Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

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mountainmurphy8194
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Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

After making one apple brandy with unfiltered, unpasteurized sweet cider from the local orchard, I decided to experiment.
Mainly, I wanted to know if it was possible to get a full-bodied cider flavor from supermarket products which are available year-round.

The recipe I used is as follows:

4gal pasteurized, shelf-stable sweet cider
1qt “Just Cranberry” juice (no sweetener, no water added)
5lb Red Delicious apples
3lb Granny Smith apples
3lb Fuji apples
3lb Bartlett pears
1.5lb fresh, whole cranberries
8lb white sugar
Redstar DADY (explanation below)

Process:
First off, I pulverized the fruit using a club made from sugar maple wood, then poured the 4gal cider over the top. I then dissolved the 8lb of sugar, and topped off the volume with warm water to about 8 gallons (a 10gal fermenter with plenty of head space).

Now, a few notes:
First, I didn’t realize until the point of no return that my cider contained potassium sorbate. Rookie mistake.
Second, because of the pulverized fruit, I didn’t take an OG reading, opting instead to fly by the seat of my pants on content.
Third, I definitely used more sugar than I needed.
Fourth, I am aware that Redatar DADY is not the best yeast for cider. However, given the presence of potassium sorbate, and my method for overcoming that, it was what I had to work with.

In order to overcome the potassium sorbate, I pitched a massive first dose of Redstar DADY. My plan initially was to use 1118, but I only had one packet, and didn’t want to waste it.
After two days, fermentation was underway… slowly. So I re-pitched a smaller dose, punched down the cap, and stirred some air into the batch.
By day 3, fermentation had taken off and was progressing rapidly. On day 6, things had slowed down a bit, so I pitched another small dose of fresh yeast. That got things moving again for another few days.

On day 9, the fermentation had all but stopped. Some light effervescence was still noticeable, but nothing crazy. I siphoned off the liquid, and used a potato ricer to press the pomace, which yielded about another gallon of wash, for a total of just about 7 gallons. Final gravity read 1.035, so semi-dry. The cider tasted wonderful - so much so that my buddy and I both enjoyed a glass while prepping the still.

We ran our stripping run down to 10%abv off the worm (half-barrel keg pot still) and collected a gallon and a half of low wines at an average of 40abv.

We have yet to do the spirit run, but the plan is to add in a bit of sweet cider with the low wines for some added flavor.
The center “hearts” of the stripping run gave us some great flavor, so I’m really looking forward to seeing how this matures over time.
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
stillanoob
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by stillanoob »

On your spirit run some of the best apple flavor is in the early part of the run. It may make it rough at first but time and oak sort it out.
mountainmurphy8194
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

Ran the spirit run earlier this week. Ran very slowly.

The gallon-and-a-half f low wines averaged 43% abv, so we added a pint of sweet cider to dilute below 40.

All told, we have about 2500ml in twelve different fractions, down to 25%abv. The rest of the tails down to 10% was run off directly into my bulk feints container. The fractions were aired overnight, and now are waiting to be blended.

I’m particularly excited about the aroma from the late hearts/early tails - basically smelled like cranberry sauce.

It’s been a busy work week, so blending will have to wait a few more days, but I’m excited by what the fractions are telling me so far!
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
mountainmurphy8194
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

We blended the cuts today. Lots of cranberry towards the tails, more traditional apple notes up in the heads. We made wide cuts, planning to age a good long time.

Final collection was proofed down to 65% for aging. We divided it into several jars to try out a few different woods:

250ml on raw cherry wood
250ml on charred cherry wood
800ml on medium toast apple
1100ml on medium toast sugar maple

We’ll see what it brings!
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
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Demy
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by Demy »

Generally if I have enough apples I don't add sugar, sugar increases the alcohol content but dilutes the flavor.
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rubberduck71
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by rubberduck71 »

I made a batch of hard cider & like you missed the potassium sorbate on the label until it was time to pitch yeast.

It took off slow (like yours) but finished strong with the belgian saisson yeast. However, the flavor of the hard cider is not as good as my other batches, even after back sweetening, some olive nation apple extract, and kegging. I may just distill it.

Very curious to see which would you use comes out best.
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mountainmurphy8194
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

Demy wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:52 pm Generally if I have enough apples I don't add sugar, sugar increases the alcohol content but dilutes the flavor.
Yeah, I’m already kinda wishing we hadn’t used the sugar, but the flavors we got are decent. We also ended with enough volume to do multiple woods, which I don’t think we would have gotten without it, so Pros and Cons, I guess.

