Mango saffron brandy

[malt_lover]

Day 2

Hello there, it is now Mango season here in India. So I decided to make mango and saffron brandy.This is first time I'm making this variation of mango where in I'm adding organic saffron and jaggery (Gud). Here goes the recipe:

1. Fermenter size: 35 L
2. Pulp of Ratnagiri Alphonso mangos variety (https://alphonsomango.in/products/ratna ... onso-mango). This variety is very aroma forward and sweet and though there are other varities I like, this one comes early in the season. So I extracted pulp - approximately 3 KG from several mangos.
3. Added 100 gm Saffron to it.
4. Added 1 KG Jaggery (gud) to it, to boost up flavour, sugar content and nutrients.
5. Didn't bother with gravity reading and topped up the fermenter to 32 L.

Fermentation:
I had just made an ale with S04 ale yeast and trub was available (not very bitter ale but it used simcoe hops). So I dumped everything in the fermenter containing the ale trub. The trub was washed once with RO water. Added a pinch of DAP.
The fermentation started within an hour and bubbler was chugging. The room was smelling very nice - of mango aroma.
Day 3 - added some more DAP and gave it a good shake to degass. Everything looked good, the must smelled really good.
Day 4 - added a KG of white cane sugar and gave it a stir.
Day 14 - cap has fallen, it looks like it is ready, it smells of strong alcohol and mangos. I'll let it rest until tomorrow evening and then plan to distill it.
I intend to toast some mango wood and mature the brandy with the chips. More on it later, after I distill it. Cheers.

[jonnys_spirit]

Wow malt_lover! Following this to see how it turns out.

Cheers,
j

[8Ball]

100 grams of saffron, wow. I don’t know how you will taste any mango with all that in there.

[Twisted Brick]

100 grams of saffron, wow. I don’t know how you will taste any mango with all that in there.

Maybe its not the same saffron that Walmart sells for $18.33 for .06oz. To follow malt_lover's recipe, that 100gm (3.5oz) would cost $1063.00 here in the US.

[contrahead]

I must admit that I don't know what saffron taste like. At least I've never associated the taste with the name. I knew that it could be piety pricey though; said to be "worth more than its weight in gold". But the price is subject to the quality.

Had no idea what 100g of saffron looked like either.
-

[8Ball]

100 grams of saffron, wow. I don’t know how you will taste any mango with all that in there.

Maybe its not the same saffron that Walmart sells for $18.33 for .06oz. To follow malt_lover's recipe, that 100gm (3.5oz) would cost $1063.00 here in the US.

To me, 3.5 oz is a lot of saffron to put into a 9 gallon ferment, regardless of cost.

[jonnys_spirit]

Maybe macerating a lesser amount either in low wines, or a post hearts cut vapor infusion would be more economical. 100g is quite a lot flavor wise too now that y'all mention it - at least for culinary use.

Cheers!
-j

[Tōtōchtin]

Glad to see someone else who is working with mangos. We have Kents and Hayden groves on the ranch. I too would have never thought of using saffron in a wash. I would have guessed making an essence and adding that would give you more flavor. Waiting to see how it went...
Tōtō

[NZChris]

Putting saffron in the fermenter risks losing its flavor when doing the cuts, so I put it in the finished product to get the color as well as the flavor.

[malt_lover]

My bad, it was 10 GM, somehow, made a mistake by typing 100. Apologies. I guess, I should wear reading glasses regularly. I intend to distill tomorrow. Cheers.

[malt_lover]

Hello there, I finished the distillation 4 days ago. I made cuts using taste and smell only, like I normally do. After collecting heads & hearts jars, I decided not to collect tails (more on it later). Hearts were about 77% ABV & after proofing with mango juice, I got about 2 and a half bottles. The jars smelled fairly good mongoey (if there's such a word).

I left the jars with partially open lids overnight.
I added pinch of saffron and toasted mango chips for two days and then did rapid aging, first with ultrasonic and then after removing chips, used a handblender to shake the hell out of it, infusing oxygen too.

Due to proofing with mangos, there is bit of pulp settled in the bottles. I'll decant the clear stuff and use rest of cocktails, no problem. I didn't collect tails as they didn't have any flavour, I thought I'll make dunder kind of thing & see if I can use it in future when I make rum, as the left over stuff smells good. I left it open & it's already infected & I see some stuff on top of it. As of now smell is good, let's see how it develops from here as it still has some alcohol in it.

I and my friend already finished the half bottle, straight, it was uber smooth & it seems, I'll have to make a bigger batch this season. Hope this was useful.

[Nanacooks]

I love mango, and enjoy the occasional mango wine. I was thinking of making my own, and possibly distilling some, for either brandy, or a fortified wine. I know that the skins are removed anytime you get anything mango, canned, frozen, dry, etc. Is the flavor that bad on them, or would it add a bit of complexity to a wine?

[Tōtōchtin]

Thats good hear. So that was about a kg of meat per liter. I might get lucky and finish my still before the end of harvest season. I have been curious how mango would taste distilled. Some fruits distilled I didn't care for.
The skins have an oil that I believe (never tested and we have 100s of trees) is the irritant. Mangos can cause blisters on some people's lips. Maybe they're acidic... Off to Google
Edit: It is an oil causing the irritant, Urushiol
Tōtō

[malt_lover]

I love mango, and enjoy the occasional mango wine. I was thinking of making my own, and possibly distilling some, for either brandy, or a fortified wine. I know that the skins are removed anytime you get anything mango, canned, frozen, dry, etc. Is the flavor that bad on them, or would it add a bit of complexity to a wine?

Hello there, peels are discarded when you eat mango but who knows in a wine they can bring something good in very small quantities. I forgot to add fresh leaves, when they’re copper colored, to add to aroma and taste. Will do it next time.

[NZChris]

I quite often include the peel from a nice mango when making gin. Peel is best used fresh, but I do dry some for when fresh fruit isn't available.

[Tōtōchtin]

Looking for info on enzymes I ran into this study on mangos for fuel. Their research on pH and fermentation temps might help on your next run.

https://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jm.2007.763.769
Tōtō

[Tōtōchtin]

Curious how your distillation turned out. Walked thru our grove last weekend,lots of mangos coming in. Afriend here made some with a wonnabe still and not all that. But he's like me just learning.

[malt_lover]

Curious how your distillation turned out. Walked thru our grove last weekend,lots of mangos coming in. Afriend here made some with a wonnabe still and not all that. But he's like me just learning.

It turned out quite decent with notes of saffron and mango, though not very pronounced. Hot weather with ale yeast is quite easy to work with. Next time I intend to try a wine yeast and see how it turns out, I’m guessing it’ll be drier, so don’t know if some sweetness will carry over or not. If you have a thumper, perhaps you can add some mango purée to it. If I’m not traveling, I’ll start next week and mature it till winter season. I intend to make small batch as well with some raw mangos to add tartness to it, may make for a good cocktail base.
Cheers.

[Garouda]

I quite often include the peel from a nice mango when making gin. Peel is best used fresh, but I do dry some for when fresh fruit isn't available.

Well, I did not come to that good idea, in fact I'm always making my gin in January. February.
Here in Thailand, now it's also the mango season like in India, so I decided to make some mango wine, first attempt.
Recipe/method, I bring to boil 10 litres of water with 2.5 kg of white sugar, when it boils, I pour 8 kg of mangoes, mostly with the peel, plus the juice of one lemon, a local variety that is bigger than limes with a yellow colour, they call it มะนาวสี, manao see, lime colour in Thai.

Cut that way to encrease the contact surface

The pot is my small 50 litres SS boiler. I let it cool down overnight. The next day, I added 1.5 tsp pectic enzymes, after one hour, I added 1 tsp DAP and 5g of activated yeast (Red Star Premier Cuvée, or Lalvin EC-1118, both are champagne yeast strain Saccharomyces Banyanus).

some Krausen, yeasts are at work...

