Au De Vie - Apricots

nvnovrts

Z-BOB!!! [-O<

Myles

With all of the fruit based fermentations I try to freeze the fruit first if possible, but that is mostly due to the way they are harvested. I don't usually get a big enough quantity all at 1 time.

My usual routine is to bash up the fruit and add pectic enzyme and fill the fermenter to 1/2 the final volume with water. That sits for 1 day for the enzyme to work on the fruit pulp, whilst I get a yeast starter going in a separate container.
Once the fruit pulp has fermented for 3 or 4 days, I then add any extra sugar and top up the fermenter to the final volume.

When fermentation has finished I let it settle out, carefully take of the clearish top liquid and either filter or press the rest.

In the future the plan is to rack off the sort of cleared wash into storage (to clear a bit more) and just load all the residue into the glycol boiler to be stripped. The low wines from that strip run will then be added to the stored wash for a spirit run. Sort of a "run and a half" as opposed to a double run.

punkin

Love the 1.5 runs. \m/

Capt_Crunch

I finally returned home and ran my cherry schnapps. It fermented for about 6 weeks by the time I got around to distilling it. It ran as predicted with a strong cherry aroma that lasted well into the tails. I've been told that in order to get al the fruit aroma out of the mash you have to let some of the late hearts and early tails go into the collection pot. I cut the hearts off at 59 to 60% but I've been told that the German schnapps producers go later than that. I ended up with 5 L of distillate intentionally diluted down to 42% to get the fusels and turpines to "precipitate" out. Using a 1 micron filter to remove the undesirables, I ended up with 5 L of the best beverage project that Ive done so far. (50 Kgs of fresh cherries.)

I've blended a small amount of it with neutral sugar alcohol to make 1 L of 40% at a 2: ratio of sugar to schnapps. The rest of it is locked up!

cooperville

Captn are you forcing the mash through the filter with compressed air in this picture ? I reckon my Missus would eat 5o kg of cherries before I got the chance to ferment them

Philter

A fantastic setup there Capt_Crunch. I love the conical!

LunaBrille

After my "rumplemintz incident" at a def leppard Concert in the 80's... I never thought I would want to try ANY schnapps again. But your description of the cherry schnapps sounds great. Going to have to put this on the list of things to try.

Capt_Crunch

cooperville...yes the filter is pressurized with about 4 psi of what is supposed to be CO2. This is China so it probably is CO2!

Capt_Crunch

Actually cooperville, its the finished distillate, not the mash that's going through the filter. The idea is to remove fusel and turpine off flavours from making a late hearts cut. The filter worked well but there's still a slight bitter finish to my schnapps. I've been told that the Germans ferment and distill with the cherry pits in the mash and boiler. Some broken ground up bitter pits must make there way into the mash which is exactly what happened with my project. The bitter taste and aroma of those pits could be my excuse for the bitter finish. What do I know? The recipe that I used did mention that a slight bitter taste is part of the flavour profile. It's not so bad that sipping it straight up isn't a poke in the eye with a sharp stick!

Lloyd

It is just awesome @Capt_Crunch. Thank you for sharing a glimpse into your life, booze and distilling setup. One ex-pat to another, I hope we meet up someday soon. Couldn't do it this trip but I'm hoping for the next. Hot wings and cold beer, yum!

Gil_flask

I can't wait to go to the farmers market and pick up all the fruit for the Church, ;) ;) . Oh, and @Luna you weren't the only one at that concert that swore off snapps again. That was like a bad flashback...

Stinger

@Gil_flask said: I can't wait to go to the farmers market and pick up all the fruit for the Church, ;) ;) .....

We all need to pick up large quantities of sugar, fruit etc. for bake sales, Church events etc., not to mention grain for the chickens and horses. What a surprising coincidence. ;) ;) ;)

Gil_flask

Yes, very good. Teach me grasshopper. Why do we not have to boil or fruit first? I have bags of frozen figs that I didn't make jelly with this year. I would normally add a little water and sugar and boil.... Can it be done both ways? Do you add dap?

nvnovrts

@Gil_flask said: Yes, very good. Teach me grasshopper. Why do we not have to boil or fruit first? I have bags of frozen figs that I didn't make jelly with this year. I would normally add a little water and sugar and boil.... Can it be done both ways? Do you add dap?

Do you want "cooked" flavors? Figs have a pretty light taste. Maybe dried figs? And yes, you would want to add a little DAP, yeast like it. Also might look into some Go-Ferm or fermaid. yeast foods are good.

Myles

No DAP. Use the alternative - just boil some yeast to explode the yeast cells. All the nutrients you need. Possibly some B vitamins - it won't hurt.

Gil_flask

Thank you gentlemen. I will see if I have enough to try both fermentation methods boiled versus non-boiled. I have not worked with any fruit at this point just UJSM and now panella/molasses for a rum. So I apologize in advance for any stupid questions.

nvnovrts

There are no stupid questions.

punkin

I don't see a benefit in boiling them. If they have been frozen and you can chop them into mush in a blender or with a motar mixer, you have exposed all the sugars to the yeast.

The only reason to boil would be to reduce them to mush to acheive the same thing at the expense of changing the flavour.