Lets get carried away with fruity goodness

[Wildcats]

Hell y'all got me looking at fruit trees everywhere! I have discovered a place with a few trees. But it's all on the ground now. Which possibly means the owners don't use the apples and they go to waist. So I'm gonna make contact with them and ask for permission to pick there next year. Hopefully they say yes and it's a good year next year. Cheer's

[The Baker]

Fruit on the ground, as long as it is still sound, is fine to use.
In fact I think it is preferred in some traditional cider areas.

Geoff

[Bradster68]

Fruit on the ground, as long as it is still sound, is fine to use.
In fact I think it is preferred in some traditional cider areas.

Geoff

Your absolutely correct sir. Alot of what I used had recently fallen and hardly blemished. Its fermenting as we speak

[Bradster68]

Hell y'all got me looking at fruit trees everywhere! I have discovered a place with a few trees. But it's all on the ground now. Which possibly means the owners don't use the apples and they go to waist. So I'm gonna make contact with them and ask for permission to pick there next year. Hopefully they say yes and it's a good year next year. Cheer's

Becarefull....this is only my second year making brandy from "real squeezed " juice.
Last years is amazing. I guess this rabbit hole has many other holes to fall in

I'm guessing cranky knows all too well

[cranky]

Hell y'all got me looking at fruit trees everywhere! I have discovered a place with a few trees. But it's all on the ground now. Which possibly means the owners don't use the apples and they go to waist. So I'm gonna make contact with them and ask for permission to pick there next year. Hopefully they say yes and it's a good year next year. Cheer's

I find that most of the time the owners are more than happy to let you pick.

Fruit on the ground, as long as it is still sound, is fine to use.
In fact I think it is preferred in some traditional cider areas.

Geoff

often that's true but there are exceptions. #1 being a yard that is full of dog poop the house where the Blacks are has 4 dogs and the yard is littered with poop. If the apple hits the ground there I don't pick it up. #2 Is hard ground. It often takes me a week or even two to get around to processing the apples and badly bruised ones can go bad quickly often spreading to many others before I get around to processing them. In the past I've lost entire buckets due to keeping a few bruised ones too long. For me this is usually only a problem in the summer. The ground under the Yellow Transparent is like concrete when I pick those so drops can be a serious issue. This time of year the ground is so wet apples often land without bruising.

Hell y'all got me looking at fruit trees everywhere! I have discovered a place with a few trees. But it's all on the ground now. Which possibly means the owners don't use the apples and they go to waist. So I'm gonna make contact with them and ask for permission to pick there next year. Hopefully they say yes and it's a good year next year. Cheer's

Becarefull....this is only my second year making brandy from "real squeezed " juice.
Last years is amazing. I guess this rabbit hole has many other holes to fall in

I'm guessing cranky knows all too well

Yes I do

[cranky]

Now, I did say I wasn't going to pick any more apples, didn't I?

Well I drove past the trees yesterday just to film a little bit for a video and due to the 40 MPH winds we had yesterday morning the trees have lost most of their leaves as well as quite a few apples but with the leaves gone I can see so many apples that are calling my name and asking me to pick

I didn't though...

I also noticed there were quite a few small greens on the ground. As I've said in the past, I'll use drops off the small green and Roma because the grass is high and the ground is very soft and it's only a 6-10 ft drop so they usually land without getting bruised.

So on my way home from work today I reasoned that picking up is not "picking", so I made a quick stop, gave the trees a little shake and quickly picked up 2 buckets of apples

I don't even know what I'm going to do with them. I really don't want to have to clean the chopper again and I likely won't have time at work to deal with them but I just can't help myself. I figure there are at least 4 more buckets still on these 2 trees and the front yard tree would easily do 2-4 without much difficulty so I might just have to figure out something.

Today I also put the little press back together. The bottom plate is badly warped but the cracks are now sealed up and I'm pretty sure I can make that work for my next evil plan...the Karen's Delights, which have started dropping. My plan with these is to use the food processor on them, freeze them for maximum yield and press in the little press. At best I will get a bucket of those and they will become Iced cider by freeze concentrating the juice before fermenting. I will be happy if I can get a single bottle of Iced apple out of them because they make such an extraordinary wine. I guess I should also see about finding the yeast I need for that. My preferred yeast for iced apple is Wyeast Sweet Mead, which is expensive but only reaches 11 - 12% but can handle the high gravity of a concentrated juice and even a single bottle of iced apple is well worth the expense of the yeast...or maybe not It's $22 on Amazon. I may need to find another yeast

[OldRanch]

Now, I did say I wasn't going to pick any more apples, didn't I?

Well I drove past the trees yesterday just to film a little bit for a video and due to the 40 MPH winds we had yesterday morning the trees have lost most of their leaves as well as quite a few apples but with the leaves gone I can see so many apples that are calling my name and asking me to pick

I didn't though...

I also noticed there were quite a few small greens on the ground. As I've said in the past, I'll use drops off the small green and Roma because the grass is high and the ground is very soft and it's only a 6-10 ft drop so they usually land without getting bruised.

So on my way home from work today I reasoned that picking up is not "picking", so I made a quick stop, gave the trees a little shake and quickly picked up 2 buckets of apples

I don't even know what I'm going to do with them. I really don't want to have to clean the chopper again and I likely won't have time at work to deal with them but I just can't help myself. I figure there are at least 4 more buckets still on these 2 trees and the front yard tree would easily do 2-4 without much difficulty so I might just have to figure out something.

Today I also put the little press back together. The bottom plate is badly warped but the cracks are now sealed up and I'm pretty sure I can make that work for my next evil plan...the Karen's Delights, which have started dropping. My plan with these is to use the food processor on them, freeze them for maximum yield and press in the little press. At best I will get a bucket of those and they will become Iced cider by freeze concentrating the juice before fermenting. I will be happy if I can get a single bottle of Iced apple out of them because they make such an extraordinary wine. I guess I should also see about finding the yeast I need for that. My preferred yeast for iced apple is Wyeast Sweet Mead, which is expensive but only reaches 11 - 12% but can handle the high gravity of a concentrated juice and even a single bottle of iced apple is well worth the expense of the yeast...or maybe not It's $22 on Amazon. I may need to find another yeast

Llalvin D47 and K1-1116 Worked very well for iced pear and iced apple. Some of the best small batch ice makers in the PNW (which I think is near you?) Use 71-B though, oddly enough.

[cranky]

Llalvin D47 and K1-1116 Worked very well for iced pear and iced apple. Some of the best small batch ice makers in the PNW (which I think is near you?) Use 71-B though, oddly enough.

Those are pretty much the standards, D-47 and 71b add fruity esters, I use D-47 a lot but a few years ago Jumbo tried a few different yeasts and had D-47 produce less alcohol than 71b. They work just fine but can go as high as 14%. I used one of them on the Iced Apple I made from the Cousin It apples (which I need to bottle) and it requires back sweetening, which I was trying not to do.

I really prefer something that adds esters but peters out at 11-12% and I really like the results I get with the Wyeast Sweet Mead. Not that it matters anymore since it's far too expensive for less than 5 gallons. I think I'm going to do what I should have done last month and just order some Ciderhouse Select and use that for the Iced Apple.

[OldRanch]

Llalvin D47 and K1-1116 Worked very well for iced pear and iced apple. Some of the best small batch ice makers in the PNW (which I think is near you?) Use 71-B though, oddly enough.

Those are pretty much the standards, D-47 and 71b add fruity esters, I use D-47 a lot but a few years ago Jumbo tried a few different yeasts and had D-47 produce less alcohol than 71b. They work just fine but can go as high as 14%. I used one of them on the Iced Apple I made from the Cousin It apples (which I need to bottle) and it requires back sweetening, which I was trying not to do.

I really prefer something that adds esters but peters out at 11-12% and I really like the results I get with the Wyeast Sweet Mead. Not that it matters anymore since it's far too expensive for less than 5 gallons. I think I'm going to do what I should have done last month and just order some Ciderhouse Select and use that for the Iced Apple.

That's awesome. I really like the idea of branching out into lesser known strains especially with non-distilled beverages, since I feel the differences and anomalies would be more apparent. Looking forward to hearing how your '23 harvest turns out next year

[Saltbush Bill]

I just can't help myself.

I'd kinda noticed.

[cranky]

I just can't help myself.

I'd kinda noticed.

