Apple Pomace Brandy

[shadylane]

The next day I would top up the fermenter with water to the 22-25L mark. Then I followed the following recipe:
• Add and mix in 2kg/4.4lb of table sugar
• Add 2grams/0.07Oz of Wyeast Wine Nutrients (contains DAP)
• Add 5grams/0.2Oz of hydrated EC-1118 yeast.

After 2 days I would then add 1 more kg of table sugar to the wash.

Maybe instead of adding table sugar to raise the ABV, try fermenting with only the natural fructose until finished then add neutral spirits to raise the ABV to 8%ish before stripping. According to a friend, the extra alcohol will extract more delicate fruit flavors during the stripping run and there's less foreshots/heads during the spirit run since there's no sugar bite from fermenting sucrose.

[PalCabral]

Maybe instead of adding table sugar to raise the ABV, try fermenting with only the natural fructose until finished then add neutral spirits to raise the ABV to 8%ish before stripping. According to a friend, the extra alcohol will extract more delicate fruit flavors during the stripping run and there's less foreshots/heads during the spirit run since there's no sugar bite from fermenting sucrose.

That’s an interesting approach, maybe I will try it for next year’s harvest. I estimate that the pomace by itself only fermented to 2-3% ABV, the rest of the ABV came from the fermented table sugar. Tell me, was it the highly respected friend Bubba that suggested this method?

[PalCabral]

Mid-August and the apple trees in my garden are with a lot more fruit this year than last. A year ago I picked fallen fruit around this time to make the first batches but this year I am planning on a lightly different approach for my Apple Brandy project.

This year, I will not separate the pressed apple must from the pomace. I will let the pomace sit overnight in pectinase and campden powder, and the (little) must I get I will be mixed with purchased apple juice, from concentrate. Then, instead of adding water to the pomace before fermentation, I will add the mix if apple juice and own must to the pomace and ferment this, without (or with little) addition of sugar. What I am seeking is more apple flavor and less bite from sugar. The only grievance I have with last year's Apple Brandy was the use of sugar. I am hoping using apple juice will replace that need, at least by 75%.

[Photoguy-70]

Thanks Pal C. For posting your process. Great read and I for one have learned few things from it. My process is similar to yours but in smaller amounts. Have a good size apple tree in my garden and usually get some from friends to boost the amount. Been making wine every year but this time it is planned for brandy so your post is very welcome indeed. Thanks again.

[PalCabral]

Thanks Pal C. For posting your process. Great read and I for one have learned few things from it. My process is similar to yours but in smaller amounts. Have a good size apple tree in my garden and usually get some from friends to boost the amount. Been making wine every year but this time it is planned for brandy so your post is very welcome indeed. Thanks again.

I am very happy it inspired and assisted you, photoguy-70. Thanks.

[Copperhead road]

Mid-August and the apple trees in my garden are with a lot more fruit this year than last. A year ago I picked fallen fruit around this time to make the first batches but this year I am planning on a lightly different approach for my Apple Brandy project.

This year, I will not separate the pressed apple must from the pomace. I will let the pomace sit overnight in pectinase and campden powder, and the (little) must I get I will be mixed with purchased apple juice, from concentrate. Then, instead of adding water to the pomace before fermentation, I will add the mix if apple juice and own must to the pomace and ferment this, without (or with little) addition of sugar. What I am seeking is more apple flavor and less bite from sugar. The only grievance I have with last year's Apple Brandy was the use of sugar. I am hoping using apple juice will replace that need, at least by 75%.

I pretty much do the same routine Pal, except i only use everything i can extract from the fruit, whatever fruit i can get in bulk. i like to put done 180 L ferments. i always use pectinase religiously. So people say they get a bubblegum taste from pectinase, i have never got that taste or any off-tastes in 10 years making Brandy.

thanx for sharing your process Pal.

[Bushman]

Maybe I missed it but are you or how often do you punch down the cap. Last time I made apple brandy I used mostly the pomace and not enough apple juice.

