The BEST Way To Distill Supermarket Apple Juice?

Ok let's make applejack, apple port or fortified apple wine . . .whatever you want to call it! Why? Because I think this may be the best way for a home distiller to utilise supermarket fruit juice.
You get the distilled flavour, fermentation flavour, a decent ABV AND some decent volume without having to turn it into a sweet liquor or add a whole lot of sugar to the wash.
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#apple #distilling #juice
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[@StillIt]

Pinned comment for feedback. I may update this if needed feel free to have your say by replying to this or starting a new comment below: 1) Lots of people are mentioning frozen concentrate or standard concentrate. I know both are very common in other parts of the world (especially in the USA). I actually looked for it when sourcing products for this video. No luck. BUT I totally forgot to check the bulk supply/restaurant supply stores. I guess I need to make another apple video using a concentrate. But first I think we should do a 100% fresh fruit video! But also, part of the idea with this video was to set up and enable following the same process with lots of other types of juice. Cranberry, pineapple, watermelon, pear, generic tropical . . . .etc etc. Even those that have easy access to apple concentrate may struggle with those. Thanks for the awesome and thoughtful feedback/tips/tricks team. It makes my job of making the content much easier and making better videos for everyone else. But more importantly, it means people that watch the vids after you have a much richer set of information!

[@olinseats4003]

Some feedback about some tropical juice blends. Avoid Ocean Spray Cran-tropical. (or possibly cran-anything) It makes a very tasty wine, so I thought I'd experiment using it to flavor a sugarhead for distillation. After several variations on the run, I've come to the conclusion that the one thing that always carries through is the bitterness of the cranberry. the best version is marginally drinkable, interesting, but not great. the worst is god awful and I'm afraid to even use it in a feints run. I finally chucked a bunch of wood and baking spices into it to maybe get something salvageable from that run. It did not help. Now it tastes like bitter cranberry, mild barrel candy, and ouzo. that bitter essence someho overpowers anise, clove, and cinnamon combined.

[@ledzep331]

It's the same in most hobbies, I could get the best results with the best materials and tools. You have to consider various things, the cost, availability and what level of refinement your looking for in the end product. If you're making a toilet seat as apposed to a throne, you don't use the most expensive exotic hardwood. There's also the fun of getting as near to the expensive product as possible, just by using technique, experience and while doing it on the cheap.

[@traditionbrewingandcook1206]

Yeah I learned that when you proof it down it tries to light a fire under your ass no kidding or it might be just me cuz I distill my stuff 2 to 4 times

[@QIKUGAMES-QIKU]

I'm a Master Grower but this I have no clue on creating class... Can I just drop off a Truckload of Apple juice to you and Pay you to Transform it 😂

[@QIKUGAMES-QIKU]

This is the only thing I can drink between Apple's and Vat 69 for some reason ? My guts don't do well on the rest 🤠

[@wiseguysoutdoors2954]

I found some pure cherry juice at a discount grocery a few years ago. It was the first thing I distilled. I combined it with cracked corn and malted barley and honey and made a cherry bounce. It was my very first project and one of my favorites.

[@hellbilly007]

Frozen apple juice concentrate for back sweetening will avoid the baked apple flavor. Also, I use the concentrate to bump the abv in the ferment

[@SimonFalkentorp]

Excactly!

[@doctordong8088]

That sounds like a winner

[@33wolf33]

there was a product i used once apple pectin i think might be that flavour you're looking for. its the tart acidic flavour you get from the skin of granny smith apples

[@Ineluki_Myonrashi]

Apple juice concentrate is nearly impossible to find in Australia/New Zealand though.

[@RandyCampbell-fk3pf]

​@@Ineluki_Myonrashithe concentrations are usually in the frozen section with the OJ concentrate

[@bullsbarry]

I usually add apple juice concentrate to my apple juice for cider making to bump up the ABV. It adds more apple flavor and sugar to feed the yeast.

[@insanecomicdude]

I'd really like to see him try this too. Could be cool.

[@Deadcntr]

I too use frozen concentrate to add sweetness to my brew.

[@MrKush815]

I was actually thinking if this could be done good to kno

[@deemushroomguy]

Ideally, I use the concrete in the secondary fermentation to attempt preserving the apple flavor.

[@Nec89]

@@MrKush815 if you're planning to do this in your primary fermentation be sure your concentrate doesn't contain Sodium benzoate. Its a presentative and can stop your fermentation from taking off.

[@CrapSandviche]

Distilled strawberry jam is delicious. About 5 jars to a gallon.

[@lukejosselyn7706]

You say 5 jars per gallon but how big is the jar ? It would just make it easy for anyone to work out jam weight to wash volume ratio 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@PKMartin]

@@lukejosselyn7706 in my experience, unless you're buying some boutique fancy stuff, a regular jar of jam is 450g/1 pound. The real question is what is a gallon - 3.9L or 4.5? Either way if we assume they're suggesting 100g of jam to the litre we'd be in the ballpark

[@nexusofice9135]

"Applejack" isn't really distilled in the traditional way. It is done by taking Hard Cider and freezing it then removing the frozen solids from the non frozen alcohol left over. Then you get a delicious high alcohol content drink.

[@RandyCampbell-fk3pf]

For apple pie in a jar, bring the freeze distilled part to just a simmer where you start to smell the aromas; then remove it from the heat and sprinkle some cinnamon in - the methanol will bubble out into a foam because cinnamon provides a nucleation point. The result is unbelievably tasty with little to no hangover. There are temperatures you can use if you want to be a chemist, but the nose method works amazingly well

[@rainbianca8625]

As for the preservative stuff: it's super easy to google the name of whatever you think might annoy your fermentation. Almost all of the time, Wikipedia will list its main uses, so it's pretty hard to miss.

[@denisdendrinos4538]

I love this video! I've made apples a few times now. I've boiled apple pieces in the early days, I've juiced 28kg of apples and I've fermented strained apple juice I got from a farmer. I and can honestly say that the fresh apples I juiced with all it's natural foam and "scum" come out the best. It's those natural compounds that you don't get in store bought juice. But apples carry over flavours extremely well. But on the S.G. - I've gotten between 1.056 and 1.065. Depends on the apple you're using and how ripe they are, but that's why I get over ripe ones from the local bulk veg shop. And lekker seeing the whisk when mixing it up - only use a whisk -if it's good enough for a fluffy omelets or soufflé then it's good enough for ferments.

[@StillnTheClear]

I don't have a lot of experience with fruit, but I plan on doing quite a bit of it this year. This video was very helpful for me right now. Thanks, Jesse.

[@olinseats4003]

The best results I've had with apple brandy made from store bought juice came from a three step process. Step 1, was a normal fermentation. I added dark brown sugar to bump the potential abv to about 10%. Step 2, Freezer jacking. Reducing the volume by half by freezing concentrated a lot of the apple notes that bottled juice brandy just won't normally carry over. Step 3, Double distillation with dehydrated apple slices and some typical cider spices in a gin basket.

[@StillIt]

Nice

[@morganramsey713]

I was just wondering about dried fruit in the gin basket to get a more developed/robust apple flavor

[@dbomber69]

@@morganramsey713 Make sure the fruit has been air/freeze dried not fried dried. Some dehydrated apple is fried to dry it and I think it might add an odd flavor.

[@littlebustersoysters9229]

Great idea with the freeze jacking to reduce volume. I have made apple jack a number of times, but I have always found that it intensifies the good and the BAD flavors.

[@olinseats4003]

@@littlebustersoysters9229 It does, but also, when distilling, a lot of those off flavors get separated out (mostly into the heads, I've found)

[@-MacCat-]

I always love visiting your channel Jesse. There's always something to learn and it's entertaining. We distillation interested punters could ask for no more. Thanks for the share.

[@sgt2025]

A brilliant job on thos one. While I am in US and can not rum a still for my hobby but I do make apple cider and lager in for 6 months before bottling. The maturity of the cider is amazing.

[@edwardk3]

Nobody is going to arrest you lol

[@mjohan4998]

Get a federal ethanol permit and now you can make “E-85”

[@lukejosselyn7706]

Absolutely love all your vids Jesse & this one was fantastic in so many ways 🤘🏻 So many different variables to think about & play with to create different flavour profiles with both the wine + brandy & then the back sweetening as well before bottling it.

[@freyja4954]

So in situations where I'll get the cooked flavor that I'm trying to get rid of. Happens to be a lot when I do peaches or pairs. I actually use a evaporator or double boiler . Takes a long time but helps preserve the original flavors.

[@daveh7720]

That's what I was going to suggest, reducing the juice at a lower temperature. I'll bet an open container of juice standing in a sous vide bath would work.

[@joshuagarner6981]

Mad respect for your work going back and doing a re-run. I did this recently after testing a new method that didn’t give the expected result. Thank you for sharing.

[@jsEMCsquared]

yes, i would like to see you use fresh apples. i bought my first still recently. have not used it yet but i think apple juice is my best bet for my first run. i love your personality and honesty and humor! thanks from nor california!

[@danielpreston-jones6407]

After recently fermenting and running through an Apple, Pineapple, and tropical juice run. I'll happily take these pointers and the things I figured would make this better if I were to do it again. Definitely makes for an interesting tropical vodka brandy hybrid though. Keep up the good work there mate.

[@Kelsdoggy]

You know your stuff bud. Amazing to hear your lingo and see your knowledge.

[@taeythsmith840]

Just sitting here watching your video You're pouring out the juice now and I wanted to recommend using a siphon so it doesn't stir up the yeast just to thank you for all the content you've helped me learn a lot more than I ever expected about this craft

[@slugUlon]

I did a small batch of apple jack over lockdown using freeze distilling. Worked a treat

[@jakepage7383]

i did make some hard cider last year .....inspired by you, and it tastes amazing thanks for the help =-).....i let it age well past 8 months before drinking totally worth the wait.

[@craigbryant9925]

I'm 3 days into a 20L fermentation for exactly this. I went a different route with my wash. I combined apple juice, apple concentrate, crushed fresh apples and a small amount of brown sugar (I like what brown sugar does to the flavour of apple but in hindsight I could have just used some molasses). I'll let them sit in the fermenter for 4-6 weeks. Rack it through a sock to avoid most the pulp. Run it through the still rather hard and fast (I like a rustic, pot still brandy), maybe with dried apple in the basket, and let the spirit age on oak for a couple of months. During that time I'll start my apple wine, then mix the lot together, back sweeten with concentrate and let it sit. Should be ready for Christmas.

[@grahambate3384]

Brown sugar is this made of white sugar with molasses

[@grahambate3384]

What if you freeze concentrate your wash before you run it through Ur still? I thinking trying it. BE U had a still I made apple wine and didn't like it. (Don't like wine lol) I freeze concentrate to 40%. It had a real intense Apple flavour. I thinking trying again, but running thru the still and separating heads hearts and tails

[@glleon80517]

Brilliant, Jesse! A few years ago I made a port-style or fortified wine. Port is made by stopping fermentation at a certain Brix with spirit to preserve some sweetness. To determine how to mix wine and spirits to hit a desired ABV of fortified wine, use the following formula: A = brandy ABV B = final ABV of base wine after primary fermentation C = desired ABV of finished Port D = # parts brandy to be added E = # parts wine Example: A= 40 B = 10.24 C= 20 D = C-B = 9.75 E = A-C = 20 Cheers!

[@codynickless2619]

Watching this as my still comes up to first drips on it's sacrificial run, with 46litres of 'apple cider' ready to go through it straight after, love your work

[@StillIt]

Awesome!

[@twoartistic]

This video is close to my heart. I love making apple wine and freezer jacking it for applejack. The brandy made from applejack carries a lot of flavors over, more than unfortified wine, IMO. Mixing the applejack brandy with applejack in some club soda is a refreshing, delicious favorite. Or simply drink either neat. There is no downside. I have a batch of applejack that I made the wine with raisins and dates in the fermentation. The end result tastes like banana, bread pudding, and fresh peaches. Almost out, time to try some of your techniques as well. Great video as always.

[@yoguimasterof69]

Perfect timing...just in apple harvesting season here in the southern hemisphere!! Tomorrow starts distilling 180 lts of one-year-old apple wash (from real apples) and fermenting 1000 liters (hopefully) this next month. Unfortunately, don't have enough containers to try something like this...but I may try with a little bit of a week fermented juice (spontaneously fermented...that is how I do it here... the traditional way). I love apple time :) You gave me some ideas as usual....so, thanks again Jesse! :)

[@StillIt]

Nice dude. I may have 20kg of apples lined up to do something (waiting on kit). Will be getting more apples soon I hope.

[@yoguimasterof69]

@@StillIt not sure there...but here is pretty common to find apple mills where you can bring your apples and get the juice out of them... and there is always someone who you can get free apples from...which are the best apples :)

[@scottclay4253]

Fascinating, thank you Jesse! Great stuff, Brother.

[@Afterone]

Your Awsome Dude! Thank you. I dont have the stilling capabilities (Yet) But I love the recipe and the thought you bring to these.

[@mjturner916]

Cider presses could help keep the pulp separated, presumably thats how applejack came about. Apples were pressed in the fall that were higher in sugar content and contained some native yeasts, they were barreled and over the winter ice caps formed and were removed leaving increasingly higher abv with each removal. Or you could ferment unpasteurized cider then distill that.

[@jackamberson9379]

I've been making apple wine out of that type of store-bought products for better than 2 years now I can't keep enough of it on hand my neighbors all love it

[@riaanerickajonker]

Busy doing my own run of this as well. I'm adding a fractional (Freezer) distillation as part of my process.

[@GeorgeBP81]

In Romania, we make palinca. It's a kind of fruit brandy, primarily made of prunes/plums and left between 50 and 55%ABV. My favorites are apple and pear. Quince is also very rare and sought after.

[@tonyfrick3324]

I used to make basicly wine like u did the first 1 u distilled. Cept i kept it slightly cooler bout 70 and let it go somewhere around 20 days and the flavors it had was quite good. I distilled it from there and was very happy with it. Got decent abv from it and the apple flavor carried over very well

[@timhefel8366]

Thanks for the Cedar Ridge bottle showing at the end.

[@blackmommabrands]

You are amazing !! And Im a US license distiller and wouldn't think of doing some of the things you do....until now 🤣

[@thekrautist]

My first foray into making wine was using apple juice from concentrate simply for availability reasons. No equipment at all, I used baker's yeast and rigged up an f-lock using a jar of water, some aquarium tubing and a hot glue gun. And it did work, the end result was quite definitely boozaholic. And I would've probably kept making cider that way (...with more refined methods and actual fermentation vessels) if I hadn't discovered how delicious homemade mead is. The flavour profile changes a lot depending on what sort of honey you use, it's neat.

[@dmc4795]

Cedar ridge bottle that's made about 45 minutes away from me. Always cool to see local whiskey on KZbin but your halfway around the world

[@StillIt]

Haha awesome! I did a podcast with them. Awesome people awesome whiskey!

[@martink9785]

Brilliant, I've made some turbo ciders and thought of distilling. Might just have to give this a go

[@DEEP345]

I just did my first distillation with this recipe and it turned out great. Drinking apple vodka and soda right now. Thanks for all the vids

[@StillIt]

Awesome!

[@DavidJones-we2ex]

That is awesome thank you. I would love to see how these matured, please make another video!

[@jacob106106]

Good video! Thx Jesse. Would be very interesting to learn more about those power controllers in the back!!

[@WNWKZ]

I've been making mango wine? Hooch? Cider? Idk what it is but it is delicious!! It is around 15% alcohol after brewing, then I put them into glass flip top bottles with two sultanas and set at room temp for three days then into the fridge to cool completely before opening. I have made quite a few batches; I really have my recipe down, then I wondered if I let it ferment a bit longer I could run it through my still and get some funky fruit alcohol. It turned out really nice! I'm very excited to keep on experimenting😁🥂🤤

[@Andre2199CE]

That's nice! I'm going to try it. I have 15 gallons of apple juice. Thanks for your insight!

[@paulwilliams698]

Another wonderful experiment, cheers

[@billk9628]

I just wanted to say thank you for the info you out here. Your peice on four shots, hearts and tails was very helpful and dead on! I just distilled my first gallon of hard cider, and all your descriptions were spot on. Especially the wet dog part. MY GOD , that was horrible! I ended up with about 11 or 12 ounces of taste 90nproof stuff out of that countertop still from vevor, only difference was mine is adjustable for temperature. I found that 96 degrees C was about the right spot for the process to work. Maybe its the still itself, that it has to run hot to work, not sure. I got some pretty good stuff my first try. Thanks again for your guidance! 👍

[@grasshopperhawk]

Please do the all fresh fruit sometime. Also interested in the other juice fermentations. The 'fortified' idea is very intriguing--will have to try that.

[@Rob_TheOne]

Good juice makes good cider, that simple. Indian summer is a great one in Michigan. White wine yeast is my favorite finishes a bit dryer.

[@BeardedBored]

Dude...Brilliant:-) So pissed I didn't think of this. Sounds delicious!

[@chronomancer6665]

Just hit up a local orchard. There is one around here that has fresh or frozen juice by the gallon all year round. They juice what they have when it is ripe, sell what they can, then freeze the rest for non peak season. The ciders we make are stupid easy (just pour vigorously into fermenter and add yeast) and end up dry and delightful.

[@guitfidle]

Oooo, I have a large commercial apple farm like 5 minutes from my house. They have fresh pressed, unfiltered, unpasteurized apple "cider" (unfiltered apple juice) in gallon jugs. My daughter works at a store that carries said cider, and she gets an employee discount. It's like $2 to $3 per gallon jug. That stuff would be absolutely perfect for this! Now I REALLY need to make a still

[@honestlynate7922]

Some of the best wines I've ever had have come from Store bought juice. I have two 5 gallon carboys and three 7 gallon carboys. I have made some pretty awesome wines. I did a Cabernet Sauvignon from a store bought bucket in 2020 and tried it this year it is amazing.

[@generrosity]

Kiwi - I love taking a fresh juice bottle with a pinch of yeast (or air based yeast) and having cider in days. Will have to consider airstill a bottle to mix in! Thanks

[@andreasvanrooyen4354]

Awesome video. Please make more of these

[@thisolddog2259]

It's what I've always used, and EC118 and it definitely rocks your world!

[@henrysangret5324]

Use your store bought cider but add 1 or 2 appropriate frozen concentrate to the batch. Works great … last batch I made was 9 gal cider and 2 cans apple concentrate and 1 can cranberry concentrate, very interesting result.

[@Miata822]

I grew up in upstate New York, apple country. We learned about making cider from the old guys at the cider house. Fresh unpasteurized cider was sold there in gallon milk jugs. The recipe they taught me was to pour out a glass of cider, add 1/4 cup of brown sugar and a small lunch-size box of rasins (for the yeast). Pop the cap back on for an air trap and set it in a cool cellar to hiss and ferment, By Thanksgiving in late November it was ready to siphon. Now those old guys did that in bulk, then stored it in barrels on the north side of the barn where it would slowly freeze-distill. Their result was sweet, almost syrupy, and quite strong to my young taste buds. Over 50 years later I'm sure things have changed somewhat, but it started a lifelong hobby for me.

[@alexmcmath4227]

Love a fruit/brandy distillation please keep these coming. I love a brandy over a whisky the more the better

[@StillIt]

Yeah may need to do a few more :)

[@alexmcmath4227]

@@StillIt with brandy, I find the more the better! Making and drinking

[@rudelo]

I used apple cider and a couple raisins and EC1118. after it finished fermenting i got a gravity of 0.99 i added more cider before bottling came out great.

[@erich1394]

Turning up acidity while turning up sweetness is like turning up the "volume" of the actual taste sensations so that the aromatic notes are suppressed slightly by comparison. Get sugar and acid ratio right, then get the sugar+acid to aromatic ratio right. Glad it turned out so well!

[@StillIt]

Yeah good point. Just like seasoning .

[@erich1394]

@@StillIt Exactly like seasoning, yeah! I hadn't thought of it that way, but it makes perfect sense.

[@scruffy2365]

Great vid, you can juice the apples, my juicer gets a lot of juice out of apples with no pulp.

[@ride5600]

I've made apple and cranberry brandy, I used sugar to ferment and after 5 months on rum chips it came up very close to XO. Go for it.

[@EricHildebrant]

I see others saying to use frozen juice concentrate. I have done similar but took the juice used for the ciders have made and froze it slowly. Temp controller on a freezer and placed the juice container in a larger bath of water. More mass, slower freezing. Slowly turned down the temp. About a day in, pick of the ice puck from the top of the juice.

[@Stormandfire]

I'm not sure if it's still available but 5 or so years ago, you could find apple syrup as a sugar replacement in NZ supermarkets/food service places. Not quite an apple concentrate but definitely would help with adding extra sugar

[@sandon763]

The fortified wine is something I would hypothetically like to try, I also am really excited to try and make the apple pie shine from some of the apple brandy off the still kinda like bearded and bored did, both seem like they will be delicious and are on my hypothetical list.

[@cmdrcrimbo]

Hey Jessie and chat, i done a similar thing to this but not using fruit juice alone but using 4 x 23L cider beer kits then just made up to 100L by adding Apple juice and the brandy is delicious i didnt think about making a fortefied wine with it and all 5L i have left have been on oak for 2.5 years now. It was distilled through a 50L pot still twice the second time using a small 5L thumper with 4 or 5 cm of the apple juice in along with 2 apples chopped into quaters. Its one of my fav brandys iv made.

[@mikelauramcguire]

I have done this by taking ideas from bearded and bored's apple jack and barley and hops' apple pie recipe. I froze out enough that it no longer froze then heated it and maintained 155°F so that the methanol was reduced. I called it "Jacked Apple Pie" it is a tasty hit that many have enjoyed at Thanksgiving and Christmas.

[@MatthewOKeefe0203]

Saw your post on prison hooch, new this vid was coming.

[@StillIt]

Nice :) See you back there in the future then.

[@NaTaS-]

Oh lord, gonna make the apple jack.

[@expattyNZ]

Super video! Definately a good way to make the most of your produce. Wondering if you can dial it up with a beer / fortified beer / whisky combo?

[@gezzmang1]

Have done a fair bit of fortified wines over the years, time is a massive deal, the longer it sits the more silky it becomes. Also ageing it on oak also helps it marry together!!

[@travisteuber8062]

This is how I have done my farm wines before, Blueberry blackberry port is amazing fortified with Blueberri brandy is amazing after about 2 months bottle age in glass.

[@markcrume]

Thanks, that was great!

[@ObstinatusSomnium]

I use what is basically organic apple juice and about a pound of brown sugar per gallon. It ferments out well with the wine yeast ment to handle a bit more abv. Hopefully I'll be able to do another full run soon. 🎉

[@seymourpro6097]

My local supermarket sells chilled pure fresh apple juice and red grape juice and white grape juice, each has vitamin C added as a preservative. They say it should be used within two days.

[@shayamaddex996]

Every year, a friend of mine goes out and picks crabapples in the local parks. He painstakingly cores them and used them to make apple butter, as well as a cider that ferments on its own after a couple of days. It's great on it's own, but he also uses it to initiate fermentation of store-bought juices with good results. Home distilling is illegal here, but I'd love to see how it would fare as a brandy.

[@anthonygood9274]

We make apple And pair juce every year and it's awesome

[@Karlfalcon]

My parents have a pair of cider apple trees. Every year (if we get apples) we have a cidering day. A lot of physical work, but with a simple small wine scratter and press we've managed to get as much as 14 gallons from just those two trees, and that's after picking out the bad apples! I've made naturally fermented cider several times, but always wondered about distilling a brandy, especially considering the funky apple wine that results from the wild yeasts. I think it's high time to experiment further!

[@geraldfrost4710]

Mad respect for squeezing and fermenting your own apples. I've fermented store bought apple juice, and that impresses friends and neighbors.

[@danmart4947]

I have two apple trees. I have made both fresh and concentrate wines. Fresh apples will be best and and keep in mind the taste of the apples to see if that's the apple you like.

[@mikemcpeek3334]

You make it simple and friendly let your spirits fly

[@nevilleburley8760]

As you stated I would have added apple juice concentrate to lift starting number. You could try health stores or the organic section of your supermarket for it in jars, or alternatively heat a bottle of normal juice until it reduces down to 1/4 of its amount and add that instead. Love the vids and hope what I proposed helps.

[@tylerstout1549]

one thing i have been experimenting with on my country fruit wines to bring up the OG without having to add sugar from the get go is to slowly reduce the juice in a slow cooker like maple syrup, similar to how to made your backsweetener. but use it as the initial must.

[@grahambate3384]

What about using a dehydrator

[@tylerstout1549]

@@grahambate3384 it's a lot easier to juice fresh produce. Also other than grapes you'll never get to a high enough brix through just dehydration to hit wine level ABVs for other fruits

[@grahambate3384]

@@tylerstout1549 cheers

[@BeeRich33]

Been using the same ferment here. Also made a Chimay White, but not racked it/tasted yet.

[@Outerrythem]

When I am distilling fermented apple juice, I find that the more desirable freshly cut green apple taste and smell is found in the hearts where-as the stewed/over cooked apple/over ripe apple elements come across increasingly through the tails.

[@terenr7648]

I'd honestly never get this down unless I had a master alchemist like you showing me through and through.

[@moniquelevesque8756]

Thank you for this fun video Could you add apple wood stave to it? To age it?

[@nocturnechanson]

I like trying things. When I was in my mid twenties I made wine 🍷 out of frozen juice. I used champagne yeast which made it dry and fizzy. My favorite juice to use was pineapple 🍍. I wanted to try making barley wine but never got around to it.

[@js_youtube70]

Made peach wine, distilled about 3 gallons and got about 300ml of 100pf. Mixed it back into the wine and came out much better, not strong but at least a little kick

[@stamasd8500]

I have made cider from apple juice that I bought from a local orchard - fresh, no preservatives and plenty of pulp still left in the juice. I don't remember what yeast I used (it was either D47 or Nottingham ale yeast), but as a fermentation aid I used crushed strawberries (about 0.5kg of them for a 20-liter batch). The strawberries were there only to provide a nutrient for the yeast, not much for flavor. I let it ferment dry and then I backsweetened it just a bit with some of the same apple juice that I had kept frozen (I did boil it for just a couple of minutes before adding it in just to kill any wild yeasts that it may have had). It ended up delicious. Much better than previous ciders I had made from concentrated clear apple juice. So yes, using juice from freshly crushed apples with pulp does make a difference in my opinion.

