Tuesday, November 26, 2013

How to Make Brandy #3


 Once your must is fermented after two weeks, strain it through cheese cloth. Then put the wine in your still, and seal the joints with rye dough. Fill the chamber holding the "snake" with ice. Heat to 90 degrees Celsius. Then watch the clear liquid pour out. About 20 quarts of must gave 15
liters of wine, minus pomace, and in three 3 liter runs of the still, 1.5 liters of clear alcohol. So it was probably 10-12%. It's VERY strong now, I don't know what percentage, but more than 40%. And tastes like the grapes. Then put it in your well soaked barrel. Wait at least a year. Maybe more. That slow enough?


2 comments:

Deana Sidney said...

Awesome experiment, I am dying to see how it fares.
Is there literature about how strong the brandy should be when it goes in the cask?

Ken Albala said...

Sure. Cask strength means just as it comes out of the still and into the cask. Which this is. I'm guessing it's about 60% just from the taste. Similar to good absinthe the way it burns going down. Most distillers then water it down, I'm not.