Apricot brandy

[crow]

ya know what if you are adding more water make sure its boiling , problem solvered

[BackyardBrewer]

No you have convinced me to go get some scrumpy (I love scrumpy!)

I'm gonna get wine yeast too, but scrumpy sounds good.

Might turf another 5L of boiling water on top of the wash now while I nurture up a starter of cider yeast.

[BackyardBrewer]

To top it off I have now got a 200L food grade fermenter sitting in the laundry indefinitely thanks to the heatwave. No chance it's going to the shed. Wife=unhappy. Heh, if she only knew how long it's going to be there!



$29 from Paramount Browns in SA for a 200L foodgrade fermenter. score! It's an ex-pickle vat. Don't worry, only the barest hint of pickle smell:-) the apricot will soon take care of that.

[crow]

good job , I didn't even think of that mob jeez they have some shit don't they

[BackyardBrewer]

good job , I didn't even think of that mob jeez they have some shit don't they

Yeah tonnes of good gear at very cheap prices.

[emptyglass]

To get it cool, sit the fermenter in a tray of water, with a wet sheet or hession over it, coolgardie style. You can just wet it if its not on the mrs carpet. Put a fan near it. Sit it on concrete.
Or just don't worry about it and let it go.
I think crow was right earlier on, since you are working with stuff that was boiled, you won't know weather what you get is on the money. It might leave a bad taste and give you a bad opinion of something that could be good.
Consider this the warm up for the big fermenter.
Check this out, viewtopic.php?f=25&t=2636

I feel the natural yeast that came with the apricots is about the best yeast to use for that job. Since it came with them, you would have trouble getting another strain to override it. And it was free.

Don't add boiling water to the top. It will heat it up and won't stop it from happening. Just take care when racking it off that you dont get the mould. It will go sort of spider web looking if its anything like plums.
I reckon you might be a bit wary of it given your beer brewing. Don't stess mate, its hooch.

[BackyardBrewer]

Thanks EG, I took both your and crow's advice and no boil on today's fruit and this is how it has rolled:

Day 1 : pulped 25+kg of apricot
Heated to simmer
Chucked in fermenter with 5-7L water
Got some sort of ferment, probably lactic

Day 2: stripped nearly 30L of fruit off the tree
No wash, no boil. Kept ALL the stones.
Dissolved 6KG sugar and added to 200L fermenter with all of day one fruit mash and the stones
Added 20-30L water

I'm waiting on some wine yeast tomorrow and I have some cider yeast dregs as a starter which I'll pitch before bed tonight.

So far no commercial yeast in the 200L fermenter.

[crow]

hope ya got on to this , just thinking did ya clean anything with vinegar if ya got mother of vinegar (ascetic acid bacteria) in there you might even be on the way to making some nice fruit vinegar . Something yad want to put a stop to quick , let us know what ya pH on this is

[BackyardBrewer]

hope ya got on to this , just thinking did ya clean anything with vinegar if ya got mother of vinegar (ascetic acid bacteria) in there you might even be on the way to making some nice fruit vinegar . Something yad want to put a stop to quick , let us know what ya pH on this is

Hey Crow, I dispatched the wife up to Bill at brewmaker in Holden Hill for 25gms of EC1118 which was pitched after work this arvo.

Looked ok in the 200L barrel. I wonder if adding some boiling water and using the raw fruit on Sunday had overwhelmed whatever nasties were in there from Saturday? Maybe the wild yeast had kicked in?

It was "glooping" and thick with some bubbles moving through the pretty thick wash.

Turfed the EC1118 right in... Said on pack it was enough for 100L and I'd have somewhere up near 90L of wash so should be apples...(or apricots as it were!) shoulda made a starter as per beer brewing but I wanted to get it on ASAP.

I don't have ph testing gear, might have to invest this weekend.

At the end of the day I'm gunna be pretty relaxed about it. It represents a lot of effort in terms of fruit growth, nets, time and labour (perhaps a post about "is this hobby for me"!) but the plan is this is the first run through Mr-E's mongrel bubbler so it's a test all round.

If it comes out good I'll take Empty Glass's advice and chuck the whole run heads tails and all back on the second half of the fruit for a few weeks and then run the whole lot for a final batch.

If it comes out shit then it goes through the reflux still to drag out some neutral (most effort intensive neutral ever by then!!)

[crow]

It wont be shit mate don't worry about that ;-) sounds like the wild yeast did get a handle on it if all the mould was killed off #:-s . Just taste it an you'll know if the PH is to low , I highly suspect you will be changing the name of that still mongel to something more endearing shortly too ;-)

[BackyardBrewer]

Well the yeast seems to have fired up and it's doing its job. Healthy cap, fermenting smell with a whiff of alcohol fumes already...it's a bubbling sludgey apricot wash :-)

There's maybe a hint of sourness from the fuck up at the start but fingers crossed I should have some quality booze out of this.

No idea how long it will take...

[emptyglass]

"he who makes no mistakes, makes nothing", quote from my dad.

Maybe a good week or two, theres not a great deal for the yeast to run with, and it needs to muliply so it takes a while. As I said, I have never tried apricots, so might be different. Just try and keep an eye on the temp.
Then if you put it back on the pulp, allow 2 weeks extra. More wont hurt.

If you got some unused 20 litre buckets, you could run a few side by side ferments, and see what suits you best. Some steeped then mashed, some with sugar, some without, some with some spices (cinamon, chilli, cloves, pepper, all at once, or to taste), differnt cultivars,all sorts of stuff. But you could find something special to fill the 44 with. Sorry mate, I'm just thinking of what I'd do with an orchard full of apricots.

You could even try some pantie dropper style. With your bubbler you could make some real high proof apricot spirit, then let it steep on some aprict halfs for a week or 2, drain and reserve, then cover the fruit with sugar, leave until it syrups, then add the syrup to the reserved apricot spirit. You might be able to get 2 or 3 more sugarings over the fruit before it runs out. Keep adding what you get. Apricot liquer. :happy-partydance:
Edit,; dont forget to dilute it

[BackyardBrewer]

Dude I'm drooling!!!

I kinda wish I'd split it up across my 30L fermenters rather than bunged it all in the 200L.

Next time!

"he who makes no mistakes, makes nothing", quote from my dad.

Maybe a good week or two, theres not a great deal for the yeast to run with, and it needs to muliply so it takes a while. As I said, I have never tried apricots, so might be different. Just try and keep an eye on the temp.
Then if you put it back on the pulp, allow 2 weeks extra. More wont hurt.

If you got some unused 20 litre buckets, you could run a few side by side ferments, and see what suits you best. Some steeped then mashed, some with sugar, some without, some with some spices (cinamon, chilli, cloves, pepper, all at once, or to taste), differnt cultivars,all sorts of stuff. But you could find something special to fill the 44 with. Sorry mate, I'm just thinking of what I'd do with an orchard full of apricots.

You could even try some pantie dropper style. With your bubbler you could make some real high proof apricot spirit, then let it steep on some aprict halfs for a week or 2, drain and reserve, then cover the fruit with sugar, leave until it syrups, then add the syrup to the reserved apricot spirit. You might be able to get 2 or 3 more sugarings over the fruit before it runs out. Keep adding what you get. Apricot liquer. :happy-partydance:
Edit,; dont forget to dilute it

[crow]

don't sweat it , run through that bubbler this will be some top brandy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[emptyglass]

don't sweat it , run through that bubbler this will be some top brandy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Yep.
And next year will bring a flood of new ideas

[crow]

next yr be buggered start looking around peach season starts right about no , Alberta's will be in full swing in the next two or 3 weeks followed by pears, I'd be driving to virginia/two wells Springton in the hills or Barossa ways ;-) get some contacts for grapes while ya snooping about as thats only a month or two from starting
Edit I forgot to mention could also check down MClarrenvale way

[BackyardBrewer]

Crow you let me know where in SA you hook up with a peach stash!

So guys what is this stuff like in a boiler? I checked the fermenter this morning and it is a thick sludgey pulp, really viscous stuff and no where near as this as a TPW.

Probably because I wanted so much fruit in it :-) greedy!

Bt it makes me wonder what is this stuff like when it's in a boiler? But worried about cleaning it out of the keg afterwards.

Any of you fruit fans got any insights on boiling these thick fruit paste washes?

[crow]

orchards I know of are in the Riverland some 200 kms from you I'm sure I've seem stone fruit fom Port waikfeild rd heading towards Virginia two wells , by the time I get to SA peaches might be nearly over but I will let you know (nashie pears look promising) ;-) .
Ok do you have room to add more sugared water , if its real thick that's what I'd do. How ever once its finisned fermenting out that stuff will settle that's a fact. all that pulp will sink with in a few days to a week of the ferment finishing and something like 1/2 to 2/3rds can be carefully got out looking no worse than pale ale. Whats left will be a drama no way around that but its not the end of the world either , just a bit of work. I tried plenty of ways to strain this stuff but without flash equipment I think its hard to beat wringing it through a beach towel, yes its messy but the result is it works and you will find just letting it drip though a sheet doona or any other sort of fine filter will simply take way to long. It will feel like a bit of work but i think you will be impressed enough not to care much ;-) . you can thin the wash using pectinase that you can get at any HBS just keep in mind that yes this will break down the pectins thinning your wash it also makes them more accessable to the yeast so you will get more methanol (larger head cut), touch and go to weather its worth it IMHO but it does do what it is suppose to.

[BackyardBrewer]

OK I reckon more sugar water is the go (WineGlass may object, I get the feeling he only wants fruit in his fruit washes ;-) ) and yes, I love the idea of the sheet or beach towel.

Hmmmm. :think: The wife has some fine 1000 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets that should be perfect for filtering.... Surely she wouldn't object? :laughing-rolling:

[MacStill]

Reckon cupcake has a better method for getting the wash off the pulp, does your mrs have a wet & dry vac?

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: