Apple Brandy

[Bushman]

Well I am currently on vacation in Las Vegas and have 2 days to get home because on Friday I am taking my boat out in the San Juan's (in Washington State) to a friends and use my apple press to make cider from the apples at his orchard. I will probably take my 3 6 gallon carboy's that are not currently in use and bring back some cider to make brandy. I am hoping dundr chimes in here as I have been contemplating buying some peaches to add for flavoring in the ferment as I read that that enhances the flavor.

[rubber duck]

U'mmmm I'd take a few of those barrels that you just got.

One for cider, two for booze.

[Bushman]

Update: we made 39 gallons of non pasteurized cider. No pesticides used on the trees, now I just have to figure out the best way to make the brandy. I have no experience in this so I thought I would share my thoughts and concerns and see what you all think. First I will ferment it, then distill part of it and leave some as hard cider. My thought is when it is time to dilute the distillate I would use the hard cider for more flavor. My concern is the hard cider is not pasteurized and am worried it may cause problems when added to the brandy. What I have read is that if I pasteurize the apple cider with heat I loose some of the good flavors. Any thoughts or suggestions?

[Tater]

I made brandy from cider while back.I liked it best white.I adding some it to cider by the drink. My wife really enjoyed hot cup cider with a shot of the brandy mixed in on cold winter days.As I do If ya have to double run on final run Id add some cider to thumper.If I was trying to add bit more taste.If ya have some cider juice that's not been fermented to put in thumper even better.I'm doing some peach now and am using unfermented peach juice/ pulp in thumper for added flavor.To my taste anyway seems like the hint of flavor is more fruit like if juice in thumper still has natural sugar in it.

[rtalbigr]

I'm currently making some hard cider but haven't read anything about pasteurizing it. Are you sure your not confusing that with pasteurizing the apple juice before you ferment because I have read that some do that? I would think that if you're going to ferment fairly quickly pasteurization would really be necessary, only if the juice would be setting for a while. Btw, what yeast are you planning on using? For hard cider I like EC-1118.

I like Tater's suggestion about cider in the thumper, but then I don't run with a thumper. About two years ago I did some black cherry stuff and when I distilled I put a lot of the cherry pulp right in the still (I have a false bottom) and I got a really nice flavor carry over.

Big R

[Bushman]

This one and some of the other sites also mention pasteurized hard cider to take out the risk with natural yeast. I am not worried so much about the fermentation as it will last on e it is distilled.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Br ... m-Scratch/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
My biggest concer is adding this to the flavor of the brandy to bring it down to a drinkable abv and still have flavor. Also concerned with the shelf life in doing this with non pasteurized hard cider.

[rtalbigr]

This one and some of the other sites also mention pasteurized hard cider to take out the risk with natural yeast. I am not worried so much about the fermentation as it will last on e it is distilled.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Home-Br ... m-Scratch/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
My biggest concer is adding this to the flavor of the brandy to bring it down to a drinkable abv and still have flavor. Also concerned with the shelf life in doing this with non pasteurized hard cider.

Have you considered just using some potassiuim metabisulfite? It will take care of any wild yeast and won't affect flavor. Also you can use a little potassium sorbate (after fermentation is completely done, just before bottling) to stabilize and increase your shelf life of the hard cider. I also add a little pectic enzyme; some recipes call for it some don't but it will help with haziness in the final product. The way I do with my hard cider is add kmeta, rest for 12 hrs, add pectic enzyme, rest 12 hrs, then pitch yeast. I think with the kmeta and ksorbate you should be able to retain flavor for addition to the brandy.

Big R

[Durace11]

IMO the hard cider should stay good as long as you don't get an infection. Once you add it to the finished distillate it shoud be even less likely to get an infection due to the higher ABV. I think proper sanitation is all you need to worry about. Probably bottle the hard cider "still" under beer caps to keep it safe and just pop them open when you are ready to dilute your brandy. Caps are cheap and very safe from infection. If you have any leftovers just drink them up and/or add carb drops and re-cap them for sparkling. You probably could even mix it up from carbed cider but not sure how that would keep or if it would cause any issues during dilution. Sure would make a hella good apple brandy with a splash of hard cider thrown on top!

[Bushman]

Once you add it to the finished distillate it shoud be even less likely to get an infection due to the higher ABV.

That is my thought that it would probably be safer with a higher abv but wasn't sure if it could cause an infection. Like I stated earlier I have not done a fruit wash before. Started today with a small 10 gallon wash, thought I would make the brandy first so I froze the rest and will probably play around with several different recipes.

[Braz]

First I will ferment it, then distill part of it and leave some as hard cider. My thought is when it is time to dilute the distillate I would use the hard cider for more flavor.

