55 Gallon Plum Brandy Project

[cranky]

I just had a taste of my plum that has been in barrel for 8 months. WOW I was amazed at all the plum flavors, I think that this my best brandy to date.
Next taste will be at the 12 month mark.
plum.JPG
Stay safe
OVZ

I'm jealous, I never make enough plum that it makes it that long.

[Oldvine Zin]

I'm jealous, I never make enough plum that it makes it that long.

I hear you on that.
I managed to get about 100 lbs of plums off that tree and ended up with only a gallon of product at 65 ABV, sad thing is that tree is not producing much fruit this year

Stay safe
OVZ

[OtisT]

Congratulations on the brandy success OVZ.

Otis

[NZChris]

Great result.

[CoogeeBoy]

I'm jealous, I never make enough plum that it makes it that long.

I hear you on that.
I managed to get about 100 lbs of plums off that tree and ended up with only a gallon of product at 65 ABV, sad thing is that tree is not producing much fruit this year

Stay safe
OVZ

Well done on that Plum Brandy.
That is the problem with fruit based spirits, the conversion is low. I fermented about 15kg and only got about 1 litre of final product, which is very low compared with yours but I didn't add sugar.

Your conversions are not far away, 100lbs = circa 45kg
4 gallons = circa 15 litres

so one litre per 3 kilo of fruit, that is not bad.

I worked out that I had to get plums at less than $1 / kg to make it worth while.

[Slivovitz]

One year later the plum is amazing. Bad year for plums here.
I purchased 200 pounds of fresh yellow peaches and I would like to do a no sugar no yeast natural ferment like slivovitz. I want as much flavor as possible. This will be one full 55 gallon drum.

NZ chris, ec118 leaves flavor ? What else do you suggest? I followed the peach water sugar yeast receipe that is famous here last year. It was mild fruit aroma and decent but not amazing. Better after aging on toasted oak for 10 months and even better after placing 5 big Madagascar vanilla beans in a gallon of the nice dark brown oak aged peach brandy.

I have 3 days until I grind the peaches into the barrel. I hope to hear from you.

[Slivovitz]

I did half a 55 gallon drum of plums last year. It was fermented on natural yeast no sugar no water added. We ran it on pulp, after straining stones.

It would have yielded more if my buddy didnt let it turn to vinegar!

We plan to run a 55 gallon drum again this year same way.

Yes, I was wondering about that.
I just racked my plum wine, only did 15kg. How many Kg or pounds in a 55 gallon drum may I ask?

My ferment left very little in the way of solids btw, I was really surprised how little was left.

It was poorly mixed and had unfermented solids. We double distilled and ended with 1.5 gallons of very smooth slivovitz.

[Slivovitz]

I did half a 55 gallon drum of plums last year. It was fermented on natural yeast no sugar no water added. We ran it on pulp, after straining stones.

It would have yielded more if my buddy didnt let it turn to vinegar!

We plan to run a 55 gallon drum again this year same way.

So you really liked that vinegar enough that you are going to repeat your mistakes again?
You are on the right track on not adding sugar or water, but you should control your ferment and add yeast. EC 118 is my go to yeast for fruit ferments.
Good luck and stay safe
OVZ

We wanted to match traditional Serbian method but screwed up. Ec118 competes with natural yeast and the higher % wine eats up more flavor as I was told. I'm open to a different method this year. We start on the peach soon. I wanted to go no sugar this time. I think I'll need to add some water to the 300 pound peaches. If I get better yield adding ec118 but still great flavors I'll do it. I have a pound of ec118.

[Slivovitz]

I did half a 55 gallon drum of plums last year. It was fermented on natural yeast no sugar no water added. We ran it on pulp, after straining stones.

It would have yielded more if my buddy didnt let it turn to vinegar!

We plan to run a 55 gallon drum again this year same way.

Yes, I was wondering about that.
I just racked my plum wine, only did 15kg. How many Kg or pounds in a 55 gallon drum may I ask?

My ferment left very little in the way of solids btw, I was really surprised how little was left.

Less than 2 gallons but the ferment went bad.

