Small Batch Orthodox Perique

[WillQuantrill]

I'm starting this thread as an evolution of my grow blog this year. It gets confusing to me when a grow blog goes far past the designated season and if things go right my updates on the Perique fermentation process will go through next year. So I start at the beginning and omit details of other varieties I grew this year and focus on the Perique. March 1st I planted seed, then May 1st I transplanted 20 Perique starts. Seed came from NWT. Once transplanted, the 20 plants were fairly low maintenance and turned into pretty uniform mature plants with topping starting at 7 weeks and ending at 10. With stalk harvest starting at 12 weeks and ending at 14. With the majority of the harvest hanging for 7-8 weeks.

 

[WillQuantrill]

While stalk curing I built my hand press that the charred oak barrel would set in. The metal hardware I had to source and assemble the 1" all-thread with detachable press plate but the wood was stuff I had lying around.

 

[WillQuantrill]

September 6 and 7, I stripped the leaf from the Perique stalks, frog-legged it and neatly stuffed all 20 plants of damp leaf into the bottom of the barrel. After putting half in I did press down then added other half for the full press. It was at this point I cut the original press plate (the lid to the Kombucha barrel) in half to enable me to exert more pressure on the diameter of the barrel closing the gap from 5/8" to 1/4". Also added a scrap piece of 2x4 to more evenly press against the 2 press plate half moons. I added enough water to keep leaf submerged and continuously checked pressure on the screw everyday cranking down a little bit more for 5 days.

 

[WillQuantrill]

A couple days after feeling confident on the setup and pressure on the tobacco I had to go a screw with it. For some now forgotten reason I became concerned about exposure inside the barrel to the open air and I covered it with a grocery sack. After about a week when I removed the cover for inspection I found some fuzzy growth on the internal wall of the barrel. So I lightly spritzed Hydrogen Peroxide on the walls and wiped out while the tobacco remained anaerobic and under pressure. To combat any future mold growth I left the cover off and I did add a drop light to the top of the barrel with UV-C bulb which thus far has eliminated any additional mold/fuzzy growth. Last picture is the most recent inside the barrel. About once every 10 days so far I do add some water to keep the organic material submerged which some has been lost to wood absorption, and now we are current.

 

[deluxestogie]

I've added this thread to our Index of Key Forum Threads, under "Curing: other". Thanks.

Bob

 

[PvtPublic]

This is amazing info! Thank you!

 

[WillQuantrill]

This is amazing info! Thank you!

Couple small details I skipped over in previous posts, the most time consuming part of this process so far was actually "frog legging" the leaf, as with any new skill I did get faster at it with practice but the midrib does come out easier in medium case if the midrib is still drier than the lamina. Also, all water used in this process is Distilled in an effort to rule out variables.

 

[MadFarmer]

I'm curious about the location of the press and the smell thus far.