Many like to post about a first successful ferment (or first all grain mash), or first still built/bought or first good run of the still. Tell us about all of these great times here.
Pics are VERY welcome, we drool over pretty copper
After tasteing the elixirs made by Jimbo,T-Pee and Bushman, I decided that Apple Brandy was going on the to do list.
Went to Costco today( yee gads, on a Saturday? Yes I'm crazy) and picked up 6 gals of kirklands fresh pressed 100% juice.
Being basicly lazy, I didn't go the Bushman,Jimbo route but like T-Pee just poured the juice into fermentor and added two packets of Lavin EC1118. By the way I'm not suggesting T-Pee is lazy but.... Any way the starting gravity was 1.050. So now we wait!
Edit by the way the juice is going for $7.99 for 2 one gal bottles!
Bigbob, I did much the same thing several months ago and got a decent drop of apple brandy from it - nice sippin' stuff. I might fire up another batch soon. I noticed Walmart has 2 96oz jugs (1.5 gallons) for $4.00, so for $12.00 I can get a nice 4.5 gallon charge for my 5 gallon pot still. It's an easy ferment, but takes a long time.
Post up with progress reports to let us know how it's going. Good luck with it.
Every new member should read this before doing anything else:
We are now getting fresh apples from the orchards for the kids, but haven't made the move yet to collect for a ferment.
I was thinking about U-Picking a bunch and buying a 5 gallon pail of fresh Cider from the orchard... crush the apples and let them soak in the cider with some yeasties.
On the other hand there are lots of dropped fruit right now after the storms, and considered putting my 55 gallon pickle barrel in the car and going for a collection drive.
Cheers!
My Uncke Mo taught me how to make apple Jack when I was in 6th Grade.
Great timing, I am getting ready to put in a 15 gallon ferment using tree top frozen that I got on clearance and is taking up room in my deep freeze.
What's nice about concentrate is I can easily get the SG I want by adding more or less juice.
I figure 15 gallons of 8% apple cider will make a good amount of brandy.
Not going to mess it up this time by adding sugar - I've learned a lot from here since my last apple adventure.
So howdy fellas, been up in the mountains for a couple of weeks and just got home. Figured I'd be stilling the apple brandy today, but when I checked the gravity, it's right at 1.00, so I figured to let it sit some more. It has a nice sour taste, but just a trace of sweet. So I'm in no hurry, I'll just let it go some more. Just giving an update
So today's the day! Checked SG this morning and it was .995 so into the still it went! Starting it nice and slow so I don't (hopefully) have any foaming or puking issues. Will let you all know how it turns out!
Yep, that's what everybody says. I'm just going by feel,smell and taste. It's always hard doing a new run of something, I've got my sweet feed dialed in! With sweet feed I usally toss the first 300/350 mils. I guess with this I'll do 200 or so. It just started dripping!
This has been the toughest stilling I've ever had. I guess I filled the first run too full, even though I filled less that 3/4s. After I cleaned up the first puke, it was running fine,nice and clear. Then I turned it up just a tad......puked again . I collected 1000 mil, then tossed it into the second run. Now I'm just collected the first 200 mils to toss. Tested and got 120 proof. Nice and clear good Apple smell. Started new jar, collecting for real now. One more run after this.
Yeah but the thing is Chris, I usally only do one run. Oh well on the last leg, just put the second run back into the still and filled the rest of the wash for a nice slow spirit run.
It's my famous 21/2 gal alembic! I can do a sweet feed run in 3 hours start to finnish. And I get 2 qts from one run. But today was a day of learning. Fruit is different. I had a problem with foaming and puking so I just had to run slow. Also on the last run I put a pat of butter in the wash to keep the foam down. It's airing out and I'm using about half as much oak chips as I do for my sweet feed and a stick of cinnamon. Then it ages for at least 4 months.(yeah right)
I will say the brandy is worth it but that's also the reason I upgraded to the keg, I did a 5 run brandy run in a 3 gallon pot and said, "screw this" and started upgrading, first with the 4 gallon pot, then the keg and I'm very happy with the keg and flute setup for the brandy when I get it dialed in. I also think you done good BigBob.
The supermarket has apple juice on sale for $1.96 per gallon, this thread and that sale put me past the tipping point.
I've got 10 gallons of juice and 10 quarts of frozen apple juice concentrate, should make 12.5 gallons at about 1.08 OG if I've done the math right.
Once I get it mixed I'll check the starting gravity to see how close my guess is.
Everyone agree the 1118 is the best yeast to use?
I can get Wyeast apple cider yeast, I've used it before when I made hard cider for drinking.
I want to bottle a couple gallons of hard cider and run the rest through my pot still for brandy.
Today's the day!
Make sure the juice does not have preservatives. Basically pasteurized is ok, preserved is bad. If it has Potassium Sorbate in it it probably won't ferment.
If it's the Safeway brand apple juice, which is on sale for 98 cents a half gallon ($1.96 a gallon) then it says all it has is apple juice and vitamin C. I hate to admit it but I picked up 5 gallons yesterday to make cider for people I work with who don't contribute to my cider making, to give out at Christmas. Those who contribute get the hand pressed stuff but the others get store bought. I haven't started fermenting it yet because I have nothing left to ferment in, but it was tempting to buy 15 gallons to compare to the final brandy from the hand pressed to store bought.
. I collected 1000 mil, then tossed it into the second run. Now I'm just collected the first 200 mils to toss. Tested and got 120 proof. Nice and clear good Apple smell. Started new jar, collecting for real now. One more run after this.
