Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

Hey Guys,

Was givin 120 litres of wild apple and pear cider today and would love to get a few opinions on if its worth running through the 6". :happy-partydance:

It is about 3 years old though and has just been sitting there.. Had a sniff and it smells pretty alright.

Sits at about 10% abv.

Was made with a champagne yeast and with a local honey and all locally wild picked apples from around the surrounding mountains...

and thats about all i can tell ya's, so if anyone could give me there opinion I'd really appreciate it. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Run it or Dump it ??

Cheers Guys

Newbrew

Run it I say

Should make a nice brandy

Worst case scenario you've got 120L of neutral wash, if you've got any way of making neutral.

Should make a good Calvados though :D

Yeah mate, you've got nothing to lose so no point dumping it.

Could be something amazing :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:text-+1:
:text-+1:
Run it.

Cheers Guys,

It'll get sent for a run then, so will give ya's an update when its aired and before its on oak.

Thanks for the input :D

Wasn't sure if it would be too much time sitting around as a cider but we'll see if it doesn't turn out to

be a good drop after all the time its been in hiding.

Appreciate it :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Run it mate, reckon you'll love it.... apple brandy is yummy :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Great score mate.
If it finishes the way i suspect you'll love the final product, hope you keep us posted.
Cheers Kicka.

Hey Again Guys,

Now please take it easy on me as i'm new to the fruit brews, and it seems like i should have got a bigger return.

Just got done the 2 runs of this through the 6" with 4 plates,
Was a bit bummed out when it started to run and it was at 84%
Then it quickly headed down to 40% than slowly i collected all the way down to 20% and have made 500ml cuts

The majority of the run has been below 40%...

So I've ended up with a total of about 1.5ltrs of nice smelling stuff between 80% and 40%

and about 11.5 ltrs of tails and heads ???

is this sounding right... :shock:

Now here are My question's,

Should i do a second run and put them all together to try and get the most out of it ??
or
Just keep the stuff that's nice and save the heads and tails for a feints run later ??

Love to hear your thoughts Guys :think:

Newbrew

Have you got the FSD "pacemaker" Newy?

What did it taste like?

Sounds more like a pot still run to me, seems like you might've been not giving it enough reflux ;-)

Whiskey - No Mate got the same as Mac the original 6" and it tastes very rich and smells really rich too.

Mac - Cheers Mate, so ya think i just need to put a but more heat up it to get more of a reflux happening ??
(Everything seemed to be working great as usual.. ?)

And Ill run it again :angry-banghead: :laughing-rolling:

Appreciate it Guys :D

Newbrew wrote:
Mac - Cheers Mate, so ya think i just need to put a but more heat up it to get more of a reflux happening ??

No mate, you want more coolant to the RC and possibly less heat to keep the still in equilibrium, more heat will just make your cuts smear worse.....

For the 6" rig (Pacemaker) you want to be running about 4500w to the boiler for the majority of the run, and a take off rate of around 4.5 L/PH, once you get in sync with your rig you can start pushing the boundaries up to around 5.8 to 6 L/PH, but until then slow n steady is the go.... you won't strip flavour running slowly despite what you may have read elsewhere ;-)

Thanks Mate, will run again tomorrow and take a bit more time with it and check I'm getting the flow up from the pump to the RC, might check the pump relief valves doin its job...

And sorry Whiskey, that is a Pacemaker like you said.. never noticed there was a name for Her. 8-}

Cheers again Mac :D

Newbrew wrote:might check the pump relief valves doin its job...


Cheers again Mac :D

What pump, and where's the relief valve ?

Those submersible Bunnings pumps dont need a relief valve, you'll just be diverting coolant away from the condensers

That'll be where I'm loosing the pressure I'm needing to keep it cool then... (relief valve is at the IBC to keep it from burning out, set at about half way to save the pump working so hard) Thanks Mate I'll remove that from the system tomorrow, bet things will be fine after that. :angry-banghead:

Thanks Mac

So the final run yielded about 3.5ltrs of a really nice apple/caramel scented hearts.

Really the smell is something i never expected, its so rich and delicious smelling i will have trouble getting it on french oak for the 6 months that i had originally intended to put it up on the shelf for...

The run stayed in the high 80's to high 70's for the majority of the run this time, then fell of fast as tails arrived.

Thanks for the advice Mac, removed the relief valve and ran her a bit slower this time and am really happy with the results.

Haven't watered down yet still airing it for the final cut but should be tonight or tomorrow, so thanks for the help on this one and come summer I'll be giving this recipe a go for myself :happy-partydance:

I can safely say I'll be putting more fruit brews down this year. :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Bring it on summer, just recently got a fruit press. Currently trying to build a herms brewery and soon to get a grain mill, and I've just had 1kg of the Lalvin ec1118 arrive in the mail. Now i just need some fruit trees and warmer temps and the brewing can begin again (bloody Canberra weather) Should be a busy summer...

All hail 5 Star. ^:)^

Cheers Newbrew

Good to hear mate, awesome result :D

I bet you have a great feeling of achievement figuring most of out for yourself too.... well done :handgestures-thumbupleft:

:text-thankyoublue: