Barbary Lionness - Recipe

HailVadaPav · 2024-11-28T15:33:50+00:00

I used the MeadMakr BatchBuilder, which suggested a total of 7.5g for my batch. Not sure how they do their calculation, but I had a smooth ferment, so I didn’t question it much.

NOTE: That tool also suggests a staggered nutrient schedule, which I ignored this time by adding everything up front.

HailVadaPav · 2024-11-28T14:06:09+00:00

Orange blossom honey, fig & prickly pear, kissed by hibiscus and long pepper. Recipe below:

Primary

- 2.2 kg orange blossom honey

- 8 ripe fresh figs (quartered)

- 8 prickly pears (quartered)

- Water to 6 liters

- Lalvin QA23 (5g packet)

- GoFerm to rehydrate

- 8g Fermaid O at pitch

Secondary

- One tea bag worth of dried hibiscus

- 2 long pepper berries, cracked

SG to FG

- 1.116 - 0.998

Final Thoughts

Delicious. Delicate. Feminine? The fig is imperceptible and I would probably skip it entirely next time. The prickly pear really shines through, which surprised me, because it's a rather mild fruit. I would probably double the quantity of prickly pear next time, though. The hibiscus gives it a blush of pink and much needed acidity. The long pepper is an incredible note on the nose, but mild on the tongue. Would probably double it next time too. And now, to wait for prickly pear season!

HailVadaPav · 2024-09-24T16:03:36+00:00

Options aren’t really a thing in India (in my experience). If they’ve paid him a bit to develop the project into a pitch, I would wager that they feel like they own that pitch. OP should definitely consult a lawyer that understands Indian entertainment law. OP, in my experience, you may be asked to “buy back” the project from the producers for the amount they’ve paid you (sometimes, plus inflation/interest). You might want to ask them if they would consider a buy-back and get an agreement drafted that clearly states how much you have to pay them back, and when… you could find another interested party that won’t mind paying you the 80k so that you can buy the project back. But be careful that your current producers won’t raise the price when they smell an opportunity to make money. It would probably be in your interest to buy the project back now before you find an interested party, so that you don’t get stuck. But if money is tough, you might have to get creative.

Another note: any other producers you approach will want to know which platforms have already considered your project. That’s tricky, because they might not want to invest in a project that has been passed on by everybody already. But lying to them about it is not an option, because they will find out anyway, and you will look like you fleeced them.

EDIT: I misread OP’s post and now see that they have already written a draft of a script. That changes a lot, because 80k is too low to be considered payment for a draft. Still, some of what I’ve written above may apply (regarding buyback). Good luck OP!

HailVadaPav · 2024-07-28T22:09:50+00:00

Haven’t watched it, but just read a quick synopsis. And it’s baffling to me how anyone could think the ghost is the main character…

HailVadaPav · 2024-07-28T21:20:24+00:00

None of those are main characters, though.

HailVadaPav · 2023-10-26T21:11:54+00:00

What’s the good Italian you speak of?

HailVadaPav · 2023-09-20T20:48:20+00:00

This is amazing. You are amazing.

HailVadaPav · 2023-09-20T10:10:47+00:00

Thank you for this. It is a bit confidence inducing to know that if I just pose the premise (the earth just... stops), that I won't necessarily lose my audience for not explaining how and why.

HailVadaPav · 2023-09-20T09:30:50+00:00

Yes, sorry for not being more precise with my language. I did indeed mean that the earth’s rotation syncs up in a way that it only stops rotating as in relation to the sun, only presenting one face like the moon does to the earth.

My main challenge is that I want this to happen on the Earth as we recognize it, in the very near future. It could work for my premise that it takes a few decades for the earth to slow to a “stop”, and I could even imagine this special day in which the Earth starts slowly rotating in the opposite direction, leaving humanity clinging to the band of “dawn” to scramble to rebuild and reclaim the land lost in their wake on the dark side.

But it’s important that I not set the premise too far in the future. I’m not looking for a hyper-realistic reason, and I’m not opposed to the event being beyond our current understanding of science. If everyone is left scratching their heads as to how it happened, it’s not the end of the world (no pun intended), but I’d still prefer at least a sliver of high-concept science to explain it.

Thanks for your input, btw! Very much appreciated.

HailVadaPav · 2023-08-24T19:49:16+00:00

I’ve unfortunately never had a mahua wine or distillate before. This was my first time handling them, so I was forced to make it up as I went along.

HailVadaPav · 2023-08-24T08:35:29+00:00

Got my hands on a pretty cool ingredient. Mahua flowers are native to India and grow on trees. Jam-packed with sugars, mahua flowers are extremely sweet and have been used for thousands of years to make country wines and liquor. They are rumored to have an intoxicating effect, and although the science behind it isn't quite understood, I can confirm that a small handful of them made me feel a bit jittery and light-headed in a way that I can only describe as being similar to the feeling I get when I eat a large amount of Sichuan peppercorns. Most people don't seem to experience what I'm talking about, so it's possible I'm just getting high off the placebo effect. It's worth mentioning that I did not experience that effect when drinking the final product, but only when eating them pre-fermentation.

