Home Distiller

I am looking into making some apple brandy, unfortunately I am on a tight budget so I can't go with whole apples right now. I was thinking about making some using apple juice concentrate which I can get enough to make 5 gallons for 15 bucks. My main question is if anyone has tried this and how did it work? On the ingredients list on this particular apple juice the only ingredients listed are apple juice concentrate and vitamin C. I was also thinking about adding sugar depending on the specific gravity to yield about 15% ETOH. Any input would be appreciated.

Some have tried it here, you might be able to find the threads. I don't know where they are off hand, but I know I've read them here (with great interest I might add).

Here's 97 matches -

http://homedistiller.org/forum/search.p ... oncentrate

Good luck, bd.

it will work it is a bit different than using cider, you will also need to add nutrients.also I would not add that much sugar
doing so will take away from flavor.

OK quick update on this project. I mixed a can of the concentrate to standard strength as specified on the package, my hydrometer is indicating that there should be about 6% ETOH by volume. I am thinking about adding enough sugar to bring it up to about 10-11 % If this doesn't have too much taste no problem, I'll use it as a learning experience and make neutral spirits from it.

Apple juice based on apple concentrate is no good. 90% of the taste will be lost in distillation. If using apple juice, please buy a real one. Then: do not ad sugar and/or wine. A good apple brandy is made from cider, not from apple wine. Why? First of all because that is the traditional way to do it. Another reason: with apple wine you will be getting a drink with only a hint of apple taste. Less alcohol gives a bigger tase consentration and is perfect for 2 runs. From 7% to 20% and then from 20 to 60%. Then water it down to drink.

If I went with Tree Top... pasteurized apple juice with no preservatives... would that make decent apple brandy? I'm fine with no added sugar and run it twice through the pot still, sounds great to me. It would be like an Apfelwein brandy.

Concentrate and water is not enough. Of course I do not think about yeast and nutrients. Product will be empty. To get high quality apple juice natural apple aroma must be added to the mash. This way you can get result comparable to cider. Aroma could be also added to final product but only a drop. I usually buy concentrate and aroma from producer.

i did a apple juice run and i added 6 lbs of sugar to 5 gallons of apple jucie and about 3 TABLE spoons of yeast when i distilled it i didnt really get the flavor bur rather what i was lookin for a nuetral sprit with a high ABV which was 155 proof ..

Acoop!
Have a 5 gal of what your talking about sitting in the bathroom. It finished up 3 days ago and while it smells of apples it tastes like grapefruit juice. Not sure what went wrong. No problems with the ferment. So, will use as first run in new still.
hope you have much better luck than I did.
ArkyJ

any fruit will not taste like the fruit it was made of.ask any wine brewer.
a big influence that iv found is yeast.you need one that enhances the fruit your using.

I've done a lot of apple juice. I just buy the store brand, add 1# sugar/gal (give initial SG of 1.075-1.080), yeast nutrient, and yeast. I have 4-5 gal aging right now. I really like the flavor and it's really easy. Never used concentrate. Here 1 gal costs me about $3.50-4.00. Biggest problem is the clerks when ya buy 5 gal at a time. Last time I tol them I hate the S*** but the Doc said I gotta drink 1/2 gal a day to clean out my gonads. They didn't have nothin' to say after that.

Big R

what does the yeast nutrient do??

It provides nutrients for the yeast.....

what does the yeast nutrient do??

To get a full understanding ya really need to do some research in this forum. There is an entire section dedicated to yeasts and enzymes. It's kinda something that's expected in this forum, ya know, look before ya ask.

Simply put yeast nutrients provide chemicals the yeast needs to do their thing. Some recipes, like the All Bran, provide these w/o anything extra. Other recipes don't so ya gotta provide them. Any sugar wash, which apple juice is, don't have these things that make yeast happy and productive. I use a Crosby&Baker product I get at the local brew shop. Some distillers use multi-vitamins.

Big R

ya i found the section about it theres so much info on this site i cant read it all right way i do work for living alot of hours at that sorry i am new and i have questions better to ask than not ask..