[Oldvine Zin]

I did half a 55 gallon drum of plums last year. It was fermented on natural yeast no sugar no water added. We ran it on pulp, after straining stones.

It would have yielded more if my buddy didnt let it turn to vinegar!

We plan to run a 55 gallon drum again this year same way.

So you really liked that vinegar enough that you are going to repeat your mistakes again?
You are on the right track on not adding sugar or water, but you should control your ferment and add yeast. EC 118 is my go to yeast for fruit ferments.
Good luck and stay safe
OVZ

We wanted to match traditional Serbian method but screwed up. Ec118 competes with natural yeast and the higher % wine eats up more flavor as I was told. I'm open to a different method this year. We start on the peach soon. I wanted to go no sugar this time. I think I'll need to add some water to the 300 pound peaches. If I get better yield adding ec118 but still great flavors I'll do it. I have a pound of ec118.

Well if you want great flavors I wouldn't add water unless your peaches smashed out over 28 brix. 20 to 24 would be a target to shoot for and +1 for adding ec118 before the natural yeasts take hold, I also like to add some pectic enzyme to help break down the pulp.

Good luck and stay safe
OVZ

[Slivovitz]

I am looking for pectic enzyme now I forgot to buy it before I got my fruit.

With natural yeast only the plum brandy was very good. I was going to try natural yeast only because these peaches have so much yeast on them already. If its strongly reccomend to use ec118 instead i will follow the advice of those with more experience.

I will juice some of the peaches later today to test the brix. I want more flavor before high yield. I counted wrong I have 210 pounds of peaches. I will run them through a meat grinder after I cut the stone out and then mix the yeast and pectic enzyme into the barrel of peach with a drill and mortar mixer.

I planned to put the yeast in a little juice and water on stove top to activate it as it's only 70 degrees today.

I am reading here to try to determine how much yeast and pectic enzyme to add. There is a lot of math and SCIENCE to making brandy!

[Slivovitz]

Pea

Time to start slicing and dicing

[jonnys_spirit]

Looks very good! The skins have a lot of the flavor! I’d go with natural yeast and watch it closely for progress (specific gravity stall). Consider pitching the ec or d47 if it stalls.

Cheers!
-j

[Slivovitz]

These have a thick crust of natural yeast on them. I'm really tempted to do it on natural yeast. My slivovitz was nearly ruined during fermentation. It was done all wild yeast and after a double distill turned out phenomenal.


I just paid $1.25 per pound so I don't want to ruin $250 worth of peaches and not get any liquor. If I get 3 to 4 gallons I will be happy.

[Tater]

Freeze them then ya can stir skins and seeds out and off pulp . Id go with ec118 yeast toss seeds and put skins in sack and sink in wash using stick or something to hold it under

[Slivovitz]

I'm going to grind it all up minus seeds. Sausage mill ready to go.i think I'll add a bit of pectic enzyme with the EC1118 to use all that pulp as much as I can.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

I am gathering plums too this year. But today I need to destroy hornets nest. At the end I will have around 1 ton of plums.

[stillanoob]

I recently got a bottle of real slivovitz and the almond and bitter of the stones is really good. Next time I make some plum brandy I am going to leave the stones in during the ferment. Plus it is less work than removing the stones! Then put the low wines back in on top of the stones and the pulp, assuming that the low wines do not have a too strong stone flavor. I'll taste it often to try to determine when to take it off the stones and do the second run. While what I made in the past is quite good and the real slivovitz tastes very similar on the front end the almond/bitter finish is fantastic.

[The Baker]

I recently got a bottle of real slivovitz and the almond and bitter of the stones is really good. Next time I make some plum brandy I am going to leave the stones in during the ferment. Plus it is less work than removing the stones! Then put the low wines back in on top of the stones and the pulp, assuming that the low wines do not have a too strong stone flavor. I'll taste it often to try to determine when to take it off the stones and do the second run. While what I made in the past is quite good and the real slivovitz tastes very similar on the front end the almond/bitter finish is fantastic.

I think for the almond flavour you will have to (maybe dry and) crack the STONES and remove the KERNELS and put them in.

