Home Distiller

Grind with apple grinder 25 to 30 gallons of apples and press them with an apple press to get 15 gal of fresh apple cider or get 15 gallons of un-pasteurized apple cider.


I plan on making a trip to Sky Top Apple Orchard in Hendersonville NC soon they have the best un-pasturized apple cider ive ever tasted. It lol actualy taste like you are eating an apple with out the pulp. It even has that kind of chlk like feel to it in your mouth. it is hard to desribe. I just know it is awsome.


The apple cider will produce 8.5%abv to boost it up dissolve 15lbs of cane sugar.This give you about 14%
add 2 packs of Whiskey yeast and ferment for 5 days
This should yield about 2 gallons of 90% when distilled
put in quart jars with 6 toasted white oak sticks each.
Place in the refrigerator at night and remove ecah day for 4 days or until a dark color is achieved.
Sample each day till desired flavor is achieved.


Please be kind I know im a newbie and posting alot.the recipes im posting were given to me and i typed them just like they were written. if anything is wrong please tell me the correct way.Im going to post one more tomorrow that i have working off right now it is almost done. when i open it up and stir it it fizzes for a bit then settles back down.Ill post my results with the recipe.

First you want a pot still ( or detuned reflux) if your making a flavored "drinks" this would be a apple brandy , second do not distill at 90% you will loose too much flavor I would recommend distill at like 60-70%

dnder....this brings up an unanswered question i've been thinking about. do distillers adjust their takoff rate to attain a desired proof? slow gives me ~ 80% on average with corn or barley runs untill later in the run when the % begins to drop, do people speed up their runs to pull off at 60-70%. never heaard of anyone doing this. my runs average ~ 65%. gman

that is a average, if you are averaging 65% on harts ,your doing good , if higher mite want to run a little faster . I fiend if it is over 80% most of the flavor is gone(much like light flavored vodka)it is a trade off between flavor and proof .(higher proof ---lower flavor) So I try to run (a average) at what
I want to bottle/age at (I like the flavor) play with it some see what you like Ive run even lower (30-40%)(as some fruits)and git a good fruity taste

Big Daddy:

I don't think you're going to get that much cider from 25 - 30 gallons of apples.
When I make cider w/ my 120+ year old cider press, it takes me 5 - 7 gallons loose apples to get 1 gallon of cider. Of course, I go easy on it. Me thinks you're going to need a lot more apples than what you're figuring, unless you got access to a commercial operation.
Since I use backyard mixed varieties, sugar content varies and the potential alcohol is usually around 5% to 7%. Good for hard cider but not good enough for wine, so I add sugar.

A tip on apples - It's good to heat the cider up to a scald as soon as it comes of the press as it deactivates the enzyme that converts pectin into methanol. Too much hard cider without a scald first will give a killer headache. Most of the conversion happens within 60 minutes after crushing the fruit. See below.

grate tip/article

Coming from my standpoint of having enough sugar spirits to give away to people who like it and to have the occasional tipple myself, i have gone right away from using sugar in fruit washes.
It makes it a completely different drink, and the complexity of flavour that comes as the bonus with using allgrain or all fruit washes is very heavily dominated by the harsh sugar alchohol taste. Before i tried peaches only i thought i was just stretching the fruit taste to go further. I wasn't. I was changing the taste of pure peach brandy into a harsher tasting liquor that while good and smooth and well complimented, wasn't at all what the brandy can offer without sugar.
I'm very glad i learnt this, it takes a lot of fruit to make a little bit of brandy, so you just can't do it with supermarket stuff, but when free loads of fruit come about, i'll be brewing like mad

6-8% would be a very fine starting point for your distillations, and if it was me (i don't need a lot of spirits) i'd leave it at that without the sugar. You won't have as much, but what you will have will be sublime. Maybe you could try half with sugar and half without.
Split these into two washes each of 3-5 gallons, then take one wash (say a sugar one) and strip it and add it to your next wash (the other sugar one) and do a slow run with cuts. Then do the same with the pure fruit washes.
Compare the two.
Offer the sugar/apple brandy to your guests (they'll love it), and when they're gone, take one small snifter of the true brandy for yourself and one for you're closest friend and sit quietly enjoying the difference.

Igor, do you know if the pectinaze is disrupted by freezing?

6-8% would be a very fine starting point for your distillations, and if it was me (i don't need a lot of spirits) i'd leave it at that without the sugar. You won't have as much, but what you will have will be sublime. Maybe you could try half with sugar and half without.
Split these into two washes each of 3-5 gallons, then take one wash (say a sugar one) and strip it and add it to your next wash (the other sugar one) and do a slow run with cuts. Then do the same with the pure fruit washes.
Compare the two.

