Brandy

edited January 2019 in General

New to brandy. Is backset used as in other applications. Thanks.

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  • If you're referring to dunder then no. If you're referring to lowines or fores and feints then yes, just as some do for whisky. Because of the difference in how whisky and whiskey is made some people may not recycle their FF.

  • Back set isn't as far as Im aware, interesting idea though. I also make a pretty liberal heads cut, brandy heads aren't very nice(IMO). Use tails at your own discretion as per usual.

  • Nice to see you back in here @Kill_Devil_Spirit_Co. Looked for you in Portland last year. Too far north and cold for you San Diego kine distillers?

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • @Kapea yeah it sucks cos my brother lives in Portland too. Alas, I was out of the country so couldn't make it. I promise to not got MIA for so long this time haha. Helping build new Kill Devil distillery in the Little Italy area just north of Downtown SD and maybe doing some work for 619 spirits just around the corner. Staying busy but nothing much to report on til now. You'd love the Guava gin I'm releasing.

    To stay on topic though, I finished a 5 month project on a Cactus Pear Brandy. Crazy stuff. Have some aging but most I'm keeping as an Eux de Vie. No backset was used, pretty big heads cut, kept most the tails. Put cactus pear flesh in the gin basket for an extra kick. Good times, but a ROYAL pain in the ass prepping all those prickly pears for fermentation haha.

  • As a matter of interest regarding the prickly pear ... for the juice, did you press the entire fruit or did you skin and press

  • edited February 2019

    I make prickly pear mead. I singe the fiberglass-like micro-spines off of the pears with a propane plumber's torch, and then freeze the pears. Freezing them releases the juice and makes it much less mucilaginous (snot-like). I use 20# of pears 15# of honey made up to a 7 gallon must. Juice, skin, and crushed pulp go in the fermenter. Twice daily cap punching is mandatory. The ferment is super active and quick, but clearing takes a few months. The pears give the mead a bit of a grenadine-like softness.

    Now I'm gonna have to run some of it through 4 plates. Thanks guys...

    When I lived in Florida I used to go to Playalinda at Canaveral National Seashore every Labor Day weekend to pick prickly pears from the cacti on the beachfront dunes. Literally in the shadow of the the space shuttle launch pads (pads 39A and 39B). I used to joke that the reason the ferment was so explosive was because the pears were imbued with launch shock wave energy.

    Lest you think I was poaching pears from the national seashore, harvesting pears is allowed so long as the cacti are not harmed in the process, and the pears are not used for commercial purposes.

    These days I get my pears about 2,500 ft. up the dry sides of Mauna Kea and Hualalai.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • @Kapea i love the launch pad reference

  • I'm just straight up surrounded by canyon, 4 different usable species. Got tired of seeing them all rot, but also not a fan of lugging 2 5gal buckets full of pears through hot canyon. I just use tongs and quarter/scrape them with a decent blade...

    Except, @richard, the small purple ones. Too much hassle so left a 10 gal Gatorade tank sealed up and let it naturally press and ferment. One of the best sours I've ever totally made on purpose ;)

    No space shuttles to speak of thus far @kapea. Ya got me there

  • edited February 2019

    image

    Playalinda view of Falcon 9 Launch from Kennedy SLC 40.jpg
    800 x 509 - 53K

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • I used to surf that beach back in the days when I was satisfied with surfing on boat wake... ;<)

    These days the board doesn't come off of the rack until the waves are at least overhead.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

  • @Kapea said: I used to surf that beach back in the days when I was satisfied with surfing on boat wake... ;<)

    These days the board doesn't come off of the rack until the waves are at least overhead.

    Wave snob. kelly Slater grew up there don't cha know....

    StillDragon North America - Your StillDragon® Distributor for North America

  • edited February 2019

    So did I. We both got tired of surfing GI Joe doll-sized waves.

    I'm more like I am now than I was before.

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