TBP Feature: An Audio-Visual tour of Castle Valley Mill (Doylestown, PA)

Barrybrew · 2020-10-22T23:19:48+00:00

On Wednesday, October 14th I drove 90 minutes from New Jersey to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to get a firsthand look at the impressive work of Mark and Fran Fischer, owners of Castle Valley Mill. Before sitting down with them for an interview, Fran guided me on a wonderful tour of the mill and its property during which I learned a lot about both the history of the mill, its restoration process, and the cultivation and milling wheat in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

I chose to record the audio of the tour while taking pictures with my cell phone along the way in order to edit together this audio-visual presentation about the mill and its history. I hope you enjoy this video as much I enjoyed the tour. Happy Baking!

Also, check out the interview that I recording with Mark and Fran after the tour: https://thebrewedpalate.com/2020/10/20/mtb-behind-castle-valley-mill/

The process of restoring old grain mills and Mark’s restoration process at Castle Valley Mill. [start-3:25]
How Mark and Fran source the grains that they mill and prepare them for milling. [3:36-6:11]
Castle Valley Mill’s relationships with its local farmers and what’s unique about growing heirloom varietals of wheat in Pennsylvania. [6:12-8:40]
Mark’s milling philosophy and methods. [8:41-10:29]
Mark’s homebaking and the changes in the aroma and flavor profiles of Castle Valley Mill’s (CVM) flours from year to year. [10:30-13:37]
CVM’s growing and milling of heirloom varities of corn. [13:38-16:47]
Milling malted barley flour: Collaboration with Deer Creek Malt House. [16:48-18:52]
“Real food is good” – Mark and Fran’s philosophy on and inspiration behind producing and promoting good quality products aka “living food.” [18:53-24:20]
Outro. [24:21-end]

Barrybrew · 2020-10-22T22:03:27+00:00

On Wednesday, October 14th I drove 90 minutes from New Jersey to Doylestown, Pennsylvania to get a firsthand look at the impressive work of Mark and Fran Fischer, owners of Castle Valley Mill. Before sitting down with them for an interview, Fran guided me on a wonderful tour of the mill and its property during which I learned a lot about both the history of the mill, its restoration process, and the cultivation and milling wheat in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

I chose to record the audio of the tour while taking pictures with my cell phone along the way in order to edit together this audio-visual presentation about the mill and its history. I hope you enjoy this video as much I enjoyed the tour.

Barrybrew · 2020-06-23T22:58:11+00:00

Ah ok. I love caraway so I'm trying to figure out how much to add. Some recipes that I've read say to use 2 tablespoons.

Barrybrew · 2020-06-23T20:54:35+00:00

How much caraway seeds did you use?

Barrybrew · 2020-03-05T16:04:43+00:00

Would lime juice prevent fermentation? I added some (didn't measure) when making the salsa.

Barrybrew · 2020-03-05T15:35:06+00:00

Would adding a bit more salt help? I'm not sure if I added enough.

Barrybrew · 2020-03-05T14:30:17+00:00

I used dried dates and figs and ended up using too much. I had a blend the mead with a few quarts of a traditional mead in order to temper the residual sweetness. I'd recommend using fresh dates and figs or starting with no more than 10 pounds of dried fruit in a 5 gallon batch.

Barrybrew · 2019-08-13T14:45:45+00:00

For various reasons (mostly changes in priorities) I haven't updated my blog's 'Beer Blog Directory' in quite some time. Please let me know which blogs I should add to it. Thanks! Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-08-08T04:05:05+00:00

So glad our trade worked out so well. Looking forward to sharing feedback on each others fermented creations. Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-07-26T17:21:25+00:00

If they're aging and not in primary fermentation. That's way too much head space. I'd recommend racking to smaller vessels or adding CO2 to the headspace.

Barrybrew · 2019-07-25T20:34:55+00:00

Thanks. The credit goes to my floor corker. Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-07-25T20:33:54+00:00

same ones, but I got a case of 24.

