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First steps 2013

Rose hips

2013/11/26 There is 9.8kg in the plastic container. I think I will shake them portion-wise in the white colander to filter away the leftovers, petals etc. I'm betting on that it'll come off easier when they're frozen. I'm thinking the hip-wall needs softening, that is what seem to happen in nature when they're left in the colder weather. They soften inside and the skin/wall grows soft too.

2013/11/27 I shook the frozen rosehips to try to shake off the dirt, this was somewhat successful. Then I rinsed them with the showerhead. Then I cooked them at low temp for about an hour. They went quite soft. I reused the water 3litres twice, then added 2kg of sugar and put it back in the vat. I also took about 200ml and added 5ml of the yeast for a starter.

2013/11/28 I added 1L of water and 1kg of sugar, so 4litres and 3kg in total. I also moved to a 30L vat, the 15L vat seemed to have too little room on the top. Total weight = 9.8+4+3 = 17kg.

2013/11/29 Have added in the starter, put on the airlock and moved the vat into the boiler-room. This is going to be interesting. 16:50 Saw a bubble from the hips.

2013/12/01 there is pressure in the rosehips, but no sustained bubbling.

2013/12/02 the rosehips have started to bubble slowly.

2013/12/08 rosehips are bubbling steadily, three times faster than pearjuice and -mash.

2013/12/16 rosehips are bubbling steadily.

2013/12/28 rosehips are bubbling steadily.

2014/06/01 rosehips bubbling slowly.

2014/01/13 rosehips are bubbling.

2014/1/14 rosehips bubbling.

2014/1/20 rosehips bubbling.

2014/02/02 rosehips bubbling.

2014/09/13 the rosehips have stopped bubbling long ago. I am wondering if adding some pektinase now might change anything? Hmm, apparently rose hips do not contain any pektin. Maybe give them a good stir with the drill?

2016/10/30 I took a little sampling of the juice to see if it might useful as colouring. I also measured the sugar, 70+ !!! Have taken a bit of the juice and added .5ml og yeast.
2016/11/06 Added 6litres of water today, seemed to have produced a bit of pressure, although not enough to cause bubbles. I though the maische might be too acidic for the yeast to work, so I added the water to dilute. I also added water to the yeats starter from above.
2016/11/07 added 3 litres of water, produced bubbles when I swirled it strongly.
2016/11/09 there is pressure on the airlock, and it has bubbled. There is also condensation, which suggests heat production in the mash.
2016/11/11 definitely bubbles. Observed 4-5 over a couple of minutes.
2016/11/12 steady bubbles, 9/minute.
2016/11/20 steady bubbles, less frequent.
2016/11/21 I noticed many hips rising to the surface, apparently full of air or CO2. I used the drill with the paint stirrer to mash up the hips into a pulp.
2016/11/22 Gave it another go with the drill and the paint stirrer.
2016/11/27 still pressure on the airlock, many bubbles after giving it a swirl. Checked the sugar the other day, around 40.

Mirabelle

2015/09/16 I am retro-adding this as I didn't write up much when I did the first steps. From the fruit picked up over at Lydia's place, I had one batch of mirabelle. After fermenting and distilling once, I added more sugar and water and left it to ferment a second time. See below for details on the distillation.

Elderberry/holunder

2015/09/19 I am retro-adding this as I didn't write up much when I did the first steps. The elderberry spent 18 months maturing in a bottle (since Feb 2014). It has come out very nice, nice nose, nice taste.

Birnebrand 2014

I have about 25kilo schwarze Johannisbeeren, frozen for about two weeks. Thawing took a while, but they're hovering on the stove slowly warming up. I bought a bohrmaschine Rührer to help mash the berries.

The paint is coming off the Rührer, I won't be using that anymore. Will need plastic or galvanized steel.

Vat I - johannisbeer+pear, 5+5L

Vat #1 is a 15L vat.

5kg Johannisbeer, 5L pearjuice and 4kg sugar = 15.2kg.

2014/08/09 Start.

2014/08/27 Bubbling happily.

2014/09/16 seems to have pretty much stopped bubbling. Probably the odd bubble every 5 minutes.

2014/09/23 There is some pressure, maybe a bubble every hour, I don't know. It interesting to note that vats I-III with the mix have mostly stopped fermenting, whereas vat IV with plain juice is still going.

2014/10/03 Bubbling as well as stopped.

Vat II - johannisbeer+pear, 5+5L

Vat #2 is a 15L vat.

5kg Johannisbeer, 5L pearjuice and 4kg sugar. Weight 15.0kg.

