Diluting apple brandy distillate

[Vapor_Hunter]

I have a friend that runs a "cidery" - makes apple cider from locally sourced juice. He recently had a batch that sat too long, and had an off taste (had an infection, I think). So, he gave me 27 gallons of cider (about 6% ABV). I filtered it to get the stuff floating on top out, and then did pot still striping runs on 25 gallons, coming up with about 4.5 gallons of 30% low wines. That seemed to clean up the off flavors - I even kept a small jar of hearts from one of the stripping runs and it tastes good. I then combined those 4.5 gallons of low wines and the remaining 2 gallons of cider and did a slow spirit run, hoping to get more apple flavor by including the cider. The distillate came off starting at around 75% ABV and dropped down to about 50% or so before I could detect tails. I then collected down to 20%. I haven't made final cuts yet but plan to do that tonight after it airs out.

I tried a sample of hearts and it has a great taste so far. By far the easiest liquor I ever made - even easier than sugar runs! Love it when someone else does the fermenting!

Couple of questions:
Funny thing - the very first jar of about 200 ml has a great apple smell, not acetone harsh at all like I see with sugar runs. But, I will discard as foreshots like any other run. Anyone have any idea why it would smell so good? (Nevermind - a more detailed search revels this is most likely the "apple bomb" than many people notice early in the run.)

My main question - my cidery friend wants me to dilute a jar of the hearts with cider (instead of using distilled water like I normally do) to get it down to 40% ABV to then drink. While I will do it with a small jar and see how it tastes, my question is - if we do that, what drink will we create? Is it schnapps? Or is it something unique, with no commercial equivalent?

[still_stirrin]

My main question - my cidery friend wants me to dilute a jar of the hearts with cider (instead of using distilled water like I normally do) to get it down to 40% ABV to then drink. While I will do it with a small jar and see how it tastes, my question is - if we do that, what drink will we create? Is it schnapps? Or is it something unique, with no commercial equivalent?

Apple pie????

[Vapor_Hunter]

Had to look up Apple Pie recipes as they have never interested me before, but I guess it is a variation on apple pie moonshine.

But isn't it closer to just making apple schnapps, substituting the cider for apples? Like this one? https://www.livestrong.com/article/4806 ... -schnapps/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[still_stirrin]

The link you posted describes fruit schnapps as made by maceration...adding fresh fruit to a distilled spirit. Indeed, that is my understanding as well.

It is not the same as adding a fermented fruit juice to a spirit. That is a fruit flavored spirit, like a cocktail...more like the aforementioned “apple pie”.

Ironically, in Europe schnapps is a distilled product, where fruit is placed in the vapor path (similar to the way botanicals are placed in the vapor path in gin). German schnapps is not at all sweet and syrupy. It’s quite dry with the delicate expression of the fruit.
ss

P.s.- This link has a great discussion on fruit spirits. And der wo is a great knowledge base for the site respectfully.

[cranky]

My main question - my cidery friend wants me to dilute a jar of the hearts with cider (instead of using distilled water like I normally do) to get it down to 40% ABV to then drink. While I will do it with a small jar and see how it tastes, my question is - if we do that, what drink will we create? Is it schnapps? Or is it something unique, with no commercial equivalent?

I like to call it "Scumble" which is a nod to the author Terry Pratchett. I think there is a specific name but can't recall it right now. One thing to be aware of is it may take considerable time to settle down and play nice.

[Vapor_Hunter]

Thank you all for the replies - very helpful.

[Vapor_Hunter]

P.s.- This link has a great discussion on fruit spirits. And der wo is a great knowledge base for the site respectfully.

SS - which link are you referring to?

[still_stirrin]

P.s.- This link has a great discussion on fruit spirits. And der wo is a great knowledge base for the site respectfully.

SS - which link are you referring to?

Oooops.....sorry, I forgot to paste it i to the thread. Here you go: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=60563

[Vapor_Hunter]

So we tried this last night. Diluted the 62% clear apple brandy that resulted from my final cuts with enough (hard) apple cider to bring it to about 40%. For now, (ignoring cranky's suggestion that it will take considerable time to settle down) the resulting drink didn't do it for either of us. The hard cider just kind of muddied the brandy taste, and really didn't add anything on its own. Maybe it would play nice overtime, but it wasn't good enough to bother with in our opinion. Diluting with water provides a much better drink. Now I know why it doesn't have a name - not good enough to bother with.

Then he pulled out a book "Cider, Hard & Sweet" by Ben Watson, and we followed the first part of a "Pommeau" recipe (see attached), essentially taking the 62% clear apple brandy and adding enough cider (fresh pressed, unfiltered apple juice with no alcohol content - sweet juice?) to bring it down to about 18%. Boy, that was good, good enough that we want to follow the rest of the recipe and age it with oak for a while to see how it comes out. We figured the sugar in the cider complemented the brandy taste.

I thought I would report on our results. The experimenting is fun! A side note is he claims he can detect the off flavors in the brandy, which, in hindsight, I think he is right. But, I figure a year in a barrel will take care of that… So, that's where most of this batch is headed.