Peach brandy

[Shine0n]

As of now I have collected 125 lbs of peaches and should have 2 more baskets by weeks end. Each basket is approximately 35 lbs.
My plan is to use mostly peaches with minimal sugar which I will invert. Headed to the home Brew shop tomorrow to pick up the ec1118. I've read quite a few threads on peaches and haven't seen many sg readings posted so my 1 question for now is what would be a good sg, 6-8% maybe a bit higher? This is going to be my 3rd attempt at fruit, the strawberry turned out ok, the plums are better and this one I'd like to be as good as possible within my capabilities. So here is what I'm thinking
55 gal fermenter
40 gal total
125 lbs peaches
20 lbs inverted sugar
10 packs ec1118
I'm running a 15.5 gal 2" potstill with thumper and worm. One run only!!! I'll also be fermenting in an open top (covered with towel) in a controlled environment.

[MDH]

If you want good brandy,

1. Use either wild yeast or pick another yeast, Lalvin K1 or Cote de Blancs
2. Ferment at a low temp
3. don't use an open top at all, get a lid and install an airlock. You want a solid CO2 layer above the ferment until it finishes.
4. Don't add sugar it dilutes the flavor

[Shine0n]

Noted on the open top, I do have a closed 55 gal I did my plums in. No airlock but used a latex glove with a hole poked in the finger. I'll also look at some different yeast, thanks.

[Shine0n]

Went to the brew shop today and they had no wine yeast, the guy said the sold out and shipment wasn't due in till Saturday. I'm not driving 1.5 hours for yeast, at least not this weekend anyway. So I'm wondering if dady will do the job? I have plenty of that and my other ferments use bakers. Anyone, will dady work or wait till Monday when I have to be that way.

[MDH]

Here's my suggestion. Do you have a warm room?

1. Get a ziplock bag.
2. Put a few of the peaches and some water in the ziplock bag.
3. Close it ALMOST completely, then crush the contents from the outside of the bag with your fingers.
4. Using your hands, push any remaining air out of the ziplock and seal it completely.

After a few days, if left in a warm room (>70f) it will begin to ferment vigorously. This bag can be added to the mashed peaches to begin fermentation.

It's best to crush the peaches while the bag ferment is active, as the yeast will go dormant if the ferment inside the ziplock bag completes and is left for a while.

[Shine0n]

Very interesting, now the peaches are all not from the same region. Not sure how that will come into play, the first few baskets are brought in from another area, not quite sure if imported or not. And then when local peaches come into season they are then sold. Thanks for that insight on wild yeast and I'll do some research on that subject today before I thaw tonight.

[NZChris]

Make a starter from each region, then choose the most active, or the nicest smell, then chuck the others in the compost so that they don't compete with the one you chose.

[Shine0n]

NZChris, sounds like a plan. I'm excited to try this recipe, I'm just concerned about the wild yeast thing with all the negative things some are saying on the forums but where's the fun if you don't try right!? If it stalls or fails I can always add a yeast bomb, so that's that ALL NATURAL.

[MDH]

Thaw? If the peaches were frozen you killed the wild yeast.

You will want to use unfrozen ones to start the ferment.

[Shine0n]

Unfortunately they are I've been getting them at different times. My friend gives me all the bruised and damaged ones for free so I getm when I getm, Oh well maybe on the next batch. Yeast is a good thing, I'll make the trip tomorrow to get it.

[Shine0n]

So after 2 trips to the not so local brew shop and without any wine yeast I've decided to go ahead with the dady. Not the choice I had in mind but I was worried about the wash getting funky. It took 2 days (long evening) to mix strain and get all the stones out.PITA!!! But it's all done now and I'm curious on how thick should the wash be? It is thick like stew, almost. The peach slurry was 25 gal then I added water to make around 40 gallon, I did invert 15 lbs of sugar and mixed really well with my drill. Made a starter with the mixture and added 3 hours later, the yeast seem pretty happy and can see some activities going on.
I also kept the skins and whatever else I strained out minus the stones, I only kept 2.5 gal in a 5 gal bucket added 1 cup of invert sugar topped off with water to make about 4 gal total and pitched some rehydrated yeast. 2 tsp. Not sure why, I seen it on grapes and plums so I thought what the hell. Why not!?!?
Sorry for no pics but I can't seem to get the resizing right. No home computer just my phone so I'm kinda using what I have.
I'll try to describe in detail what's going on with this one.

