So I'm thinking of doing an Apple Schnapps. Now from my understanding, we've got the traditional German style schnapps or eau de vie which is the fermented fruit wash distilled for a dry (not sweet) distillate with some mellow background character...say a white and light brandy if you will.
Then there's liqueurs which can be made by macerating fruit for a few weeks, then diluting and combining with a sugar syrup for a sweet and syrupy product.
And lastly, there's the store bought American style which is usually some form of cordial or essence which has been combined with a neutral to make their sweet, yet thin, almost strongly flavoured vodka like product.
On an international forum, we've had some discussions on using a natural stevia sweetening agent for flavoured vodkas. From this I'm thinking of fermenting a heap of apple juice, then distilling to make a neutral-ish (say one run with 6 plates) which still has that subtle fruit character, then soak some apple in that for a week or two, and maybe polish it up with a touch of stevia to finish. Looking at a 20%abv product, not the traditional 35-40%.
The cheapest I can get fresh pressed apple juice is about $2 a litre directly from the manufacturer, which is a bit high. So I was thinking of going the clear processed stuff from Aldi for $1/litre...not ideal, but I'm not making drinking cider either, just distilling. I don't have the time to look into bulk apples and pressing them, so definitely a bought juice option.
From what I have researched, the juice yields an SG of 1.050. I would really like to avoid any added sugar due to the burn it creates, but am not completely opposed to the smallest amount if I want to take it to 1.060 (which I am happy with, same as a normal AG mash)...I don't want any burn as there will be no filtering and limited aging.
I'm also thinking of a single pass on the column with 6 plates. I'm thinking 3 or 4 will not quite be what I'm aiming for as I use that config for whiskey, so thinking 6 (without packed section), should give a neutral as such but still with that apple character lightly in the background.
I would then use that distillate to soak some Pink Lady apple in, then dilute, and age for a bit (as should be done for fruit distillates), and to finish it off, bottle at 20%abv and sweeten to taste with natural stevia additive.
Over to you lot
), I would definitely stick with the fresh cloudy apple juice only, but was hoping I could get away with the clear stuff for distilling purposes and still get some flavour out of it.
No. 
We call fermented alcoholic cider 'hard cider', fresh pressed cloudy stuff you'd get at an orchard 'cider' and the clear stuff from a factory sold in the grocery 'apple juice'
But in a pinch,.... love the one with youre with, as the song goes.
1.050 is ok.
.) Make notes, and make friends. Folks are 9 times out of 10 delighted for you to take them (the apples) away before they fall, kill their grass and make a buggy stinky mess.
You need a much larger amount of viable cells, so I chose that method over using 5 times as much yeast...
