Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Discussions of fruits, veggies and grains other then just mashing

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cob
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cob »

cranky is that carboy what's called partial strawberry (looks like it ??) or full strawberry?

I have a full strawberry 1929 with the big arrowhead logo and a full coverage of small arrowheads.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cob wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 6:06 pm cranky is that carboy what's called partial strawberry (looks like it ??) or full strawberry?

I have a full strawberry 1929 with the big arrowhead logo and a full coverage of small arrowheads.
I'm not sure what you mean by full or partial strawberry.

It's a blue Arrowhead with 2 rows of arrow heads one circling at the shoulder and another near the bottom. I know it has some writing on the bottom but don't recall what at the moment but it doesn't have the logo on the side. Looking at ebay it looks like prices are slightly down but they tend to fluctuate and shipping carboys is a big problem so that tends to be very expensive which drives down the price.

My other more valuable ones are the blue ones, the 12 gallon Pyrex and the Kardashian Crisa. I call it the Kardashian carboy because it has a small waist and a big ass. Most people call them pear shaped but they are actually waisted, not pear shaped, It was a design feature that made them much easier to carry than a straight sided carboy. They tend to run $150-200, I think because people like to use them for terrariums.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cob »

The strawberry term refers to the little arrowheads, your two rows makes that one a partial strawberry.

the one I have has little arrowheads top to bottom all the way around except at the large logo hence full strawberry.

somewhere along the line collectors thought the arrowheads resembled strawberry's and the term stuck.

do you know where the name arrowhead spring water originally came from?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cob »

found the picture.

https://www.arrowheadwater.com/our-story

first spring was in strawberry canyon
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by NormandieStill »

Bushman wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 12:50 pm I see a liqueur in your future :thumbup:
Bizarrely I hadn't thought of making a liqueur with them. I might have to give that a go. I've made cordial in the past.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

NormandieStill wrote: Mon Jun 14, 2021 8:34 pm
Bushman wrote: Thu Jun 10, 2021 12:50 pm I see a liqueur in your future :thumbup:
Bizarrely I hadn't thought of making a liqueur with them. I might have to give that a go. I've made cordial in the past.
I think a liqueur would be a great use for some of them :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cob wrote: Sat Jun 12, 2021 7:41 pm found the picture.

https://www.arrowheadwater.com/our-story

first spring was in strawberry canyon
Thank you for that info Cob. That was interesting. I know they say it's a natural landmark but it reminded me of some of the stories I've read of last Spanish mines and how they marked trails and mine locations.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today I did the spirit run on the 3nd batch of canned apple juice. I think this one may have carried more flavor than the first but won't really know until I blend it tomorrow. Oddly I had no problem with running or the cooling water getting hot faster than normal, in fact it made it through the entire run and only began getting hot-ish deep into the tails.

My plan is to do conservative cuts and combine the leftovers for one more run to see what I can get out of it. As of now this 2nd bath is looking like it should give a similar amount as the first one, hopefully a little over a gallon.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by stillanoob »

Cranky, how do you think it compares to brandy made from fresh pressed apples?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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stillanoob wrote: Wed Jun 16, 2021 4:31 pm Cranky, how do you think it compares to brandy made from fresh pressed apples?
It's hard to say at the moment. I've actually used this same juice once in the past and found it lacked something...less body maybe, less depth of flavor...it's hard to really describe what. I think the stuff made with 1118/D47 is still somewhat lacking compared to fresh pressed but the stuff made with the Ciderhouse yeast is better, I can't say it's as good but it does have much more flavor than the first batch, which is why I chose that yeast. The cider was also noticeably better with the Ciderhouse.

I think the cuts I did on the first batch will work out well but I don't taste a whole lot of apple...but apple tends to be slow to show itself like that. When I do the final run of all the leftovers we will see what I can manage but the final outcome and judgement is still a year or two away. That's one of the big problems with apple brandy.

I'm even considering resurrecting my old boka because that thing was amazing at isolating the apple bomb from the brandy but that would likely be more work than I really want to undertake.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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That was kinda what I guessed. I made some cider a bunch of years ago from fancy organic apple juice, unpasteurized or filtered. It too was lacking. There is something about starting the ferment while it is freshly pressed that contributes a better apple flavor.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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stillanoob wrote: Thu Jun 17, 2021 7:37 am That was kinda what I guessed. I made some cider a bunch of years ago from fancy organic apple juice, unpasteurized or filtered. It too was lacking. There is something about starting the ferment while it is freshly pressed that contributes a better apple flavor.
Yes there is.

I think it's mostly attributable to the pasteurization process they use. It heats the juice too high and for too long.

