Cider #1 - for Calvados (Apple Brandy)

[Bombo80]

It was the club cider buy/pickup day on Saturday.

Batch 1 will be distilled into Apple Brandy.

5 gallons of fresh pressed cider @1.048, mixed with 1 gallon of Centennial Crabapple cider, I pressed from frozen crabapples, @1.072. This gave me a SG of 1.052. I am using a packet of the SafCider yeast. It is fermenting away in the basement about 68*. I will leave it for two weeks then check the gravity and cold crash it, if it is ready. Then rack it and hopefully get my buddy to distill it over Thanksgiving weekend.

More to come .......

 

[bmd2k1]

Good luck with em all!

Cheers [emoji111]

 

[MarkKF]

Where’d you get all the crab apples?

 

[Bombo80]

I picked them off several trees that are across from the hospital in my home town. I had them in the freezer for several years and decided it was time to use them. At one time, I had one of the 4 foot tall super XXXL ziplock bag full of crab apples. I will have to pick some next year now that I am out.

 

[fermentinginpa]

Sounds tasty! Good luck

 

[Bombo80]

So far everything is going nicely. Fermentation is moving right along. I actually put a blow-off tube into a picture of sanitizer, just in case things went really crazy. I will let it go until this weekend, then rack it to the secondary for at least a week or so.

More to follow .....

 

[Geremy]

No need to cold crash I think. Nothing will get through distillation.

 

[Bombo80]

So I racked this cider, and it was down to 1.010, but still fermenting nicely. That gives me about 5.5% ABV right now. I racked it anyway, and have just under 6 gallons in the secondary. It won't be done by this weekend, so I will just let it do its thing and worry about distilling it at a later date. Hopefully it will finish at or below 1.000, for around a 7% ABV cider before distilling.

 

[bmd2k1]

It was the club cider buy/pickup day on Saturday.

Batch 1 will be distilled into Apple Brandy.

5 gallons of fresh pressed cider @1.048, mixed with 1 gallon of Centennial Crabapple cider, I pressed from frozen crabapples, @1.072. This gave me a SG of 1.052. I am using a packet of the SafCider yeast. It is fermenting away in the basement about 68*. I will leave it for two weeks then check the gravity and cold crash it, if it is ready. Then rack it and hopefully get my buddy to distill it over Thanksgiving weekend.

More to come .......

Any updates on the brandy...?

 

[Bombo80]

Nothing yet ..... I am on the final steps to get the still completed. Hopefully I will have it fully assembled, cleaned, vinegar run and sacrificial run in the next couple weeks.

 

[Bombo80]

So I finally got around to running this apple brandy. It is going to have to age for a while, on toasted apple wood. I am nuke aging a pint to get an idea what it will take like after normal aging.

I ended up with a gallon of 80 proof brandy.

 

[bmd2k1]

So I finally got around to running this apple brandy. It is going to have to age for a while, on toasted apple wood. I am nuke aging a pint to get an idea what it will take like after normal aging.
View attachment 622413
I ended up with a gallon of 80 proof brandy.

How's it taste?

 

[Bombo80]

It is still a bit harsh. It definitely needs some time to age. The smell is fantastic though. Nice apple notes.

 

[Bombo80]

Time for a reboot ....

Club cider buy is 10 days. I am getting 20 gallons this year. I also picked up 10 gallons from Costco. The same brand as last year. I took 2 gallons and removed about 6 ounces from each, and put them in the freezer. I will thaw them and collect about half a gallon of concentrated apple and sugar essence. The cider is 1.048 SG. Pretty respectable.
Last years brandy turned out really good. Hope I can do it again.

 

[bmd2k1]

Time for a reboot ....

Club cider buy is 10 days. I am getting 20 gallons this year. I also picked up 10 gallons from Costco. The same brand as last year. I took 2 gallons and removed about 6 ounces from each, and put them in the freezer. I will thaw them and collect about half a gallon of concentrated apple and sugar essence. The cider is 1.048 SG. Pretty respectable.
Last years brandy turned out really good. Hope I can do it again.

What kinda equipment do u use?

 

[Bombo80]

Go to this thread and my still is the second post.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/threads/converting-herms-system-into-still.664080/

16 gallon keg that was a keggle, converted to a pot still.

 

[Blacksmith1]

. I took 2 gallons and removed about 6 ounces from each, and put them in the freezer. I will thaw them and collect about half a gallon of concentrated apple and sugar essence.

First, why remove any juice from them? Second, if you run them through the process several times you can reduce each gallon to 1/3 pretty easily. I have done this for both ciders and wines wth various store juices and it really enhances the flavors and boost the SG of the concentrate very well.

 

[Bombo80]

I reduce the volume in the gallon jug so when it freezes it doesn't split the jug, or worse, push out the top and make a sticky mess in the freezer. I guess I could have just split the two gallons between three jugs and kept the total volume for freezing.

 

[ten80]

Just curious why you racked your first batch at 1.010 as racking slows fermentation and there's no worry about excessive tannins from gross lees if you're going to distill the cider. I think you could just leave the cider till it hits terminal gravity, then rack off the lees just prior to distillation. Less work and potentially higher ABV!

You could even add yeast nutrient and an aggressive yeast such as DV10 or EC1118 near the end of fermentation to get the cider well below 1.000. I've had one cider go to 0.992 using DV10!