Brandy season

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RockinRockies
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Brandy season

Post by RockinRockies »

So I'm thinking about doing a 50 gallon Brandy wash to get two runs and I think we're going to go with 25 gallons of apple juice, and then we're going to have a mixture of pears from our pear tree, chokecherries, concord grapes, and crab apples. We'll likely purchase two five gallon fruit wine concentrates to top it off. It's going to be a fruit punch style Brandy.

We're trying to figure out if we take all the bubble caps out of our column and put two copper scrubbers in the upper two plates can we suspend fruit in the other three plates to have that flavor pass through. Is this something that's doable and if so what would be the best fruit to pull through?

Since we're in Colorado I was thinking of grabbing a pound of palisade peaches. Obviously this is a Frankenstein brandy recipe but trying to figure out if anybody has any input of running fruit in the column with enough space not to obstruct flow and how that would pull flavor through?

No added sugar, strait fruit, expecting 8-10% original gravity
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Demy
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Demy »

Frankly I believe you could keep your column as it is.. for fruit keep a low reflux ratio.
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Spike007
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Spike007 »

Definitely low reflux ratio run bout 90 Celsius for hearts( I don't know how big your reflux is) but I've had great success with copper rolls in between plates to separate them bout 2 inches this should stop any (gooing) up as steam still has to pass.good luck I'm jealous I miss the apple brandy. You wouldn't even recognize a big company apple farm these days. Personal opinion I'd do apples they always passed thru flavor best for me. An you could prolly keep still the same with food processed apples no seeds of course in the bottom I always did top two or so plates. Sounds interesting!! Let us know!
“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.”

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Ben
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Ben »

My plater is in deep tails at 90°c (were at a much higher elevation). Shouldn't be running off of temps anyhow, especially not for a new unknown recipe. Most of the flavor is going to be somewhere outside of hearts.

Looks like a great project, I have a hundred pounds of palisades fermenting now. I was contemplating running 2 plates, or running 1 plate below the dephleg and one above loaded with fruit parts, or just double pot stilling. I think for drinking white 2 plates/single run is about right. I will be interested to hear what you decide on and the result.

If you are looking to bump up the apple juice or fruit sugars treetop concentrate ferments out great and is budgetty. I used to make strongbow style cider with it regularly.
:)
RockinRockies
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Re: Brandy season

Post by RockinRockies »

Thanks everyone.

We've got 5 plates and I like the idea of running 2 for sure, will be running at 6k ASL.

So, two bubble cap plates below dephleg, then one plate above with fruit suspended? That's how to pull the most flavor?
RockinRockies
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Re: Brandy season

Post by RockinRockies »

And yes, we'll be using tree top or something similar. May even grab Concorde juice from Costco if it's available and as cheap as I got it last year
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Spike007
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Spike007 »

You got it right have fruits above. Very interesting experiment you got going there. I'd go with tree top or real apple juice. Concentrates got preservatives I've had off flavors from them. My experience is only with real apple juice an a Lil with tree top. Grandad owned apple orchard in Washington state. Miss the ole days but have stayed away from fruits lately because of off flavors from most stuff except the fruit itself. Im leary of the concentrates. Let us know how it goes gl.
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Limp
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Limp »

It’s definitely brandy season. I’m trying to make peach brandy, (Wish me luck).
I took 5lbs of peaches. Blended them really good. In my pot I had peaches, 3 cinnamon sticks, and vanilla abstract. I cooked the peaches for about an hour. I boiled about 2 gallons of water. I dissolved 5lbs of dark brown sugar in the water.
In my food grade bucked, I add the peach mixture, the dark brown sugar water, and an 1lb of honey, plus a little cold water to top it off. I ended up with 5 gallons of mash. Once the temp of the mash dropped below 100 degrees “Fahrenheit”, I pitched 3 packs of bread yeast. The mash smells and taste like peach cobbler. I was told that if the mash is good, then the liquor should be good too. I’m going to let the mash ferment for 2 weeks. I’ll let you know how it turns out when I run it. I’m trying to decide if I should run it in my air still, or use my pot still.
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Spike007
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Spike007 »

I'm curious most air distillers I've seen are about a gallon or a gallon and a half. Is yours bigger than that? if not my inclination would be to run it all in one batch in a pot still. Please don't misunderstand not trying to tell you how to make it. It sounds interesting! I'll be sure to check back an see how it comes out. Meanwhile happy fermenting 😀!
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NormandieStill
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Re: Brandy season

Post by NormandieStill »

I'm gearing up for apple brandy. Need to finish rebuilding the press and just got a line on some not free but cheap and already picked cider apples. If everything goes according to plan we'll do some pressing in a couple of weeks and get fermenting!
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Limp
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Limp »

Spike007 wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 12:49 am I'm curious most air distillers I've seen are about a gallon or a gallon and a half. Is yours bigger than that? if not my inclination would be to run it all in one batch in a pot still. Please don't misunderstand not trying to tell you how to make it. It sounds interesting! I'll be sure to check back an see how it comes out. Meanwhile happy fermenting 😀!
Unfortunately my pot still is only 3 gallons. No matter I will have to make more than one run. I used my air still for the first time the other day, and i must say that I’m impressed with it. It’s small, only about 1.5 gallons, but it’s gets the job done in a timely manner. Plus it really cuts down on the clean up
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Spike007
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Re: Brandy season

Post by Spike007 »

Best of luck let us know if you enjoy it. Spike
“When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading.”

—Henny Youngman.
RockinRockies
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Re: Brandy season

Post by RockinRockies »

Pretty stoked! I just discovered I have 3 gallons of my crabapple beer from last season. The nitro and everything seemed out the kegerator. Now I don't have to frig with those awful things this season!

I'll submit the full profile when it's all said and done
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