Aussiedistiller, Home Distilling, Moonshine, Home Brew

shouldn this be called orange brandy not vodka? everyone seems to be looking for flavour not neutrality :think:

You are 100% correct Bluc.

Definitely chasing the flavour. Has anybody done this before and did you just leave it to settle ( smooth out ) after distilling or did you put it on oak ?

Mine turned out a really fruity nose, but a bit dissapointing subtle flavour. Very nice flavour though. Had to dig into the heads a bit to find some fruitiness. Ive cut to 48% and left white. Hoping the flavour develops. Should be nice with some soda water ice and lemon or lime in the summer

Wellsy wrote:You are 100% correct Bluc.

Definitely chasing the flavour. Has anybody done this before and did you just leave it to settle ( smooth out ) after distilling or did you put it on oak ?

I would call this more of a scnapps then a brandy tbh :p

Ok I thought I had my head around this lol
Grain based equals whiskey. Fruit based equals brandy.
All bourbons are whiskeys but not all whiskey’s are bourbon
Is it the same that all schnapps are brandy, but not all brandy’s are schnapps or have I over simplified again.
Remember boys keep it simple for out in the the country.
Over to the b4a8ns trust to explain schnapps V Brandyplease lol

Wellsy wrote:Ok I thought I had my head around this lol
Grain based equals whiskey. Fruit based equals brandy.
All bourbons are whiskeys but not all whiskey’s are bourbon
Is it the same that all schnapps are brandy, but not all brandy’s are schnapps or have I over simplified again.
Remember boys keep it simple for out in the the country.
Over to the b4a8ns trust to explain schnapps V Brandyplease lol

I think this was called a vodka originally as its more of a flavored vodka then anything due to the sugar base

Grain based only equals whiskey if you want the end product to be whiskey, ie grain based vodka is a different beast

Bourbon is whiskey but has to have corn in it to be called bourbon (minimum percent of corn) and technically made in certain states

Brandy is typically aged/made from certain fruit (apricots,plums,grape etc_

Schnapps is typically clear and un aged but has a wider range of fruit associated with it depending on where it originates from, pálinka which is hungarian Scnapps is made from any fruit that originated in Hungry

Slivovitz is plum/plum brandy only

:p

Thanks for the explanation. I might just call it all Booze lol.

Well, this is exciting.
Have a tree full of mandarines.
Tomorrow I will get picking and juicing.
Will be keen to hear everyone's results.

Thanks guys.

Hey Wellsy, how did this end up? Have you tasted it yet?
I'm looking to get a simple citrus vodka happening for my wife and saw this thread. My original thought was just to macerate orange peel (no white pith) in 45% neutral (like in Odin's Easy Gin) and distill the result, but now your thread has me diving down the rabbit hole again!!!
:laughing-rolling:

Hey Tacman
I have not tasted it again since I distilled it. Initially I was disappointed and was putting it all on oak for 12 months, but by the time I got to diluting it down, 2 days after doing cuts I changed my mind. It had a nice orange aftertaste. I will revisit it tomorrow mate and have a taste and let you know.

I was listening to the still it podcast the other day with the guy from Eastern Europe talking bout rakia which is their word for fruit brandy.

He leaves most of his fruit spirits white but said don’t touch them for a month to let them settle and marry :handgestures-thumbupleft:

Well I am glad I left some of it white as it has smoothed out nicely and only has a hint of orange when you sip it. Given it was only orange and sugar I thought it would have more orange flavour. It was orange pulp with no skins going into the ferment.
I guess if I added some skins I could chase the orangness
I will find a small bottle Tacman and organise myself and drop some in for you , well maybe your better half, to taste lol
I will give you a call once I get organised

So far I've only used Oranges in my mulled orange brandy, basically go to the bottlo and grab 5 litres of cheap red wine then slice up a navel orange and use mulling herbs and remember when mulling NOT to over over 70C as we don't want to boil the alc off do we :handgestures-thumbupleft:

I strip it in my 5 litre pot still and off the low wines where I cheat a bit by adding some 90% nothing so the yield is boosted :laughing-rolling: I then have enough to do a spirit run. I add all the ingredients in the still too which I find adds to the flavour then after cuts it's decanted to 65% for a few months on French Oak. Done this 3 times now and a fourth batch will be going down soon as every gal that has sampled has said this is better than bought stuff :laughing-rolling: I also get a heap of brownie points from SWMBO who claimed the rights to this drop after giving me a batch of orange mulled wine.

What i have found with all of my fruit brandies just put them down @65% with some French Oak, add a date then put it away for 12 months or more. It does take that long for the fruit taste to come thru

So the famous quote of Hurry Up and Wait applies to doing any fruit brandies

Wellsy wrote:I guess if I added some skins I could chase the orangness

I would use the zest, not the whole skins Wellsy. The pith is useless but there's lots of good flavour in the zest.

Thanks professor