Geoff

[stillanoob]

I recently got a bottle of real slivovitz and the almond and bitter of the stones is really good. Next time I make some plum brandy I am going to leave the stones in during the ferment. Plus it is less work than removing the stones! Then put the low wines back in on top of the stones and the pulp, assuming that the low wines do not have a too strong stone flavor. I'll taste it often to try to determine when to take it off the stones and do the second run. While what I made in the past is quite good and the real slivovitz tastes very similar on the front end the almond/bitter finish is fantastic.

I think for the almond flavour you will have to (maybe dry and) crack the STONES and remove the KERNELS and put them in.

Geoff

Interesting. It is hard to find much information on how slivovitz is made and I have not run across that method yet. Is that during fermentation? I have seen reference to putting the stones in the boiler when distilling. Any links or reference material would be appreciated.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

I recently got a bottle of real slivovitz and the almond and bitter of the stones is really good. Next time I make some plum brandy I am going to leave the stones in during the ferment. Plus it is less work than removing the stones! Then put the low wines back in on top of the stones and the pulp, assuming that the low wines do not have a too strong stone flavor. I'll taste it often to try to determine when to take it off the stones and do the second run. While what I made in the past is quite good and the real slivovitz tastes very similar on the front end the almond/bitter finish is fantastic.

I think for the almond flavour you will have to (maybe dry and) crack the STONES and remove the KERNELS and put them in.

Geoff

Interesting. It is hard to find much information on how slivovitz is made and I have not run across that method yet. Is that during fermentation? I have seen reference to putting the stones in the boiler when distilling. Any links or reference material would be appreciated.

The plum we make it from in Balkans is called Požegača. It's old vareieti native to our region.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

This year is very hot, I will probably put only 2 kg of sugar in plums.

[CoogeeBoy]

I recently got a bottle of real slivovitz and the almond and bitter of the stones is really good. Next time I make some plum brandy I am going to leave the stones in during the ferment. Plus it is less work than removing the stones! Then put the low wines back in on top of the stones and the pulp, assuming that the low wines do not have a too strong stone flavor. I'll taste it often to try to determine when to take it off the stones and do the second run. While what I made in the past is quite good and the real slivovitz tastes very similar on the front end the almond/bitter finish is fantastic.

I think for the almond flavour you will have to (maybe dry and) crack the STONES and remove the KERNELS and put them in.

Geoff

Interesting. It is hard to find much information on how slivovitz is made and I have not run across that method yet. Is that during fermentation? I have seen reference to putting the stones in the boiler when distilling. Any links or reference material would be appreciated.

The plum we make it from in Balkans is called Požegača. It's old vareieti native to our region.

Ah ha! The secret is out, its in the plums! I'm looking for suitable plum trees here in Oz.
And stillanoob, from the videos I have watched on making plum brandy, a lot of them leave the whole fruit in to ferment but the consistent advice from this forum and others is to not leave the kernels in, there be nasties in there!

[stillanoob]

The plum we make it from in Balkans is called Požegača. It's old vareieti native to our region.

Great video. They are distilling the entire must. Fascinating and thanks for that.

Coogee, what kind of nasties do you mean? I have heard some worry about cyanide fromt he stones but that clearly isn;t a problem. Do you mean infection type nasties?

[cranky]

The best Slivovice info I've found is from this site.
https://slivovice.org/

They explain the process from fruit harvesting through distilling and tempering. The almond / bitter comes from fermenting on the pits, much the same as kirschwasser. I think it is a bad idea to crack the pits and it will likely add too much of the bad.

If you want Slivovice and not plum brandy, here is my understanding.

Start with European plum trees, There are lots of varieties but generally large purple egg shaped plums, generally referred to in the US as Italian Prunes, or Italian Prune Plums.

The plums should be shaken from the tree or fall naturally so you get them at the peak of ripeness.

Do not add sugar. Do a natural ferment, this is where people freak out because naturally fermenting plums will usually get pretty funky and may get moldy or get other infections. I think that is actually part of what makes Slivovice Slivovice.

When the fermenting is done the whole mess, pulp, pits and all is distilled, this is not the easiest thing with our type of setups and scorching is a real possibility. A steam stripper might be the best solution for that.