[cranky]

I might be too late to this thread but, I disagree with MDH on several things. I do agree you shouldn't use sugar. I personally don't like wild yeast because it is a total crap shoot, we have disagreed on this subject before and I'm sure his method works great for him but he doesn't live everywhere and everywhere is different and it would be a shame to lose 125# of peaches because you got a bad strain, There is a reason yeast strains have been isolated and are now sold at the store. Freezing the peaches won't kill the yeast they will just go dormant and come right back when they thaw, after all in some areas they survive some pretty harsh winters in the wild, don't they? I also feel 1118 would be just fine for what you are doing, it's a good clean fermenting yeast. It may not produce extra fruity esters but I would rather use that than DADY myself.

[Shine0n]

Thanks cranky, I was about 6 pages into your fruity goodness thread running a batch of sf when the dogs started up. Scared the crap out of me but anyway, the brew shop is 1.5 hours away and I've been there twice to no avail. All I can do is pray this turns out good, with the little sugar I did use I don't think it will give off to much bite considering the amount of peaches. I couldn't take a reading because of how thick it was. I still have about 75 pounds in the freezer and still have more to come soon. Once I get all of them at the end of the season I'll do it all natural no sugar with the proper yeast. I need to come up that way and get some blackberries but right now apples are in full bloom and almost ready to go.

[MDH]

I might be too late to this thread but, I disagree with MDH on several things. I do agree you shouldn't use sugar. I personally don't like wild yeast because it is a total crap shoot, we have disagreed on this subject before and I'm sure his method works great for him but he doesn't live everywhere and everywhere is different and it would be a shame to lose 125# of peaches because you got a bad strain.

Right. Since I've never been anywhere, Cranky.

Firstly, I learned about using wild yeast from distillers in western France, the first of whome I met when he was on a trip here on Canada (ironically, selling Whisky, but we still discussed eau de vie). And then I also learned about it from Croatians. And then a Hungarian neighbor. And then a Swiss wine buyer, who told me about Rochelt in tyrole, a very respected local distillery who uses wild yeast exclusively. And it goes on.

That was mostly in 2011.

Since then, I have collected fruit, indeed, from "everywhere". From wild choke and elderberries ten miles outside of Uclulet, British Columbia (Where that generic lighthouse image from Windows comes from), to Victoria Plums in the Okanagan Valley, to a huge tree of Cherries in rural Northern Coastal Oregon.

The "truth" about wild yeast is that it is not a crapshoot at all: There are indeed thousands of strains in every wild ferment, but eventually the strains the most suited to it will take over and finish. This all occurs in a series of stages, starting with non-saccharomyces, switching to saccharomyces, and then finally finishing with lactobacillus. If you have the correct pH range and temperature, the right ones will dominate over the ferment and fast. This same idea is applied to so many things we eat - pickles vegetables and fruits all use it. In fermenting olives, you will have to use salt brine to allow lactobacillus to dominate. For Juneberries (known also as service and saskatoon), I must acidify it to a pH of 4.3 since it comes out at a pH of >5 at peak ripeness).

It's just about taming the beast.

There's no crapshooting going on unless you have virtually no understanding of it, and attempt to ferment a high Ph (>6) ferment wild while leaving oxygen in the container, and then leave the ferment sitting around for a month thinking nothing bad can possibly happen. Or you attempt to perform a ferment in a low-temperature environment where the yeast cannot adequately reproduce. Maybe then you will start to experience some real problems.

[cranky]

I might be too late to this thread but, I disagree with MDH on several things. I do agree you shouldn't use sugar. I personally don't like wild yeast because it is a total crap shoot, we have disagreed on this subject before and I'm sure his method works great for him but he doesn't live everywhere and everywhere is different and it would be a shame to lose 125# of peaches because you got a bad strain.

