We moved the pear cider and elderberry wine from their primary fermenters into carboys yesterday. And there’s the sauerkraut behind the grain grinder, gently bubbling away.

We move the liquid from one container to another via a siphon equipped with a hand pump. The pump starts the siphon. The bottom of the pump is designed to sit off the bottom of the container so it doesn’t vacuum up the accumulated sediment.

The pear smelled flowery and had a certain amount of carbonation going on. The elderberry smelled like a lovely red wine and had no carbonation.

Michael declared it was time to move wine and cider due to looking at the separation visible through the container. We also need those primary fermenters so we have a place to start more cider when we press the apples that are sitting in the garage.

Michael gets the job of holding the pump steady because he’s taller. Stirring up the lees in the bottom isn’t fatal, but the idea is to leave as much of that behind as possible.

The pears produced more solids than the elderberries.

My job on the other end of the siphon is to make sure the carboy doesn’t overflow. I pinch off the tube with one hand and fill bottles with any extra liquid with the other. There was a lot of pear cider left over, but not much elderberry. You can see the pear beginning to settle and clear.

All those bubbles in the cabbage are the product of fermentation. Once the cabbage tastes like sauerkraut (getting there but hasn’t arrived), we will put the jar in the outside fridge to slow the process down. We do the same with our pickles. We fill quart jars to use from the inside fridge. I have yet to begin my kimchi, but I still have cabbages to pick. We hit 87° today, which is a bit warm for fermenting cabbage. Next week is due to be cooler. We do what we can in the time we have.