best yeast for fruit brandy

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still_stirrin
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Re: best yeast for fruit brandy

Post by still_stirrin »

AlKohol wrote:...2- if i were to run a primary stripping run and collect everything from start to , say, 90 Deg C. then, i could run a second distillation with accurate temperature cuts....
No! You CAN NOT make cuts by temperature. Go back to school...and read the Spoon Feed thread (see link in my signature). You don't get it......STUPID question!
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thecroweater
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Re: best yeast for fruit brandy

Post by thecroweater »

Really ,still stirring is there's a need to be rude? :wtf:
@ alKohol the link that guy provided are a great source of beginner information and a lot of it is required reading. That said here it a great tutorial on fractions, learning them will be one of the most important hurdles to making good spirits
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 0#p6801645
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cranky
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Re: best yeast for fruit brandy

Post by cranky »

AlKohol wrote:Hello Cranky... following on your posts: i am mainly interested in Fruit brandies- - Schnapps. with limited access to Yeast varieties. Last season i tried regular Bakers yeast on washes of Apples, Peaches, Pears, and Plums increasing SG with invert sugar, to about 13%. the only good result came from the plums a tasty 60% ( Slivovitz). The others were just.... Yukky. I'll probably polish with Charcoal, and use some essence.

1- So, in a nut shell, if i were to pick out 2 yeasts: what would you recommend?
2- if i were to run a primary stripping run and collect everything from start to , say, 90 Deg C. then, i could run a second distillation with accurate temperature cuts. where would you recommend i cut, to maintain the flavors?

Cheers
Sorry haven't been around much lately and just getting around to reading posts.

It's kind of hard to sum things up in a nutshell and it's the kind of thing everybody has a different opinion of. I'm not a big fan of bakers yeast I feel other yeasts always give me better results no matter what the ferment is, but that is just my opinion. I read a lot on cider sites about preferring ale yeasts for cider, Nottingham is very popular as is Safales S-04. I tried S-04 once but it was very slow to start and I almost lost 5 gallons of hard earned apple juice because of it back in the days when 5 gallons of apple juice was a lot of time and work for me. I like to experiment with different yeasts and since my apple equipment has greatly improved I now have a lot more juice to play with so losing 5 or 10 gallons isn't all that big of a deal. Then there are many other factors at play when fermenting, one of the most important is temperature. I live just south of Seattle and near Puget Sound which means the temperature in my garage seldom reaches 80 degrees and usually hovers around 45. This isn't a problem for me because I personally feel a long slow cold ferment is best, of course others disagree, but you need to try to match yeast to temperature to keep the yeast happy during the fermentation. I plan on trying some other yeasts next year to see what I think but I understand that for many people fruit juice isn't cheap to come by and they want a tried and true yeast for a good reliable brandy and that yeast is lalvin EC-1118. 1118 is a good reliable yeast, provided you can keep the temperature below 80. I have seen it stop fermenting not much above 80, 65-70 is the temp it likes but it will still ferment as low as 45. I always recommend 1118 for anybody trying brandy for the first time because it is a clean fermenting honest yeast that tends not to add or takeaway from a ferment. Cuts tend to be easy with 1118 making it ideal for someone learning brandy. My other current favorite yeast is D-47 which is another good cold temperature yeast but it adds fruity esters that can add to a final product without making cuts too hard although I think Jimbo had some problems with low yield with D-47 a couple years ago. You can also try wild yeast but I feel that is also not the best thing for a beginner but it is an option if store bought yeast is hard to come by.

Now as far as your 2nd question, learning cuts can be a real challenge. As others pointed out, perhaps a bit harsher than necessary, you can't make cuts by temperature and nobody can really tell you where a cut might be for you because everybody's taste is different. I believe thecroweater sent you to the link about that. I personally collect in 1/4 or 1/2 pints and collect everything all the way down to 20% or so, If I am running as a pot still I will usually run it a second time, sometimes I only do a single run though and sometimes I keep some hearts from the stripping run to add back into the spirit run to add flavor. I then let it air for a day or more and then decide by taste following the method in that link thecroweater gave you. A lot of brandies take a long time to show themselves as well so something you may not like a week after distilling will develop into something very nice over time. Often apple can take 6 months or more before it is drinkable. I don't even think about it for a year now. I also like to temper with Knudsen cherry juice to make whats called Panty Dropper since I am not a fan of essences.
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Re: best yeast for fruit brandy

Post by FranklinNewhart »

thecroweater wrote:I always have to have a little chuckle when I read you can't add sugar and I read it often, really really often :mrgreen: .
Here's the thing, you can have a fruit say blackthorn that has a ton and a half of flavour but barely a point of sugar. OK your wash is going to smell oh so good cooking but nary but a few drops are produced, why? BECAUSE THERE WASN'T ANY SUGAR :lolno: , this just foolishness to waste time and money for little to no result. Such a failure should have been predicted. So what was the mistake (and such a result is a mistake) could it be you shouldn't try to ferment a low sugar fruit regardless of how much flavour it has and how available it is or (and here's a novel idea) could it be you should add that which is lacking from what would otherwise be present in a good ferment. That is frutrose and glucose, guess what sugar is :crazy: . Without sugar there is no such thing as alcohol, all alcohol is the result of converting sugar although some would think sugar is the enemy of fermentation :wtf: . Some will Say ah but its different as in sucrose the glucose and fructose are bonded :lol: so what and if ya want to get all OCD about it you can always invert it which is a reasonably simple thing to accomplish. Here's how it really is, more sugar more alcohol, to much alcohol for a given amount of flavour will be to light a flavour not enough and that flavour ain't gonna do ya any good sitting in kettle while ya walk off kicking the cat and yelling at the dog :moresarcasm:
So a wash with 5 % ABV is going to give you a bit of product with a lot of flavour but a wash with 20% ABV is just going to give you Hootch.. you just have to figure out the balance that you are happy with.
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thecroweater
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Re: best yeast for fruit brandy

Post by thecroweater »

20% is not really feasible and only possible with certain high abv yeasts , the result will not be great and quite frankly a waste of fruit. 5% is not to bad, anywhere between 5 and 10% would be a good place to aim depending on how much fruit you have available and naturally how much sugar you gauge they have :thumbup:
Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety. Benjamin Franklin
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