Quinces

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Re: Quinces

Postby Teddysad » Tue Apr 28, 2015 3:19 pm

Mr Four Square wrote:
A mate just dropped 30 kgs of lovely yellow quinces on me .


Lucky you! I have scored 50kg of Feijoas so will be playing with them
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Re: Quinces

Postby Mr Four Square » Wed Apr 29, 2015 8:54 am

Lucky both of us I'd say . I'm trying to scrounge up 20 kilos Feijoas ( spell check suggests Fijians !) so I can repeat last years beautiful eau de vie. A New Zillind classic I reckon.
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Thu Apr 30, 2015 9:57 am

I absolutely cannot wait for my 2 x 30 L washes to finish their jobs. 30kg of quince awaiting....love this stuff and I'm going a little spare waiting for them to ferment out ~x(
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Re: Quinces

Postby Urrazeb » Mon May 04, 2015 11:08 am

Zaximus wrote:I absolutely cannot wait for my 2 x 30 L washes to finish their jobs. 30kg of quince awaiting....love this stuff and I'm going a little spare waiting for them to ferment out ~x(

3 weeks now? What yeast are you using? Have you got any external heating? Has it stalled?
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Mon May 04, 2015 12:22 pm

Mr Four Square wrote:Happy days brother ! I'm hoping Triangle Going Sick or someone else with an ear for the Balkans will translate some of those YouTube clips and crack the code. :handgestures-thumbupleft:


I should be able to translate these clips as I speak fluent Croatian. I remember watching them and they don't give away any recipe ideas. I'll have a look around though.

I'm off to Croatia in August so I might be able to rustle up some info while I'm there. I know I'm going to be hitting up a fair few people for hard and fast recipes that's for sure! :happy-partydance:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Mon May 04, 2015 12:28 pm

Urrazeb wrote:
Zaximus wrote:I absolutely cannot wait for my 2 x 30 L washes to finish their jobs. 30kg of quince awaiting....love this stuff and I'm going a little spare waiting for them to ferment out ~x(

3 weeks now? What yeast are you using? Have you got any external heating? Has it stalled?


I adjusted the ph a little but I think it's just a slow ferment. I don't have any heating, they're inside an in-house storeroom which has a constant temp of around 23-24C. Used EC1118 and checked the SG with a hydro last night and it shows 1.020 in both fermenters so it's all happening.

The yeasties are doing their thing! Tastes great actually, like a really perfumed cider I've never tasted before...bloody delicious and the sweetness is definitely declining with a very noticeable increase in alcohol.

I'll be happy for it to reach an SG of 1.000 before I bung it in the still but I'm aiming for this coming weekend so whatever it turns out to be, I'm-a ridin that horse! :handgestures-thumbupleft:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Urrazeb » Mon May 04, 2015 12:57 pm

Ahhh EC1118 - say no more
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Mon May 04, 2015 1:43 pm

Mr Four Square wrote: BTW just noticed the avatar . Freestone European plum ! The real deal. :handgestures-thumbupleft:


Hard to find over here though and the plums I have found are nowhere near the same. I find that Bosnia has some of the best stone fruit I've ever tasted. Tried plums all over Croatia and Serbia too and still think Bosnia has better fruit. Higher altitude I think....the honey is amazing too, some of the best anywhere in the world. It is called the land of honey after all.

I have family from central Bosnia and the fruit on our family land is second to none....hence why my whole family are alco's for the past 100 generations :obscene-drinkingdrunk:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Mr Four Square » Mon May 04, 2015 9:05 pm

Woo hoo looks like we got us a convoy. Assuming referencing CW McCalls works for anyone here http://youtu.be/Sd5ZLJWQmss Seen the music video? Now you can skip the film.

Quinces. They are taking over.

Yes it sure ferments slow but steady. Still chugging away nicely a month later at about a pop per minute. Never had anything last that long. No buffers dap or nutrients. Just sugar fruit and EC1118

The plant nurseries in New Zealand have the European plum trees so I'd assume Australia too. They call them Early Italian.

Really looking forward to hearing from you after your trip Zaximus. Fantastic for you. Eyes wide open ! :wave:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Tue May 05, 2015 1:00 am

Have a look at this https://youtu.be/f9g8vSj7arE

Talks about how this dude won a gold medal for his Dunjevaca (Quince spirit). His fruit has about 15.9% sugar which he says is unusual as they usually have about 10%. He mixes the fruit pulp in their fermenting vats twice a day to "wake the yeast up" as they are a naturally slow fermenting fruit. Usually quince fermentation is supposed to be 20-22C but this dude does his at 16-18C as the aroma is much more pronounced and distinct with a strong herbaceous bouquet when allowing a long slow ferment. He says his Dunjevaca is so well known and sought after he has the president of Fructal, a huge company in Croatia for fruit juice/liquor, calling him to see if they can combine their knowledge.

His quince sounds bloody great to me! Can't wait till this weekend to get mine cranking. I'm already stocking up on a tonne more quince to run a couple more batches before the season is over. Got all year to try other things. Now it's quince season though and that's priority.

And the Croatia trip should be great as I lived there for 5 years before coming back to Oz 2 years ago. Can't wait as I'm gonna pick a few brains now about distilling the traditional ways. :handgestures-thumbupleft: My father in law knows I'm giving the Dunjevaca a go here so he wants me to bring back a sample so he can judge. Better be good then.... :think:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Triangle » Tue May 05, 2015 10:18 pm

Good stuff Zaximus, wish I was into it when I went over. I only headed into Bosnia for a day, was a bit of a rushed trip, but it was interesting to see the sudden change in geography so I took interest in your plum comments.

You know I could have stuffed cuttings from all those plum trees in Serbia into my pockets and travelled anywhere in Europe without a problem, completely different to Oz.
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Thu May 07, 2015 12:42 am

Triangle Going Sick wrote:Good stuff Zaximus, wish I was into it when I went over. I only headed into Bosnia for a day, was a bit of a rushed trip, but it was interesting to see the sudden change in geography so I took interest in your plum comments.

You know I could have stuffed cuttings from all those plum trees in Serbia into my pockets and travelled anywhere in Europe without a problem, completely different to Oz.


Still like that mate. Can't bring stuff low that over to Oz though. Get shot at customs. I certainly can't bloody wait. Hanging out actually :teasing-tease:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Sun May 10, 2015 4:38 pm

Just ran one of my fermenters of 30L quince wash last night as the SG got down to approx 1.002. The other one is a bit slower and is currently at 1.015 so I'll give it a bit more.

But the spirit that came out of this is unbelievable :handgestures-thumbupleft: I have it airing now and the aroma alone is superb. Really smell the fruit and the taste is just amazing. I was pretty hard with the cuts choosing to remove a good 400ml from the fores and then another 300 from the heads which I put aside for a later run. The hearts is amazing though, really clean and fruity. I'm so glad I got into this hobby!!! :dance:

Also got a great deal on a bunch more quince yesterday so I'm stoked. Got them at $1.50/kg so I straight away bought 50kg. Thinking of buying another 50 to store while this lot is fermenting but storage space is a problem. Short quince season though so need to sort it out.
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Thu May 21, 2015 12:43 am

Alright I stripped my 2nd fermenter of quince mash last night and now I'm doing the VERY slow spirit run, despite the fact that the first run actually tasted beautiful already. I want to make sure this stuff is pure and clean and wonderful as I'm taking some to my uncle on Saturday and he is Bosnian and from a region renowned for its Šljivovic (plum brandy) and William Bartlett pear brandy. I reckon he's going to shit his pants when he tastes this quince spirit. I've gone so very slow and cut like a champ I reckon. At the hearts now and it is beyond words how good it is....I love this stuff so much. :dance: I reckon I'm going to shit my pants that's how good this has turned out. :clap:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Thu May 21, 2015 12:46 am

Who would have thunk that this hobby could bring so much joy!! :character-beavisbutthead:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Thu May 21, 2015 2:22 am

I learnt 2 things tonight doing my spirit run of my quince mash:
1. Go slow on the spirit run, I mean with fruit mash...really slow. Tonight I really took great care in keeping the temp just right and sniffing and tasting continuously to ensure my cuts are spot on. And the hearts are so distinctly obvious it's amazing!
2. If your going to sniff and taste your spiritrun, particularly when it's something that really is absolutely incredible in flavour, spit it out after tasting, I'M FARKEN SMASHED!!! :obscene-drinkingdrunk:

Work is going to be interesting tomorrow...no scratch that... today. :laughing-rolling: :text-lol:
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zak Griffin » Thu May 21, 2015 9:06 am

Good stuff :handgestures-thumbupleft:

What do you mean by 'kept the temperature just right'?

And you'll be better off making your cuts tonight or even tomorrow night rather than on the fly ;-)
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Re: Quinces

Postby Zaximus » Thu May 21, 2015 10:35 am

Zak Griffin wrote:Good stuff :handgestures-thumbupleft:

What do you mean by 'kept the temperature just right'?

And you'll be better off making your cuts tonight or even tomorrow night rather than on the fly ;-)


Sorry, wasn't thinking very clearly last night and obviously assumed in my stupor that everyone knows what I was talking about 8-}

I was fractioning into about 250mm per collection jar, which is what I meant to say. I'll make my cuts after airing it, which it's doing right now (newby mate :mrgreen: your patience is appreciated).

I have a hot water urn as a boiler with a bloody thermostat (pain in the ass actually) and if I don't ride the temp controller, it keeps boiling then cutting out. So I strapped my probe thermometer to the top of the copper column and rode the thermostat on/off to keep the temp correct and steady for the various stages of the distillation. It was actually interesting that for the first time I was able to see how the yield responded with the temperature. The very obvious fores (strong chemical acetone smell) came dripping out a couple/few drops a second below 70C. I collected 250mm fores from each 8L low wine batch. Then I kept having to adjust the temperature higher to keep the flow rate up. Heads started to come through I reckon after jar # 6 but having a sniff this morning before going to the office there's some nice characteristics in previous jars too.

Although I was a bit shitfaced before going to bed (evident in my very unclear posts last :teasing-blah: ), I reckon I learned a good few lessons last night!
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Re: Quinces

Postby Mr Four Square » Thu May 21, 2015 9:53 pm

Zaximus wrote:
Got 2 × 30L fermenters @ the 2 week mark too so really looking forward to running this! Well definitely run as much of this now while it's the season as I can that's for sure. Please post how yours turns out mate, as well I. :handgestures-thumbupleft:


Mine is still fermenting away 6 weeks later. It hasn't formed a cap , just the chipped fruit floating on the surface. Happy enough to let it keep going till the airlock stops. What recipe/ ratios did you use Zaximus?

Your Dunjaveca sounds fantastic ! Did it pass the taste test with the uncle ?
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Re: Quinces

Postby Urrazeb » Thu May 21, 2015 10:07 pm

Zaximus wrote:...

I have a hot water urn as a boiler with a bloody thermostat (pain in the ass actually) and if I don't ride the temp controller, it keeps boiling then cutting out. So I strapped my probe thermometer to the top of the copper column and rode the thermostat on/off to keep the temp correct and steady for the various stages of the distillation...

Fark that! :laughing-rolling: 8-}

Get ya self a proper boiler or run the thing on gas mate, it shouldn't be that hard! :text-lol:
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