Sometimes I go ahead and very carefully pasteurize when I'm making it for drinking cider or if I bring some in pre-fermented juice to work to share with people. One day I mis-timed the heat and accidentally boiled the juice. That juice lost so much of what it had been that it was like store bought apple juice and I never used it for anything, I canned it and I think I still have the jars of juice somewhere. I might go looking for them and maybe see about making them vinegar.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by S-Cackalacky »

I've only ever done about 4 apple brandy runs. The last spirit run was about a year ago and I've been sipping some of that product for a couple of months. The first batch I ever did was from fresh squeezed apples - lot of work. I decided real quick that I wouldn't be doing it again. I'm too old for that crap.

For my next 3 batches I used Walmart brand jugs of juice. I would buy a few jugs at a time until I accumulated about 25 gallons. I would also add several cans of concentrate to boost the gravity a bit. For the first 3 batches I used ec-1118 yeast and for the most recent batch, I used 71b-1122. I believe the 1122 made a bit of flavor improvement.

Anyway, all that leads to this - for the 3rd and 4th batches I did something a bit different. I used about a peck of oven roasted apples along with the juice. I put the cored and Sliced apples on baking sheets and roast them at 350 dF until they're golden brown. I then puree them in a blender with some apple juice. This, along with the 1122 yeast, seems to make a significant flavor difference. No grinding, no sqeezing, just easy-peasy.

The apples I use are from a local orchard stand. I select a few apples of each variety they have available to make up a peck.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by The Baker »

It seems a peck is about nine litres...

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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by S-Cackalacky »

The Baker wrote: Fri Jun 18, 2021 11:36 pm It seems a peck is about nine litres...

Geoff
Sounds about right.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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That's good info S-Cack, I've never been a believer in baked apples but maybe I'll give that a try some time.

I got my blending done on the latest batch and came up a quart and a half short of the 1118/D-47 batch but that might have just been the way I cut it. There were significant amounts of what I identified as tails that I could have added if I wanted, the proof of the stuff that tasted tailsy was significantly higher than normal and when I tested the last jar it came up above 40%. I never stop that soon so I fired the boiler back up and ran it down into the deep deep tails. Now I have one more run to do and I will be finished with this batch just in time for this years apple season. Not sure I have it in me this year :roll: Not sure I need any more apple brandy either but something needs done with all those apples :wink:

Something also needs done with 200 lbs of panela and 11 gallons of beer and 30 lbs of malt that I currently have in my garage...oh and 6-10 gallons of low wines...and misc fruit and fruit juices...and a 5 gallon bucket of plums I set to fermenting probably last year...if I can find where I put it and if it's still usable :problem: ...
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I just read a topic about alcohol for fuel and it re started an idea :idea:

When people give me crap about driving a 50 year old truck every day I tell them the Apple Reaper is much more environmentally friendly than their car/truck/whatever or even the average Prius. A statement I can back up with facts including around here the average Prius drives at least 60 miles round trip every day. The reaper's round trip is 10 miles so I actually burn significantly less gas than they do but I also throw in that I'm dual fuel.

That's right the reaper is perfectly capable of running on gas or alcohol thanks to modern fuel injection... that's not to say the original carb couldn't have been rejetted to alcohol but the EFI I have would automatically adjust. I then tell them not only that but I can run my truck on apple juice! They usually laugh but I tell them it's true all I have to do if ferment the apples, distill them and run on the alcohol and nothing is more environmentally friendly than that! :lol:

Of course we all know how impractical that would be, although I have done the math on it.

It would take approximately 5,000 lbs of apples to fill my 20 gallon tank but could be done for very little money but a lot of work. That's the problem with most things that are free, they take a lot of free time. I also wouldn't want to waste all that good brandy but I do like the idea of just once in my life running the Apple Reaper on apple juice. Maybe this free apple juice is the golden opportunity to do just that, even if it's only for 10 miles :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by S-Cackalacky »

Sacrilegious! :thumbdown:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Was out at my son's this afternoon doing the yard work and checking out the fruit trees. The apples are heavily loaded, the pears too, I suspect we are going to risk breaking pear branches this year. Even the plums are doing well. I forgot my phone so didn't get any pictures :(

While mowing I noticed a patch that had a sweet minty smell when I went through. Looking down, sure enough it is a patch of mint...which isn't a fruit and doesn't really belong in this thread but it got me to thinking :problem: If I can just find a ghost pepper (which is a fruit) my Nuclear Winter vodka idea could be back on the table :ebiggrin:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Oldvine Zin »

cranky wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:36 pm If I can just find a ghost pepper (which is a fruit) my Nuclear Winter vodka idea could be back on the table :ebiggrin:
I have some fresh scotch bonnet peppers that I could throw your way

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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Looks like the plumb tree at our community garden is going to be loaded!
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Oldvine Zin wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:21 pm
cranky wrote: Mon Jun 21, 2021 4:36 pm If I can just find a ghost pepper (which is a fruit) my Nuclear Winter vodka idea could be back on the table :ebiggrin:
I have some fresh scotch bonnet peppers that I could throw your way