It's in progress, tomorrow, after five days, I'm racking the most into another fermenter to complete the fermentation.

This boiler does not have its thermometer like the big one, hence the gun thermometer to measure the T° from the outside...

It's very hot this year, normally, this is the rainy season, but I'm even not sure whether we will be able to grow some rice this year... I would like to distil the remaining mangoes as there must be some alcohol inside, like they do in France and in Italy to make Marc, or Grappa. My fear, scorching... Any good idea to avoid it?
In the meantime, I asked my wife to collect her used cooking oil to distil through an oil bath, my 50-litre boiler inside my 100-litre boiler, but this is future music like they say in German. I'm not sure if it's the burden worth though.
We have about fifty mango trees here, with a dozen of varieties, and the prices are very low, so I may start another batch after this one and try to make some mango brandy this time. For the spirit run, I'm going to follow NZChris' idea and insert my gin basket with some mango peel inside...

[NZChris]

I have internal elements and a wine press, so I don't distill with solids in that still.

If it was fired, I would use the same kinds of tricks that have been around for forever, E.g....

Butter the bottom of the pot before adding the fruit, put the heat on and keep it stirred until it reaches a rolling boil, then put the still head on. Never attempt to stop and restart during the run because it will burn every time. You might get away with quickly swapping a gas bottle if you have to, but I don't know anyone who has done it. I suggest you start with a full bottle and try not to be the first one to try it.

Hay, or rice straw under the pulp.

[malt_lover]

Some of Thai mangos have very soft light skin, it will make a good one. For distillation, you can put pulp in linen or cheese cloth bag and use drawstrings to hang it inside boiler, that way you can avoid scorching. I hope NZChris would approve of this method. Good luck.

I quite often include the peel from a nice mango when making gin. Peel is best used fresh, but I do dry some for when fresh fruit isn't available.

Well, I did not come to that good idea, in fact I'm always making my gin in January. February.
Here in Thailand, now it's also the mango season like in India, so I decided to make some mango wine, first attempt.
Recipe/method, I bring to boil 10 litres of water with 2.5 kg of white sugar, when it boils, I pour 8 kg of mangoes, mostly with the peel, plus the juice of one lemon, a local variety that is bigger than limes with a yellow colour, they call it มะนาวสี, manao see, lime colour in Thai.
mangoes.jpg
The pot is my small 50 litres SS boiler. I let it cool down overnight. The next day, I added 1.5 tsp pectic enzymes, after one hour, I added 1 tsp DAP and 5g of activated yeast (Red Star Premier Cuvée, or Lalvin EC-1118, both are champagne yeast strain Saccharomyces Banyanus).
fermentation in progress.jpg It's in progress, tomorrow, after five days, I'm racking the most into another fermenter to complete the fermentation. say 33 no fever.jpgIt's very hot this year, normally, this is the rainy season, but I'm even not sure whether we will be able to grow some rice this year... I would like to distil the remaining mangoes as there must be some alcohol inside, like they do in France and in Italy to make Marc, or Grappa. My fear, scorching... Any good idea to avoid it?
In the meantime, I asked my wife to collect her used cooking oil to distil through an oil bath, my 50-litre boiler inside my 100-litre boiler, but this is future music like they say in German. I'm not sure if it's the burden worth though.
We have about fifty mango trees here, with a dozen of varieties, and the prices are very low, so I may start another batch after this one and try to make some mango brandy this time. For the spirit run, I'm going to follow NZChris' idea and insert my gin basket with some mango peel inside...

[Garouda]

Some of Thai mangos have very soft light skin, it will make a good one. For distillation, you can put pulp in linen or cheese cloth bag and use drawstrings to hang it inside the boiler, that way you can avoid scorching. I hope NZChris would approve of this method. Good luck.

Many thanks, sounds good, many thanks to NZChris as well for the good hints...

[Wildcats]

Makes me want to get some Mango's and give this a try. Sounds great.