2014/08/09 Start.

2014/08/27 Bubbling happily.

2014/09/16 seems to have pretty much stopped bubbling. Probably the odd bubble every 5 minutes.

2014/09/23 There is some pressure, maybe a bubble every hour, I don't know.

2014/10/03 Bubbling as well as stopped.

2015/08/29 10:00 Distilling vat I and II together. In the vat, the mash had a quite delicious aroma/nose. at around 18:00, the take started gping hazy, almost certainly because of the solids burning in the pot. I am thinking of redistilling these (keep in the green demijohn).

2015/08/29 18:15 Done. 500ml heads. Yield: 2 x 700ml: 72% and 58%.

Vat III - johannisbeer+pear, 7.5+3L

Vat #3 is a 15L vat.

7.5kg Johannisbeer, 3L pearjuice and 4kg sugar = 15.4kg.

2014/08/09 Started bubbling.

2014/08/27 Bubbling happily.

2014/09/16 seems to have pretty much stopped bubbling. Probably the odd bubble every 5 minutes.

2014/09/23 There is some pressure, maybe a bubble every hour, I don't know.

2014/10/03 Bubbling as well as stopped.

Vat IV

2014/08/12 I extracted about 10-11L of juice from the rest of the pears and added 4kg of sugar, stirred well with the drill. Now bubbling happily.

2014/08/27 Bubbling happily.

2014/09/16 Still bubbling steadily.

2014/09/23 Still bubbling, albeit slowly.

2014/10/03 Still bubbling, albeit slower.

2015/05/14 Started distilling at 12:15. The juice in the VAT smells quite nice. Stopped distilling at 16:25 - took 1L at 75% plus 0.7L at 50% and 0.7L at 30%. The latter two I'll put back in.

2015/05/15 Reran the still with the leftover plus the tails from yesterday. Not a good idea.

Vat V - birnetrester, frozen+fresh

No. 5 is a 30L vat. It's got the remnants of

• 15kg fresh+squeezed pears, also pureed in Nadine's Champion juicer,
• 15kg fresh+squeezed pears
• 2 x 15kg of frozen+squeezed

Approx 30kg mash in total, it's pretty much full.

2014/09/06 Have added 10ml pektinase diluted in 100ml water to the trester. The first part had already started fermenting, and smelled like acetone.

2014/09/07 Added yeast from a starter made with 2ml from the bottle.

2014/09/10 Added 2L water and 2kg of sugar.

2014/09/10 Bubbling violently, almost overflowing.

2014/09/11 Still bubbling a lot, did not overflow sofar.

2014/09/12 The overflow risk is due to air (CO2) from below pushing up the mash.

2014/09/14 still bubbling a lot, the vat is full, overflow risk still real.

2014/09/23 Has not yet overflowed, I should be getting an airlock today.

2014/09/24 Airlock applied, bubbling died down.

2014/10/03 Shows some pressure, but no bubbling.

2015/09/02 09:45. Distillation started. It was difficult getting the mash out.

Vat VI - birnetrester, frozen only

No. 6 is a 30L VAT. I've kept the squeezed pears in this, only from frozen batches. I am debating whether or not to add pektinase before starting to ferment it.

Mix: 4L water, 4kg sugar, apprx 15L juice.

2014/09/12 It has started to produce the acetone-like smell, nothing has been added sofar.

2014/09/13 Weight is about 15kg. Have added 10ml pektinase diluted in 150ml of water. Expect to add last 5kg of trester tomorrow.

2014/09/14 Have added most of the left over from squeezing the last 15kg. Also added another 10ml pektinase diluted in 100ml of water, 2L of water with 2kg of sugar and the yeast starter.

2014/09/15 Have added another 2L of water with 2kg of sugar.

2014/09/18 Bubbling nicely. Still smells strongly of acetone. Very sharp smell, it "bites".

2014/09/23 Bubbling steadily.

2014/10/03 Bubbling steadily, but slower.

2015/08/27 I'm starting vat VI today. The upper 10cm of pears were dry. I drained a couple of litres of juice from the bottom, then dug out the pears by hand and into the pot. Yield: 3 x 700ml: 80%, 77% and 68%. The next bottle of maybe 500ml was cloudy, which led me to think the mash was burning so I stopped. Having removed the mash the next morning, it didn't look burned though, but that haze has to come from somewhere.

Vat VII - birnemost

No. 7 is the 100L VAT I got at the Landi moving sale last year in Egg.