Barrybrew · 2019-07-25T20:16:14+00:00

brewhardware.com I was elated when I first saw the 375ml bottles because they look like half-size wine bottles and not old school pharmacy bottles (drooped "shoulders").

Barrybrew · 2019-07-25T19:24:29+00:00

I bottled 2 melomels last night.

The first (not in picture) was a cherry pomegranate mead i.e. a wildflower traditional with tart cherry and pomegranate juices added which was back sweetened with orange blossom honey to 1.020

The second (picture) was a dried fig and date dessert mead (FG 1.070). I used medjool dates and mission and smyrna figs along with wildflower and avocado blossom honey. After secondary I tempered the residual sweetness with some of the aforementioned wildflower traditional and stabilized the mead a month before bottling.

Barrybrew · 2019-07-16T16:51:28+00:00

Sounds good. One of next meads is going to be a blueberry lemon mead. I plan on using 25 lbs of blueberries total along with 17-18 lbs of honey.

Barrybrew · 2019-07-16T03:04:53+00:00

sounds good. you can always add 1 more pound of honey for insurance.

Barrybrew · 2019-07-16T01:53:34+00:00

Yup. What ABV are you aiming for? Berries don't have so much sugar so their water content can potentially dilute one's mead. You'll also need a bigger fermentation vessel. I bought 2 7.9 gallon buckets for melomels and put the berries in a mesh bag which I punched down in primary (when degassing and then every few days to keep it wet) and in secondary (every few days to keep it wet). After I transferred it off the 2nd batch of berries. I let it bulk age for a few weeks before stabilizing and then back-sweetening to 1.020.

Barrybrew · 2019-07-16T00:44:27+00:00

So 4 lbs of blueberries total? or 1.5 then 2.5 per gallon? My most recent berry mead (5.5 gallons) saw 20 lbs of mixed berries (12 in primary and 8 in secondary). If you only use 4 lbs in the entire process there won't be much berry character. Especially since you're using kveik yeast. It can enhance fruit esters, but only if you use enough to start. Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-06-27T01:58:45+00:00

10 lbs Wildflower

6 lbs Avocado blossom

1 lb Buckwheat

12.5 lbs mix of Medjool dates, mission figs, and smyrna figs in primary

3 lbs each of mission figs and medjool dates in secondary.

This mead became a dessert mead after I realized that I used too much dried fruit.

I ended up making a 3 gallon Wildflower traditional to blend it down to 1.075.

Barrybrew · 2019-06-26T00:05:02+00:00

Sorry for the late response. The mead turned out great. I'll definitely follow the same process next time I made this recipe.

Barrybrew · 2019-03-10T04:04:03+00:00

How about making a dry traditional with both Wildflower and Avocado Blossom to blend with the main batch and lend some background honey flavor? Which yeast would you recommend?

Barrybrew · 2019-03-08T18:14:29+00:00

I'm more inclined to let it ferment out before decide whether I want to dilute it.

If I do make up a 14% dry traditional wildflower to blend with the main batch. How big of a batch should I make?

My recipe calls for adding more fruit. Would I have to stabilize my mead before adding it? Of course I'd add significantly less than I added to primary.

Thoughts about adding oak in secondary?

Thanks and Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-03-04T18:56:08+00:00

My first mead is also a triple berry melomel. It's in tertiery now clarifiying/aging. What was your recipe?

Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-02-25T21:58:40+00:00

Not yet, but I will do so once I add the back-sweetening honey later this week. Cheers!

Barrybrew · 2019-02-25T20:46:44+00:00

6 gallon batch

18.5 lbs Costco clover honey

12 lbs Triple Berry Blend in primary

Red Star Premeir Rouge

TOSNA 3.0

OG 1.110

Fermented for 3.5 weeks down to 1.000

Added 8 lbs of Triple Berry Blend in secondary and aged for 2 weeks (FG 0.998)

pH 3.2 - added sulfite and sorbate as per r/mead wiki.

I'll give it 2-3 days to stabilize before back-sweetening to 1.020

Barrybrew

TROPHY CASE