[Copperhead road]

When i do big peach fermentations i punch down the cap with a drill paint mixer every couple of days, that aerates the pulp and stops the peaches climbing out the 200L drum.

[PalCabral]

Maybe I missed it but are you or how often do you punch down the cap. Last time I made apple brandy I used mostly the pomace and not enough apple juice.

I did it several times a day, if memory seves me right. Every time I was down in the distillery.

[LWTCS]

I thought I would share my latest project, to make Apple Brandy. It quickly turned out to be an Apple Pomace Brandy project but more to that later. I am wordy bugger, I am aware, but I will split the thread in different posts for the different steps of the project. I hope that will make for a more pleasant reading experience rather than a wall of text.

Short Intro
My garden has three old apple trees. One is huge, it’s the centerpiece of the whole garden. It’s a so called “spider” tree, where the branches were tied down during the early years of the growth to make the branches grow outwards, not up, thus improving fruit growth. The other two trees are not as pretty but higher yielding. We have two types of apples: Gravensteiner and Signe Tillich. Both are old Danish varieties and both are good for making cider. In fact, the Gravesteiner was voted Denmark's national apple variety in 2005. That's good enough for me!

gravensteiner tree.jpg

Signe T and Gravensteiner.jpg

The first summer after we moved into the house I took the apples to a cider mill and got many, many liters of must. It was a good apple year with plenty of apples and I made apple wine, cider and juice for the kids. However, the year after I had started brewing and I never made cider again. Fast-forward 19 years and I want to make cider again. This time for distilling. The plans already started last winter. In preparation, I bought a second-hand apple crusher and a second-hand apple press of 14L, EC-1118 yeast and pectinase.

The plan was to make Cider to make aged Apple Brandy. As a side project I would use the remains of the crushed and pressed apples, i.e. the pomace, to make Apple Pomace Brandy. However, 2025 is not a good apple year in Stockholm and I knew I would not even get close to the harvest of 2006. I could not afford to let any apples go to waste.

Harvesting, crushing, and pressing the apples
I started to pick up undamaged fallen apples already a month before the apples were ripe. Every day I would start day and end the day with a sweep in the garden to pick the fallen heroes. Beginning of September was very windy and so the catch was often good. Come weekend, I would wash the harvested apples, cut off any bad bits, and split the apples into quarters. Then hand crank the apple crusher making pulp before pressing the apple pulp and collect the must. Typically, I would have about 10kg/22lb of apples to work with every weekend. I did this 4 weekends in a row. Only on the last weekend I also picked apples from the trees.

Maybe due to the fact that the apples were not fully ripe, maybe because my crusher and press are poor, or maybe because I am a terrible cider maker, my yield of cider from 10kg apples was only 2L/0.5g. According to all the books I am supposed to get 5L/1.3g from 10kg apples. I realized that no matter how many apples I managed to harvest, crush and press, the volume of fermented cider would likely not even fill my boiler. My best bet was going to be to switch focus to making apple pomace brandy. The cider’s role in this project would only serve to augment the pomace brandy, not to be the base.

Apples chopped.jpg

Apple crusher.jpg

cider press 2.jpg

cider pouring.jpg

Crushed and pressed apples.jpg

Before I continue this description of my project, I have to admit that this is probably the least scientific and prepared approach I have followed to produce alcohol this year. I totally went on gut feel on this one. I didn’t even bother to measure gravity before any of the fermentations I made. All the numbers you will see are reverse calculated after the stripping runs.

What a beautiful tree.
Seems like it would really benefit from some center pruning?

[PalCabral]

What a beautiful tree.
Seems like it would really benefit from some center pruning?

You and my wife, Larry! Every year I pruned and cut this tree down and we never had apples on it. But the last three four years I stopped cutting and after two years the apples are back.

[PalCabral]

Today or tomorrow I will start picking apples. My heart beat goes a little faster when I think about it. It's a year ago so it feels almost like it's the first time again

I have sought inspiration and tips from this fantastic thread by Cranky, viewtopic.php?p=7493019&hilit=Apple+Brandy#p7493019. Thank you so much Cranky for all your advise!