I'm filling it up slowly with pear juice and sugar. It started fermenting by itself fairly quickly; next time I'll add my Brennmaischhefe right away. I've worked out that to make 95L @ 20% alcohol, I need 80L of juice plus 27kg sugar. I'm guessing that I should be subtracting the sugar content of the juice, but I don't have an oechsle (refracto-)meter.

2014/09/12 Status: 67L of juice, 23kg sugar mixed in. Have another 15kg of pear defrosting, should be ready for Sunday.

2014/09/14 Have added the rest, status appears to be 79L of juice with 27kg of sugar. The vat is full, it even spilled over a bit when I added the last 2+2. Just be careful and add the last liters slowly.

2014/09/19 Continues to bubble nicely.

2014/09/23 Has been bubbling in little strings of bubbles for a few days. One sets off a string.

2014/10/02 The tap on the end broke and started leaking juice, albeit very little. I had to half empty the vat (into whatever containers were available), then tip it and replace the tap. Bit of a mess. I'm fairly certain it was due to my screwing the tap on to tight.

2014/10/03 Still bubbling.

2014/10/22 Still bubbling, but slow.

2014/11/09 Still bubbling.

2015/05/16 Took 30L and distilled it. Took about 400ml of heads. With the poor smelling stuff from yesterday, 8x0.7L of tails. Plus 1L bottle.

2015/05/24 Took 30L and distilled it. Took about 700ml of heads in the little cups. I still don't like the smell much.

2015/05/25 Took the last bit, also about 30L and distilled it. Took about 700ml of heads in the little cups. I still don't like the smell much.

Vat ??? - birnemash

This is pear mash in a 30L vat, pureed. One handle broken, I think when I was trying to share the vat. I don't quite know why I have no notes on it. It has a pink post-it attached saying "birnemask". Looks like about 30L.

2015/08/28 09:00 Distillation begin. Getting the sludge out was a bit messy, lots of splotches everywhere.

2015/08/28 20:00 Distillation done. Yield: 4x700ml: 80%, 75%, 70% and 60%. About a litre of tails, slightly hazy.

2015/08/29 The mash had burned some, there was a darkened mush in the bottom when I cleaned the pot.

Vat ??? - birnesaft

This is pear juice in a 30L vat. Apparently no vat number.

Vat VIII - birnemost

This is pear juice in a 30L vat.

2015/08/31 08:45 distillation started.

2015/08/31 500ml heads. Yield: 5 x 700ml at 77%, 70%, 67%, 60% and 50%. The latter was used for seeding the thumper for Vat V. The tails, maybe a litre, at 38% was added to the green demijohn for a second run.

Appleharvest 2014

I asked Nicole if they were expecting to harvest the apples from the three trees on the field next to our house. She gave me permission to pick them.

2014/10/13 I started by picking, washing, slicing and freezing 2 x 15kg of the red apples. Then I continued picking the large yellow variety.

2014/10/21 Bought 3 x 100L vats on Ricardo @ SFr40 each.

2014/10/22 It got really cold last night. Yellow apples: by now, I have 2 + 6 crates of about 15kg each, all stored in the Schlachthaus under a tarpaulin. There is a nice apple smell when you enter. The freezer has 2 x 15kg of red, and 2 x 15 kg of yellow which I've just today started defrosting with a view to juicing them Friday morning. Today up I picked up at least 30kg, it was easy due to the storm yesterday.

Vat X

2014/10/24 Have squeezed 20kg from the freezer, leaving 2kg of dry pomace. Vat#10. I soaked this in 3L of water, which I expect to squeeze tomorrow. The 17L of apple juice looks good, it's very clear and tastes quîte sweet.

2014/10/25 The pomace looked like it had soaked up all the water, so I added another 2 litres. Intend to leave it till tomorrow, then press it.

2014/10/29 The juice (23 litres) has been fermenting on the wild yeast for a couple of days. Not very fast though. Have measured Oechsle today, looks like 31. Which I think means 31g sugar/liter. Per % alcolhol per liter, we need 17g of sugar. For e.g. 5% alcohol, that makes (5*17-31)*23 = 1242g = 1.2kg. For 12%, it is (12*17-31)*23 = 4kg.

2014/11/01 Still no yeast, sugar content has dropped to 25g/litre. I drew out a couple of litres and added 2kg sugar, then returned it to the vat.

2014/11/02 Bubbling seems to have slowed somewhat.

2014/11/03 Yeast has arrived, I made a quick starter solution (1ml+applejuice) and added that. Sugar content now 58g/litre,

2014/11/04 Sugar content now 55° (g/litre).

