a product to “sell”. I will be giving it away. So, step 1, make 5 gallons of vinegar.
I spoke to two woodworkers. If I end up with two wheelbarrows, great! But my local friend at least thinks he can do it. He found a nice piece of 14 ft, 2″ x 2″ red oak to make the frame of barrow out of. So that is coming along.
I started the wine. As Coresande asked, can’t you just go straight to vinegar? Alas no. There are inorganic ways of making acetic acid but the preferred way is changing alcohol to vinegar. Starting with a wine we will.
The box
The juice
The bucket
WIne juice
yeast
I purchased a wine kit box for ~$85. It makes 6 gallons of wine. That is almost 23 liters or 23000 ml. Or more to the point, ~30 750ml bottles of wine. On a good day, (no Trader Joe’s nearby), I can get Pinot Noir for $5.00 per bottle. More like $6 any more. That is ~$150 to $180 of wine. While the bottles are sometimes nice, it is about twice what the wine kit costs. When it is in season, I use Alexander’s Sun Country WIne Concentrate at ~$30 to make 2.5 gallons but it isn’t in season and I need to make this now. So you use what you can get.
Most of the stuff in the box is not useful to me. I am not going to “fake” oak my wine with chips. I don’t care if it is clear. And I am just turning it into vinegar anyway so potassium metasulfate isn’t needed either. But the juice. That is what we are after.
As with all brewing, sanitize your equipment. Pour the juice in the 6 gallon ale pail, add water, add yeast, add a little yeast nutrients, and it goes in a sort of warm corner for a few weeks. My starting SG was 1.1. In a few weeks, we will have wine. Then about a month after that, we will have vinegar. More of that when we get to that stage 🙂
To do this project, I need the following: a costume (garb), a wheelbarrow, a barrel, vinegar, and probably some way to tell people what I am doing.
I ordered a new doublet because I am like 30 lbs heavier than I was 20+ years ago when we all dressed in Ren Faire garb for a friends’ wedding. The old one is a little tight. But I have a flat cap, white shirt, venetian pants, tights, socks, and shoes. Garb is good enough.
I have ordered a 20L barrel and will learn to do some pyrography on the barrelhead. I just received the wine grape juice to make into wine to then make into ~5 gallons of vinegar. So that is done.
I have reached out to a few people about the wheelbarrow. That is moving forward.
I will make a little carrier so people can pull the sheets out and learn what I am doing.
I need to make some banners. And if I am going to do it, I might as well make all the rest of the banners I need/want too.
The square is more representative for Oswyn of Baðon: Raedas Gewillum Fiðraþ – Plans Gives Wishes Wings. Literally, in Old English is says Counsel (Wise) gives feathers to (your) will. Close enough 🙂
Then Sanguinum Facit Ars. I really wanted it to say “It isn’t art until you bleed on it” but in Latin that is really awkward. So it literally says, Blood Makes Art. A bit vampiric but understandable. I do glass work. I cut myself frequently.
Lastly, Vinum Exhilarat Amici. The Worshipful Company of Vinters is a real thing. They are an old English “guild”. Their motto is Vinum Exhilarat Animum – Wine Cheers the Soul. Given that they are a real entity, I didn’t just want to “steal” or claim membership where I do not have it. That didn’t feel right. But I wanted something that echoes it. So Wine Cheers Friends. I like it.
The Azure Swan will be the name of my bar, an adjunct to Verena’s Drunken Duck. There may be times when I haul my own bar out but if the Duck is there, the Swan is part of the Duck.
Lastly, the tankards and tun are taken from the Wurmwald Brewers and Drinkers Guild.
I will post updates as they happen. I will likely start that wine next week 🙂
There are two prestige processes for Western vinegar making, balsamic and solera.
The Solera process is named from the Spanish word for floor. The idea with this process is you are mixing the age of the liquid (in this case vinegar).
How it works is thusly (assuming it has been running for a while): Imagine a pyramid of wooden barrels. Let’s say three levels. In the top level, new vinegar is aged for 6 months. After 6 months, a quantity of vinegar is removed from the lower levels. A similar amount of vinegar is then put into the lower barrels from each of the higher levels. None of the lower barrels are ever emptied completely. So the vinegar aging in the bottom level is a mix of “new” 6 months vinegar, older 12 month vinegar from the middle layer, and “old” 12+ month vinegar that has been there for a whole. When it is bottled off every 6 months, that vinegar is mix of a variety of age vinegars.
The age categories are as such:
Vinagre de Jerez has a minimum of 6 months aging in wood.
Vinagre de Jerez Reserva has a minimum of 2 years aging in wood.
Vinagre de Jerez Gran Reserva is a new category with a minimum of 10 years aging in wood.
Now, it all has to start somewhere and that is where I am.
A few months ago, I started this vinegar and it is now ready to start aging. I think we got the sherry wine at Aldi or Trader Joe’s.
It is important to harvest your mother’s so you can use them again. The label isn’t right. I just reused the jar. I have a sherry mother 🙂
I bought and conditioned an untoasted 2L white oak barrel for this project. Here it is.
And it is reasoably full of sherry vinegar for the initial 6 month aging.
In 6 months, I need to have another batch of vinegar ready to start aging and a new barrel. 12 months from now, I add ~ half of “new” 6 month vinegar to half of this barrel. I should get another new barrel let this one age by itself. 18 months from now, I add half of the “newer” 6 month vinegar to the 12 month barrel and half to the 18 month barrel. 24 months from now, I have Reserva vinegar ready. And every 6 months after that.
Now let’s see if the fruit fly colonies will develop sentience by then.
I had the time and motivation so I decided to prepared for the ToA (Tournament of Arts). Next Saturday (Jan 11, 2020), about three dozen or so of the artisans from the Midrealm will head to Ayreton for the ToA. It is not a Tournament in the strict sense but it is a chance to display and talk with knowledgeable people about whatever you are doing.
For starters, here is my vinegar room.
Ok it is really my hobby room but most of it devoted to brewing and vinegar.
For starters, I needed to decide on what to display and I needed bottles. As Gertie likes to say, “the cobblers children have no shoes.” Or in this case, the vinegarie’s wife has no vinegar. I had to find enough samples for much of it but I succeeded.
I decided to go with 8 oz bottles when I could. For some vinegars, I could have used 12 oz bottles but for many samples, I didn’t have enough.
The top photo is the variety of samples from my tasting classes. Then off to wash bottles.
After the wash, I decided on what to display.
I have a mix of vinegars from alcohols I have made or commercial alcohols. I wanted to show a range of flavors and techniques.
Unless I say so specifically, the alcohol is commercial. From left to right, the Pinot Noir vinegar from the Pinot Noir I made, Prosecco vinegar, Sauvignon Blanc vinegar, Pecan Brandy Vinegar that I made the cordial, Coconut Vinegar that I made the coconut “wine”, Apple Cider vinegar, Apple Cider vinegar from a cider I made, Malt Vinegar, Sake vinegar, the two small jars stacked on each other are the Xocovez malt and the faux “balsamic”, then two different mead vinegar.
Then to decide on what else to bring.
Since I want people to taste the base alcohol, a bottle of the wine and apple cider. Some mustards made from my vinegar. A mother so people can see it. An example of the toasted oak barrels I use (this one doesn’t hold water anymore). And some documentation. I forgot to take a photo of the books.
So that is it. Twelve-ish vinegar. I need to buy some small tasting cups so a trip to Gordon Food Service is in order. I have a box of crackers.
It isn’t sexy. It isn’t flashy. But it is what I do. See you there!