I guess anybody who's read my ramblings in this thread over the year probably already knew that

[cranky]

On the way home from dropping off the dog at daycare this morning I made a quick stop at the Roma/Small Greem and gave the trees a little shake and picked up 106 apples. I think that is just a touch under a bucket full. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them Anybody just south of Seattle want to try to do something with 3 or 4 or 5 buckets of the best kind of apples?

Show Spoiler

Free apples somebody else picked

I've also been slowly picking the Karen's Delights, I'm approaching a full bucket now but really need to get in gear on chopping and freezing them. I treat those differently than other apples because there aren't very many to start with and I need the sugar as high as possible before I freeze concentrate the juice. So I go out every day, give each and every apple a little wiggle and take what falls off in my hands. It's the equivalent of shaking the tree but more precise.

One thing I've noticed this year is all the apples seem to be a little lower in sugar than normal but also much less acidic making them actually seem sweeter than they normally do.

Maybe I'll give the juice from these last buckets the iced apple treatment with the intention of giving those bottles away to special people next Christmas.

By the way I think this brings my bucket count up to 49.75... (50.5 counting the KDs). I'll probably make a quick stop on my way home tomorrow and bring it up to 50...that would make around 1200 Lbs.

Maybe I'll go ahead and load my press up to take to work and fix and see if I can actually reach that 100 gallons from home without Mrs Cranky noticing what I'm up to but my annual month off is only 5 days away now and there is so much that needs done...like decorating for Christmas

Last year Big Lots over estimated their Christmas decoration sales and I got a crap load of yard decorations and lights at 90% off, so my plan is to make my house visible from space this year.

[cranky]

I drove past the apple trees on my way home from work as usual and the driveway at the Black and Front Yard tree was completely empty.

Last week we had a big storm with 40 MPH winds that blew most of the leaves off the apple trees, which revealed the people who own the tree had a really big problem

These apples

were hanging precariously over the exact spot they park one of their cars. I suppose a lot of people wouldn't think about it and maybe they didn't either but just think about how much damage 50 half pound apples falling 10-12 feet could do to a car

So me being the conscientious person I am I selflessly took the time to removing this extremely dangerous hazard and protecting their car.

So, now their car is protected but I find myself with yet another bucket of apples that I hadn't planned on picking

[Bradster68]

I drove past the apple trees on my way home from work as usual and the driveway at the Black and Front Yard tree was completely empty.

Last week we had a big storm with 40 MPH winds that blew most of the leaves off the apple trees, which revealed the people who own the tree had a really big problem

These apples
front yard - C.png
were hanging precariously over the exact spot they park one of their cars. I suppose a lot of people wouldn't think about it and maybe they didn't either but just think about how much damage 50 half pound apples falling 10-12 feet could do to a car

So me being the conscientious person I am I selflessly took the time to removing this extremely dangerous hazard and protecting their car.

So, now their car is protected but I find myself with yet another bucket of apples that I hadn't planned on picking

That's too funny .

[cranky]

Today I took the KDs into work with me and luckily had the free time to wash and chop them. With these it's an extremely tedious process since after washing them I carefully chop them with a knife and cut out any wormy or bad spots by hand. That reduced the 5 gallons I had down to 3 gallons. When I got home I used the food processor to chop them into sauce which further reduced them down to 2 gallons. I then put those in the freezer. When I get the remaining ones picked and processed I should have 3 gallons of pulp, which hopefully will get me at least a gallon to freeze concentrate, which would get me only 4 half bottles of Iced Apple but as I've said before I'd be happy with a single bottle of "Mrs Cranky's Happy Apple Juice"

[stillanoob]

Did the last apple press of the year here. Total of over 60 gallons. 30 into brandy, 10 into hard cider and the rest in sweet. We have a sort of collective and so a lot goes to sweet. Added 20 pounds of honey to the cider brandy because I had it from my hives. Overall, not bad. Not as much as some years but decent.

My big problem is I haven't found a replacement source for red, tannic apples since the place I used to pick them sold. The new owner cut down the trees and left them sitting on the ground. Nothing has been done with the place since. Sad, the were really old, really productive trees. Next year I have to work harder at sourcing more tannic apples. They are out there, I just have to get off my lazy ass and find them. Harvest season is always such a madhouse.