Right. Since I've never been anywhere, Cranky.

Never said you haven't been anywhere, just that you aren't everywhere, I also notice you didn't list fermenting peaches in Virginia on that list of qualifications.

As I have already said, we disagree on this. Your opinion is just as valid as min but mine is also just as valid as yours. It may work for you but it is an opinion and yes in my opinion is it is one big crap shoot. Bear tried it last year and lost 55 gallons of plums but others did fine. Other members have also had problems. I myself did a wild apple ferment last year with yeast carefully selected and in truth it was fine but every one of the 3 other yeasts I used gave a better final product and by the way all of them are isolated strains from wild ferments at some point, they were all isolated for reasons and they give good repeatable results without shaking a fist and saying "Come on seven!".

Those European ones you mentioned have usually had orchards or vineyards there for hundreds of years, giving the yeast most favorable to that particular fruit a chance to become highly dominant and survive many winters, your statement about freezing yeast killing them is just plain wrong. If it were true there would be no yeast in Canada at all.

There is no need to get pissed off at me because we have a difference of opinion on this, I get it, you think wild yeast is the bomb. I disagree and many members who have tried it have had mixed successes and failures. I give honest advice and honestly as I said in my opinion it is a crap shoot and you telling everybody about how knowledgeable you are about yeast and ferments and PH for specific situations and temperature isn't going to change the fact that if they follow your original given instructions it is and will be a complete crap shoot for them but they are the ones risking hundreds of pounds of fruit not you or me so I feel the best advice is to stay away from wild ferments until such time as a novice is ready and willing to risk and possibly lose the fruit and brandy they have often worked so hard to get.

[Shine0n]

The cap on this ferment is crazy thick! I'm excited as all get out. The room is a constant 74°f and I may knock it down to 69 70. Even though I didn't pay alot of money for the fruit I still would be out of peaches and the money if something were to happen, so until I get alot better grasp on the whole process I think it's in my best interest to do exactly as I have done. That being said thank you cranky and MDH for you words of wisdom. I know that you both have a hell of alot more knowledge than me and I appreciate all advice given as I was told, read read read! Then read some more and so I have and have learned to make a decent drink along the way. The fruit is new to me and one day I hope to have and be able pass down that knowledge without a pissin match amongst each other.

[cranky]

The fruit is new to me and one day I hope to have and be able pass down that knowledge without a pissin match amongst each other.

It would be nice to do things without a pissing match but many of us believe our way is best and will argue the point till the end of time I also tend to have Cranky moments from time to time I hope MDH takes no offense to my words, we butt heads on that subject from time to time. However it does help people understand there are many different ways of doing things and most of them work out in the end.

Thanks cranky, I was about 6 pages into your fruity goodness thread running a batch of sf when the dogs started up. Scared the crap out of me but anyway, the brew shop is 1.5 hours away and I've been there twice to no avail. All I can do is pray this turns out good, with the little sugar I did use I don't think it will give off to much bite considering the amount of peaches. I couldn't take a reading because of how thick it was. I still have about 75 pounds in the freezer and still have more to come soon. Once I get all of them at the end of the season I'll do it all natural no sugar with the proper yeast. I need to come up that way and get some blackberries but right now apples are in full bloom and almost ready to go.

I missed this earlier, That thread documents a whole lot of my activities over the past few years I can't help but talk about fruit. There is just so much free fruit in this area it is crazy and I actually can't keep up this year. Blackberries are everywhere and I haven't even picked a gallon yet this year, I really need to find time to do that but I have been so tied up with apples and pears I just don't have the time..

[Shine0n]

I was watching a link to your press you built I like the way you use the bottle jack. I need to build me one as well. I have 3 apple trees and the apples are starting to turn red but they are very small. I have never tried anything with apples but planning on it this year. I may need your advice again once I get going on them I will continue to read read read and take that knowledge you can get for free. How will I know when they are ready? If they start to fall off the trees? Right now they are a bit sour but still very tasty.

