-
Krushed Sour Cherries
I picked about a 10 litre bucket of sour cherries this summer, here’s what I did:1. Dumped cherries into the big ole’ mash pot. covered with water and brought it to a boil. 2. Boiled for about 10 minutes or so. 3. Beat the snot out of the cherries with a motar mixer on the end of a drill. 4. Strained out all pulp and stones.5. Transfered into fermenter and stirred in 10kgs of white sugar.6. Topped up fermenter with cold water to 50-55 litre mark.7. After mixture cooled enough added 2 packages of EC 1118 yeast.8. After fementation ran it’s course (about 3 weeks or so) Distilled the wash twice through the pot still. Made heads and tails cut on the second run. Took about 750ml- 1litre of heads off the top and did the tails cut between 45 and 50% AV. Ended up with about 13 litres of spirit after dilution to about 43%AV. I threw 6 maraschino cherries per 4 litre (1 gallon) jug and left to age. Just tried a sip tonight after sitting just a couple days. It’s a very nice smooth cherry flavoured vodka.Gotta love fall, especially when you get fruit for free. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day and drink beer.
-
4 Replies
-
I did similar but squished them and didn’t boil, there’s a strong bitter edge that runs all the way through even after the second distillation ( pot still ). I’ve left it to breathe for a while while I decide what to do with the stuff. The cherries I dumped into rice vodka on the other hand have made a superb drink.
-
Cool UR.I wish I had been around the homestead when the cherries were in season, but I was away at school.I did soak some bing cherries in my applewood aged bourbon, without sugar, and that tasted great.Maybee next year I can make some brandy.Hey guys!!! Watch this…. OUCH!
-
Did the same this summer, but quite differently :1. Dumped 13 kg cherries into a 30 l fermenter, let sit for a day.2. Added water to fill fermenter and let sit one more day. 3. Pressed the all to get the juice.4. Added 2 kg sugar and water to get 30 l again. 5. No yeast. I let nature work! 6. Distilled after one month. 7. Get 3.750 liters at 43%ABV (after dilution). Nice spirit, full of cherries flavor. Compared with a commercial stuff I bought last winter : mine is better!I’m french speaking!Boiler : 50 L (13 gal) beer keg, gas heated.Reflux : 104 cm (41 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter withh SS scrubbers packing.Potstill : 40 cm (15 inches) column 54 mm (2 inches) diameter without packing.
-
A third run has cleared the bitterness – or at least shifted it to the back 1/4 of the spirit. With a little of it blended back in I’ve got a pretty good copy of kirch.
Log in to reply.
English 
Spanish 
German 
French 
Russian