Making batch 60 match batch 1

Better controlled than most crafts here, because everything important is measurable, and only if you measure it.

What drifts

Produce, which varies by season, variety and ripeness more than any other input in this estate.

Tea and coffee lots, which vary by harvest.

Water, seasonally, if it is not treated to a specification.

The culture, in a fermented product, which changes over generations and after any stress.

Fermentation temperature, which changes rate and therefore finishing Brix and acid.

The last two are specific to this property and they are the ones that move a product across a threshold rather than merely changing its taste.

The specification is the control

Brix, pH, titratable acidity, and where relevant carbonation and alcohol, each with a target and a tolerance.

Checked before filling, treated as a gate rather than a note.

A batch outside specification is information: it is usually telling you a raw material or the culture has changed.

Warm retains are the other control

The one unique to this category.

Bottles from every batch held at the warmest realistic temperature for the full shelf life, then measured for alcohol, pressure and Brix.

Because consistency here is not only about the product at filling. It is about the product behaving the same way afterwards, and two batches identical on the filling line can diverge on a shelf if the residual sugar or the live count differ.

Checking a batch

Specification before filling.

Fill weight and carbonation through the run.

Taste against a reference bottle at the same temperature.

And the retains, cold and warm, which is the check that costs three bottles and answers the questions that matter.

References