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I have really enjoyed this post. So much I made a 10 gallon batch. The cap was crazy thick for three days without much action. I stirred in the cap once a day. On day four the cap fell and it is working good now. Excited for it to finish out and give it a run. Seems to be mixed reviews about taste. I kinda like that. Thanks for the post.

biggybigz wrote:I have really enjoyed this post. So much I made a 10 gallon batch. The cap was crazy thick for three days without much action. I stirred in the cap once a day. On day four the cap fell and it is working good now. Excited for it to finish out and give it a run. Seems to be mixed reviews about taste. I kinda like that. Thanks for the post.

Takes a stronger ferment to hold the cap up.When it slows down the cap falls

So....I stripped 8 gal from my 10 gal batch. I saved 2 gal of wash to run with low wines. Mine does not have the overpowering taste of peaches. However I did use more sugar. 12% ABV. It is "peachy". Very smooth when tempered to 80 proof. It's great used as a vodka in cranberry juice with a lime or two. It hit a home run with the wifey. Cranberry vodka is her favorite. Something I will make a couple times a year for sure.

Thanks for starting this thread Saltcitystilling...

I look forward to trying this recipe as well as the overall method. I live in orchard country and at the right time of year there is an abundance of all sorts of fruit, sometimes free for the picking.

Although some folks have had less than acceptable results I thinks it bound to happen just due to the multitude of variables with the fruit, the yeast, the water, the aeration, the temperature and the ph.

I'd wager that from time to time even the "Tried & True" recipes have duds and where would we be if new things aren't tried, tested and retested.

When I do give this ago....I'll post my results.

Dave

Super excited, started this last night!

22# canned peaches in heavy syrup
6.5# sugar
8 gallons water
2 Tbsp distiller's yeast that I first made into a starter

og was 1.049

Fermenting in a 5 day cooler in my basement cellar, it is a little cooler than I would like but it's what I have so that's that...

The peach flavor was very mild but you could taste it for sure. I'll check this evening on the fermenting and hopefully there will be activity and a nice cap on top! I'll keep you all updated!

After 2 days this is fermenting like crazy! Using a 75qt extreme cooler and man does it hold that heat perfectly, highly recommend! The smells are excellent, a good cap each day that I have been knocking down, and taking a little bit of a taste each day. Tastes like a light peach wine cooler, imagine that... I'll take a gravity reading tomorrow and see what she is at, but as for now working right along

I ran this today, absolutely delicious. I did have my ferment stall out but I ran anyway (needed to clear my fermenter for an ag) it is peachy on the nose, tastes like the alcohol version of a can of peaches. I feel the people who may have had issues with this recipe was probably due to yeast. I used dady distiller's and the final product is really delicious. Thanks for the recipe share, I will be making more.

Anyone try using honey in their peach wash in place of sugar? Andwouldit still be considered real brandy?

Whitecap72 wrote:Anyone try using honey in their peach wash in place of sugar? Andwouldit still be considered real brandy?

Better if you can avoid sugar all together.
I have used golden syrup as a sugar bump before but never honey.....
Have heard honey takes a very long time to ferment out

MmmPeace wrote:I ran this today, absolutely delicious. I did have my ferment stall out but I ran anyway (needed to clear my fermenter for an ag) it is peachy on the nose, tastes like the alcohol version of a can of peaches. I feel the people who may have had issues with this recipe was probably due to yeast. I used dady distiller's and the final product is really delicious. Thanks for the recipe share, I will be making more.

Sounds like you had a win and smashed the peaches out of the park! Well done mate

Copperhead, this was a win for sure. I am starting another batch tonight, I'll update as able!

I am running this right now. I followed the recipe, have 9 to 10 gallons in a 15.5 gallons keg pot still. Running slow and it's coming over cloudy....and guesses?

Hmm. I haven’t had this issue, my only guess would be it is still running too fast. Maybe try and slow it down a bit more and see if that helps. Have you tasted it? Close to heaven is the best description

Still early in the run. Not bad by any means.

When people say "I let it air out" what does this mean specifically? Is this something that is commonly done, or for a specific issue?

Steve

YSO191 wrote:When people say "I let it air out" what does this mean specifically? Is this something that is commonly done, or for a specific issue?

Steve

It means leaving the cut jars covered with a permeable material for a period of time. How beneficial it is depends on what you are making. For flavored products, like peach, I like to put my hard won flavors into the aging jars the next morning, if not earlier. I'm not a fan of letting angels party up large for several days before choosing my cut .... and you will never see me here asking why my run didn't taste like peach/apple/etc..

NZChris wrote:

YSO191 wrote:When people say "I let it air out" what does this mean specifically? Is this something that is commonly done, or for a specific issue?

Steve

It means leaving the cut jars covered with a permeable material for a period of time. How beneficial it is depends on what you are making. For flavored products, like peach, I like to put my hard won flavors into the aging jars the next morning, if not earlier. I'm not a fan of letting angels party up large for several days before choosing my cut .... and you will never see me here asking why my run didn't taste like peach/apple/etc..

Thank you. What does 'airing out' accomplish?

Gasses off sulphides and other unwanted volitile gasses

Going to post a great image again,
http://culinarium-signor.at/WebRoot/Sto ... G_0975.JPG" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Long story short, aging spirits in "neutral vessels" that are still permeable - like, having a snug cloth or a very loose fitting lid - essentially makes a "head cut" of its own, in which the most volatile and harsh components slowly evaporate outside the vessel. Meanwhile, the passing of oxygen through the spirit at a high ABV allows continued reaction of the spirit "with itself". So acids become esters and so on.

It is just like normal aging, but without the addition of oak.

I must have made a mistake somewhere. Wash was to recipe, though a little bit larger. 12 gallons of wash. Fermented out dry with red star bakers and premiere blanc. traditional pot still with 8.5 gal ss boiler and copper onion and lyne, copper liebig.

this was only my second spirit run of all time so i don't know if this is normal for peach - but when i started collecting hearts, the hearts tasted and felt like water. but it was well over 60% abv at that point. that's as high as my alchoholometer measures. the thing dropped like a rock in the beaker. i didn't detect any peach aromas at all during the run.

So anyway - i believe I had a pretty solid cut of hearts in at least one jar. Or what should have been hearts. I've got good senses for taste/touch/feel despite a lack of experience it's how i've run my bakery for years. My previous bastard whiskey spirit run came out nice. I have a lot to learn but it's not rocket science to detect solid stream of hearts vs heads and tails. I was running low and slow, too. Cause could not have been too much power.

But after airing out the peach spirit it was all awful. All of the collection was awful. What should have been hearts - none. Hot, with neutral aroma and no flavor but raw alcohol - smell reminds me of rubbing alcohol. It's been 3 weeks now airing but no change - at least, it hasn't changed into peach brandy that's for sure. Can't figure out what went wrong. All of the collection is a waste.

I had some copper mesh in the lyne to slow the vapor velocity. Did it smear the run? That's the only thing i can come up with (and if it smeared that bad, why didn't it show up in the tasting during the run?) I'm putting the entire collection in with feints and moving on.

Smearing from the copper mesh is the only guess I can come up with in my limited experience. I did an all corn spirit run yesterday, no copper mesh in the lyne, and that turned out great.