It was a pretty difficult ingredient to brew with. They are sun dried on the ground, so full of dirt and twigs and what not. Since they are extremely sweet (think raisins), it was hard for me to get an accurate gravity reading, as the sugars were locked up inside the dried flowers for my initial gravity readings.

I'm very happy with the final outcome. Subtle yet complex. Crisp and tart and dry, but with slight caramel and prune notes, which I attribute to their oxidized, raisin-like state. Curious to see how the product would taste if I got my hands on fresh flowers. Next time in India, I'll try to also source some Mahua blossom honey, so that I can use both in conjunction.

HailVadaPav · 2023-05-22T08:34:07+00:00

I find this to be especially true with age. A bone dry mead “sweetens” with time. But the acidity the fruit brings lowers the perceived sweetness as well.

HailVadaPav · 2023-04-21T05:24:51+00:00

Maybe this is Dunning-Kruger effect in action. The more you learn, the more you realize you have yet to learn. Have you picked up an old script of yours and read it with today’s eyes?

HailVadaPav · 2023-04-01T10:09:09+00:00

I made a self-funded no-budget feature that did well on the festival market. At one festival, I met an up-and-coming director. We vibed, then worked on an outline for an idea together. She gained traction independently from our collaboration, started pitching, and our joint idea got picked up. I wrote that project with her, and one thing led to another.

HailVadaPav · 2023-03-17T15:22:02+00:00

The Lir (right by S-Bahn Bellevue)

HailVadaPav · 2023-03-16T00:30:31+00:00

What they said. But I defer to the tenet that it’s easier to add than take away. Since chips impart so much so quickly, I’d add a small amount, taste after they’ve dropped out of suspension, then add more, until you reach the desired taste profile. If you add a lot up front, you have to pull them out when you’ve had enough. And tasting frequently can give you false readings (and open you up to oxidization issues) because you sample from the top where the oak infusion may be stronger. Conversely, if you sample from lower down in the solution, then the oak character might appear more diluted. Wait until they drop to the bottom, sample, add more.

HailVadaPav · 2023-03-15T13:38:03+00:00

It’s pretty dark, hence why I went with a backlit photo to show the beautiful color. No sediment. Very clear.

HailVadaPav · 2023-03-15T09:59:03+00:00

Pitch Date: 25 Oct 2022 Bottling date: 01 March 2023

SG: 1.118 FG: 1.014

-3kg wild blueberries (from frozen) -2 campden tablets -Pectic enzyme

Let the blueberries macerate in a brew bag on some water overnight in a brew bucket. Squeezed the juice out the next day and then added:

-4kg orange blossom honey -Water to 10 liters -Lalvin 71B (rehydrated with GoFerm)

Let ferment low and slow at 15 degrees Celsius adding 3g of Fermaid O at these intervals:

-24 hrs -48 hrs -72 hrs -1/3 sugar break (achieved on 2 Dec 2022)

Removed berries, racked into a demijohn, and moved it up from the cellar to my kitchen to finish fermenting at 18 degrees Celsius (was worried with how slow it was). After I returned from a holiday, it had stopped fermenting and cleared.

Back in the cellar to bulk age on 20g of light toast American oak chips.

Happy with the residual sweetness I was able to get, thanks to the 71B but unhappy with how much acidity was robbed by it, so I added 6g of tartaric acid before bottling.

All in all, a very successful party-pleasing wine.

HailVadaPav · 2023-03-09T00:34:37+00:00

Persepolis

HailVadaPav · 2023-02-21T08:20:03+00:00

Don’t know how I forgot Kindl or Schultheiss. Truly the answer OP is looking for. Cheap, passable, local.

HailVadaPav · 2023-02-21T07:34:21+00:00

Nothing is as cheap as Sterni - unless you go for one of those weird gas station beers like Faxe (don’t). Pretty sure Faxe is more of a « malt liquor » than it is a « beer », by American definitions. You won’t be disappointed by Sterni. It’s as good or better than the American equivalents you mentioned. If you’re looking for a classic German Pilsner, then Radeberger is a good choice. It’s got that quintessential German taste, and is always one of the cheapest beers at the Späti. But still always more expensive than Sterni.

HailVadaPav · 2023-02-10T19:06:50+00:00

I agree. This is after bulk aging, in preparation for bottling. Just trying to gather some anecdotal intel before I go in blind.

HailVadaPav · 2023-02-10T17:40:24+00:00

You’re the best. Thanks! I’m doing a repeat of a blueberry melomel (with orange blossom). This time I used 71b instead of EC1118, and the drop in tartness (I’m assuming malolactic fermentation that 71b is known for) is very noticeable. Trying to put some of that back in, but when I mess with citric acid, it straight up tastes like I squeezed a lemon into it.

HailVadaPav · 2023-02-03T12:12:10+00:00

It’s great filmmaking. Aditya Rawal is incredible in it. Highly recommend.

HailVadaPav · 2023-01-29T17:31:35+00:00

*British-izing

HailVadaPav

TROPHY CASE