Brandy recipes

Concord Brandy

Ingredients

25 lbs stemmed concord or other dark colored grapes

1 six oz can of tomato paste

5 lbs granulated sugar

3-5 tbsp lemon juice

21 gr dry bakers yeast

Wash grapes and place in a large 3-5 gallon stock pot.

Fill with water only to the top of the grapes.

Heat on stove, but don't let grapes burn to the bottom, As it is heating mash the grapes to as fine a pulp as possible. Once water is boiling, add tomato paste and sugar. Keep stirring & mashing until sugar and paste is completely dissolved.

Pour contents into a 6-7 gallon bucket and top to 5 gallon mark with cold water and ice. Add Lemon Juice. Once temperature is down to about 80* F fill a gallon jug halfway with some of the wash, add yeast to this jug and let it sit for about an hour. Once yeast is fully hydrated, add contents of jug back into bucket. And cover using an airlock (or plastic wrap with a couple hole poked in it and a rubber-band.)

Stir daily, and after 3 days or so, pour contents into a new container removing seeds in the process. Stir vigorously and the let sit until fermentation stops (or slows down considerably).

Run in Pot still

1st run- Run it pulpy or clear (your preference...I prefer pulpy), run fast and dirty, collecting down to 20% or so.

2nd run- nice and slow, collecting until distillate is coming out at about 40%ABV. Keep collecting the tails down to about 20% (save these tails from each run until you have enough for an all-tails run.)

Age spirits on uncharred Oak with about a hand full of raisins per gallon. Age for about 3 months, then remove raisins, and either filter and drink, or put back on oak and age for as long as possible. Water down to 80proof before bottling or drinking.

VARIATION- Use Delaware or Niagra Grapes, follow same directions, and age with golden raisins and oak.

PLEASE try this recipe and respond. Any other variations are welcome.

Pear/Pineapple Rumdy

Ingredients 25-35 lbs stemmed and sliced soft Bartlett pears

5-10 lbs brown sugar

1 6oz can of tomato paste

3-5 tbsp lemon juice

21gr dry bakers yeast

Cook Pears, brown sugar and paste, stir and mash until it is the consistency of apple sauce. Pour contents into a 6-7 gallon bucket and top to 5 gallon mark with cold water and ice. Add Lemon Juice. Once temperature is down to about 80* F fill a gallon jug halfway with some of the wash, add yeast to this jug and let it sit overnight. Once yeast is fully hydrated, add contents of jug back into bucket. And cover using an airlock (or plastic wrap with a couple hole poked in it and a rubber-band).

Stir daily, and after 3 days or so, pour contents into a new container removing seeds in the process. Stir vigorously and the let sit until fermentation stops (or slows down considerably).

Run in Pot still

1st run- Run it pulpy, not too fast...if you burn it, it will smell like puke and taste like crap, collect down to 20% or so.

2nd run- nice and slow, collecting until distillate is coming out at about 40% abv. Keep collecting the tails down to about 20% (save these tails from each run until you have enough for an all-tails run)

I personally like to age this with about a cup of pineapple, and then strain it into a jar decent sized jar willed with with half pineapple, and half pear, and 2 cups sugar. I let it sit like that for about a month or two, then strain it, filter it, drink it on the rocks and get drunk.

Slivovitz (Croatian plum brandy)

Ingredients

50 Gallon drum full of soft, ripe dark plums

Water

Fill 50 gallon drum 6" from the top with soft, ripe plums.

Top off with water (warm-cool water, you don't want to kill the yeast with hot water). Cover drum and let ferment on wild yeast.

After a couple days try to mash the plums to the bottom of the barrel with 3-4' oak plank.

Let ferment to about 5% abv.

Strain liquid off the pulp and pits (but make sure to save the pulp), and pour liquid into a pot still.

Run the first run fast and collect everything until it is coming out of the still at the potency of wine.

Put all of the pulp that was saved into a smaller drum, and add all of the collected distillate to it. Let sit for about 2 weeks,

then strain liquid off pulp (this time discard the pulp) and run through pot still again. Discard foreshots, and collect everything until the distillate coming out drops below 35%. Filter, and age at least 3 months. Then water to 40% and bottle/drink.

This is a strong spirit, with a burn to it. I have known many people that do not care for it, but it is a tradition that has been carried on and mastered by few distilleries in Europe.

Pisco (peruvian brandy)

Follow the same recipe as above, but use grapes instead of plums. Also, instead of soaking the distillate from the first run on the used pulp, soak the distillate on crushed fresh grapes for 2-4 weeks before the second run. A light colored champagne grape works great for this recipe.

Pisco is not usually aged for a long period(if at all) But when it is , it is aged in stoneware crocks instead of wooden casks, and is not generally watered down after distillation. If a lower %abv is wanted, it is typical to collect further into the tails. (with this spirit, tails have good flavor, similar to a light wine)

Kirsch

If you have a recipe for the wash and flavoring/aging methods, please post it here.