If I repeat a similar fruit blend, I’ll probably cut the sugar out.
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
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shadylane
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by shadylane »

mountainmurphy8194 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:00 am

On day 9, the fermentation had all but stopped. Some light effervescence was still noticeable, but nothing crazy... Final gravity read 1.035, so semi-dry.
Fermented till semi-dry sounds good for wine or cider.
I would have let it and/or helped it, ferment quite a bit longer before distilling. :ewink:
mountainmurphy8194
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

shadylane wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 9:07 pm
mountainmurphy8194 wrote: Tue Jan 18, 2022 7:00 am

On day 9, the fermentation had all but stopped. Some light effervescence was still noticeable, but nothing crazy... Final gravity read 1.035, so semi-dry.
Fermented till semi-dry sounds good for wine or cider.
I would have let it and/or helped it, ferment quite a bit longer before distilling. :ewink:
We had a pretty high starting gravity, and after re-pitching twice, we made the call to run it.
We were also working through six generations of UJSSM at the time (we still have a backlog of low wines for all six generations, plus a pear brandy, and a sweet potato sochu). So, our still time and fermentation space were both a bit cramped. I would have liked to let it go drier, but we got what we wanted from it.
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
mountainmurphy8194
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Joined: Sun Dec 05, 2021 6:31 pm
Location: New Hampshire

Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

Took some samples today, and compared the apple wood against the sugar maple.

It’s been roughly 8 months since distillation and blending, give or take a week or two. All were aged for the first two or three months to allow some evaporation/angel’s share, then tightened back up.


Both versions are mellowing nicely, and honestly for somewhere in the neighborhood of 110 proof, it’s pretty smooth.

For the apple wood: Aroma is brighter, more crisp fruity notes, with green apple, fresh cranberry, and citrus.

Palate was light to medium body, strong pear flavor giving way to ripe apples and slight woodiness. Dry finish.


For the maple wood: Aroma was richer, sweeter, with more cranberry sauce and cooked apple notes and hints of vanilla and maple sugar.

Sweet and medium to full bodied on the palate. Vanilla and maple sugar up front, followed by cranberry sauce, then a longer, sweet, lingering finish.

Surprising what a difference the woods are making. Both had an almost tannic bitterness when I tried a taste two or three months ago, but luckily that’s gone now.

I’m looking forward to what the one-year mark will bring for these.
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
Bradster68
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by Bradster68 »

mountainmurphy8194 wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 8:41 pm
Demy wrote: Thu Feb 17, 2022 1:52 pm Generally if I have enough apples I don't add sugar, sugar increases the alcohol content but dilutes the flavor.
Yeah, I’m already kinda wishing we hadn’t used the sugar, but the flavors we got are decent. We also ended with enough volume to do multiple woods, which I don’t think we would have gotten without it, so Pros and Cons, I guess.

If I repeat a similar fruit blend, I’ll probably cut the sugar out.
I just did 10 gallons of fresh squeezed apples. No sugar this time. I'll let you know how the brandy turns out
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mountainmurphy8194
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by mountainmurphy8194 »

Bradster68 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:18 am
I just did 10 gallons of fresh squeezed apples. No sugar this time. I'll let you know how the brandy turns out
Nice. I’m thinking if I do this again I’m going to try apple juice concentrate to bump up the starting gravity. Again, part of this experiment for me was to see if it was possible to make a good product 100% from supermarket goods. So far, it seems to be working, but I do think swapping the sugar for a more flavorful sugar source would benefit the final product a lot.
If barley be wanting to make into malt,
We must be contented, and think it no fault;
For we can make liquor to sweeten our lips
Of pumpkins and parsnips and walnut tree chips.
Bradster68
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Re: Experimental Three-Fruit “Apple” Brandy

Post by Bradster68 »

mountainmurphy8194 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:36 am
Bradster68 wrote: Thu Oct 27, 2022 3:18 am
I just did 10 gallons of fresh squeezed apples. No sugar this time. I'll let you know how the brandy turns out
Nice. I’m thinking if I do this again I’m going to try apple juice concentrate to bump up the starting gravity. Again, part of this experiment for me was to see if it was possible to make a good product 100% from supermarket goods. So far, it seems to be working, but I do think swapping the sugar for a more flavorful sugar source would benefit the final product a lot.
I believe my sg was 1.05 from just the juice. Not real high but I wanted to give it a try. Now I have somewhere to go from.from what iv gathered 1.064 is about perfect for all juice.
I drink so much now,on the back of my license it's a list of organs I need.
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