Great idea - will do. It's shaping up to be a busy October.

I've only read about the heat treat for fruit mashes and that they can be frozen for use later. Does freezing destroy enzymes as well as heat?

It seems like the heat treatment might be more effective since most of the conversion happens within 60 minutes. The time it takes to freeze it might make quite a difference.

chunkystyles wrote:It seems like the heat treatment might be more effective since most of the conversion happens within 60 minutes. The time it takes to freeze it might make quite a difference.

I was merely thinking that IF freezing disrupted the enzymes that you could freeze the fruit before juicing.

punkin wrote:

chunkystyles wrote:It seems like the heat treatment might be more effective since most of the conversion happens within 60 minutes. The time it takes to freeze it might make quite a difference.

I was merely thinking that IF freezing disrupted the enzymes that you could freeze the fruit before juicing.

Ah, good point.

this mite help

Enzymes
Enzyme activity can lead to the deterioration of food quality. Enzymes present in animals, vegetables and fruit promote chemical reactions, such as ripening. Freezing only slows the enzyme activity that takes place in foods. It does not halt these reactions which continue after harvesting. Enzyme activity does not harm frozen meats or fish and is neutralized by the acids in frozen fruits. But most vegetables that freeze well are low acid and require a brief, partial cooking to prevent deterioration. This is called "blanching." For successful freezing, blanch or partially cook vegetables in boiling water or in a microwave oven. Then rapidly chill the vegetables prior to freezing and storage. Consult a cookbook for timing

So if i buy the pressed unpasturized cider from the orchard. I dont know when they pressed it. Do i need to scald it when i get it home??

I picked up 2 6.5 gallon carboys for $28.00 each yesterday. I have 2 9 gallon plastic ones right now. I want to be able to watch the yeast do its magic lol

Big daddy
from what I gather from this scalding would be best . and the article I found says freezing won't work . The wine people add things like
campden ,but I do not care to add sulfur, I do not want to add pectic enzymes either . (no wonder you get a headache from wine) so i think heating is the only answer.

I'll vouch for the idea of going natural. I've done a number of batches au naturel (no added sugar) and some with sugar added. The no-sugar added are head-and-shoulders better than the other.

Also, don't bother with freezing or boiling.

I've done the gamut (except freezing) -- campden tablets, boiling, the whole spiel. The best was fresh-pressed with a strong yeast culture to "win" against anything that was in there. It fermented out to 6% in a couple of days and then I ran it. Best calvados I've ever had, and I've had a bit...

Norman calvados has been made for centuries -- they make it well, and I don't see the point in messing with a good thing. If it ain't broke...

Aidas

aidas what your ph runin . theses ole boys got bout 3.9 - 4.0 ph .

so im tole

Ya goose, I had that with hard cider ,made with fresh apple juice.that's why "cooking" sounded good and I don't like to add chemicals.
I dont do much fruit (not available) did up 20 gal of blackberry brandy (no sugar) ran off at 60% - (2 times threw pot still ),a hole lot of picking !
apples are next , I thank Ill try cooking this time ,don't need no more vinegar!

dunder cookin aint a option an yup aint no future in vineagar.
they got glucose at a deal but problem is aint workin the same as white suger.how sweet it is how it smellin how it tastein while workin. talk about sticky.gotta stir the hell out of it to melt it gone an that is when it foams an then scum im tole. learnin somethin new can be tryin. best they can figure it wont mint to be an time to go huntin bears

so im tole

goose eye wrote:aidas what your ph runin . theses ole boys got bout 3.9 - 4.0 ph .

so im tole

Truth be told, I've never checked the ph. Obviously it's pretty acidic. The reason I've never checked isn't just laziness, it's also a bit of hat-tipping to old fashioned artisanal calvados making. I want to be able to make a good apple brandy without using too many modern methods or making it any more labor intensive than needed. The only modernism I've kept is checking the SG so that I know what yield to expect. Thus I came to the formula of using fresh pressed (i.e. I watch it being pressed and then take it home to pitch the yeast) and using a strong yeast culture to keep mother from taking over.

It's worked so far. THe apples have been pretty consistent at around 6% potential (though there was one batch of really sweet apples that gave me a potential of 8%).

I've used EC-1118 and simple bakers yeast. Both worked great, and I can't tell the difference between the two batches.

Aidas

laber intensive ole boys didnt no there was no other way

so im tole