Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Discussions of fruits, veggies and grains other then just mashing

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Saltbush Bill
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Fredistiller wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:54 am We had a very nice conversation and he gave me 7 "branches" (don't know the right term in English)
Not sure about other parts of the world , but here we would call them "cuttings".
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Same on the English speaking top side of the ball Bill
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Saltbush Bill wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 5:11 am
Fredistiller wrote: Mon Apr 19, 2021 11:54 am We had a very nice conversation and he gave me 7 "branches" (don't know the right term in English)
Not sure about other parts of the world , but here we would call them "cuttings".
or scions but cuttings work...really anything works that gets your point across.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

So let's hope that all the scions/cuttings will grow strong and give me tons of grapes!

Thanks for the private English lesson guys! :thumbup:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Results are in Cranky we pressed just over 35 gallons in just under two hours. Could have done it faster but the press and the bottling stations could not keep up with the crusher. Some of the really big apples had to be split but not many.
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66153806-1E97-469B-8235-A73EF2F2765B.jpeg
B1BA0899-2342-447E-AD86-A16A685BFD47.jpeg
He said if I want he can get two more crates, I don’t have room at this time.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

I wish I also lived in a country were the neighbours bring fruits in big crates and where you can find free pallets of canned apple juice!
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Bushman wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:47 pm Results are in Cranky we pressed just over 35 gallons in just under two hours. Could have done it faster but the press and the bottling stations could not keep up with the crusher. Some of the really big apples had to be split but not many.
My press is the big bottleneck in my operation too but fully processing 500 lbs of apples in 2hrs is not a bad speed at all.
Fredistiller wrote: Sat Apr 24, 2021 12:56 pm I wish I also lived in a country were the neighbours bring fruits in big crates and where you can find free pallets of canned apple juice!
It would be nice wouldn't it :D That reminds me, I need to put Mrs Cranky to work opening all those cans :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today I opened up the barrel of apple brandy I put up on Mar 21 2020. I had hoped this one wasn't going to need as much time as the previous one but it's looking like that isn't the case. It's coming along but is certainly not ready to be called finished. It's actually quite close to the 2017 batch although it's missing that slight oakyness the 2017 has developed. I added a couple of toasted oak sticks and sealed it back up. I'll check again in 6 months. I'm also considering adding a stick or two of Rainier cherry that I have had sitting on my porch for over a year, I figure it's probably weathered long enough. I might also have some apple wood somewhere. If I can find it I will probably add a toasted stick of that as well.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

cranky wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:56 pm I'm also considering adding a stick or two of Rainier cherry that I have had sitting on my porch for over a year, I figure it's probably weathered long enough.
I used 8cm2 for 5L @ 55abv of toasted cherry in my rhum (+toasted oak). I find it way too cherry for my taste. My Cuba Libre tastes like cherry coke now! 😁
The wood was 6 month "old", maybe that's the reason why it tastes so strong....
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Fredistiller wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 3:05 am The wood was 6 month "old", maybe that's the reason why it tastes so strong....
That statement made me wonder if it was sapwood rather than heartwood.

I'm very careful about wood. I will usually pre soak my wood in neutral for a day or two before drying it and using it in brandy. I will also only use a small amount, much smaller than a lot of people. In a 5 gallon barrel of brandy I use the same stick I would use for a half gallon of whiskey. I only want a hint of wood in my brandy. I prefer my rum un-oaked so that isn't really an issue. I have a lot of well seasoned cherry wood but I don't know the specific variety. I had some logs that I got 5 or 6 (or more) years ago that have been sitting out in the weather that I recently cut up hoping to get enough to make a Badmo barrel out of. Unfortunately I don't think that's going to work out because the logs were log shaped while curing and got radial cracks from shrinking. I may see what a piece of that does.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

cranky wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 10:16 am
Fredistiller wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 3:05 am The wood was 6 month "old", maybe that's the reason why it tastes so strong....
That statement made me wonder if it was sapwood rather than heartwood.

I'm very careful about wood. I will usually pre soak my wood in neutral for a day or two before drying it and using it in brandy. I will also only use a small amount, much smaller than a lot of people. In a 5 gallon barrel of brandy I use the same stick I would use for a half gallon of whiskey. I only want a hint of wood in my brandy. I prefer my rum un-oaked so that isn't really an issue. I have a lot of well seasoned cherry wood but I don't know the specific variety. I had some logs that I got 5 or 6 (or more) years ago that have been sitting out in the weather that I recently cut up hoping to get enough to make a Badmo barrel out of. Unfortunately I don't think that's going to work out because the logs were log shaped while curing and got radial cracks from shrinking. I may see what a piece of that does.

I only use heartwood, I would think it's not seasoned enough? I have honestly no experience.
I cut some stick to used immediately but I have some big pieces waiting outside to season. But I would never had thought of pre-soak it in neutral. It's a good tip thanks! Which abv do you use if I may ask?

