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.