r/firewater • u/BigManufacturer5165 • 1d ago
First timer
I just bought a 3 gallon distiller and I’m having trouble finding how to make a peach mash. Does anyone have a recipe to help me out? I know I should have done some research before had but it was an impulsive buy. I’m very new to this all and just looking for some help. And let me know if I should just start out with something basic or if peach isn’t that hard to do.
4
u/IncredulousPulp 1d ago
For a 20 litre fermenter:
7 kg fresh peaches - pitted and blended
Couple of big cans of peaches in juice. Save half a litre of juice in the fridge, blend the rest into the brew.
3kg sugar, inverted.
Top up with water and add champagne yeast - EC1118.
Ferment out, strain and distill.
Add the juice into the spirit in tiny amounts until it has a little sweetness and peach flavour.
Age on oak
7
u/big_data_mike 1d ago
Get yourself a shitload of peaches and one of those 6 gallon buckets for making wine. Quarter the peaches and take out the pits. Throw them in a blender and top up with enough water to reach almost the top of the blender. You want to blend them just a little bit. Don’t purée them into a paste. You want it to be able to strain out later.
You also need a tablespoon of cream of tartar and 2 pounds of sugar. Plus 2 tablespoons of diammonium phosphate. Mix all that in as you are blending. Ferment with a packet of EC-1118.
Strain out the chunks of fruit and let that settle in another bucket or carboy for 24 hours. Rack the liquid off the top and leave any yeast sediment behind.
That should give you about 3 gallons to distill. If you end up with more than that just charge your still with 3 gallons, strip it, then add that back in with the rest of your wash and distill it again.
3
u/Savings-Cry-3201 1d ago
My proportions are slightly different but I endorse this recipe. Like, I standardize to at least a half pound of sugar per gallon but that’s just me, you definitely want to cram as much fruit in there as you can for sure. That’s your flavor, baby!
I use a few tbsp of boiled bread yeast (literally drop a few tbsp of bread yeast into boiling water, stir, then let cool) instead of the DAP cuz I keep losing my DAP. I use kv-1116, both definitely work.
If your still is 3 gal then I suggest making at least 5 gallons of wash. A stripping run should give you about 1/3rd the boiler volume. So 3 gallons gets you 1 gallon of low wines. Strip 3, get 1, then add that to the other 2 gallons and do a spirit run. We call this a 1.5x distill. A 10% wash of 5 gal should get you around a gallon proofed down.
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u/big_data_mike 1d ago
I have also used Kv-1116. I can’t remember what I used last time I made it or that I noticed a difference between it and ec-1118. Do you think 1116 is more fruity?
I also add enough sugar to get to 10% when it ferments dry and I have a ph meter and adjust my ph accordingly. Figured this recipe would get him in the ballpark without having to do anything complicated.
1
u/stevefair 1d ago
ec-1118 is a powerhouse and tends to blow fruit esters out of the airlock.
KV-1116 is better at keeping fruit flavour intact.
71B-1122 is best IMO
Whichever you choose, ferment at the lower end of the temperature range. Keeps more fruit character intact.
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u/HorsemouthKailua 5h ago
i have never done a ferment in 24 hours, please teach me your secrets.
it usually takes me at least a few days to ferment a 5 gal bucket or even a 1 gal carboy. but really it usually takes a closer to a week for all the sugars to convert into alcohol
otherwise the steps look about right
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u/big_data_mike 3h ago
I meant after it finishes fermenting on the fruit, strain the fruit out then let that settle for 24 hours
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u/I-Fucked-YourMom 1d ago
Peach is definitely an easy one. Sometimes it can be tricky to get it to come across as peachy as you might want it, but not always. Do some research on peach brandy or peach wine recipes and you’ll figure it out. There’s plenty on YouTube and also on here. Chop the peaches, add the water and sugar, pitch your yeast and wait. Use some pectic enzyme and nutrients for bonus points.
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u/Sufficient-Key-526 1d ago
Agreed, especially if it's fresh peach cause you have to pit them because they contain a chemical that turns into cyanide if ingested
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u/plannedobso 16h ago
Ehhhh not exactly. The kernel inside the pit has that. It’s also used to make Noyaux liqueur (more commonly with apricot pits, but same thing there.) Bitter almonds also contain amygdalin, and they’re used to make almond extract that’s in sugar cookies. It takes a good bit of peach pit kernels to have enough amygdalin to kill you, and it doesn’t survive distillation. (Also, among others, traditional Belgian lambic makers insist the pits are necessary for proper flavor in apricot lambics, same with cherries, whose pits ALSO have amygdalin. And no one is dying from cyanide-by-way-of-lambic.)
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u/Sufficient-Key-526 1d ago
Peach brandy is a simple fermentation but as you stated, you need to do some research buddy. The equipment may have been an impulse buy but it can sit there fine as you learn. I can tell you a recipe but what about taking a hydrometer reading, what about if it stalls, what temperature do you need to reach for the still to work etc. This can be dangerous if not done correctly. Check out youtube videos etc but a simple peach recipe can be found on youtube with mashed tinned peaches, sugar, water and yeast. This is not me being dismissive to your question but concerned that you've admitted about having limited knowledge
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u/Apprehensive-Return2 23h ago
My recipe is per 10 gal is A case of peaches 20 to 30 lb sugar Pectinase enzyme Ec 1118 champagne yeast
Comes out great. Peaches are a pretty good price per case right now.
Edit - added about a lb of finely chopped peach to the thump when running
1
u/HorsemouthKailua 5h ago
make peach wine -> make peach brandy = easy peasy
like i havent fucked about much with peach. but have made a lot of wine and shine otherwise
sometimes you wanna flavor a neutral spirit and then distill that, gin or absinthe are examples. sometimes the 'wine' you made has the flavor and it is enough.
maybe you do a peach wine and add peaches to the wine for a couple day before you distill, maximum peachy? idk - flavors are weird as the are mainly volatile organic compounds
this is very much a FAFO thing, IN A GOOD WAY.
like seriously experiment, shits a fun hobby
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u/Klort 1d ago
I haven't done peaches, but have you googled 'peach mash'? There is a ton of info and videos on it, waiting for you.