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Dyce51 wrote:Hey tater....quick question...what type of still you use? I have a pot still and am a lil worried about the pulp settling and burning to the bottom of my pot....also on a single distill how much flavor comes out? and also what about running my thumper with this recipe?

I use a pot still . I still on pulp but do it slow and careful.I also use several pieces of copper in my keg to break the boil If your worried about scorching and have a thumper Id let settle dip off top for still and put rest of pulp in thumper.Dont look for likker to taste like fresh plums remember ya used the sweet out of fruit . There will be a aftertaste of the fruit how strong depends on you and fruit .

DCT wrote:im going to use this recipe for a bach of asian pears, question is should i use the mixer process on thawed pears or do they need mashed? if i use mixer should i add all pulp to wash or stain?
thanks

ID use mixer Doing on pulp or straining be up to you .I think flavor carries over tad better on pulp

Tater wrote:Let them ripen till there soft.Sugar content of fruit will be at its peak and fruit will be easyer to work with.I usally will seperate ripe fruit out of batch freeze it Putting less ripe fruit in cardboard box and close it up .That will make fruit ripen on out quicker.If ya get it from large source guess ya could pick out enough ripe fruit do freeze at one time but if your single treeing it it will take a while to get all fruit .Peaches sure are fun to work with . Late frost got most them round here.

Now, I have a question. As someone who has never done this before -- please forgive my naivete. I've noticed that most alcoholic beverages will use foods that tend to "ripen" (peaches, bananas, pears, etc.), but what about fruits that get soft/rot, but don't really classify as "ripening?" How would someone use apples, oranges or other types of citrus fruits? Do they just drain the juice or let the fruits ferment themselves? Sorry if I sound like a dork.

you do not want rotten fruit as then to harbor bacteria, just good ripe fruit ,tree ripened fruit is best.
doing "on the pulp"/skins, has more flavor,the exception is citrus remove all skins.
fermenting will change the flavor as will distilling.
look up the fruit of choice in a wine forum, that will give you a start.then change to suite.usually more fruit more flavor.
I like to use a wine yeast as this also enhances flavor.

Doing this recipe again, think I had roughly 70lbs peaches...I could only get 10gallons of water in, may have to much pulp? Used 20lbs sugar cleared...15grams ec1118 and 14grams redstar...it's only been 1 hr and my 1 gallon yeast bomb is already made a cap? Any suggestions before I add the bomb?

I have like a 4inch pulp cap...is it ok to remove some cap and add back a couple gallons water?

Any help?

why do you want to remove cap? punch it down and keep it whet.

DCT wrote:I have like a 4inch pulp cap...is it ok to remove some cap and add back a couple gallons water?

What the wine makers do is to press down the cap into the wash, say once a day, so that it doesn't dry out and so that the wash can extract whatever goodies there are in the 'cap'.
Also, I think, this tends to prevent the formation of bad stuff on the cap, it loves to grow if the cap is moist but not disturbed.
But don't agitate it much as that introduces excessive oxygen at a time the wash wants to be without it.
If the cap is dryish I would think you do not need more water if you do remove some of the cap.

Ok, thanks guys, I was worried with only 10gallons of water vs. The recipe of 13 gallons...20lbs sugar and the extra 10lbs peaches my abv could get to high on the wash...sure smells good, peaches had been in freezer for a year, and they were so juicy and sweet, the humming birds were attacking me while making the wash outside

peaches are 8% sugar,,, .08X 10lb=.8LB+20=20.8 ,or rouned off to,, 21lb in 13 gal= 11-12%

My wash had about 70lbs of peaches, recipe called for a little less...should be ok?

I have 15 gallon formentor, but was only able to get 10 gallons of water in, due to peach pulp and juice, and leaving room for cap, these damn peaches were the juiciest I have ever had.

amount of fruit X the amount of sugar in fruit=? + the amount of sugar added=total sugar in wash
then go to parent site and on sugar calc.inter the total sugar and total wash=?.

so
70x .08=5.6 lb +20lb=25.6lb tolal sugar ..the total wash 13 gal=13% alcohol

Thanks
Dndrhead, wash smells great and strong, will post how it turns out, running it threw my giant pot still.

there is a fruit chart at the top of the fruit forum.

I had not run my still for awhile, so ran 3 gallons of box wine, will this be ok to use as a charge with my 10 gallon peach mash I'm going to run tomorrow or will it hurt the peach flavor?

white wine not bad,,red can be funky

I would do it, but dnder knows better than me

Also? Will 400ml of for shots be safe with 10 gal mash?
Thanks

I did red wine took it down to 20 abv, don't smell to bad, have half gallon...so what u think use it or not?

I really would do it. It won't hurt with cuts. I've done red before and I'm just about to do another 12 gallons or so, and while it does have more heads, the middle can be quite nice. The grape could make a nice contribution to the overall fruity flavor of your distillate. Why not, eh?

The other way is run your peach separately and see what you get. Then you can decide whether or not to combine the two and run again. It's all good. Good luck.

DCT wrote:Also? Will 400ml of for shots be safe with 10 gal mash?
Thanks

Make your cuts the proper way, not by volume... Use taste, smell, and feel... That volume is "in the ballpark", but that's about it... Might be low for red wine...

Thanks rad...run will be 10gallons peach mash with half gallon low wines from red wine..lol...didn't know if peaches tend to produce more meythanol?

Boiler is loaded full and ready to go...question, whin I racked off the mash this am, first ten gallons smelled good like peach beer, the last 3gallons I dumped in from furmentor with pulp smelled kinda vinegary? Is this common or bad. Well either way I'm running it.

So far threw out 550 ml for shots....running at 120 proof...the 1st 500 ml don't taste the best, very headsy...hope it gets better

2nd 500ml getting better, peachier...still at 120 which is good for my pot still, how far down do you all collect on fruit?

I go all the way down 'cause sometimes there's a really fruity part in the tails. You never know what you're gonna find! I once found a small jar of beautiful plum essence deep in the tails. Sometimes it's not there. Since you're collecting in smallish containers, there's no fear of massive contamination.

Did you mix that fine tail back in with some hearts or leave alone?

Most here collect in small jars (like you're doing) and then blend according to taste, after some airing. That's your keeper jar. I like to air out the distillate for about 7 days and some air for less time with perfectly good results.