(See my short discussion with Tpee about the use of fresh fruit wood if you like to: https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... y#p7608418
scroll down for the results: https://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtop ... y#p7617881 )
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cranky wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:56 pm Today I opened up the barrel of apple brandy I put up on Mar 21 2020.
This made me think I should go check mine that I put down in January of 2020.

Happy to say I like it quite a bit. I was very disappointed off the still, no apple at all, and I thought my cuts were headsy. But as I sip this tonight, I’m very happy with the apple flavor, oaky caramel, and a nice color ya boot.

Angels seem to have camped out inside the barrel, but it was 5 gallons so I should still have plenty left to enjoy.

This one was a real labor of love, and a lot of labor. Way more work than corn whiskey!

Thanks for your fruity inspiration, Cranky, this looks like it’s gonna be a winner.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Good for you cranky, I had enough neutral saved to put up one batch of apple pie. Canned most my apple juice so it will last and put some in the freezer. Leaving out some fresh to drink. This will give me opportunities later to do something with what I have while waiting for the fall batch to come in.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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MichiganCornhusker wrote: Tue Apr 27, 2021 5:14 pm
cranky wrote: Mon Apr 26, 2021 10:56 pm Today I opened up the barrel of apple brandy I put up on Mar 21 2020.
This made me think I should go check mine that I put down in January of 2020.

Happy to say I like it quite a bit. I was very disappointed off the still, no apple at all, and I thought my cuts were headsy. But as I sip this tonight, I’m very happy with the apple flavor, oaky caramel, and a nice color ya boot.

Angels seem to have camped out inside the barrel, but it was 5 gallons so I should still have plenty left to enjoy.

This one was a real labor of love, and a lot of labor. Way more work than corn whiskey!

Thanks for your fruity inspiration, Cranky, this looks like it’s gonna be a winner.
I'm glad it worked out for you but now I'm afraid to send you this bottle I've had for you for the past year. I'm afraid yours might be better :think:

I want to do whiskey and from time to time buy some of the grain only to have it go bad before I do anything with it. Whiskey seems like a lot of trouble to me Vs fruit.

I'm hoping to get a 2nd press built this year to try to make pressing go faster.

Mrs Cranky has been very mellow about fruit lately. She recently discovered she has siblings and they have been distracting her :D Today she voluntarily opened and emptied about half the remaining cans of apple juice. I only did half because I'm trying to make 4 packets of that expensive cider yeast work for 50 gallons of cider so I only added 2 to 3 gallons to each carboy and made up starters so I had enough to stretch it. Once the yeast is going good I will add more juice.

Mrs Cranky also said she wants me to make some special booze to send to her siblings for Christmas. I'm thinking she means some Sugarplum Fairy wine but I won't be able to make that til the end of summer so I'm going to have to see what kind of fruit I have in the freezer that might make a couple bottles to send out.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cranky wrote: Wed Apr 28, 2021 10:33 pm Mrs Cranky also said she wants me to make some special booze to send to her siblings for Christmas. I'm thinking she means some Sugarplum Fairy wine but I won't be able to make that til the end of summer so I'm going to have to see what kind of fruit I have in the freezer that might make a couple bottles to send out.
I made two batches of sloe wine last year, one of which followed a recipe from brewbitz.com. I bottled it the other day and had some left over after filling the 12 bottles and even now it's amazing. Slightly sweet deep fruity red with a certain spicyness. One small bottle that didn't fit in the demi-john originally had a swing top and I closed it before it had finished fermenting. As a sparkling red it's out of this world. Given their heritage, I'm guessing the same technique would work with plums but you'd have to adjust the sugar as sloes are not that sweet.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Haven't posted in this thread in a while. I have been having fun with a series of Honey Bear runs. Good stuff but I am still working on my cuts. The only fruity goodness I have done lately was to bottle up 1/2 of the plum wine we made last year a couple of months ago. It came out really nice, clean, tart and with an earthy plum skin finish. Super happy for my first attempt. We gave away quite a few bottles and it got good reviews. Going to get the rest into bottles next week. The apple cider from last year for brandy is ready so will get to running that soon. Looks like a bust of a plum year around here, to my great sadness. Not unexpected, last year was a bumper year and it seems that plums don't do back to back bumper years, at least not around here that I have seen.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today the foaming in the carboys stopped. This Ciderhouse yeast seems to be fermenting quite fast, at least judging from the foamy stage. This afternoon I brought the level up to a gallon or so from the top, except on the 12 gallon, it just got a case added, I think it is going to get a case added every day until it is full. Hopefully that will let the yeast multiply enough to work out. Each case is a little more than 2 gallons so it's going to take a little time to get that one filled but I still have 9 cases to go which will still leave 4 or 5 gallons. I will probably have to resort to using my 1 gallon jugs to get the last but I don't have any airlocks for them and migh need them to make wine to send Mrs. Cranky's family come Christmas.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