That is "sort of" what I do with unpasturized cider. I hold back some of the fermented hard cider and do two runs. I do a strip run and then use the held back hard cider to dilute the low wines to ~30% for the spirit run. Age on oak for a while then transfer to glass for further aging. I usually add a bit of maple syrup and a small handful of raisins to the glass. Six to twelve months later you have a lovely sipping drink.

Unpasturized sweet cider will keep for several weeks if refrigerated. Fermented hard cider will keep for a long time refrigerated (I've never tested the limit).

[Bushman]

Thanks Braz, I added 1 grm of yeast per gallon as I figured there was probably enough natural yeasts to do it but wanted to give it a kick start. It has been going steady and today is day 3 of constant bubbling. It sure smells great and I can't wait to see how it turns out.

Another plan as my last generation of UJ started to taste bad when I got into the tails so I think when I run the brandy I will start a new generation of UJ and use the brandy backset. Might give it an interesting flavor.

[GingerTop]

That sounds pretty good... Adding a shot of apple brandy to a hot still cider. I'm planning on making 15 gallons of hard cider, sweetening it, then force carbing with a keg. Wish I could bring myself to throw some in the still, because last year, 15 gallons went QUICK! I probably only went through 5 gallons myself, but it was very popular with the females.... Got invited to a lot of sorority parties, haha.

[Bushman]

Just talked to a member of another forum amd did not think about taking the pomace and adding sugar and water to ferment. I fed the sheep with it and boy did that give them the scoots.

[Bushman]

I've got to admit I put up these about 2-1/2 weeks ago and I resisted tasting but they sure smell good!

Put up the brandy in quart jars doing various experiments.

Jar #1- bottled at 35% using cider boiled in cinnamon for the cut. Added raisins and touch of maple syrup oaking on JD chips.

Jar #2 same as #1 but cut to 35% using 1/2 apple cider and 1/2 water.

Jar #3 same as #1 but cut to 30%

Jar #4 same as #2 but cut to 30%

Jar #5 same as #1 but cut completely with water to get 30% abv.

[Bushman]

Update:
Have not yet tasted the brandy as it has only been aging a little over a month but the person that has the apple orchard found a 5 gallon carboy left from last year that he made hard cider with. He was going to dump it out but I told him to smell it and see if it was vinegar. He said kinda but still had a scent of apple so I told him to bring it over and I will run it though the still. Made the run today and wasn't sure how much if any alcohol I would get so I collected in very small containers like I used to when first learning. To my surprise I got probably close to what I would expect from my normal runs. I collected it at 85%, smells decent so currently airing and will make cuts in a few days.

Didn't expect to get much so it was a bonus.

[Hawk_]

Sounds cool Bushman. Ive been getting the glass gallon jugs of 100% apple juice. Been letting the kids drink it and I get the jug. Now I think I want to get half dozen jugs and ferment the apple.

[Bushman]

Update:
Have not yet tasted the brandy as it has only been aging a little over a month but the person that has the apple orchard found a 5 gallon carboy left from last year that he made hard cider with. He was going to dump it out but I told him to smell it and see if it was vinegar. He said kinda but still had a scent of apple so I told him to bring it over and I will run it though the still. Made the run today and wasn't sure how much if any alcohol I would get so I collected in very small containers like I used to when first learning. To my surprise I got probably close to what I would expect from my normal runs. I collected it at 85%, smells decent so currently airing and will make cuts in a few days.

Didn't expect to get much so it was a bonus.

Made my final cuts on this 1 year old hard cider and seemed to have a lot more heads than usual. Most of my products I've produced usually keep around 65-70% with the rest thrown back in the feints containers. On this run I kept maybe 50% of the alcohol but considering it was going to get thrown out, still a decent return. Will end up with about 1.5 liters.

PS: I wish my original batches were ready to drink today as it would make a great after Thanksgiving drink!

[WIski]

Bushman » Fri Nov 09, 2012 7:09 am

I've got to admit I put up these about 2-1/2 weeks ago and I resisted tasting but they sure smell good!

Put up the brandy in quart jars doing various experiments.

Jar #1- bottled at 35% using cider boiled in cinnamon for the cut. Added raisins and touch of maple syrup oaking on JD chips.

Jar #2 same as #1 but cut to 35% using 1/2 apple cider and 1/2 water.

Jar #3 same as #1 but cut to 30%

Jar #4 same as #2 but cut to 30%

Jar #5 same as #1 but cut completely with water to get 30% abv.

Bushman, I assume these Brandy's are long gone but I'm wondering which ones were the winners?

[Gorebyss]

That's cool. I never try adding peached in apple brandy.

[Bushman]

I drank these a while back and not sure which one was the winner but if memory serves me I didn't like the one with the raisins added. Seems like it had a bitter tang to it.