2014/11/13 Sugar is now 45°. When it's ready to bottle, it's supposed to be 17°, (55-45)/9 = 1.11g/day. (45-17)/1.11k = 25 days.

2014/11/21 Sugar is now 39°.

2014/11/23 Depending on the target level of alcohol, I need to dilute with water. With 2kg of added sugar, the end alcohol% should be 6.9. For a target of 4.5%, add 25*(6-9/4.5-1) = 13.3L of water. This makes 25+13 = 38L, i.e. 76 x 500ml bottles. British websites suggest bottling when sugar content reaches 10°. 36L at 10° = 360g sugar. 360 / 25 = 14.4, so that is when we dliute and bottle.

2014/12/03 Sugar is now 35°.

2014/12/12 Sugar is now 27°. Getting close. Bottles available = 20 + 20 (Jens) + 4 (transparent). Not quite enough, need anopther 36 .... the big Paulaner equals 4 x 500ml, the 6 bottles from Italy is 12 x 500ml, so that makes only 20 needed.

2014/12/18 Sugar is now 27°. Have racked, leaving 2litres which I added to vat IX. Could probably have used those too, the sediment is quite settled/stuck. 2/25x13 = 1, so only add 12L of water. 35L at 10° = 350g sugar. 350 / 23 = 15.2 so that is when we dilute and bottle. Judging by the graph and the trend line, we should hit 15° on day 362, i.e. just after Christmas. I think sugar consumption has slowed down somewhat though.

2015/01/12 Sugar has been holding at around 27-28° for a while now. Sugar consumption appears to have largely stopped?? I oxygenated it for maybe 10mins with the drill.

2015/01/18 Sugar now 24°. Will keep a close eye on for the next week.

2015/02/21 Sugar remains 24°. Have added 8 litres of water and closed the vat (no airlock). Looks like about 30litres in total, approx. 60 bottles.

2015/03/07 Have racked into bottles, 52 x 0.5litre. Judging by the two clear glass bottles, CO2 is still being produced, albeit in tiny amounts.

2015/03/28 We tasted the first bottle of cider. No bubbles, very disappointing. Taste was fine, slightly sour/dry. More like applewine than cidre.

2015/04/04 Tried measuring the alcohol level, but it said 0 !!? When I measured a can of Somersby cider, it said -5 (estimated, the scale doesn't go negative). According to one American cider-making in Nadine's CS magazine, they would only start consuming the cider in June. Maybe we just wait a little longer.

2015/05/12 Jens wasn't overly impressed, nor were Pascal and Alicia. Nor am I. Spoke to George who said his neighbour added a lump of sugar per bottle when he bottled his home-brew beer. I tried adding about half a teaspoon of sugar to two bottles. They fizzed immediately and I quickly closed them again. These two are on the shelf behind the washing machine.

2015/05/14 Added a full teaspoon of sugar to two bottles, they're on the windowsill in the boiler room. Immediate fizz etc.

2015/06/13 Opened some bottles and did have impressive pops and a little "fog" in the bottle neck. Some even fizzed and rose out of the bottle like champagne. Weird.

2015/06/14 Adding the extra sugar did produce some fizz, but not much. Later I read that adding 10g sugar per litre as "priming sugar" when bottling dry cider is the way to go. Have emptied most of the remaining bottles into Nadineŝ cider-jar. The rest will go into the next distilling-run.

Cider conclusion - adding the water diluted the taste too, made the end result undrinkable. Next time I'll just aim for 5-6% alcohol, no diluting needed then.

2015/08/26 Distilled the remaining cidre, about 18L. Yielded 700ml @ 63%, 700ml @ 45%.

Vat IX

2014/11/08 I squeezed 20kg of apples, producing X litres of juice, sugar 50gr/litre. Then I soaked the apple left-overs in 6litres of water.

2014/11/09 Squeezed the apple left-overs, produced 5litres @ 18g/litre. All poured into vat#9.

2014/11/10 The yeast starter was sizzling. I dissolved 5kg of sugar in juice, the poured it back into the vat, then added the yeast.

2014/11/12 Have squeezed another batch of approx 20kg, producing 15 litres of juice, sugar 52g/litre. I added 3+2 kg of sugar to the lot.

2014/11/13 Am soaking the dry pomace in 8-9 litres of water. Have topped up water a couple of times.

2014/11/14 Squeezed out 5+3L at 13° and 11° respectively. Added 2kg sugar.

2014/11/21 Am defrosting another 20kg of apples.

2014/11/23 Have squeezed the batch of approx 20kg, producing 14.7 litres of juice, sugar ~52g/litre. I added 3+2 kg of sugar to the lot. The dry pomace is soaking in 5litres of water.

