Personal pages/Season 2021/Distillations

Distillations 2021

I got started quite late, end of June - somehow Spring was quite busy or I just kept procrastinating.
I started with distilling some of the cider which I never got bottled. Not enough bottles and not enough interest, so I'm distilling it instead.

2021/06/27 D2 - 20litre golden delicious - about 900ml of 48%. It went straight into the gin balloon.
2021/06/28 D1 and D3, some mixture - approx. 40litres. 1000ml at 54%, 800ml at 30%. Straight into the gin balloon.
2021/06/29 D4 and D6, some mixture - approx. 40litres. 1000ml at 45%, 1000ml at 30%. Straight into the gin balloon.

2021/06/30 Dunno, some mixture - approx. 40litres. About 2000ml. Straight into the gin balloon.

2021/07/01 D7 and Dx, some mixture - approx. 30litres. 1000ml at 50%, 1000ml at 40%, 800ml at 30%. Straight into the gin balloon. This was with the new reflux cooler, seems quite an improvement.

Vat C4/C5/C6/C7

2021/07/02 Starting on C6, Schneider juice, no extra sugar. Probably 30-35litres. Disappointing, 1000ml at 60%, 900ml at 30%.
2021/07/03 Continuing with C6, Probably 40litres.
2021/07/05 Finished C6, still disappointing, 1100ml at 45%, then some 30%. Gin-balloon.

C6 summary - overall disappointing. End result was about 2litres @ 68%. It did have some fungus growing on top, I cannot say if that may have had an impact. Basically, there is not sufficient sugar content to achieve a decent ethanol %. It is much like with the cidre.
The new powerful reflux cooler is too good, produces too much reflux - it is clearly noticeable when switching off to swap to the quiet one. Maybe with a PWM regulator, which I'm sure the servers have too.

2021/07/06 Starting on C5, Moschtbirne, probably 30-35litres. No fungus, just clean juice. 1000ml 50%, 1000ml 35%, 800ml less than 30%. C3 is also Moschtbirne, total yield will be 6+6 = 12-14 litres.
2021/07/07 C5 part2
2021/07/08 C5 part3
2021/07/09 C3 part1, Moschtbirne
2021/07/10 C3 part2
2021/07/11 C3 part3, very much the same story as above.
2021/07/12 C7 part1, Schneider, 1000ml at 50%, then 40..30
2021/07/13 C7 part2, 1000ml at 50%, then 40..30
2021/07/14 C7 part3, 1000ml at 50%, then 40..30
2021/07/15 C4 part1, Golden, 1000ml at 50%, then 40..30
2021/08/04 C4 part2, 1000ml at 50%, then 40..30
2021/08/05 C4 part3, 1000ml at 50%, then 40..30

Vat F1

F1 (the square one in the front room) had birnetrester plus 15 liters of juice. I should probably have added a lot of sugar.

2021/08/06 F1 part1, mostly tails, all cloudy, green balloon / Moschtbire
2021/08/07 F1 part2, maybe 250ml at 55%, then tails, all cloudy, green balloon / Moschbire

Vat C10

Various apple trester, leftovers from cidre, plus water and 10 kilos of sugar.

2021/08/09 C10 part1. approx 500ml at 65%, then back down to 30% hazy tails.
2021/08/10 C10 part2
2021/08/11 C10 part3
2021/08/12 C10 part4. It overflowed and spilled when I was away on Mahlzeitendienst.

Overall yield: 2litres at 67% and 2litres at 54%. For trester with sugar, I guess that is not too bad.

Vat C2

maische-status only says "Schneider" plus mash. It was very much like apple mush, I was even able to pour the last bit out.

Distilled over three days, 13/14/15 August. About 1 litre at 60-70%, several at less, for gin.

Vat C8

maische-status only says "Schneider", but it was very much like apple mush, much like C2.

2021/08/16 part1. 600ml at 55%, 2.5 litres at 30%, hazy.
2021/08/17 part2. 1000ml at 50%, 2 litres at 30%, hazy.
2021/08/18 part3. 1000ml at 50%, 2 litres at 30%, hazy.

Total yield (C2+C8, Schneider mash): 1.6litres at 50% and 2litres at 54%.

Vat C9

Various apple trester plus juice.

2021/08/19 part1. 400ml at 50%, then hazy.
2021/08/20 part2.
2021/08/21 part3.

I guess this was an experiment to begin with, and it didn't work out very well. Yield: maybe 800ml at 50% and plenty of hazy stuff. Have poured it all into a gin balloon.

Vat C1

Black currant trester plus apple.

2021/08/25 part1. Very striking nose of black currant, quite typical. Very quickly went hazy, I took 3 litres for the gin balloon.
2021/08/26 part2. 400ml at 50%, then hazy. Total 3 litres for the gin balloon.
2021/08/27 part3. 400ml at 65%, then hazy. Total ~3 litres for the gin balloon.

The black currant "nose" was quite evident, I'll have to figure out a way of using it. It is very pleasant in Ribena. Maybe dried, then macerated?

Vat B2

Schneider mash, presumably with some water added (as in B1). Seems quite runny, sludgy, could almost be pumped.
I expect to do 4 runs per vat, each run producing roughly 3 litres. That makes 2x3x4 = 24 litres, so enough for a balloon by itself. I get to see what a schnaps made from Schneider only is like.

2021/08/29 part1. 700ml at 50%, then hazy at 30%. Approx 3 litres in total.

Note - in a "stripping run", there is no need to separate out the heads, everything can go straight in.

2021/08/30 part2. 800ml at 55%, crystal clear.