Home Distiller

Hey guys, I still very new to this. I have done a ton of reading but I think im just starting to confuse myself at this point. Can anyone steer me to a simple noob Brandy to start with and gain experience with. Something with Bannanas, Peaches, Strawberries sound good to me. I use a 5 gallon pot still, and a 5 gallon bucket for fermenting. Im just not sure how much of the fruit I need, how much sugar. Right now I have a few packets of Red Star Champagne yeast. If that wont work, please suggest yeasts. I just see so much different stuff and ideas that people have and I think they are mostly way over my head at this point in my young distilling hobby. Ive only dealt with corn at this point. Thanks everyone!

heres a peach brandy from tater but you could probably switch flavors http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =14&t=2902

Yeah I think ill try something similar to this. Peach sounds amazing. Just looked up how much a bushel of peaches is..haha 50lb? Anyone know how many lbs of peaches I should use for a 5gal pot. And how much Sugar per lb? Also Should I use an airlock during fermentation. I feel like ive read so many different ways to do it. What is the best way?

heres one for 5 gallons
WATERMELON-PEACH MOONSHINE BRANDY for five gallons

1 1/4 large watermelon
10 peaches
1 1/4 cup chopped golden raisins
15 limes (juice only)
25 cups sugar
water to make 5 gallon
wine or distillers yeast

Extract the juice from watermelon and peaches, saving pulp. Boil pulp in five quarts of water for 1/2 hour then strain and add water to extracted juice. Allow to cool to lukewarm then add water to make five gallons total and all other ingredients except yeast to primary fermentation vessel. Cover well with cloth and add yeast after 24 hours. Stir daily for 1 week and strain off raisins. Fit fermentation trap, and set aside for 4 weeks.

lovePitbulls wrote:Yeah I think ill try something similar to this. Peach sounds amazing. Just looked up how much a bushel of peaches is..haha 50lb? Anyone know how many lbs of peaches I should use for a 5gal pot. And how much Sugar per lb? Also Should I use an airlock during fermentation. I feel like ive read so many different ways to do it. What is the best way?

Figuring out amounts for peach and sugar is easy, just scale down the recipe from the Fruit / Berry Recipes thread here: http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... =14&t=2196

That thread says 1 bushel (40-50 pounds) of fruit/berries, 20 pounds of sugar, and a 1/4 cup of lime juice for 13 gallons.

Scaled down to 5 gallons, you're looking at around 19 pounds of peaches (assuming 50 lbs. per bushel) and 7 and a half pounds of sugar. (13/5 = 2.6 so divide all components by 2.6... 19.23 pounds of peach and 7.69 pounds of sugar).

To get an idea of where your potential alcohol should be around, use this chart for peach sugar content: http://www.thefruitpages.com/contents.shtml (peach @ ~7.9%)

And use the cal on the parent site: http://homedistiller.org/calcs" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

19 pounds of peaches @ 7.9% sugar should have around 1.5 pounds of sugar in it. Added to the rest of the sugar, you're looking at ~9 pounds of sugar. Looks like you'll be around 1.083 for SG, with a potential of 12.7%.

This write-up has been as much for my benefit (mentors here please ream me out if I'm wrong on anything) as for anyone's.

Hope this helps. Good luck.

with Taters recipe...
he used 6 bu for 50 gallon ferment.
10>6=.6 bu (you need),,,now if a bushel weighs 50lb? (that's on other computer)
50x.6=30lb for a 5 gallon ferment.

if you want ,,,peach is about 8%..so for 30 lb x.08=2.4 lb of sugar in 5 gallon of peaches..
or a OG of 1.023 or 3.5%

now if you add 5lb of sugar: 5+2.5=7.5 lb..(in 5 gal) =OG 1.069 /10.6% alcohol.

Sweet, thanks for the tips. I cant wait to start this.

Since I am a novice at this and have had limited success with corn , I decided to go another route. I made a wash ( 5 gal ) of can peaches, sugar ( white & brown ). I followed a recipe on this forum. I followed it to a tee, with one exception. I strained the wash. I don't know if this was right or wrong, as there was no mention of either. What I got was 120 proof ( 1 quart ) and smelled faintly of peaches. I cut this to 60 proof with distilled water, added peaches to jar and put away for a couple of weeks. Would I have gotten more shine and more aroma had I not strained the wash? This is a small success but every step forward helps. Any advice on this is welcome..............Kittra

Straining your wash to me seems every important before distilling. You can scorch the fruit or it can be vomited into your worm. The way I understand it. The flavor is in the heads and it takes very good cuts to keep it. Keep up the good work.

ok thanks for this i will try.