Home Distiller

how can I make this taste more like a brandy and make it more distinctive from my whiskey To begin with sugar takes away flavor so don't add sugar. Next, cuts on brandy are different than cuts on whiskey and it may take a little relearning cuts to figure it out if you have been making whiskey. Then...

Well I ran my kuza fruit must last night... Only got 3 qts from 15 gallons so I'm thinking I should have added sugar. It has an odd taste too. Probably wont be doing that one again next year...Anyway long story short kuza fruits are not the best for brandy IMO. Give it a year or two, you might be s...

I have two large blueberry bushes that for the last twenty five years have produced around 3 gallons of berries. This year I got some free compost that I put around the bushes and they flowered but produced zero berries. It might be time to replace the plants but Is ill give them another year to se...

This just occurred to me

What if Santa gets Covid and passes it on to every household in the world in one night and kills the entire human race on Christmas

This afternoon when I got home from work I looked out the window and noticed my banana plum tree looked odd, like the wind had blown packing peanuts all over it. Curious I went out and had a look and found this PLUM FLOWERS 19 OCT 20 #2A - C.jpg PLUM FLOWERS 19 OCT 20 #3A - C.jpg PLUM FLOWERS 19 OCT...

So the kids dropped by for a visit last night and brought me a few jars and half gallon growlers. But this was the gem of the bunch. A 3 liter graduated flip top mason jar. A little PTFE tape and it's gonna make a fine aging jar. I have quite a few lightning jars in various sizes. Personally I like...

So the kids dropped by for a visit last night and brought me a few jars and half gallon growlers. But this was the gem of the bunch. A 3 liter graduated flip top mason jar. A little PTFE tape and it's gonna make a fine aging jar. I have quite a few lightning jars in various sizes. Personally I like...

We did not get as much as in the past but still put up 48 gallons. Below are a few pictures of the process. Nice! I haven't been able to bring myself to make any cider this year, between lack of motivation, working on the house, working on the truck and knowing I have plenty put back I just haven't...

Heading out early tomorrow unless there is a lot of fog to the islands for four days of apple cider making. I'm looking forward to hearing about how it goes. I’ll try to take pictures of the process. Think we may have 8 people picking and processing which is double what we had in the past. With 8 p...

Bushman wrote: ↑

Thu Oct 01, 2020 2:10 pm

Heading out early tomorrow unless there is a lot of fog to the islands for four days of apple cider making.

I'm looking forward to hearing about how it goes.

My wife just sent me this one

What kind of apple is better for the brandy? Anybody would preffer more acid o sweet apples? At my first attemp I used a 2/1 proportion of green and red apple Some may disagree with me but I feel The best apples for brandy are free apples :ebiggrin: Next on my list are any "spitter" apples, which a...

Fredistiller wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 25, 2020 11:21 am

Thanks again for your answer Cranky!

Your welcome.

Cranky-- with all the wind and rain coming our way I've got to get the grapes picked prior to them falling....I'll be singing in the rain....lol I didn't think grapes were as susceptible as apples. I always worry about the apples prior to the storms this time of year. At my house we can get winds a...

Bushman wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 23, 2020 11:42 am

With Gale winds our trip out to the island to do our annual cider making has been postponed for one week.

I saw those warnings. Fall has defiantly arrived and as usual I'm not ready for it

Looks like next week should be a good week though

Thanks for your long answer! Just a question though, do you pasteurize your juice, or ferment in (a lot of )different fermenter each time you press or add the new juice to you fermentation? That's another "depends" answer. My preference is to not pasteurize. I have a lot of fermenters, a 55 gallon ...

Most apples will keep 2 weeks or more with no issues. Early season apples tend to go bad more quickly than late season and a few varieties like Vista Bella have to be dealt with within a week of picking but most will keep just fine if kept in the shade. It helps to know your apples and when they co...

I don't have a press...yet. But it's definitely on my list for next fruit season. This year, I looked around and I found some unpicked apple trees on my way to work. I was asking myself how/where do people preserve all theses apples in waiting for "press day"? I keep mine in my garage in buckets, o...

A press doesn't need to be expensive, mine certainly isn't. There are lots of ways to make one if you look around this site and youtube and various other sites like instructables.com Bushman uses a harbor freight press https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=83&t=51537 And Jimbo made one out...

Must have been a Pappy VanWinkle burger! The burgers are wagyu beef, topped with Wyke farms cheddar cheese, bacon from free range pigs fed an exclusive diet of hazel nuts, Chrokee purple tomatoes, pink radicchio (lettuce), shaved black truffle, creme fraiche and a sprinkle of saffron and served wit...

On a side note I will be freezing all my apples in the future. Once they are thawed I could practically juice them by hand. No extra water needed to blend them up. Kinda magical really. So for anyone who dosent already id try it next time. Its worth fighting with the wife over. I've tried that and ...

Then you can move on to what is considered mandatory reading before proceeding any farther, which is the "New distillers reading lounge" you need to read everything here before proceeding further even what you don't think you need to know. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewforum.php?f=46 When the ...

Currently at the canal picking oysters and clams on the beach but next weekend is our annual cider making out on my friends property in the San Juan Islands. Be a four day event. I'm looking forward to pictures and hearing about that Bushman. I've been so busy with non fruit stuff that I'm having a...

This evening I took Mrs. Cranky out for $300 hamburgers. While we were waiting for our burgers she noticed this on one of the taps at the bar ON TAP 2 - C.jpg We were surprised to see perry on tap so decided to give it a try and ordered a glass to share. I have to say I didn't expect it to taste qui...

Brick wall 5+ wrote: ↑

Fri Sep 18, 2020 6:39 am

Interesting read I feel my decision to join the forum is going to be the learning curve I'm looking for.

It is a big learning curve but eventually you figure it out and it almost becomes second nature.

Today on my way home after some holidays I'll visit a distillery in the Calvados, THE region of apple brandy in Europe. I thought that maybe there are specific question you always wanted to ask to a producer of Calvados. I have a lot of questions for them so I can ask for you also... if there are a...

When I pushed the cap down on my current plum ferment I tasted it and it tastes pretty good :D A bit sweeter than it should be this long into a ferment but it seems to be doing fine. I found another half gallon of blueberry juice and might go ahead and add that. I should be moving it out of the buck...

Getting back to the Kousa Dogwood fruit... the city planted 2 of these trees on the boulevard outside my house about 20 years ago... I knew they were edible via an old lady who walked by everyday with her dog...with age come knowledge lol... I always thought they had a "blah" taste and weren't wort...

“I use 1 packet of yeast for ever 5gal of ferment” Super newb here, im planning to use 5.5 gal of unpasteurized cider and ec-1118 to try my first brandy. Would you say 1 packet of yeast is true also for cider? I just have a brick of ec1118 so not exactly sure on the packet size tho? I have been rea...