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Making apple spirits taste better:
For hundreds of years, apples have been a good base for liquors, such as Calvados in France and applejack in the U.S., because they're full of sugar and desirable flavors. As the mashed fruit ferments, alcohol evolves along with additional flavor compounds, which add to the complex taste of the final liquor. Distilling the fermented apples with heat concentrates the alcohol and removes unpleasant fermentation byproducts, such as carboxylic acids that can impart unclean, rancid, cheesy and sweaty flavors. Most producers use batch columns to make apple spirits because it provides a clean-tasting, high-alcohol distillate in a large volume. But the exact time to stop the distillation process -- and achieve the most flavorful liquor -- has been uncertain. Previously, Andreas Liebminger and colleagues showed that a rapid increase in apricot brandy distillate's conductivity reliably indicates the ideal time to stop the distillation. So, the researchers wanted to see if this would also hold for apple liquors.
[...] The researchers say that monitoring the conductivity in the distillates afforded them a simple way to identify the best conditions for producing apple spirits with the most desirable quality and taste.
Journal Reference:
Andreas Liebminger, Christian Philipp, Sezer Sari, et al. Monitoring of Carboxylic Acids by In-Line Conductivity Measurement to Determine Optimum Distillation Strategy for Distilling Apple Spirits, ACS Food Science & Technology (DOI: 10.1021/acsfoodscitech.1c00327)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @12:26AM (2 children)
We used to be able to buy unpasteurized sweet cider at the mill. If we left it in the fridge too long, it might turn to hard cider. And after that it turned to cider vinegar.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @12:49AM
https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/its_cider_time [msu.edu]
(Score: 2) by crafoo on Friday December 17 2021, @03:07PM
My understanding is that it turns into hard cider or vinegar depending on which wild yeasts grow and dominate in the apple cider.
I'd ferment about 10 gallons or so for the holiday season. Just sterilize everything, add yeast and sugar, install airlocks, wait. People liked to warm it up, add cinnamon powder and sticks, and drink while watching Christmas movies and playing family board games. I'd make a ~4-5% batch using random wine yeasts. Also a smaller, stronger batch using yeast that could live and grow in much higher alcohol concentrations - I think these yeasts are usually used for fermenting mash for distilling.
I tried timing it perfectly and adding the sugar tabs to each bottle for individual bottling. This was a huge time sink and not great results. I stick to 1 gal glass jugs with natural cork stoppers.
I think I may switch from alcohol production in the holiday season to jerky. Everyone seems to like the jerky better and it's more fun for me too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @01:17AM (2 children)
Bosnian Rakiya is where it's at, the ones made by the country folks, not the industrially produced garbage.
Brandies made with temperate-climate fruits like apples and plums are too "tart", and make the liquid "stingy" with little flavor.
Now that we have "free trade"/WTO and everything, you wanna mix up sweeter tropical/sub-tropical fruits, like watermelon, banana, and mango that are much sweeter but also have very distinct flavor.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @02:15AM (1 child)
BTW, how is apple brandy? I've never come across one.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Friday December 17 2021, @05:41PM
Ask at the apple genius bar.
If you eat an entire cake without cutting it, you technically only had one piece.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @02:51AM (2 children)
Mix them with coke.
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday December 17 2021, @06:39AM (1 child)
If you are going to spoil it, you could substitute drain cleaner, furniture polish or used engine oil as your mixer of choice. It's fine if you don't like apple brandy, nobody is insisting that you drink it. If you don't like it though I suggest that you offer it to somebody who will appreciate it more.
But you can drink it anyway you like.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @11:39AM
That sounds like a winning way to rid yourself of holiday guests that have overstayed their welcome.
(Score: 1) by zeptic on Friday December 17 2021, @08:53AM
I really love science!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 17 2021, @10:14AM
Wince-inducing acidity.
The good shit from the northern coast of Spain - try it in Asturias.
(Score: 1) by shrewdsheep on Friday December 17 2021, @08:47PM (2 children)
This is why holding them right is so important. Your palm is conductive and let the spirits escape if you hold'em wrong. This is why you get punished with bad reception.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @02:14AM (1 child)
I thought you were going to say that you'd get punished by having hair grow on your palms if you kept doing that.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 19 2021, @12:15PM
The ladies would receive you badly, wouldn't they?