[Bradster68]

Did the last apple press of the year here. Total of over 60 gallons. 30 into brandy, 10 into hard cider and the rest in sweet. We have a sort of collective and so a lot goes to sweet. Added 20 pounds of honey to the cider brandy because I had it from my hives. Overall, not bad. Not as much as some years but decent.

My big problem is I haven't found a replacement source for red, tannic apples since the place I used to pick them sold. The new owner cut down the trees and left them sitting on the ground. Nothing has been done with the place since. Sad, the were really old, really productive trees. Next year I have to work harder at sourcing more tannic apples. They are out there, I just have to get off my lazy ass and find them. Harvest season is always such a madhouse.

Sounds like a pretty good year

[cranky]

The new owner cut down the trees and left them sitting on the ground. Nothing has been done with the place since. Sad, the were really old, really productive trees.

I hate seeing old fruit trees get cut down. It's worse when they are wasted.

Harvest season is always such a madhouse.

Ain't that the truth.

[cranky]

The other day I mentioned how I'm picky about where I'll pick up apples off the ground. Well, today I have a good example why.

Today I stopped at the house with the Blacks and front yard tree. Nobody was home, the dogs were locked up, I was in a hurry and my dog was whining about wanting to get home so I gave into the temptation to pick a bucket full in less than 3 minutes by just taking 3 steps into the yard

I was picking into a plastic bag that easily holds a bucket full, usually they can hold a bucket and a half without issues but today I had one handle of the bag on my left arm and about the time I put the 52nd apple in it the handle broke causing the bag to fall to the ground.

I picked 8 more apples and stuffed them into the bag then picked it up and loaded it into the back of the truck, then when I got into the cab I smelled the dog poop, which was all over my shoes So I got out and rubbed them in some grass to clean them the best I could, then drove home. When I got home I discovered that not only was the poop on my shoes but it was also on my jacket and shirt

Sure enough looking in the back of my truck I found the bag I had just put in there had a significant amount of dog poop on it, which was now also on 2 other bags and smeared on the tailgate, which is how it got smeared on my shirt and jacket.

Cleanup wasn't particularly difficult, just a matter of washing my shoes, jacket and clothes, wiping the tailgate down and emptying the apples out of the contaminated bags into new bags, but If I picked apples up off the ground there is a significant chance of fecal contamination in this yard and I really don't want to deal with that.

Anyway...I think my bucket count is now up to 53 now and I'm considering just what to do. Technically I have a Harbor Freight press that needs assembled if I can find the boxes of all the parts. I'm thinking next week I might go ahead and get the chopper dirty again and see about setting it up the Harbor Freight press in the shed or yard and using it to press these last apples.

[shadylane]

I hate seeing old fruit trees get cut down. It's worse when they are wasted.

Years ago, some property nearby changed hands due to death.
The buyers bulldozed down the old house, barn, large orchard and a couple acres of thornless black berries. I still have some of the thornless berries. I rescued the root balls from the pile of wood and dirt before they could burn it.

[Bradster68]

The other day I mentioned how I'm picky about where I'll pick up apples off the ground. Well, today I have a good example why.

Today I stopped at the house with the Blacks and front yard tree. Nobody was home, the dogs were locked up, I was in a hurry and my dog was whining about wanting to get home so I gave into the temptation to pick a bucket full in less than 3 minutes by just taking 3 steps into the yard

I was picking into a plastic bag that easily holds a bucket full, usually they can hold a bucket and a half without issues but today I had one handle of the bag on my left arm and about the time I put the 52nd apple in it the handle broke causing the bag to fall to the ground.

I picked 8 more apples and stuffed them into the bag then picked it up and loaded it into the back of the truck, then when I got into the cab I smelled the dog poop, which was all over my shoes So I got out and rubbed them in some grass to clean them the best I could, then drove home. When I got home I discovered that not only was the poop on my shoes but it was also on my jacket and shirt

Sure enough looking in the back of my truck I found the bag I had just put in there had a significant amount of dog poop on it, which was now also on 2 other bags and smeared on the tailgate, which is how it got smeared on my shirt and jacket.

Cleanup wasn't particularly difficult, just a matter of washing my shoes, jacket and clothes, wiping the tailgate down and emptying the apples out of the contaminated bags into new bags, but If I picked apples up off the ground there is a significant chance of fecal contamination in this yard and I really don't want to deal with that.

