StillSmart

Apricot kernels are easy to come by if you eat Apricots.
This has always been one of those things on my "come back to it list"
Life is just too short to try everything, or die trying.
But why else are we here?

Robert.

I got a bag of them from the Apricot guy at the farmer's market last year. Them are some tough nuts to crack. Next time I am buying the already shelled ones!

Maybe it is down to your location and worldwide supplier, but on this one I have a totally diff. experience.
Almost every "fresh" apricot that I eat, the kernel halves,actually falls into 3 with no effort.
Still unsure why anyone want's to put Cyanide in there.......

Robert.

Just reading through some of the different ideas everybody has.
With collecting down to 45%, what does everybody do with the left over's?

I was thinking of removing the Botanicals at this point, collecting down to 20% and then throwing it into the fermenter when I make a new batch.

I hate the idea of throwing good alcohol away!!!

Any reason not to collect extra for later use?

You can collect down to whatever you feel is efficient. For me its 30% and then I stop & chuck it.

Check you thinking here. This is 30% of what is COMING OUT is alc. So whats in the boiler is rapidly approaching - as the saying goes - 'the square oot of feck all'

I save heads and tails separately for all sorts of jobs. HOWEVER DO NOT put any alcohol in fermenter 'for next time' [without doing the detail] you will stop the new fermentation working properly.

I was thinking that if I have already made all my cuts then running my neutral through again shouldn't need any further cuts so should all be safe to drink?

confused.com - perhaps i misread your question

Planning to make gin.
Using a neutral (which has already had all cuts).
If watering down, the alcohol that remains in the airstill is still drinkable. Is it worth collecting extra so not to waste?

Thats what I thought you meant let me try again.

If you have cut it once you don't need to cut it again.

You do loose a bit that for sure. Not really worth collecting IMO as there is a law of diminishing returns.

I suppose also there is the fact that when you get a bit of stock, you get a bit complacent.

You could always save it all up and then freeze it............

I've always bee a little lax making any of my brews, often with months between batches. However, I have recently moved house and with me having 2 sheds, there is no complaint from SWMBO about brewing any more. No 'nasty' smells in the kitchen. Plus, if she gets Gin out of the end result, she is doubly happy!

Already added 7kg of Sugar onto the weekly shop and there are no complaints!

Guess this means if I can brew more often then I won't care about what I chuck away!

Thanks

Already added 7kg of Sugar onto the weekly shop and there are no complaints!

Please say thats not all going in one ferment

I put 6kg in the last and didn't get quite as high a yield as I was hoping for - think it settled in at around 14% abv.
Although I think I did top up to 26L rather than 25L so that will possibly explain!

I keep having to agree with Mash's posts!
More sugar will give a higher strength brew for stripping.
Most of us have discovered for ourselves that this is not always good, leading to off tastes in the finished spirit.
It is all personal.

Robert.

So what would you advise 6kg and top up to 25 litres?

Not sure what sort of yeast you are using.
Or what is in your wash.
most of use strive for quality rather than
quantity. I use Mash's excellent Kale wash
with 5kg of T&L . Do 2x washes and that
makes a fine neutral. That's using bread
yeast, makes a cheap but beautiful wash.