[cranky]

I watch for when they start to fall, then taste them, around here the under ripe ones seem to have a powderyness to them. I used to also pick enough to process enough juice to take an S.G. reading with my hydrometer but now I have a refractometer so all I need is about 3 drops of juice. Most apples run between 1.045 and 1.06 with a few exceptions that get a little higher. Sweetness and tartness don't really have much bearing on the amount of sugar an apple has. Size tends to be pretty irreverent too. The ones I've been processing today are actually pretty tiny some of them take 200 to a bucket. Calvadose is made from small apples that are drops. When the apple drops it is at it's peak but I won't pick up a drop unless I've seen it fall. Jimbo shakes the tree then picks up the drops but most of the trees I pick are surrounded by blackberries so picking up drops aren't an option. Jimbo has a good apple thread too which would be good to read. I don't know how big your trees are but I picked 900 pounds of apples off two trees in July and missed 300 pounds that dropped in a single week and didn't pick all of them on the second tree. It can get very overwhelming but well worth it. Last year I pressed 64 gallons of juice. So far this year I think I'm up to 42 gallons and people are actually tracking me down asking me to take their apples.

There are several threads around about home made grinders and presses, I'm actually very happy with mine although the chopper is a strange contraption compared to some of them. I always have to do things differently.

[Tater]

So after 2 trips to the not so local brew shop and without any wine yeast I've decided to go ahead with the dady. Not the choice I had in mind but I was worried about the wash getting funky. It took 2 days (long evening) to mix strain and get all the stones out.PITA!!! But it's all done now and I'm curious on how thick should the wash be? It is thick like stew, almost. The peach slurry was 25 gal then I added water to make around 40 gallon, I did invert 15 lbs of sugar and mixed really well with my drill. Made a starter with the mixture and added 3 hours later, the yeast seem pretty happy and can see some activities going on.
I also kept the skins and whatever else I strained out minus the stones, I only kept 2.5 gal in a 5 gal bucket added 1 cup of invert sugar topped off with water to make about 4 gal total and pitched some rehydrated yeast. 2 tsp. Not sure why, I seen it on grapes and plums so I thought what the hell. Why not!?!?
Sorry for no pics but I can't seem to get the resizing right. No home computer just my phone so I'm kinda using what I have.
I'll try to describe in detail what's going on with this one.

cant remember if it was goose or dunder who posted put skins in a sack and put in wash i used a clean rock for weight when I do . It does help with flavor

[Shine0n]

Today the Skins had a slight smell of vinegar or I spent too many hours in a shipyard. I will smell them again in the morning and if they smell ok I will go ahead and put them in a brand new pillow case and sink them 2 the bottom. My plan was to add them to the thumper but now depends on how they smell weather I get to use them or not. I've been knocking the cap down twice a day is about 7 or 8 inches thick. It wasn't very sweet to begin with it seems like it's about halfway done I'm wondering if I should take off a couple gallons to make wine? Not sure if I would like it or not. I should have another four or five baskets to go with what I have in my freezer which should add up 2 about 170 pounds or so. I'm collecting figs and apples and about to build a press to accommodate all this fruit. Cranky sure has helped me quite a bit with the thread he has, I've been reading it nonstop

[Shine0n]

Update, my nose was playing tricks on me. The skins didn't smell of vinegar and I put them in a strainer bag and dropped it to the bottom of my fermenter. The great peachy smell is getting less and less and tasting more like a strange peach wine, a little dry. I'm leaning more and more on the running on the pulp and not straining. I think there should be good flavors that carry through and I'm excited I'm worried all at the same time. I guess the first run won't matter as much because I have enough to do two runs. If need be I can run it again with fresh wash. I have been wondering if this will foam up a lot or not, my plums did not foam up very much at all, there was no sign of it in my Thumper. I do however heat up without my arm connected to my keg so I can keep a close eye on it. It should be ready very soon and I can't wait.

[Shine0n]

She's dry thinking Monday for the first run, If I start early enough I may do both. Nah no way I'm spending 18 hours running in this heat. My garage has no ac and gets hotter than hell, but at least one will be run. I hope this is as good as I expect although I don't really know what to expect. First time!!! We'll see come monday

[NZChris]

A lot of the volatile flavor components that make up peach flavor seem to be at the extreme ends of the distillation, so be careful not to throw good flavors out with heads, tails and backset.