I've never heard of adding the pits or pulp back to the low wines.

Distill low wines a second time being careful with cuts. One place the bitterness is likely to come over is in the tails, a lot of people try to keep away from the tails but done right they add complexity but it takes practice to get it right...I myself often go a little deeper than I should and it needs to age out. Leave it white.

[Slivovitz]

http://slivovice.org
Look at my name hahahah
This is the method I use as my family has for 100's of years. The website is very informative. I dont have Damson plum trees so I need to buy from an organic grower. He laughed when I asked him to shake the tree onto a bedsheet to collect the fruit.

I am starting my own post tonight for 55 gallons of slivovitz. This will be very popular here because it is old world tradition and very rare outside of the balkin states (Yugoslavia Hungary etc).

Happy to see others join me!

[Saltbush Bill]

I myself often go a little deeper than I should and it needs to age out. Leave it white.

So your saying contrary to what some believe , that white left in glass or stainless can and will improve / change for the better with time Cranky ?

[CikCikCikPogodi]

I think for the almond flavour you will have to (maybe dry and) crack the STONES and remove the KERNELS and put them in.

Geoff

Interesting. It is hard to find much information on how slivovitz is made and I have not run across that method yet. Is that during fermentation? I have seen reference to putting the stones in the boiler when distilling. Any links or reference material would be appreciated.

The plum we make it from in Balkans is called Požegača. It's old vareieti native to our region.

Ah ha! The secret is out, its in the plums! I'm looking for suitable plum trees here in Oz.
And stillanoob, from the videos I have watched on making plum brandy, a lot of them leave the whole fruit in to ferment but the consistent advice from this forum and others is to not leave the kernels in, there be nasties in there!

It depends on whare you live. You need to bring in an expert to study your land and determine which plums are the best for your area.
Leaving kernels is totally ok.

The special one was made for Marshall Tito, his brandy was made from plums which skin had to be peeled of by hand.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

The plum we make it from in Balkans is called Požegača. It's old vareieti native to our region.

Great video. They are distilling the entire must. Fascinating and thanks for that.

Coogee, what kind of nasties do you mean? I have heard some worry about cyanide fromt he stones but that clearly isn;t a problem. Do you mean infection type nasties?

Our operations are even bigger. My neighbor has 1000 liter distiller.
For us it's totally legal to make as much as we want and sell without licence and tax.

Nobody should worry about kernels. Cyanide burns up during fermentation.

[CikCikCikPogodi]

The best Slivovice info I've found is from this site.
https://slivovice.org/

They explain the process from fruit harvesting through distilling and tempering. The almond / bitter comes from fermenting on the pits, much the same as kirschwasser. I think it is a bad idea to crack the pits and it will likely add too much of the bad.

If you want Slivovice and not plum brandy, here is my understanding.

Start with European plum trees, There are lots of varieties but generally large purple egg shaped plums, generally referred to in the US as Italian Prunes, or Italian Prune Plums.

The plums should be shaken from the tree or fall naturally so you get them at the peak of ripeness.

Do not add sugar. Do a natural ferment, this is where people freak out because naturally fermenting plums will usually get pretty funky and may get moldy or get other infections. I think that is actually part of what makes Slivovice Slivovice.

When the fermenting is done the whole mess, pulp, pits and all is distilled, this is not the easiest thing with our type of setups and scorching is a real possibility. A steam stripper might be the best solution for that.

I've never heard of adding the pits or pulp back to the low wines.

Distill low wines a second time being careful with cuts. One place the bitterness is likely to come over is in the tails, a lot of people try to keep away from the tails but done right they add complexity but it takes practice to get it right...I myself often go a little deeper than I should and it needs to age out. Leave it white.

Those larg plums are best for healthy treat called pekmez. But for that you need special still.

Sugar 1%-2%

First distilling key is to drop alcohol content to 18-20%.
Then that alcohol alone is distilled to 45% after 24 hours drops to 43-44% that is called Prepečenica. You can buy this one in stores It's made by Takovo.

Moldy plums do not go into a barrel, not those which are too soft.