2014/11/23 Squeezed out 5.4L at 14°. Added 1kg sugar. (I guess I added some more water).

2014/12/14 Have squeezed another batch of approx 20kg, producing 15L of juice, sugar ~52g/litre. I added 4kg of sugar to the lot, didn't use the dry pomace.

2014/12/18 Added 2L from vat X, left over after racking.

2015/05/17 Distillation started. I am doing it in batches of 30L (2x15L). I did a new thing for the heads - took 17 cups of 50ml, tried them with the nose. I left them for 6-7 hours, then decided the first 14 were heads. I'm deciding the tails based on smell, but I think I'll re-distill all the tails, maybe even mixed with the pear ditto.

Season 2015

My still is nearing perfection. This must be 3. generation - 1st was the old zinc-pot with a hering-glass-thumper and my own copper-spiral, 2nd was the stainless steel 50L Contacto pot with the glass thumper and the glass clumn from the Brocki. 3rd is now with a stainless steel pot thumper and a copper pipe disperser.

The two pots no longer need the flourpaste as a sealant, both lids fit really tight when fastened with the binder clips. The silicon washers do a perfect job too. There has been the odd leakage on both pots, I'm wondering if a large diameter silicone washer might be useful.

I can now start a distillation at 09:00, be finished around 18/19 and have everything cleaned and ready to go for the next run the next day.

To-do:

• I'd like a pressure reduction thingie for the hose to have a fixed pressure/flow regardless of the input.
• monitoring when drips start
• monitoring when a bottle is full

2015/09/01 After defrosting for two days, I pressed the red apples (2 boxes from the freezer from 2014). The juice has a dark red hue and is quite sweet. Looks like 50° or thereabouts. Total yield 15.8litres at 52°, 4.5kg trester.

2015/09/01 Have started defrosting 2 x 10kg of pears. I will add the juice to the red apple juice, with sugar and yeast. I might well add the yeast today - need yeast starter solution! Then I plan to take the trester (the squeezed apple+pear), add water & sugar, add pektin and yeast.

Vat III

15L vat. Smells quite sweet. I think it must be the johannisbeer plus pear mentioned above, it's been waiting since 10/2014.

Vat VI

This is a 30L vat, and there is an unnumbered 30L vat next to it. I think these are 50/50 mixtures of red apple juice and pear juice.

2016/05/07 distilling started at 08:50. Probably about 20L content. Took about 400ml heads.

Vat VIII

30 litre vat.

2015/09/01 Have taken 4.5kg red apple trester, added 6litres of water and 3kg of sugar. 2015/09/02 Added 2litres of water and 10ml of pektin. 2015/09/09 Added 2litres of water + 3 kg sugar. Filled up the vat, which started 2016/10/30 due to be distilled. 2017/03/17 looks like I could add more water, the fruit looks dried out (almost).

Vat #IV

15 litres.

2016/03/28 Took Nadine ribena trester, added 3litres of water and 2kg sugar plus about 700ml of Marlene's elberberry juice. Then I shot 2ml yeast straight into the mix.

2016/04/09 Added 1litre of water and 1kg sugar. It's been bubbling happily for a few days.

2016/04/23 Still the odd bubble coming.

2016/10/30 the vat didn't get a number initially, have made it IV.

Vat XII

30 litres.

2016/08/23 Ribena trester, 7kg. Still cooling off. Have prepared a yeast starter, 1ml + 1tsp sugar in lukewarm water.

2016/08/25 Have added 3L of water with 2kg of sugar. The VAT is full to the 10L mark. Added another 1L+1.5kg, looks a little too full, but normally this mix doesn't rise up.

2016/08/29 Overflow, big puddle on the floor. Have moved to a 30L vat, no number.

2016/10/30 have decided this is vat XII.
2016/11/11 Still bubbles.

Season 2016

2016/04/23 Am distilling vat III. Started around 10:00. At around 11:30, the temperature hit 63-64C and started levelling off. End result - 0.7L at 80% and 0.7L 74%. Hardly any tails, the drip went cloudy very soon after taking the 2nd bottle.

2016/05/10 after having defrosted 10 bags of Johannisbeeren, maybe 25kg, I divided them into two, each in a 20L vat. Today I added some pektin and 3L+4kg water/sugar. Tomorrow I'll add the yeast starter.

2016/10/30 the above is vat V and XI. I suspect they're ready to be distilled. 2016/11/11 vat V - still bubbles.

Apple/Pear Harvest 2016