All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Information about fruit/vegetable type washes.

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Mac0311
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All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by Mac0311 »

Its almost time that the cherries are ripe and this year I'm beating the birds to the trees.

My question is, as I'm not ready to use them yet, after I de-pit the cherries,

Do I freeze them whole?
Smash em a lil and then freeze?
Or puree them and then freeze?

Thanks for your time
NormandieStill
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by NormandieStill »

Unless you have a space issue I'd freeze them whole. The freezing (and thawing) will break them down pretty far without you needing to make any real effort. This is what I do with sloes... although I don't pit them.
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Are you doing straight cherries or adding water/sugar or anything?

Might want to consider saving some pomace after pressing to macerate in the low wines or even fresh or an infusion of some sort like a geist?

Cheers!
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EricTheRed
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by EricTheRed »

NormandieStill wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:01 pm Unless you have a space issue I'd freeze them whole. The freezing (and thawing) will break them down pretty far without you needing to make any real effort. This is what I do with sloes... although I don't pit them.
Spot on.
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Mac0311
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by Mac0311 »

NormandieStill wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 1:01 pm Unless you have a space issue I'd freeze them whole. The freezing (and thawing) will break them down pretty far without you needing to make any real effort. This is what I do with sloes... although I don't pit them.

Thanks for the info, I appreciate it. I know freezing would weaken cell wall structure, just wasn't sure if it was enough.
jonnys_spirit wrote: Thu Jun 16, 2022 2:34 pm Are you doing straight cherries or adding water/sugar or anything?

Might want to consider saving some pomace after pressing to macerate in the low wines or even fresh or an infusion of some sort like a geist?

Cheers!
-j

Was planning on just cherries and water, was not planning on adding any sugar (guess adding sugar depends on how many lbs of cherries I can get, as I want to try it this year). Only have done AG's so far, so wasn't sure how a fruit would work. Searching brandy on here pulls up a million pages of infused recipes. I was going to add water as need I guess till its like a slurry? Depit and whip it up real good with a cleaned mixer. I'll look more into saving the pomace for low wines and stuff.

Thanks


eta been reading through Taters posts.
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Demy
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by Demy »

Here's how I do it: grinding the whole cherries (with core, will give more flavor), leave aside a little cherries. At the end of the distillation, the whole cherries in the white distillate macera, this will give flavor and color. Alternatively you can perform this procedure to get an excellent concentrate viewtopic.php?f=38&t=87026
It is good for conservation to freeze them. In fermentation, no sugar (if you have enough) and do not use or limit the amount of water.
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by zach »

I was in Zurich last month and tried a Kirsch by Etter. I was impressed is an understatement.

If I could get my hands on some few hundred pounds of cherries, I would take Demy's advice for process. All of the pomace would go through the boiler with at least some of the stones.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/kirsch
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Chauncey
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Re: All fruit brandy guys, quick question

Post by Chauncey »

That sounds awesome
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