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Thank you, I think there is a place not far from me that usually has them this time of year. A couple years ago I grew some ghost peppers from seeds but the cold weather got them before I got many. That was when I first thought about "Nuclear Winter"...and "Bhut To The Head". Some day I will get around to them.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Tue Jun 22, 2021 1:23 pm Looks like the plumb tree at our community garden is going to be loaded!
Will they let you pick them Bushman?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today when I got to work one of the guys I work with gave me this
FREE CHERRIES 25 JUN 21 #2A - C.jpg
I think that's a 5 gallon pot mostly full of cherries. I de-stemmed them at work and placed them in a bag because he wanted his pot back. When I got home I weighed them and they came in at over 16 lbs
FREE CHERRIES 25 JUN 21 #3A - C.jpg
My plan was to pick my black cherries and add them to it and do a small kirsch but Mrs Cranky saw them and started talking about Jelly :roll: So I guess I will have to let her have some of them and figure out what to do with the rest, maybe a plum & cherry brandy.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cranky wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:01 pm Today when I got to work one of the guys I work with gave me this
FREE CHERRIES 25 JUN 21 #2A - C.jpg
I think that's a 5 gallon pot mostly full of cherries. I de-stemmed them at work and placed them in a bag because he wanted his pot back. When I got home I weighed them and they came in at over 16 lbs
FREE CHERRIES 25 JUN 21 #3A - C.jpg
My plan was to pick my black cherries and add them to it and do a small kirsch but Mrs Cranky saw them and started talking about Jelly :roll: So I guess I will have to let her have some of them and figure out what to do with the rest, maybe a plum & cherry brandy.
Nice gift. Our neighbor has a cherry tree in the yard that overhangs the side walk out front. The cherries that make it past the starlings are fat with worms. quite a shame. Ive grown to despise the that tree for all the bird shit and half eaten cherries on my truck.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Sounds like cherries are now ripe, Cranky it is always a tug a war with the significant other on how we use the fruit :sarcasm:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:00 am Sounds like cherries are now ripe, Cranky it is always a tug a war with the significant other on how we use the fruit :sarcasm:
Ahh I miss cherries. My cherry tree died, so I built a greenhouse where the tree was. Ive since planted another in a nice sunny spot, Montmorency. She's doing good, but the waiting game is on for some size and yield. Im still nursin the last of the Kirsh from the old tree. I only pour it for folks that appreciate that type of thing. Every beer swillin swinging dick that want a sample tour dont get that one... Compared to apples its gotta be 10X the work for yield, but damn is it good.

Cranky, when you consider the energy required to manufacture a new car, the carbon footprint of of your 50 year old reaper is a tiny fraction of anyones Prius that they replace every few years. Bravo :clap:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Deplorable wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 6:08 pm Nice gift. Our neighbor has a cherry tree in the yard that overhangs the side walk out front. The cherries that make it past the starlings are fat with worms. quite a shame. Ive grown to despise the that tree for all the bird shit and half eaten cherries on my truck.
It is a nice gift, people I work with are often generous when they have fruit to share :D maybe it's all that hard cider I share at Christmas or maybe they just don't want things to go to waste. I always appreciate what I'm given.
Bushman wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 7:00 am Sounds like cherries are now ripe, Cranky it is always a tug a war with the significant other on how we use the fruit :sarcasm:
Yes, cherries are now ripe. The tree I netted needs picked desperately but with this 100+ degree heat I can't stand to go outside after work long enough to pick them.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by stillanoob »

My cherry tree isn't quite ready. I picked the first few yesterday. Tasty but not quite sweet yet.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Jimbo wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:32 am
Ahh I miss cherries. My cherry tree died, so I built a greenhouse where the tree was. Ive since planted another in a nice sunny spot, Montmorency. She's doing good, but the waiting game is on for some size and yield. Im still nursin the last of the Kirsh from the old tree. I only pour it for folks that appreciate that type of thing. Every beer swillin swinging dick that want a sample tour dont get that one... Compared to apples its gotta be 10X the work for yield, but damn is it good.
I'm sorry to hear about your cherry tree Jumbo. The hardest part with the new trees is waiting for them to mature and start producing in quantity.

Pretty much any fruit is a lot more work than apples which is why I do so many apples. If I do manage to get some kirsch it will be reserved for special occasions.
Jimbo wrote: Sat Jun 26, 2021 8:32 am Cranky, when you consider the energy required to manufacture a new car, the carbon footprint of of your 50 year old reaper is a tiny fraction of anyones Prius that they replace every few years. Bravo :clap:
That is very true Jimbo, not to mention batteries that need replaced every 6-8 years that cost more than the value of the car rendering the car worthless. The reaper on the other hand costs a couple hundred dollars a year for whatever breaks and oil/fluid changes and just keeps on going. I was even talking to one of the guys I work with and he said his '08 Toyota pickup gets 8 mpg :wtf: I get 12 if my gas thief doesn't show up and 10 if he does and have documents showing in 1978 on a road trip it got 17-18 highway. It's also a lot of fun to won and drive, unlike any Prius.
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