:TESTO:So I've had a great few weeks of late, visiting my sister in Charlottesville to celebrate my birthday and to play the role of Midnight Bunny for my niece-and-nephews' Easter, then to Oberlin, two weekends in a row, for old-friend visits and a truly remarkable quantity of contra dancing. And robots, and mad science, both on stage. Which brings me to a caveat about homebrewing...

Don't hand-cork bottles that you've primed for carbonation. Your furniture will thank you, and so will the window opposite your wine rack. All three primed bottles of Timberwine have gushed enthusiastically in the last week and a half - the first was happily sealed with a mighty gasket-clamp, and so only erupted upon opening. The latter two did make the floor sticky without human intervention (a fitting resonance with the ending theme of the recently-witnessed production of R.U.R...), and although the window was safely protected behind hyperbole, my dining room now smells refreshingly of pine trees and maple syrup. And ethanol.

This is a shame, as there exist very few bottles of Timberwine - I think I'm down to two half-liters, and for all I know Rafe may have already drowned in a foamy sea of fermented tree-sap. The remaining bottles (fitted with the stronger seal) will be cherished, and saved for a particularly rainy day. Then I shall make another maple brew, and dedicate it to the wine that was lost. (As I drink the dregs of bottle #2, I note the cinnamon flavor has matured nicely, and the pineyness has been subdued. The next maple fermentation shall be even better!)

On the upside, the Water From India is doing very well, fermenting for a long long time but looking clear and tasting deliciously gingery. I do not think I will prime the WFI bottles.

Go now to sleep, and if you see a new star in the early morning sky, know it is my cork. :ENDTESTO: