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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). Mashed it up with the drill, but it doesn't look like there's any fluid in there.

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.

2018/08/15 vat V has not yet been distilled.

Apple/Pear Harvest 2016

Season 2017

Obviously I forgot to record much for 2017. It was a very poor year for apples and pears, the buds got killed off in the frost in the April.

Season 2018

Early June I acquired an oak cask, a Schnappsfass, in the Brocki. 18francs. Reconstituting it with water, it took a couple of days to grow completely tight. Even just those couple of days gave a nice yellowish tint to the water. The cask holds 4.5litres so on 13/6/2018, I took 1000ml @ 58%, 2000ml @ 64%, 100ml at 74%, all from apple juice, and 1400ml water and filled it up. That should give a percentage of around 43. This is really exciting!

2018/07/11 I tried some, just filled up a little 250ml wine bottle. Very nice!

2018/07/18 The tap has grown stuck as has essentially the wooden cork on the top. I broke the tap when I used too much force.

2018/08/10 I noticed it dripping out of the tap, albeit very slowly. Using a syphon I emptied the cask into bottles. I only got 3 full 700ml bottles, so 2.1litres. I probably took out at least 500ml in July, but that still means only ~3litres. I don't know if the rest hast slowly dripped out, I guess it must have.

I'm letting the cask dry up a bit, so I can remove the tap. Next time I'll use a cork in both holes, that ought to prevent any spillage.

2018/08/15 still not able to remove the tap. It is really stuck. 2018/08/19 finally removed the tap. 2018/08/30 I took 5 x 700ml, at 58%, 77%, 52%, 67%, 70% all from pear/birne 2015, and added 1000ml of water (first used for rinsing the bottles) into the oak fass. That should give a percentage of around 50. 2018/10/11 Have filled into 4 x 700ml and 2 x 500ml bottles, so 3.8litres. Nice colour. 2018/10/12 I took 5 x 700ml, at 54%, 56%, 63%, 63%, 64% all from apple June 2015, and added 800ml of water (first used for rinsing the bottles) into the oak fass. That should give a percentage of around 48.8. 2018/11/12 The mixture came out at 49%, much as predicted. I would like to bring it down to 45%, so I am going to add 350ml, giving me 45.1% and a total volume of 4650ml, 6 x 700ml plus 350ml left over. This one is quite pale, in comparison to the previous batch (pear/birne). 2018/11/12 New batch: Birne, 4x700ml, 64%, 67%, 55%, 60%, 1000ml at 68% plus 470ml of water. This should come out at 56%, so add another 1000ml to get 45.5%. 2018/12/14 Result: 55%, so need to add 1000ml to get to about 45%. So about 5litres, in 7 bottles. The colour is much lighter now. 2018/12/15 New batch: Apple, June 2015, 6x700ml, 45, 55, 60, 66, 68, 68. plus 50ml of water. Should come out at about 60%, so add another 1400ml to get to e.g. 45%. 2019/01/15 Result: 59%, so need to add 1400ml to get to about 45%. So 5.7litres, in 8 bottles. 2019/01/16 New batch: Apple, June 2015, 6x700ml, 45, 58, 61, 63, 68, 75. plus 50ml of water. Should come out at about 60%, so add another 1400ml to get to e.g. 45%. 2019/02/17 Result: 60%, so need to add 1600ml of water to get about 44%. 5.8 litres, in 8 bottles.. 2019/02/19 New batch: Apple, June 2015, 6x700ml, 47, 58, 61, 63, 68, 75. plus 50ml of water. Should come out at about 60%. 2019/03/17 New batch: Apple+pear, May 2016, 6x700ml, 55, 60, 70, 72, 75, 80 plus 50ml of water. Should come out at about 67%. 2019/04/17 Result: 68%, so need to add 2200ml of water to get about 45%. 6.4litres, in 9 bottles. 2019/04/19 New batch: birne May 2015, 3x700ml, 1x1000ml: 50,60,70,74%. Should come out at about 63%. 2019/05/25 Result: 64%. so need to add 1400ml to get about 44%. 4.5litres = 6 bottles of 700ml. 2019/05/30 New batch: apple, March 2017, 4x700ml, 1 x1000ml: 52%,70%,83%,84%,55%. Estimated 67%. 2019/07/07 I did not study the result, just put it in a large bottle. 2019/07/07 New batch: birne, August 2015, 5x700ml: 80%,70%,60%,77%,69%. Estimated 69%. 2019/08/21 Drained the above into big bottle. Not dliuted. 2019/08/25 New batch: birnemash, August 2015, 4x700ml: 60%,70%,80%,62%. Estimated 67%. Add 1900ml to get 40%.