come on phantom!! lets have some tips......
Patience young Jedi!
What I've been doing is taking the meads and other fruit wines I make, but find I don't like the taste of when they're done and running them through my still (well both of my stills actually). Then, as there's not so much of that, I hit the online HBS, the local one and the local Wilko's to try and get the cheapest possible cider kits (and I pillage the local wild tree's as well).
Now you have to remember the differences between apples as well as the difference between "West Country" and "Kentish" ciders. The West country is made from cider apples (usually "only" but they may add a few other types) and the Kentish is mainly a mix of eaters and cookers a.k.a. sweet and sharp apples.
I have no idea what most of the kits are, though I'd presume that if it's a "West Country" kit, it should be mainly, if not all, cider apple "concentrate".
Anyway, using this as a basic guide I check the gravity and pH of the basic "must" once it's made up i.e. before you add the yeast.
So, with that in mind, I then modify the must from whatever gravity reading it gives me, and increase it using either sugar or honey, so that it's about the 1100 mark, which should give you a little less than 15% ABV. I then check the pH, and modify that as well so it's between 3.0 and 3.5, using a mix of 2 malic acid to 1 tartaric acid (I keep this pre-mixed).
I haven't got any way of testing tannin, so I take a good measure of the must, chuck it in the liquidiser (sanitised in the same way as all brewing kit), add a couple of teaspoons of grape tannin and give it a whizz - it mixes the tannin nicely and aerates the must.
Then I'll add the nutrients (tronozymol or similar and anything that came with the kit), the yeast that came with the kit plus a pack of Youngs "cider yeast" (you could of course use one of the proprietary yeast/nutrient/carbon packs from Still Spirits instead), give it a stir and then seal/secure the bucket and airlock it with a bubbler valve.
The aim is to approximate a cider that's as dry as a buzzards arse, at about 14 or so % ABV and sharp as hell - similar to what the French calvados makers would be making (but higher alcohol).
It's very important to make sure that when the ferment has finished, that you "clear it" before you think of distilling it, because any amount of cloudiness left in the wash/cider (or whatever else you might want to call it) can cause the smartstill to "burp" i.e. make big enough bubbles to lift the lid and chuck it everywhere - it makes a hell of a mess when that happens.
You should consider using ceramic rings/beads/saddles in your smart still, as well as "distillers conditioner" (from the HBS - the ones that sell the still spirits stuff) to stop this.
Plus using "finings" in the "cider" before you distill it and being careful not to pick up any sediment when you syphon it off the lees/sediment layer.
Once it's distilled you're basically left with "eau de vie". Colourless with a hint of apple.
Now I haven't managed to track down a barrel small enough yet, well not one that's heavily toasted like a spirits barrel anyway, so I've been adding this to the distilled results of my wines/meads in a 34 litre "demi-john"/carbouy. I've also added about 4 packs of "oak chips" in an effort to approximate it having been kept in a barrel (I might add more, depending on how the colour develops). This is to try and make a "mixed fruit brandy" type spirit. Either way, once I've got the DJ filled I'm gonna seal it and leave it for a couple of years to mellow as much as I can.
There's quite a few other bits you can think of trying if you look at the distilling section of Brouwlands website (don't forget it will work out a bit pricey from them as they're in Belgium, the current € Vs £ rate and shipping but they do have stuff that's just not apparently available in the UK - as far as I can find, any rate). I've used some of their calvados flavouring and I've also tried some of the
to try and remove the "raw or rough" taste more quickly.
Distipur Erbsloh
Here's what it looks like at the moment. If I don't like it when it's "done" it doesn't matter as I'll just chuck it back through the still and clear it that way. Then flavour it with "Prestige brand" calvados as that's not a bad drop at all!
Statistics: Posted by Phantom — Sat Nov 08, 2008 8:04 pm
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