Anyway...I think my bucket count is now up to 53 now and I'm considering just what to do. Technically I have a Harbor Freight press that needs assembled if I can find the boxes of all the parts. I'm thinking next week I might go ahead and get the chopper dirty again and see about setting it up the Harbor Freight press in the shed or yard and using it to press these last apples.

Omg . Now that's a shitty apple picking.

[cranky]

I hate seeing old fruit trees get cut down. It's worse when they are wasted.

Years ago, some property nearby changed hands due to death.
The buyers bulldozed down the old house, barn, large orchard and a couple acres of thornless black berries. I still have some of the thornless berries. I rescued the root balls from the pile of wood and dirt before they could burn it.

Thornless blackberries are the best. They are so easy and fast to pick. I plan on getting some when we eventually move somewhere where people are closer to sane.

Omg . Now that's a shitty apple picking.

Yes it was

[cranky]

Today was likely my final stop at the Roma and small green. I got just about every Roma that hadn't been partially eaten by something and a good portion of the remaining greens. It amounted to one more bucket of apples bringing the total to bucket count to 54 and leaving me with 6 buckets full in the back of my truck to figure out how to process

[PDBRadley]

My brother-in-law had an unusually productive year with his apple trees and brought me a trunkload of apples from his trees. Literally, he filled the trunk of his car and drove them to me. No effort on my part. I visualize the swarm of fruit flies trying to keep up on the drive and the carnage along the road, poor little fellas.

I've never done anything with apples so I considered a wine, hard cider or brandy. I decided on brandy and figured I'd see what happens along the way. I read up on this site and processed the fruit the next day. Chopped and crushed the apples, pressed the cider and got a bit over 12 gallons. The pressed fruit still had quite a bit of moisture but my vacuum press has its limitations. I mixed up about 12 gallons of sugar to match the gravity of the cider and dumped it on the pressed fruit for a second product. I had no pectic enzymes and couldn't find any at the local brew shops, so none was added. Added EC-1118 with a starter and added yeast nutrient a day and a half later. After about a week, when the major activity was done, I transferred everything to carboys. As usually happens with my ferments, the introduction of oxygen sparked renewed activity. Now, over a month later, the activity continues at a slow steady pace. I've never had a ferment go on this long even when I've tried to slow it down. One carboy is done and smells like a beery hard cider and tastes like a non carbonated slightly sour Magners. The others have a pleasant apple aroma and taste a bit less harsh, a tinge of sweet-tart from the apples. At this point there's not a big difference between the pressed cider and the sugar head version including color and clarity. The hydrometer reads right at 1.000 so I know there's a little sugar left in those that are still bubbling.

I read posts here that advocate for leaving it for several months even after the ferment is done, so that is what I'm inclined to do. I am refining my preferences with other products but with apples, I'll only get one shot a year. I would like opinions from those who work with apples about what the wash should smell and taste like before running it and how best to run the distillation, i.e. how much to strip by volume or flavor indicators, I've read that apple flavors are prevalent early in the run but, do desirable flavors and aromas come out late in the run like rum oils? Left to my own devices, I might run one carboy of the "close to fully fermented" cider through a flute to isolate different components and see if anything desirable materializes. Then I would have to do the same with a finished carboy to discern the differences. BTW, I intend to use a pot still for the actual product. Seems a waste of a good portion of my limited annual resources. Any input would be appreciated.

Thanks

[stillanoob]

No pectinase will be fine. I never use any for apple. I wouldn't have added sugar or done the second press but it will be fine. I find the sugar will add a "bite" and when I want to boost the ABV (never by more than 3%ABV) I use honey. Which is easy for me as I have bees.

I am a big proponent of a slow ferment but if it is done and clear I don't think there will be much benefit to letting it sit. I would let it clear completely. Where I ferment my cider is unheated and so it takes it a few months to ferment out and clear and I do think that slow ferment makes a better product. It gives a more complex cider. But done is done and letting it sit just adds to the chance of infection so if it is clear I would rack and run.

I used EEC1118 this year too. I didn't have any of my favorite yeast (MO2) on hand. EEC1118 is a great yeast, I just find it seems to finish a little too dry and perhaps take a little apple flavor with it. Not as a big a deal for brandy cider but for drinking cider I find the MO2 makes a better product. However, I do believe in making cider that I would love to swill to make brandy from. The better the product you start with the better the final product.

[PDBRadley]

Stillanoob-
Thanks for your reply and input. Just to be clear, because I'm usually not, I did not do a second press. I made a volume of simple syrup equal to the volume that I pressed out as cider and at the same SG as the cider, and then fermented that on the previously pressed apples, which is why I thought pectinase would have been a good idea. I think the yeast and time did a pretty good job of breaking down the fruit. I did that because I couldn't press the apples completely with my vacuum press and felt I was leaving too much behind. By keeping the sugar water at the same volume and gravity as the cider I was trying to replace the cider I had stolen and scavenge whatever else I could get from the apples. The first product was just juice, no solids, and was fermented separately. I don't plan on combining the two and was not trying to boost the ABV by adding sugar. Sorry I was not clear.

How clear do you get it before running? Opaque and racked off the lees, translucent, or clear like a wine? I'm finding with grains that there are some positive attributes to "dirty" washes but i suspect it's not the same for apples.

[stillanoob]

Stillanoob-
Thanks for your reply and input. Just to be clear, because I'm usually not, I did not do a second press. I made a volume of simple syrup equal to the volume that I pressed out as cider and at the same SG as the cider, and then fermented that on the previously pressed apples, which is why I thought pectinase would have been a good idea. I think the yeast and time did a pretty good job of breaking down the fruit. I did that because I couldn't press the apples completely with my vacuum press and felt I was leaving too much behind. By keeping the sugar water at the same volume and gravity as the cider I was trying to replace the cider I had stolen and scavenge whatever else I could get from the apples. The first product was just juice, no solids, and was fermented separately. I don't plan on combining the two and was not trying to boost the ABV by adding sugar. Sorry I was not clear.

How clear do you get it before running? Opaque and racked off the lees, translucent, or clear like a wine? I'm finding with grains that there are some positive attributes to "dirty" washes but i suspect it's not the same for apples.

Ah, gotcha. I press and there is no actual fruit in the cider. In that case I let it clear like wine. Did you mix the two batches together? For a pressed and no fruit cider I would let it clear completely. I'm in no hurry and don't want the yeast flavor in there. If there is fruit in it I'd wait until it was done but not completely clear. I just don't like the idea of it sitting on fruit and waiting. I have no experience doing it that way so just gut instinct there.

[NormandieStill]

How clear do you get it before running? Opaque and racked off the lees, translucent, or clear like a wine? I'm finding with grains that there are some positive attributes to "dirty" washes but i suspect it's not the same for apples.

Traditional calvados is left on the less for 6 months or more. It's believed that during this time, the yeast do a lot of cleaning up before they finally settled out of suspension. I waited until I had the start of a lactic infection to run it last season.

This season I've made a sugar head exactly as you describe. I check on it fairly frequently to see if it's still actively fermenting. I'll strip it either when the ferment stops or at the first sign of mould on the fruit.

[cranky]

I see some people have already chimed in. NormandieStill said a lot of what I was and probably am going to say.

No effort on my part.

Those are my favorite kind of apples...Free apples someone else picked.

Added EC-1118 with a starter and added yeast nutrient a day and a half later

I always recommend 1118 for a beginner it ferments honestly, works in the cold and makes cuts easy. Other yeasts can add nice things like fruity esters but complicate cuts. My favorite yeast for apples so far is Ciderhouse Select, but it's expensive and makes cuts very difficult. This year I'm using one of my standards D-47, that and 71b-1122 add fruity esters but again complicate cuts.

I personally never find the need to add nutrients to apple, particularly fresh pressed. Yeast love fresh pressed apple juice but adding nutrients certainly doesn't hurt anything.

The hydrometer reads right at 1.000

with 1118 it will still drop a bit, just let it go.

I read posts here that advocate for leaving it for several months even after the ferment is done, so that is what I'm inclined to do.