I put my last heads jar and my first tails jar together and that tasted better than the hearts cut I'd gone to so much trouble to select.

[Shine0n]

Thanks NZChris on that info, on my very first attempt of brandy with the strawberry so many of the jars smelled so good I added them to the final. Most definitely late heads and some tails, it's been sitting for a good while now and the smell and flavor has improved tremendously. My second with plums was better than the first, even though a bite with the sugar I added but it's still very tasty and smoothing out. My son added a couple jars and had more tails than I would've liked so now if I try to temper, it clouds up. It's still sitting around uncut in hopes time will help settle it out. I plan on refiltering it as well.
Now with the peaches I plan on splitting up the bag of skins and pulp to go into each run trying to carry more flavor over. I went and bought half pints and pints to do all the collection in so I don't miss out on the flavors and the changes when they come. My son will not be apart of the blending this time since he can't get the wet cardboard smell or dog smell yet. This will be my best yet I'm sure of it. Thanks again for all the info guys, most appreciated. Will post monday with updates and final yeilds.

[Shine0n]

Now the fun begins, it's already a 101° in my garage and I'm heating up very slowly since I did put the Pulp in with the wash. I kind of wish I did have to work today but I really need to run this so I can stop obsessing about it I do have a pretty good stockpile, 2 gal sf uncut but blended, 1.25 gal strawberry brandy, 2 gal plum brandy, 1.5 gal bold rum aging on med toast oak for 2.5 months now.
And 1 gal sf rum, 4 gal backset from rum, 12 lb sf, 1 gal unsulphured fancy molasses and 15 lbs sugar in a 15-17 wash. Oh my that's some guuud stuff
Now with 40 gal of peach must I'm hoping to get at least 2 gal from this of good peach brandy. As its warming up I can get good sent of peach, I hope the flavor carries over good too. We'll see!!!

[Shine0n]

The fores cam off and set aside, the first half pint after was 140 and 3 half pints in is holding at 140 proof. I'm not used to pints and half pints I may send my son to the store to get more pint jars. I'm getting a small broken stream right now and might cut the heat back even further. I took jar 5 now and mixed a shot with some water and it's sooooo smooth, I may have a hard time blending this one, even the 2nd heads jar has a pleasant smell and taste. It may get some attention after a good 2 day rest. I'm still collecting in half pints but I'm going to run out of jars before long. Bether get some glasses from the kitchen, real glass

[Shine0n]

Real feel says it's 105° plus the heat from the still it's around 115° not a bit of breeze, all the windows and both garage door are open. Still better than ship heat I guess but with better rewards.
At 2.25 quart now and still holding at 140 proof.
I had some peach shine from a buddy that was sweet as all get out and very low alcohol taste. I didn't taste but a shot since he said he paid 80$ for it... stupid!!!
From the guy on moonshiners, not sure it was true or not but if he paid that much cash for a quart of likker... STUPID
that being said, I sorta kinda thought mine would be somewhat the same... wrong
This is very good imo although that was what I thought this was going to be like. Oh well
I'm pleased to now have a reality check and know that with my limited knowledge I can make a damn fine drink unless I fuck it up with the blending

[Shine0n]

I forgot to ask if anyone ages with wood with their peach brandy? For the most part I drink my stuff white with the eexception of the rum I'm oaking and the 1 quart of plum.

[Shine0n]

After 10 half pints the abv started dropping, 11th is 135ish 12th is 130 ish and 13th is 125 ish and on the 14th I'm sure will drop the same.
I will continue to collect in the same manor until the cloud shows up then crank her up and collect till 20% or so.
I'm kinda glad for the low yeild because work just called and said to be there for the 2nd shift.
Low yeild but great smell and flavourful.
Yup the 14th is 120. Awesome smell though
I do plan on running all the tails collected with the final half run, then do the blending with all the jars collected throughout the 3 runs.
I'm glad canning season is in full swing because they don't ask so many questions about why so many jars, I'm loaded to the gills now with fresh vegetables now it's on to the more Brandy Bwah ha ha