Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Discussions of fruits, veggies and grains other then just mashing

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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Jimbo »

cranky wrote: I'm beginning to thing 100 gallons may just be within reach this year.
:clap: :thumbup: Youre a machine cranky!
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Jimbo wrote:
cranky wrote: I'm beginning to thing 100 gallons may just be within reach this year.
:clap: :thumbup: Youre a machine cranky!
I just can't help myself, I see apples and I just have to pick them :roll:

I figure Mrs Cranky will probably steal 2 buckets which leaves me with 9. Doing the math on that even if I get 2 gallons per bucket that will only come to 18 more gallons which would still leave me 7 short of that 100 gallon goal. Now if you include the pears it will be well above that, I also have a bucket of pulp I made while testing the newest version of the chopper last winter which will probably be pressed and run through with this batch, that's another 3 gallons or so of juice.

I was out and about with my wife the other day and actually noticed 3 huge trees so loaded they were breaking branches. One of them is on vacant land, I'm actually tempted to go pick those as well but it will be all I can manage to get these processed this year.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

I've been super busy lately, unfortunately none of it has involved processing apples :( My winter vacation started yesterday and I was hoping to have the kitchen and bathroom finished by now but in spite of my best efforts that hasn't happened. For the most part all that's left are little things but there are a whole lot of little things and little things take time. I have made the kitchen kind of a huge mess while I worked on it and it's been driving Mrs. Cranky nuts because she is hitting holiday cooking mode. So this morning bright and early I got up and cleaned the kitchen as a birthday surprise for her while she slept. Her birthday is officially tomorrow but we celebrate something I like to call KBEW which stands for "Karen's Birthday Extravaganza Week" which is way better than a single day :wink:

At holiday time she likes to simmer apples, cinnamon and cloves on the stove to fill the house with those smells. As part of my morning surprise and possibly cover up the smell of the cake I had planned to bake but didn't manage to yet. So I sacrificed 5 of the wormy apples I picked last week for the purpose of making smell good.

Mrs. Cranky woke up just as I was finishing cleaning the kitchen and was thrilled. She has been marveling at the kitchen all day while we cleaned the rest of the house getting it ready for company tomorrow. While doing all this cleaning it has become obvious she is going to want to cook this apple concoction up every day between now and Christmas. Doing some quick math I calculated that I could potentially lose 2 full buckets of apples between now and then :esurprised: . So when I had to run to the store to get a few things we forgot yesterday I made an extra stop at the apple trees and picked up 90 apples off the ground...OK about 15 or so of those were drops that never made it to the ground. They were stuck between branches, and I actually picked another 10 or so but the rest were just drops, pretty nice drops at that. I only picked up apples that were not bruised or split or rotten or had bites out of them. Some have a bit of mud on them but other than that they are really nice big apples. I'm actually pretty sure they are very close to 2 buckets full.
APPLES 21 NOV 18 - C.jpg
That picture is actually an 8 gallon bucket literally overflowing with apples. I actually feel like I should get another bucket or two and go back and load them up with less nice apples so I can process these and possibly top that 100 gallons but these apples will make Mrs. Cranky happy until Christmas so I guess I don't really need them :roll:

She is currently in the kitchen cooking away happy as can be :ebiggrin: It's going to be a very nice thanksgiving this year :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I'm Exhausted :tired: I've spent an entire week of my 2 week vacation doing nothing but working on the house. The good news is the kitchen, bathroom and pretty much everything else inside is finished :D Outside the porch is done :ebiggrin:

Now I have to turn my attention to the garage :( I really don't want to work on the garage but I have to, with the weather being the typical PNW weather it's just too wet to process apples outside so the garage is going to have to be clean enough to do all the processing in there. That's actually going pretty well, I'm halfway through the west tunnel already which means that tomorrow I may be able to drag the chopper and press inside tomorrow and process while I continue to clean. I'm actually having thoughts about trying to run off some of the ferments I have going on right now while I process and clean but I think that may be too much to try to do at one time.

In other fruity goodness news when I woke up this morning and went to the sliding door to feed the outside cats as usual. I noticed the neighbor behind me had put a bunch of red Christmas balls in one of their trees. Looking closer I realized they aren't Christmas balls they apples, lots and lots of apples :esurprised: Probably at least 200-250 pounds of apples. So I was thinking, I wonder what Mrs. Cranky would do if I went over there and asked if I could pick them :problem: I'm pretty sure that would not go over well with her, neither one of us are too fond of these particular neighbors.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Yebdog3239 »

Hello Cranky,
I started reading this thread a couple of months ago. I have enjoyed every post. By every member here. I have learned more than just how to get carried away with fruity goodness. Like how to keep projects going for a lonnnngg time! ;-) Some for the better and some because life gets in the way.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I've also enjoyed reading about your challenges and successes.
For a while I was worried that you would divide the thread up but kept looking at the last page number and it finally added a new. I felt that making sure the date on the last page and reading any post there would be like reading the last page in a great story.
I've only just begun my journey in the world of fruity goodness and am really glad I found this thread. Before I read all of this I was not successful in producing a brandy that I would share. All of it turned into something else. Letting the cider rest for a while might be most of what I was doing wrong. I will also be exploring my area more for wild apple trees.
Thanks again for sharing and I look forward to reading more.
And when I get something I can be proud of I will most definitely be posting it here.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Yebdog3239 wrote:Hello Cranky,
I started reading this thread a couple of months ago. I have enjoyed every post. By every member here. I have learned more than just how to get carried away with fruity goodness. Like how to keep projects going for a lonnnngg time! ;-) Some for the better and some because life gets in the way.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge. I've also enjoyed reading about your challenges and successes.
Hi Yebdog :wave:
Fruit can be very challenging and can require considerable patience and in some ways a different way of thinking than some other things. Sometimes when something doesn't come out right it just needs to sit a while and it will straighten out.
Yebdog3239 wrote:For a while I was worried that you would divide the thread up but kept looking at the last page number and it finally added a new. I felt that making sure the date on the last page and reading any post there would be like reading the last page in a great story.
Once upon a time I tried dividing this thread up into individual threads for what to some may seem like different subjects but I found it impossible to unravel in a cohesive way. Every so often I do find myself thinking about not posting any more but I guess I just need somewhere to talk about all my fruity adventures, even if I seem to be talking to myself and besides brandy can take so much time to age properly how would anybody know what the final product was like.
Yebdog3239 wrote:And when I get something I can be proud of I will most definitely be posting it here.
I'm looking forward to hearing about your successes in the future.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Manc »

Hi Cranky

I'm an avid reader I have tried reading from the beginning but failed it's one hell of a long read but I'm subscribed and read every new post as many others do I'm sure. I'm rooting for 100+ gallons next season keep up the good work.

Lee
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Manc wrote:Hi Cranky

I'm an avid reader I have tried reading from the beginning but failed it's one hell of a long read but I'm subscribed and read every new post as many others do I'm sure. I'm rooting for 100+ gallons next season keep up the good work.

Lee
Thank you, I know it's hard to read long threads like this, the past year or two is probably most relevant. I might still get that 100 gallons this year if I ever get around to processing all of them :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Regardless of what I say or intend earlier in the year we all know when Cranky's apple season really ends don't we? :roll:

It ends the first of December.

This year is no different. In spite of the fact that I can see this tree
apples 01 dec 18 - C.jpg
from my back yard I am not going to pick it, but I have been waiting for these 2 to drop
KD 01 DEC 18 - C.jpg
Those are the last of the KDs. I picked them a few minutes ago. With that I am not going to pick any more apples this year, in spite of seeing numerous apples still on various trees, I just have far too much else to do. So Today officially, officially brings an end to my apple season for another year :D

Now it's time to to finish up processing them, than I need to start figuring out what my winter projects will be.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by MichiganCornhusker »

cranky wrote:So Today officially, officially brings an end to my apple season for another year :D
And quite a year! 100 gallons, or dang near? Impressive stuff, Cranky. :clap:
Inspired by your adventures, I was tempted to talk Jimbo out of retirement to team up for an apple takedown weekend. But I blinked and the season was past. :econfused:
I do want to make up a barrel of brandy sooner or later, it's kinda become a bucket list item.
Thanks for another season's window into your shenanigans, you do make it look like it's worth all the work!
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

I'm always a little sad when apple season ends. I still don't know the exact numbers on juice because I still have this left to process.
APPLES 03 DEC 18 #1 - C.jpg
I moved the chopper, press and apples to the East tunnel (yes it's cleaned) and am almost finished with the West tunnel. I go back to work Thursdays but my wife tells me I work a week then have 5 days off so maybe I will be able to get them done sometime soon.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

MichiganCornhusker wrote:Inspired by your adventures, I was tempted to talk Jimbo out of retirement to team up for an apple takedown weekend. But I blinked and the season was past. :econfused:
I do want to make up a barrel of brandy sooner or later, it's kinda become a bucket list item.
That's one of the big problems with brandy, it's so easy to let a fruit season pass by, I know I've had many trees where I thought I had another week or two only to return to find hundreds of pounds of fruit on the ground. I'm actually very fortunate to have such a long apple season.
Last edited by cranky on Wed Dec 05, 2018 3:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today I managed to finally get around to the last of the apples :D I sprained my wrist yesterday which made the whole process a bit painful, especially while scooping the pulp into the the bags. I just finished pressing it and I got 20 gallons of juice. This brings the grand total for the year up to 95 gallons :ebiggrin: It's not the 100 gallons I'm always shooting for but it's more than I really need. I should easily be able to refill the 5 gallon barrel when I empty it with extra to be added as the angels take their share. Now I need to see about sending out samples of last years brandy and figure out where I'm going to put all this juice. I guess now I have to dust off the still and get to work on this years brandy.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I'm currently getting ready to begin running off all the apple...well that of it that is finished anyway. It will be February before that last bit of it is ready. I had saved 5 gallons of that last bit to actually give away as juice and at my wife's request had pasteurized it. With careful pasteurization you don't lose much flavor and this stuff was actually pretty good. I brought some to work last week and people kept saying it was "Like drinking apple sauce". That's the thing about the fresh stuff, it has a thickness, mouth feel and slap you in the face apple flavor that that watered down store bought stuff can't compare to. Anyway, after pasteurizing I put half of it in a carboy and the other half I left in my big 5 gallon pot until I could get it bottled up to give away. I figured it was cold enough out in the garage that there wouldn't be any problems.

Then I decided to make 40#s of pulled pork, which meant I needed my 5 gallon pot. I prep my pork by soaking it in apple juice overnight before putting it in the smoker. So I dug out and cleaned enough bottles to bottle 3 gallons of apple juice to give away for Christmas and began to fill them with the juice. Then I started thinking about how cold the juice was and how it's likely the people receiving it might not get it refrigerated right away and got worried about expansion and possibly broken bottles. I know it's actually fairly unlikely but I didn't want to chance it. So since it was already in the pot I decided I would just bring the temperature up to 100 or so before bottling so I put it on the stove and turned it on. Then while waiting I went to the office and started messing around with some photo editing for my wife. Photo editing can take a long time but if I do it right you can't even tell it's been edited, as a result I lost track of time. I was alerted to the apple juice on the stove when I smelled it :esurprised: Smelling it means it's boiling and boiling is very very bad :esad: So I ran to the kitchen and found it full of apple steam and the juice in full rolling boil. This was very bad. So on the spot I decided everybody is going to get apple jelly instead of apple juice and quickly set to work making and canning apple jelly. I made 11 jars of jelly before I ran out of pectin and still had 6 quarts of juice which were quickly canned as well. I figure I can use the juice to make apple cider vinegar or soak pork in when I decide to make pulled pork.

When it cooled down I opened a jar and while it isn't bad it has lost that thick appleness and become a bit more acidic and basically tastes like plain old store bought apple juice :(

The other half I left in the carboy under airlock where I figured it would be safe but the temperature has decided to go up into the 50s and this morning I noticed it has begun to mold so I quickly added my last packet of yeast to it and it will probably get distilled like the rest of the cider.

Right now I am doing the final cleaning before I run off the apple so I should be able to start on the apple cider sometime within the next week which means I will need to get that barrel emptied soon so I can refill it.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I've been very busy today finally running off some of this cider. I'm currently finishing up the 3rd run. As usual each run is producing about 3 gallons (12 gallon run 6-7% down until the total take is a little less than 30% = about 3 gallons). I still have about 27 more gallons ready and waiting to go which I will try to get to some time this week or maybe next. Then I need to empty the barrel so I can fill it back up.

I know if you are doing the math that doesn't come close to 95 gallons, it comes to 63 gallons but the 20 gallons I pressed the other week is still fermenting which will be somewhere around 80-85 gallons will go to brandy, the rest will be used for hard cider, juice, jelly and vinegar. I ran out of cider this past year which was terrible. In the summer time I like to make fried vegetables and stuff using cider batter, which is beer batter using cider instead of beer.

I will also be pressing and running the pear pulp I have which will likely be added to the brandy barrel.

Hopefully I can also get the plum pressed and run off as well.

On a whim since I still hadn't thrown out the pomace from the last pressing I decided to use the hot apple backset to rehydrate the pomace with the thought of possibly making some marc brandy from it but really don't know that I want to bother with all the trouble.

Once I get all this fruit taken care of I plan on using my carboys to get a rum ferment and possible an All-Bran going to make the wife happy. She really likes her rum based drinks when we sit around the fire pit in the summer and last summer I ran out :oops:
Last edited by cranky on Wed Dec 19, 2018 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today was another day all about apples. ran stripping run #4 and 5 . I still have one more 5 gallon carboy that is finished fermenting and 4 more that I moved to the spare bathroom so they are warm enough to finish by January. I dumped the leftover yeast from what's been run into the marc but I'm not sure I even care to do more to that. I might feel more apt to do something in a week, or month...or two, maybe not. My next plan is to strain and press the pear and see about getting that run, then start thinking about spirit runs.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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I managed to press the pear pulp today which got me just over 5 gallons of pear cider and since it's going into the apple brandy mix I guess we could technically say that brings me up to 100 gallons for the season. It's been a hell of a year :ebiggrin: Now I need to see if I can get Mrs. Cranky's Mercedes to stop so she can start driving it, then maybe start the next round of upgrades on the press and chopper.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Manc »

Congrats on your technical 100 gallons [THUMBS UP SIGN]

Lee
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Manc wrote:Congrats on your technical 100 gallons [THUMBS UP SIGN]

Lee
Thank you Manc (Lee) I'm not sure I feel right counting the pears as the final 5 gallons but I'll take my victories where I can get them :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Last night my wife woke me up to tell me the toilet in the spare bathroom was making a weird noise.

I asked her what it sounded like.

She said it sounded like "BLOOP-BLOOP BLOOP"

:roll: I knew I couldn't keep my fermenting apple a secret too long and had to confess what was actually making the sound. She actually took it better than I expected, it's amazing how mellow she is since we got the house to a mostly finished state :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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You thought apple season was over didn't you?

HA!
APPLES 31 DEC 18 - C.jpg
Ok to be honest I did too :roll: But a while back I noticed there were still some apples on my neighbors tree.

We have not yet had a hard freeze so the apples are still good. Last night was one of the coldest so far this winter and while I waited for my truck to warm up enough to drive it I found myself wandering over to my neighbors tree where I also found myself rescuing these 2 beauties which were just going to fall on the ground and go to waist.

With that little act I officially set a new record for late apple harvesting and extended my apple season by a full month...What all this means is that on December 31st 2018 is when my 2018 apple season has officially, officially come to an end :clap: I don't think it's possible to go any later than that :ebiggrin: It's been a hell of a year. I'm thinking next year the fruit harvest is going to suck :( but now that the holidays are over and calmness has returned Mrs Cranky and I are going to get our jelly put up and hopefully sent out to people and maybe I can get some other things sent out We are even planning on taking the 2 buckets of apples in the garage and make a big batch of apple butter. I'm also going to see about finishing the shed I started and get Mrs Cranky's Buicedes to stop so she can actually drive it a bit.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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cranky wrote:Last night my wife woke me up to tell me the toilet in the spare bathroom was making a weird noise.

I asked her what it sounded like.

She said it sounded like "BLOOP-BLOOP BLOOP"

:roll: I knew I couldn't keep my fermenting apple a secret too long and had to confess what was actually making the sound. She actually took it better than I expected, it's amazing how mellow she is since we got the house to a mostly finished state :D
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

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Today I got a special delivery from distiller_dresden
SPECIAL DELIVERY #1 - C.jpg
It included a bottle of blueberry brandy, apple brandy, rum, ageing sticks and for some some cookie crumbs :problem:

Thank you DD, I plan on trying them soon, they sure smell good :D

Right now I'm cleaning jars and warming up the canner because over the past few days we have been cooking the last bucket of apples down into apple butter and it is finally ready. My wife just had some toast with cream cheese and apple butter and has given her seal of approval :ebiggrin: It's amazing how you take an entire bucket of apples, cook them for 2 or 3 days and they become just a few jars of delicious brown goo called apple butter. I think I actually get more brandy out of a bucket of apples than I do apple butter. I was hoping to have gotten all the apple butter and jelly done before Christmas so I could send some out with samples but we just didn't get around to them. However tonight is apple butter night and we will see just how much we get. Maybe tomorrow will be blackberry jelly and the next day blueberry jelly followed by concentrated apple jelly...maybe not :think: I went out and spent the money to actually buy the stuff I need to build the frame of the shed and tomorrow after work I plan on beginning assembly. I already have a sort of timber framed structure that used to be my green bean pergola set up, it's just a matter of adding a few floor joists and rafters then some plywood for the flooring, sheathing, siding and roofing and it should be done fairly quickly. Then I will have a place to store all my equipment when not in use so Mrs Cranky can get her Buicedes into the garage so it can be worked on over the winter and hopefully be driven when summer rolls around so she is happy and I can pick lots and lots of fruit :ebiggrin:
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by distiller_dresden »

I too received a package, from Mr. Cranky - I proofed it to 46%, and gave half 20 minutes in my US treatment, the other half as is(was). I'll be trying them tonight; I'm tickled that the shipping people ate up those cookies, lol!

I can't wait to see what Cranky does with zebrawood, I sent him a domino out of a few I picked up to play with.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Kareltje »

And now for something completely different! (This is a clue of Monty Python's Flying Circus, very British and appreciated in the Netherlands). But I think you might like it!

There is a discussion about taste on a Dutch forum.
Say you have 20 kg of some fruit. What to do best:
1) Mash the fruit with suitable enzymes, ferment it and distill.
2) Add some water and sugar, ferment that and distill.
3) Add more water and sugar, ferment and distill.
4) Make neutral alcohol, put the fruit in a) the boiler or b) a gin box.

Do you have an idea which procedure makes the best tasting distillate?

One of the questions is: do aromas and tastes dissolve better in higher (say 8 in stead of 4 %) alcohol? And do are they easier distilled?
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

Kareltje wrote:And now for something completely different! (This is a clue of Monty Python's Flying Circus, very British and appreciated in the Netherlands). But I think you might like it!

There is a discussion about taste on a Dutch forum.
Say you have 20 kg of some fruit. What to do best:
1) Mash the fruit with suitable enzymes, ferment it and distill.
2) Add some water and sugar, ferment that and distill.
3) Add more water and sugar, ferment and distill.
4) Make neutral alcohol, put the fruit in a) the boiler or b) a gin box.

Do you have an idea which procedure makes the best tasting distillate?

One of the questions is: do aromas and tastes dissolve better in higher (say 8 in stead of 4 %) alcohol? And do are they easier distilled?
My guess is you are going to say #4 but in reality there is no correct answer because little things can change the outcome and everybody does things differently and you don't provide enough information.

My answer would be #1 but it has to be a slow careful ferment with the right yeast and other factors like aging the ferment after it finishes, giving the wine time to develop and change before distilling. A fast ferment can blow all of the flavor out of the airlock and right out of your product, the wrong yeast can add or take away things as well. Then there is the method of distilling, how fast you collect, on the pulp or off, thumper full of fruit or not or no thumper at all, single, double or triple run? or still type, pot? reflux? flute? Packed? or any number of variables.

with #2 & 3 sugar takes away flavor but also adds it's own flavor, plus all of the above apply.

And #4 has it's own issues, what is the neutral made from? Only a neutral made from the same fruit will truly carry only that fruit's essence over. Neutral made from other things will fight with it or add to it or take away from it. Are you going to macerate the fruit? If so how long? just put it in the gin box or both? and how will it be run? All will have different results.

Then there is the fruit itself, different fruit come over differently and at different cuts, some fruit has very strong flavor that carries over no matter what but others are very subtle and harder to capture.

There are many many other variables, far too many .
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Kareltje »

Thank you, cranky! :thumbup:

I read a German report telling about raspberries, claiming the nicest result is a Geist, i.e. raspberries in a ginbox and distilled with a good neutral. Rather than making and distilling wine of them.
On the other hand it sometimes is said, that extra sugar does dilute the flavour, but the resulting alcohol also helps in extracting some flavours.

In the end I think you point out some very good points, especially that about too many variables. And personal preferences.

Some of the members of the Dutch forum plan to form a tasting group, to try and find out good practice. I am not good in tasting myself, but I will monitor their doings and findings and, if something useful results, I will report here.
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by Kareltje »

One of the collegaeus suggested this post:
The discussion is mainly about fermenting ABV with fruits. On one hand the idea is that a higher ABV will have more solving properties than a lower ABV. So the theorie is to up the ABV with for example super or neutral while fermenting or short after for more taste. For example the idea is to ferment to 15-20%.

On the other hand is there a different theorie that upping the ABV with sugar (or neutral) will just dilute the fruit flavors itself. And the idea is to have a ferment with fruit maxed out on for example 6-8% ABV for maximum taste transfer.

Finally the discussion goes a little sideways and there are 2 more theories.

Distill only 1 time to have max taste transfer.

Distill 1,5-2x so you can have a more compressed fore’s/heads cut so you can profit from more fruity notes in the very beginning of hearts (end of heads).

The distilling theorie in this case only applies for a simple normal potstill, not going towards columns which can already compress the cuts on the first go.


And, after thinking some more about your post, I would like to add: of course the comparison should be between two batches made by the same distiller with the same still and the same method, so only the making of the wash is different.
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cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

I would add another thing to the experiment if you want maximum fruit flavor... Freeze concentrate the juice before fermenting.
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cranky
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Re: Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

Post by cranky »

It's been a while since I have done much on this thread. Winter tends to be a slack time for fruity goodness and this past winter has been much more drawn out than usual. It started out mild and I was worried we wouldn't have enough cold to properly set the fruit but was glad for it because I was concerned about my apple starts (they are too small to call them saplings). Then winter decided to wake up and come in with a vengeance, so them I was worried it would harm the starts, I'm still concerned but many of them are looking very promising.

Here are some pix
KD STARTS 18 MAR 19 #1C.jpg
KD STARTS 18 MAR 19 #2C.jpg
KD STARTS 18 MAR 19 #3C.jpg
You might just see a stick in the dirt but what I see is a stick I put in that dirt 8 month ago that is still green and has buds on it, buds that hopefully will become a trunk and branches and someday will produce a magnificent crop of the sweetest apples I know of :D

This past week spring came in with the same vengeance as winter, we went from highs in the low 40s a couple of days ago to 76f today with a clear blue sky. I looked out the wind this afternoon and saw this
BANAN-PLUM 18 MAR 19 #2C - C.jpg
The warm weather has finally woken up the banana plum tree (It's supposed to be a beauty plum but the fruit has a distinct banana finish unlike any other plum I have ever tasted). The seckel pear and cherries won't be far behind.

Many trees have begun to flower finally, which is a good thing for our vagrant hummingbirds, the cold and heavy snow was pretty rough on them but they made it through and now have an abundance of food. I like our vagrant hummingbirds, they watch me tend to the fruit and sometimes come down and hover within 2 feet of me while I take care of my trees :)
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