Here the good weather seems to settle and the plants are growing fast!
the "old" grape (6 years)
the "old" grape (6 years)
the elderberry flowers are there! Still need to learn how to prune them correctly...
the elderberry flowers are there! Still need to learn how to prune them correctly...
The rowan 'll be giving more fruit this year if I can tell by the flowers (sorry for the bad image)
The rowan 'll be giving more fruit this year if I can tell by the flowers (sorry for the bad image)
my black currants are not giving that much unfortunately
my black currants are not giving that much unfortunately
There are still only 2 out of the 7 Solaris grape-cuttings that are growing, I wonder if the other ones are dead or not...
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Fredistiller »

And speaking of grapes growing. I had a cutting received from an other vineyard I visited 3 years ago. I pampered it and prune it with care and love, and was really impatient to see him growing in his third year...But....
But the missus came yesterday from the garden with that look in her eyes and said:
-"I'm afraid I did something wrong...it wasn't your young grape against the wall near that garden stake, wasn't it?" :?:
-"hmmm, yes honey, it was. Why?" :eh:
-"I was pulling the weeds and...I wondered why there was these garden stake...and then I realised..." :shifty:
-"ohh gooood" :(
-"Soorryyyyy" :oops: ( with that little girl look in her eyes )
-(sigh) "well there are worst things in life...." (she knows very well how to use that little girl look I must tell)

At least I have some excuses so she'll help me harvest the fruits later this year! :mrgreen:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today I finished topping up all the carboys. I still have 83 cans left, that's almost 7.5 gallons and I can't find any more carboys. I'm pretty sure I had well over 100 gallons capacity in carboys but I know I have some out on loan somewhere :roll: I might just make a stop at the big box store and pick up a couple of buckets to ferment that in.

Here is a picture of the first round of apple juice plus the 12 gallon carboy, which was topped off this morning.
APPLE 07 MAY 21 #2A - C.jpg
Two of those carboys are the pink stuff which is still fermenting but I've always had cranberries ferment slow. The 6 carboys of apple juice are finished and clear and could be run off any day I feel like it.

The apple currently in the common bath is still going but I just topped them all up a little while ago but they will be ready in another month when I will have a week off. One of them is looking like it may be infected but that doesn't really worry me, it should still be ok come stilling time.

I actually got the garage cleaned the other day and found what must be close to 30#s of malt and a whole lot of panela and boxes of cereal and sugar that need dealt with so I started digging out the bigger fermenters. I also found a bucket of fermented plum puree that has been sitting for a very long time that I may or may not be able to do something with. I'm thinking I may be doing a whole lot of stilling in June.

In other fruity goodness news my cherry trees are looking real well
CHERRY -7 ,AY 21 #7A - C.jpg
CHERRY -7 ,AY 21 #8A - C.jpg
So are the Seckel pears
PEAR 07 MAY 20 #3A - C.jpg
and the KDs, the baby trees are giving me hope that they may even fruit this year, although I still doubt it
KD 07 MAY 21 #2A - C.jpg
It's looking like it's going to be a very good fruit year :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Finally started running the cider we made last year for brandy. We pressed it around last Thanksgiving and it just went dry in the last month. The cider house is mostly unheated and we used EC1118 which takes its bloody time at low temperatures. We had 29 or so gallons at around 9.5%. The juice came in at about 1.060 and we boosted it with honey from my hives up to about 1.080. It was so good it was hard not to chug it right out of the fermenter. I was tempted to save some for drinking but in the end we poured it all into the pot.

First strip run had heat on it by 7AM and we were done cleaning up after the third run around 8pm. We ran down to about 10% and ended up with 8 gallons of low wines. I didn't actually bother to measure the ABV. The hearts were really darn good, almost saved some just to compare with the second run. Next week we will do the spirit run and I am really looking forward to that.

