rough and tumble apple advice

[ushutuppicard]

hey all.... so my ex's father has been making moonshine for a while... is recipe for his sugar wash has always been....
take 2 5 gallon office water containers
cut up your fruit into small bits
fill each container with 8" of fruit
for each container take 10lbs of sugar and mix it into 2 gallons of water over stove till fully mixed
add water to containers till 1/2 full
add bubblers to top
next day fill containers to top of bottom rounded part
let bubble for 30 days

thats literally the directions he gave me, and they have actually worked out quite well. ive done it with various melons, peaches, plumbs, grapes, etc.

we just run them through a low quality reflux still... we arent after the most delicious brandy or anything... just some novelty shine that is usually a hit at parties or fun to make into drinks like apple pie.

he has said certain fruits dont work well, like apple. however, there is a ton of apple available right now... and filling those 5 gallon jugs with 8" of fruit can be somewhere around 20lbs of fruit per container, which is insanely expensive.

i did a bit of searching and it sounds like apple can be tough? is there anything i can do to make it work? im not above using applesauce, and there is a cider mill down the way from me. but ive heard that non-preserved is required.

THANKS!