I'm one of the advocates of that. No matter what I ferment I wait at least 4 months and at least 6 months for apple. With most of my ferments I find something magical happens right around the 4 month point, something does change for the better like NormandieStill it's believed the yeast clean up after the party and make it better. Also like NormandieStill said Calvados makers wait at least 6 months. I've been known to wait considerably longer. I currently have 10 gallons that I need to run that has been sitting for something like 2 years now. Usually the need to use the carboys for the next batch drives my emptying of them.

Now I know some people are concerned with infection and that's a valid thing but not something I worry too much about. I check on my batches periodically and if I see an infection starting I might run it a bit early but seldom have seen an infection get a serious start before the 4 month timeframe. That said I did once almost lose 10 gallons of apple juice to vinegar. I had a poorly fitting lid and when I checked it one day it had 3 inches of mother on top and a very distinct vinegar smell. I ran it anyway and it made a very fine brandy.

I might run one carboy of the "close to fully fermented" cider through a flute to isolate different components and see if anything desirable materializes.

Don't do that. I know the flute guys think they are the magic end all be all but best results will be twice through a pot still. Apple flavor comes over in the heads but there is still flavor in the early tails. This year I'm considering not even keeping the center hearts because they tend to be so neutral in flavor that they take flavor away from the total. Another problem is the ghost of the apple may actually take time to show itself, so be ready to wait a while.

how much to strip by volume or flavor indicators

For stripping runs I strip very deep, I strip until there is basically no alcohol coming out. Usually that's about the time I see brown water start to run out the end of my condenser.

I'll only get one shot a year

That is a real problem with most brandies. Now, if you have the money you could buy some cheap apple juice and practice with that but even cheap apple juice costs a lot when you're talking about 12 gallons.

[Bradster68]

I see some people have already chimed in. NormandieStill said a lot of what I was and probably am going to say.

No effort on my part.

Those are my favorite kind of apples...Free apples someone else picked.

Added EC-1118 with a starter and added yeast nutrient a day and a half later

I always recommend 1118 for a beginner it ferments honestly, works in the cold and makes cuts easy. Other yeasts can add nice things like fruity esters but complicate cuts. My favorite yeast for apples so far is Ciderhouse Select, but it's expensive and makes cuts very difficult. This year I'm using one of my standards D-47, that and 71b-1122 add fruity esters but again complicate cuts.

I personally never find the need to add nutrients to apple, particularly fresh pressed. Yeast love fresh pressed apple juice but adding nutrients certainly doesn't hurt anything.

The hydrometer reads right at 1.000

with 1118 it will still drop a bit, just let it go.

I read posts here that advocate for leaving it for several months even after the ferment is done, so that is what I'm inclined to do.

I'm one of the advocates of that. No matter what I ferment I wait at least 4 months and at least 6 months for apple. With most of my ferments I find something magical happens right around the 4 month point, something does change for the better like NormandieStill it's believed the yeast clean up after the party and make it better. Also like NormandieStill said Calvados makers wait at least 6 months. I've been known to wait considerably longer. I currently have 10 gallons that I need to run that has been sitting for something like 2 years now. Usually the need to use the carboys for the next batch drives my emptying of them.

Now I know some people are concerned with infection and that's a valid thing but not something I worry too much about. I check on my batches periodically and if I see an infection starting I might run it a bit early but seldom have seen an infection get a serious start before the 4 month timeframe. That said I did once almost lose 10 gallons of apple juice to vinegar. I had a poorly fitting lid and when I checked it one day it had 3 inches of mother on top and a very distinct vinegar smell. I ran it anyway and it made a very fine brandy.

I might run one carboy of the "close to fully fermented" cider through a flute to isolate different components and see if anything desirable materializes.

Don't do that. I know the flute guys think they are the magic end all be all but best results will be twice through a pot still. Apple flavor comes over in the heads but there is still flavor in the early tails. This year I'm considering not even keeping the center hearts because they tend to be so neutral in flavor that they take flavor away from the total. Another problem is the ghost of the apple may actually take time to show itself, so be ready to wait a while.

how much to strip by volume or flavor indicators

For stripping runs I strip very deep, I strip until there is basically no alcohol coming out. Usually that's about the time I see brown water start to run out the end of my condenser.

I'll only get one shot a year

That is a real problem with most brandies. Now, if you have the money you could buy some cheap apple juice and practice with that but even cheap apple juice costs a lot when you're talking about 12 gallons.

Some great advice here. Thanks Cranky