Greetings from Hungary

[Hun_Palinka]

Hello everyone,
I joined this forum to learn more in the craft of distilling. I have been making wine for a couple of years now and I bought a 35L still last year to make Hungarian palinka on a hobby level. It's legal to produce 84L spirits per year here and I have a couple of fruit trees so why not make some good spirits.
My still has a manual agitator (Des 1961) so I fill it with fermented fruit without straining the liquid and do a run. It works great and taste good too. Last batch was quince.
I would like to learn more about grain distilling, especially corn. Tried to convert corn with high temp amylase and it worked great. So much to learn so I will be scrolling the forum for a while.
Happy distilling wherever you are. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[The Stig]

Welcome Hun.
Feel free to show us a pic of your still and you guys are lucky to be able to distill legally .
Enjoy the forum mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[iOnaBender]

Welcome to the forum Hun,

I'd love to see a photo or you still, particularly the manual agitator set up!

Enjoy the info on the forum

Cheers

[iOnaBender]

G'day Hun,

Also a recipe for Hungarian Palinka to potentially go into the "Tried & proven" section would be awesome! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers

[Hun_Palinka]

Welcome Hun.
Feel free to show us a pic of your still and you guys are lucky to be able to distill legally .
Enjoy the forum mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

It's a copper still heated with propane gas.
I recently put a 2inch triclamp sight glass on top and it goes into a spiraltube condenser.
Attached a couple of pictures.

[Hun_Palinka]

G'day Hun,

Also a recipe for Hungarian Palinka to potentially go into the "Tried & proven" section would be awesome! :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Cheers

Ahh the famous hungarian Palinka :) A couple of years ago they changed the law here in Hungary so that you can distill you own fruit spirits. Since two years ago it's tax free up to 84 liters 50% final product per year. The law also says that you cannot own a larger still than 100L and you can only use fruits to make spirits. The brand name Palinka may only be used for fruit spirit made in Hungary and some regions i Austria. The purists will tell you its a big no no to add sugar and some people still don't use yeast or acid correction, just let it wild-ferment.
Basically you pick good ripe fruit, if its stone fruit like plum, apricot or peaches you remove the pit and put the flesh into a fermentation vessel. Apples, pears and quince are easiest to chop up with a compost shredder. You can use a paint stirrer to puree the fruit for better liquid yield.
After that you put a lid on it to keep the flies out and let it ferment somewhere in the shade between 15-30 degrees celsius. You can punch down the cap once or twice a day and the fermentation is done when the caps sink and when you light a match and it wont go out when you move it down into the vessel (no more CO2 blanket.) Most stills sold for making palinka are either equipped with and agitator or they are water bath boilers which helps to avoid scorching the fruitmash. Then you either distill it once or make stripping runs and run the spirit run low and slow. Usually its proofed down to 48-50 ABV.
I have had my share of bad palinka lol and its either because of a bad ferment or not making proper cuts.

What i have found is that you can add 2-3% sugar and the spirit will be fine. I do also believe that adding yeast and nutrients is a good practice to have more control and get better flavour. Controlling acid pH is also important to have a good environment for the yeast to do its job, i tend to keep it at wine levels around 3,3-3.5. Keeping the fermentation a bit cooler and using yeast that thrive in cooler conditions makes a more fruit forward end result. A hydrometer is the best to keep track of the fermentation.

I did a run of Quince that they say is notorious for scorching and it turned out just fine. It's important to agitate it while it is warming up, every 3-5 minutes or so and when it's starting to come out thru the spout the fruit consistency changes and get thinner. I also put about 5-8% water in with the quince in the still because it was really dense. I used antifoam agent but I reckon some butter will do fine too. It made the cleaning alot easier.
I attach some picture of how the still looked while doing the stipping run. I did not have any puking and the still has a pressure relief valve for safety if it would clog up.

[RuddyCrazy]

G'Day Hun, :handgestures-thumbupleft: Welcome to the forum mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Last year SWMBO said to me did I want some quince to ferment as that first one did tasted so nice :handgestures-thumbupleft:
I agreed and two plastic crates turned up :scared-eek: So SWMBO and the girls peeled and diced everyone up then into the 15 litre stock pot they went, so after a few stock pots I had enough spiced Stewed Quince to do a ferment. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Thats when the fun started :scared-eek: 1/3rd of my 60 litre fermenter was pure mush and I added 6kg's of inverted sugar to get a SG of 1070 which I do aim for with all my fruit ferments. :handgestures-thumbupleft: I use EC1118 yeast which I have found will ferment everything I throw at it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Well the hydrometer just sat ontop :scared-eek: as the mush was that thick :scared-eek: in the end I took 250 ml of mush and put in my glass funnel separator just to get 50ml to check the SG :scared-eek:

Well after the fermentation noway would it siphon :angry-banghead: so the 1 litre beaker came out and fresh BIAB in my other 60 litre fermenter and when enough mush was in the bag it was a huge job to lift the BIAB bag out :angry-banghead:

So onto the floor the fermenter went and I setup my comealong to lift the BIAB and turn it to squeeze all the goodness out :handgestures-thumbupleft: Rinse and repeated several times until I had everything.

I used my bubbler and just kept my burner at 3psi now the run was normal thru and and after cuts well some of the tails did show a heap of flavour so decanted down to 65% and it's still sitting on French Oak :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I have decanted one bottle and SWMBO just loves it so Brownie points all around.

Will I do another one :scared-eek: not for long while as I aint going down that road again. :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling:

Love your setup mate :handgestures-thumbupleft: and yes it giving me idea's :ugeek: :laughing-rolling:

Cheers Bryan

[iOnaBender]

Hun,

Thanks for your write up and photos, much appreciated. Nice set up

Cheers

[Zoltan]

Hi @HUN_Pálinka, where are you located at?
I live in Fót.

Hi All,
I am from Hungary as well, having a 17 litre still pot and a condenser which is 20 litres at the moment. (The factory one is already upgraded, that one was too small). Coolant flow is not automated yet.
I am experiencing with UJSSM sour mash. I am kinda new to the thing, I have done a 1st gen (sweet mash) first run and a 2nd gen (sour mash) first run. I am currently collecting low wines and preparing for taking the cuts as soon as there is enough to begin with - possibly within in a 2 weeks from now.