[@VAMPIREBRIAN]

i always add sugar with lalvin wine yeast an yeast nutrient with a handful of diced raisins then i back sweeten a bit extra to get a bit of carbonation it usually comes out @ 14%

[@stonerdormroom]

would absolutely love to see a fresh apple video!! pleaseeee

[@henryshooch7554]

Store bought juice like cranberry, apple and pear are good to ferment as they don’t contain nasty preservatives (only citric acid). I’ve made some nice wines with these juices and of course, using Lalvan EC1118 yeast. Loved the video mate. Keep up the great work 😀

[@PokeChit]

Perfect! I have some blackberry fermenting right now! Ran into a deal for .30 a 6oz pack. Couldn’t pass it up and got 8lbs worth.

[@AwsomeVids83]

That's going to be really good. I made sparkling blackberry cider from fresh berries last year and it was incredible.

[@ahmelmahay]

found your channel love your laugh Sir, pleanty of know how there thanks from Ireland

[@kennethcounts5905]

Exactly what I do and it works great. And with the 1118 after you done save a little bit carbonate it and you have a delicious wine. And Pineapple is fantastic.

[@StillIt]

Yeah I think I need to try pineapple

[@kennethcounts5905]

@Still it Pineapple ferments very aggressively with the 1118 so give it a wide berth.

[@tylerstout1549]

a cheat i use to make port style wines to not have to fuss with trying to stop fermentation at the ideal point is to just make a batch to dryness, then blend with must after to between 1030 and 1040 gravity. I is interesting that you advocated leaving headspace to bottle age it since wines typically don't want any - is that to let the liquor breathe?

[@vecrisv]

This is fun lol. In my mothers house, there's a mango tree... I mean, to everyone who just buys it at the store, you'll think it's a blessing, and don't get me wrong, it is... BUT when they start growing, it almost last 5 months dropping mangos like crazy, your house gets full of bees, flies and all kinda nasty bugs because of the fruit. No shit, I collected like 120Kg in just one day. Now, I had the idea of making a spirit out all those mangos, since mango season ended, the ones that remains are ripe enough to process (even the hanging ones are ripe)... I'll update you in about 2 weeks, wish me luck lmao.

[@sonnyjim7579]

I add 1 can of Black Rock Apple Cider concentrate plus 1kg fresh apples blended up and use Aldi Apple juice to make up the volume. No sugar added. Gives me an S.G. of 1.065 so about 8%abv. I add some cut up apples into my bubble plates after the foreshots and heads are through. Turns out very nice with lots of fresh apple flavour

[@DGKOP72]

I found good success going to a chef supply store to buy a large quantities of juice or apples at cheaper price than the supermarket. I also found that if I go and talk to the manager at a grocery store or at the Chef supply store I can get them to order the cold pressed juice, a friend of mine told me a hack, he bought 10 gallons of juice concentrate and use it to make 5 gallons of wash and got a really strong flavorful product that way.

[@StillIt]

No way Im getting fresh squeezed like that here haha. But the concentrate is a good point Il be making a pinned comment on that as lots of people suggesting it.

[@seanfager8063]

Supply stores are usually the way to go. If you're open to experimenting, I've had good (and awful) results going to a weekly farmer's market an hour before they close and making low-ball offers to take all of a given thing off a vendor's hands. You can get a carload of food (full trunk, back seat, and passenger side seat) for about forty dollars US if you're lucky. But it means taking whatever's available, and possibly brewing at night since the quality is rapidly plummeting after a day laid out and handled by customers.

[@jkh4q]

If you're shooting for apple brandy, you kind of have to supplement the juice you start with. Where I live, apples and juice come by super easy in fall. So I start with a nice hazy pressed juice (cider for some) and add frozen apple juice concentrate to get it to the point where I'll get 10 to 15% alcohol. That'll distill out nicely to make a brandy.

[@ryanblystone5153]

Thank you