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
piperdave wrote:I've had the experience. 3 months in aging in glass and oak and just diluted a quart to drinking strength. Very similar tasting notes as nerdy. It will smooth out so once again I will play the waiting game.
For now I'm keeping mine white, no wood.
I am curious to see what it will taste like after aging all by itself.
I've got plenty of oaked liquor so this is something I can experiment with.
I may keep a quart or two back and try it without the wood next year. This was my first apple brandy so I kept it pretty conventional this time around. I am looking forward to apple season again. Right now I'm sitting here shivering on a cold Alberta winter day having a slightly "hot" tasting apple brandy.
If you can't be a good example, at least be a terrible warning
Finally got about a gallon and charred some pre toasted sticks and just put them in after sitting in water over night. First time charring, sticks were thin. I went for alligator skin but after I soaked them and let them dry a little some were brittle. Hope I didn't over char them. I'm thinking just bc they were thin sticks to begin with. Plan on leaving in for maybe 6 wks. 2 wks upstairs where it's warmest, 2 wks on first level and 2 downstairs where it's about 55 degrees. First time with this so any advice is welcomed. Final brandy was 55%
I put 1 gallon of mine on toasted and charred apple wood for several weeks until it got to a color I like.
The other gallon is aging white.
Not going to tasted it until May, I figure 6 months is a minimum.
I only had thin chips I guess. Toasted at 350 for 4 hrs as per the seller. I don't have a any around here so I bought some. I charred them and added to abt 1 gal. 6wks have passed. Tasted today pretry good. I'm going for 12 weeks before bottling. The flavor is good but the color is a little pale. Would like a darker color
PTS, charred oak will impart a darker color than toasted only as the sugars in the oak are caramelized darker when charred than by toasting only. Also, I would go 4 months minimum. Its not done making the largest aging changes before 4 months (aside from oak). I know its hard to char thin chips, maybe try some cubes if you cant get a half barrel planter from the local home improvement. https://www.morebeer.com/search?search=oak" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow The bigger the chunk the better luck youll have when taking a torch to it to char it up. Soak in water for a few minutes after charring.
Thanks jimbo. Yeah I got my eye on some larger 'chips'. 3/4×3/4 × 5". Figure these would be better suited than the ones I have. Really 4 months? I'm worried it will over take any apple flavors. But 12 wks is 3 months so I'm sure 1 more month won't hurt it any.
na, it wont overtake. the sweet caramel from the oak compliments the fruit. I have quart jars with 1x1x5 sticks that have been sitting for 3+ years. But I like oak, so dont use me as a baseline. Taste at 6 months and every month after to make sure youre not getting too much oak. With your chips I dont know how many you used, so the timing could be 1 week to forever depending if it was a handful or just a few grams. When I make bourbon bbl porters and such I stuff a pint jar full with cut up charred chunks, fill with bourbon for a couple weeks, then pour the whole lot in the keg with the beer to soak until the tap blows foam.
I followed tee pee's thread and used 6 per the gallon. Have to say that it tastes pretty good and to think it came from walmart. Lol. Well, it's musselmans cider but it's a damn nice thing to turn that into a decent sippin brandy. I should make another but only have a couple of carboys and only have so much money. Want to get into other thing like got a blackberry wine first attempt and wanna do your all grain malted barley. So I'll have only this brandy for now until I get my hands on some fresh pressed late this year. Wondering how that'll differ from musselmans?
Last edited by PTS_35 on Tue Mar 15, 2016 12:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Just as an aside, I've changed my oaking thread a bit as I now use one per quart.
I leave it on oak during the entire aging period and don't worry about making oak tea.
Started up 13 gallons of this a few weeks back using Costco Fresh Pressed Apple Juice and a few packets of 1118. It went quickly, finished in almost a week. I let it clear and checked on it tonight and I picked up a lacto infection. IT SMELLS AMAZING! I've made some Apple Wine pretty much the same way before, but with much more sanitary conditions so I know what the cider usually smells like and this beats the pants off it. The plan is to strip fast and spirit run through one or two plates and age on plain applewood.
Bottled mine may 28th. Four months on oak and I plan to open a bottle around July 4th or so. Give it a month in bottle. Corked one and set aside for long term. Gonna try an leave it be for two years. Anyway, color and smell at bottling time showed promise.
So I stilled this in October, and kept tasteing my first bottle all this time. It's been pretty good, just a little headsy. Took it up to Seattle to try it out on the God of fruit,cranky, and he agreed, just a little headsy still. So tonight I finished the first bottle and it's good, but still just that little heads taste. When I do this again, I will cut just a touch later. Still have one bottle left that I think I let that set for a year.
September 10 will be a year for my batch... Still have 3 quarts at 63% on oak...smells so good. My apple season is a little later than you guys. I am pressing my next batch later this month. Definitely a unique taste. I love it...you just can't buy it in any store.
If you can't be a good example, at least be a terrible warning
Opened a bottle week of July 4th. It's really not a bad sip. I like it. I hope it gets better in time in the bottles that are sealed. I am happy with how it turned out. This was musselmans store bought cider. This year want to go to a fresh pressed cider and see if there's a difference. Also saw a video of someone aging on french oak that says it brings out cinnamon and vanilla notes. Plan on doing that
i used cider. if buying from store make sure it doesnt have potassium sorbate as preservative. you're looking for citric acid only. musselmans or sam's choice from walmart are good. i used sam's choice for making hard cider and i think that turned out good too. i dry hopped that one and like the result
Has anyone bought any juice with fumeric acid? I know it is an additive for tartness and is a natural acid. I wonder if it would have an effect on the ferment?
I been working at apple brandy too. Lucky to have a family owned apple/cider farm right by me. They sell filtered and unfiltered apple cider, neither with any preservatives. Also have an apple/cherry with I haven't tried yet. I got the unfiltered apple cider. At first I didn't think my final product had any apple flavor, but a week on toasted oak and a month in the closet it actually has more than I though it would.
Any opinions on whether filtered or unfiltered would be best?
cellsaver wrote:I been working at apple brandy too. Lucky to have a family owned apple/cider farm right by me. They sell filtered and unfiltered apple cider, neither with any preservatives. Also have an apple/cherry with I haven't tried yet. I got the unfiltered apple cider. At first I didn't think my final product had any apple flavor, but a week on toasted oak and a month in the closet it actually has more than I though it would.
Any opinions on whether filtered or unfiltered would be best?
I hope to start my first batch of Apple Brandy. I got about 50 pounds of fresh, organic apples I am going to press (or should I Just mash up??) and will top off with fresh cider to 13 gallons in the fermenter. question on running this...just run once and slowly through my potstill, or run a fast stripping run, and then a second slow run? I want to keep max apple flavor.
Oldvine Zin wrote:Found the last bottle of the apple that I made - 3 years ago. Damn I wish that I saved more
OVZ
I think that a lot, that's why I took great pains last year to fill that 5 gallon barrel. Hopefully that will give me enough to share some and have it last a while.
Oldvine Zin wrote:Found the last bottle of the apple that I made - 3 years ago. Damn I wish that I saved more
OVZ
I think that a lot, that's why I took great pains last year to fill that 5 gallon barrel. Hopefully that will give me enough to share some and have it last a while.
Gave mine away as Christmas presents, was told it was very enjoyable!
Now I'm out.
Oldvine Zin wrote:Found the last bottle of the apple that I made - 3 years ago. Damn I wish that I saved more
OVZ
I think that a lot, that's why I took great pains last year to fill that 5 gallon barrel. Hopefully that will give me enough to share some and have it last a while.
Gave mine away as Christmas presents, was told it was very enjoyable!
Now I'm out.
I tend to do that, I think MCH still has some of mine, if so it's the last from at least 2 years ago.
