Sarvis berries??

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Bavis54
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Sarvis berries??

Post by Bavis54 »

Hey friends- I have some sarvis berry trees on my property, my mother used to make the best jelly from them every year- lately I been wondering, has anyone ever made sarvis berry wine or Sarvis brandy?? They are sweeter than blueberry and the sone have a real tart flavor, different than anything ever had-
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der wo
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by der wo »

In Germany we have a region, where not beer or wine but apple wine is the traditional drink. Sometimes they add a bit (3%) service berry wine. A pure service berry wine would be too tanninic. But of course when you distill it, the tannins won't be a problem anymore.
There are many similar fruits, which are famous for a good (and expensive!) brandy: For example rowan (sorbus aucuparia) and Elsbeere (sorbus torminalis).
I am sure you could get a good brandy. But it will be much work. Many problems are waiting for you: Picking needs a lot of time and the sugar content is low. And probably mashing is difficult. Very dry fruits, then you add water, then the sugar content is even lower, then double distilling is not enough perhaps, then scorching if you don't have an agitator for example or loosing the half by straining out the solids...
Be careful deciding when you pick them. And if you have to pick them before they are 100% ripe (for example because of birds), forget it, waste of time.
In this way, imperialism brings catastrophe as a mode of existence back from the periphery of capitalist development to its point of departure. - Rosa Luxemburg
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der wo
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by der wo »

BTW, even such "rare fruit brandies" are made with sophisticated methods today. It's not like going into nature and picking from wild trees. Also those trees are cultured on small plantages in a perfect climate and soil, get always the right amount water and fertilizer. But the yield is perhaps 1l alcohol from 100kg berries. I don't know how healthy your trees are. Perhaps the best advice would be first to learn how to culture them properly (pruning, fertilizers).
Edit: And make a small batch redistilled maceration or vapor infusion with those berries before a brandy. Only if you like it, try a brandy.
In this way, imperialism brings catastrophe as a mode of existence back from the periphery of capitalist development to its point of departure. - Rosa Luxemburg
Bavis54
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by Bavis54 »

Thanks der wo- I’m not trying a wine but I am gna try brandy outta them. They have a taste unlike anything ever had, the jelly my mother made had lots of sugar added, but the berries alone are very different . I have 8 trees that are hanging full of almost ripe fruit. I jus haven’t decided yet about whether to add sugar, or try to go with out adding sugar to the wash. I have 20 gal boiler, so I’m gna shoot for 30-40 gal of wash for 2 runs.
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der wo
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by der wo »

Some fruits/berries have a lot of taste. But much of this is sweetness, sourness, bitterness and mouthfeel. Those won't come over of course. If the flavor of your berries has much bejond this, the spirit will be strong in flavor and you could add a bit sugar without loosing too much. A very good indicator for this is your nose. Mash a few berries, perhaps heat them a bit and let your nose decide, if it has a flavor strength like for example raspberries. If not, you will get with a hell lot of work only a bit "fruity" neutral spirit, perhaps with a marzipan note from the little kernels, if you add sugar. I failed once with hawthorn berries: A small batch vapor maceration was absolute tasteless. But I like to make jelly from them. Not pure, but with a base like apple or grape juice jelly. It adds very nice bitter notes. Also a mixture from sloe and apple or grape is nice.

Adding sugar dilutes the flavor. But not as much as it would be logical. Like doubling the sugar content of the fruits with added sugar doesn't mean you dilute the flavor to 50%. You will get perhaps 80%.
And the more flavor the fruit has, the more likely is, that noone will notice that you added sugar.

I only can repeat my advice: Make a small batch redistilled maceration before trying a mash.
In this way, imperialism brings catastrophe as a mode of existence back from the periphery of capitalist development to its point of departure. - Rosa Luxemburg
Bavis54
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by Bavis54 »

Yesterday I picked the fallen berries, they are quite ripe, I ended up with 3 gallons. Right now I have them in a 5 gal Carnot lacerating with 140 proof neutral I made from feint fruit runs. Only been soaking a day but after few more days I’ll run it and see how comes out. Do u suggest using thumper with wash in it or just boiler and condenser? This is a question I’ve often pondered, last yr I did many peach runs with thumper, and even strip and spirit using thumper. But I always wondered how others did it, do u use thumper on strip n spirit runs with fruit?
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der wo
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by der wo »

I normally don't mazerate, but have the fruits in my pot on a screen over relative low abv alcohol. Something like 10-15%abv. And then I reflux it with a LM column. Low abv in the boiler gives lighter flavors, less off-notes, but you need more fruits.
Also other ways work of course. After mazeration to put the fruits into the thumper and the liquid into the boiler is very effective, but it's the opposite of my way (high abv through the fruits).
If you don't fear scorching, I would dilute it to around 20% and fill everything in the boiler. Thumper without charge or a small amount of the mazerate.
Perhaps per kg berries 0.5-1l pure alcohol.
In this way, imperialism brings catastrophe as a mode of existence back from the periphery of capitalist development to its point of departure. - Rosa Luxemburg
Bavis54
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Re: Sarvis berries??

Post by Bavis54 »

Unfortunately I’m still kinda primitive in my still, I don’t have an agitator .. yet, so I have to strain and squeeze everything really well before I charge boiler, I’ve seen ur posts on it tho and I’m really fond of the setup. I use a copper pot still, adapted from pints plans. I have an 8 gal thumper I use most times. This will be a first for me far as redistilling a maceration. I can fill thumper with unstrained wash, and I think that’s wat I’m gna try.
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