Some cider is being donated to me, have some questions.

[BrewinBrian44]

Hey guys,

As a homebrew club member, we get a group discount on a cider buy every fall. 5 bucks per gallon gets us some incredible cider for fermenting. The blend is fantastic for hard cider. I always make two kegs full every year and get some for my buddy. He’s a half hearted hobbyist who is guilty of making something and just leaving it in the carboy forever. He has some cider that’s basically been sitting in his basement for two years and he offered to give it to me to distill. It’s about 6 gallons worth.

There’s a potential problem though, it’s been sulfited as per our normal process, which is not good for something to be distilled. Considering the amount of time it just sat around in the carboy, I’m wondering if it’ll make an okay product.

I’m more of an all grain distiller and have never made anything from fruit. I have the ability to pot still or run it through a plated column. Considering the low volume, a strip/spirit run would likely expose the internal element on my keg boiler, so I’d have to either make more cider to add to the mix, or run VERY slow with a plated single run for a small final yield. I’m concerned, even with 4 plates, I’ll get too much smearing with such a low boiler charge.

Here’s a couple questions: should I be worried about the sulfur from the metabisulfite? My rig is all stainless, but I normally stuff some copper mesh in the vapor path and in the boiler to clean things up.

My other question, considering it’s such a low volume, should I just strip it and save the low wines for another time when I get more juice to run?

If I decide to ferment more, how much is a worthwhile amount to get a decent yield for a nice spirit run? I have a 50 gallon stainless kettle at my disposal, so I’ve got the space.

I’ve got my all grain process pretty well tuned, but know very little about running fruit or doing cuts for fruit. From the little I have read, if I intend to use my bubble plates, I should run lower power than I would for all grain to keep the light stuff in the plates and the tails in the boiler as the apple flavor is buried in the heads. And unlike whiskey, with tasty early tails, I want no tails at all with fruit. This is where my knowledge ends. I could also be wrong about my assumptions.

Thanks for any advice!