Too too Fruity....how to dilute this fruitiness??

[oversight]

I have taken about 9kg (16lb) of Feijoa flesh (which in some places might be called a pineapple guava). It's an elongated oval fruit with a thick green skin (that you don't eat) and a delicious light cream coloured flesh inside, quite juicy, you tend to cut them in half and scoop the flesh out with a teaspoon. The ones from our trees are somewhere in size between a chicken and a duck egg.

I have shucked some fruit, pureed the fruit pulp, added some boiling water, pectinase, sodium meta and 2kg dextrose, let that sit for 12 hrs then added yeast. This has all come up to around 20 to 25 L Fermentation has taken off with a hiss and a roar. I have fermented on the pulp over the course of 7-8 days with a commercial yeast. Alcometer readings at the start told me I was going to wind up with something around 10% alcohol at the end. Daily I have stirred the fruit pulp cap back into the wash until it has fallen and CO2 production appears to have ceased. I have siphoned the wash off the fruit pulp and yeast layer and then distilled that clear portion of the wash.

I am using a 25L commercial potstill (Copperhead still brand) so the clear portion of the wash has gone into that and I have distilled it, discarding some heads and collecting the rest. The still has a 30L stainless boiling chamber, a small copper dome at the top which leads pretty directly to a lebig condenser.

With this Still, temperature is fixed with a 1000W electric element, production/output is a stream and this never really slows or changes once it starts. Output appears constant the only variation is the amount of alcohol in it. There is digital thermometer at the top of the head near the start of the arm that goes to the condenser and I tend to stop collecting when the temperature raises to 96 deg Celsius and in this model this seems to prevent the collection of any undesirables at the end. Although I think I have a lot of work to do (more experience required ) finessing the stopping collection and observing this temperature. There are no obvious temperature spikes just a slow steady rise.

I have finished with about 2 litres of spirit, it's close to 40% and I have diluted it down to 40%. With one batch there is possibly a little cloudiness on dilution (perhaps a mineral precipitate? perhaps I have collected for too long and should have cut off sooner). [We have certainly made some Rakija from plums earlier, collected for too long and this developed a distinct cloudiness on dilution. This was our first run ever] It's early days for us with distillation and with this particular still.

There are no particularly undesirable flavours in the finished spirit, I am familiar with the wet cardboard taste and smell from many years ago distilling with another design of still. I would call the alcohol flavour a little harsh, perhaps it will mellow with time in the bottle however the fruit flavor is STRONG

Too strong to our liking. How do I adjust this....mix what I have with some commercial vodka at 40% ? or I am curious to know what is likely to happen if I run this spirit thru the pot-still again ? I am just nervous about doing this if it is going to take all the fruit flavour out.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

[distiller_dresden]

Hi oversight; I'm no expert, I've only been at this myself for about 5 months. I would try this:

dilute your distillate to 40% alchol/60% water mixture (so your 2L spirit, add another 3L water, unless you have juice or the original cleared wash or something, and mix) then redistill all this and then once you have your distillate from this redistillation, do not dilute it yet; you may need to make a few distillations depending on your pot size, that's fine - do these runs like a spirit run (are you familiar with 'stripping run/spirit run' terms? if not check out the wiki, and use it also to educate yourself any terms you run across that are unfamiliar)
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Stripping_run" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
https://homedistiller.org/wiki/index.php/Spirit_run" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

i.e. - collect it in jars/small bits across the run, like 4-8oz at a time
air the distillate you get from this, it should come out at higher proof this time, and let it just sit out for 24-48 hours, this will take care of a lot of the harshness you're experiencing

after this is done then make your cuts on your new distillate to select your hearts from this product and then dilute this down, if you're not going to age it on wood (done at 120 proof), to 80 proof

This should solve the harshness as well as the excessive fruitiness, I believe...

Most here are against 'spoon feeding' but I don't know if this qualifies or not, I thought I would try to help as I saw nobody responded to your post, I only just saw it.