The bummer is that overall the fruit season here isn't looking very good. Plums are a bust all around the county. My peach set is on the low side as are the apples. Cherries are looking good, as is the Asian pear but the Bartlett pear is a bust. Probably the very dry winter we had. Huckleberries look spotty. Raspberries doing well and hopefully the blackberries will do OK.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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stillanoob wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 7:20 am It was so good it was hard not to chug it right out of the fermenter.
There's nothing wrong with that. I sometimes turn some of a nice fruit must into sparkling wine/cider/hybrid for the ladies.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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NZChris wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 10:38 pm
stillanoob wrote: Sat May 29, 2021 7:20 am It was so good it was hard not to chug it right out of the fermenter.
There's nothing wrong with that. I sometimes turn some of a nice fruit must into sparkling wine/cider/hybrid for the ladies.
We do have apple cider on tap, I have about 7 gallons left from last year. But we don't boost it with honey so it is about 6.5% and the unfermentables in the honey leave a slightly sweet and complex taste in there. Next time I will bottle up a bit. Maybe this year I will add honey to some of the drinking cider. That stuff would be dangerous, so easy to drink and quite heady. In other fruity goodness news we also bottled the last 5 gallons of the plum wine we made last year and it is excellent. If we had a good plum year I wanted to try to make some of Cranky's sugar plum fairy wine but it looks like we will have to wait until next year.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Figured out a way to safely can my apple juice in two quart jars after pasturizing. :thumbup:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I was at my son's the other day doing the yard work and took the time to check the fruit trees. They are all looking very good especially the pears.
This first one is the Asian pears
J PEARS 21 MAY 21 #4A - C.jpg
And this next one is the European pear. I don't recall at the moment which variety they are but they are huge, pear shaped and taste really good.
J PEARS 21 MAY 21 #2A - C.jpg
I should have taken cuttings of that Asian pear so I could graft them to my Shinsaiki which I don't really like because it's so florally

The apples are looking really nice too
j APPLES 21 MAY 21A - C.jpg
Even his Italian plums are looking really nice but the pictures didn't come out. I need to look at my plums and see how they are doing. I looked at the Banana plum the other day but it looks like it didn't set much of anything. I'm really hoping the sugar plums do well.

I also took pictures of what the neighbor is growing but I don't think I can post pictures of flowers... :problem: well some call it a flower...some call it a weed, I don't really give it much thought :problem: but I don't think I can post a picture :crazy:

My cherries are starting to show some reddening. I'm going to have to net them very soon if I actually want to eat any. The birds will be on them as soon as they show even a hint of red.

and last is the 75 gallons of Minute Maid apple juice is fully fermented and ready to distill. I'm actually planning on bottling 5 or 10 gallons to give away come Christmas so I have been keeping an eye on the bottle dumpster near my work. It's funny how few beer bottles are being thrown away by the bars that dump there but today I got 20 or so 11.5oz beer bottles. I prefer the 22oz but the price is right. I've started liking the regular crimp cap beer bottles over the flip caps just because they are easier to clean and deal with and if I can get them for free I don't care if they don't come back. Mostly what's showing up in the dumpster are Tequila bottles and Vodka bottles with a few cheaper whiskeys, wine and some Champaign bottles. I haven't been taking the Champaign bottles but I might start. Mostly I take any hard liquor bottles with a cork rather than a screw top if they have the top or any that use a 19mm cork. The 23mm T-Corks are just too expensive. I actually need a lot of bottles just to store all this apple brandy I have made over the past few years. I also need them for other likkers I'm planning on.

Does anybody know how to take the tequila smell and taste out of a Patron cork? I have been finding a lot of those lately and can't resist taking them but am afraid they might impart a tequila quality to whatever is put in them. I also have another idea that involves these bottles but not fruity goodness. I may need to start a new thread just talk about my plans with the tequila, or I may have to revive my Goofy things I do thread.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by subbrew »

I have not tried Tekillya, But for other things i have tried to get the smell out of, soaking in baking soda has usually done the trick. Nice pictures by the way
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cranky wrote: Sun May 30, 2021 7:04 pm Does anybody know how to take the tequila smell and taste out of a Patron cork?
I would give them an airing then try them. I often use commercial corks, (and recycle my own), without any regard to what was previously in the bottle. The amount of flavor left over from a cork's previous life is insignificant compared to what you've put in the bottle.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Bushman »

Cranky I will be out at the island property for a work party on the 12th of June and plan to check out the orchard at that time.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by NormandieStill »

I've got a fledgling sloe bush in the garden, and it's starting to show a few berries, but not a lot. One of my favourite foraging spots has been cut back this year so no hope there and another bush seems to have almost no berries growing at all. I'm hoping I'm looking a little too early, because otherwise it's going to be a poor show this year. A lot of the early flowering plants here got hit hard by a week of late frost. Apples should have survived though!
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

I'm falling behind on replies I'd like to make and my mind is just a little off right now but I'll try to get some replies posted soon.

Today my wife and I are trying to get some cleaning and reorganizing done in the house, which involves the garage too. In between different things I decided I was going to go ahead and start stripping all that apple cider. This is where having the boiler on a rolling cart comes in handy. I was able to roll the boiler over to the shelf with the carboys and just rack directly into it then roll it back to it's spot for stripping.

Stripping is actually being a bit challenging. This stuff doesn't behave like any other apple I've run. Normally if I only put 10 gallons in the boiler I can run as hard as I want to with no issues but this stuff puked as soon as it came to temperature and I could only run at about half throttle if I got it over 13 amps it would puke all over again. Since this is a stripping run a puke isn't really a big deal but it requires way different handling than I've ever had to use for apple juice.
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