Sorghumrunner Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 We are working primarily with apples, peaches and pears at our distillery. So far we've been having to buy juice rather than whole fruit. I'm looking for some suggestions for versatile processing equipment, preferably something that could handle these different fruit types. I believe it may be possible to just mash the fruits rather than a complete juicing, as for our apple brandy we would only be processing about 25% of the batch, the rest coming in as juice rather than whole fruit. We are talking about processing 50-150 bushels per month here, not vast quantities. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CountySeat Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 http://morebeer.com/products/speidel-motorized-apple-pear-crusher.html?site_id=9 This is reasonably affordable but I haven't used it. Seems to work decently in the video but if its what you are looking for I'd try to find some who have actually used it. Maybe contact the video uploader? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles@AEppelTreow Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Apples and pears can use the same equipment. Small-ish imported grinders are available. The peaches will take something else. I've simply broken them in half by hand - the yeast will turn them to mush in short order and the pits sink to the bottom. But a half-ton later, you have severe RSI. I see that GW Kent is offering a crusher modified for stone fruit this year. Have tried it myself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Natrat Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 With stonefruit I've had some luck using semi-commercial tapered-screen juicers with a very coarse screen. It's noisy, but macerates anything up to green plums or sloes with brutal efficiency. Usually they are made for tomatoes or something...I might have photo somewhere. I'm not a fan of fermenting on the stones... Also, grinding the fruit and fermenting that works great. I try to use relatively acidic water to mash into (pH 4.5) and the appropriate pectolytic enzyme. The fruit floats a lot during fermentation, and the top layer can oxidize pretty severely, so either closed fermentation or periodic agitation (I used pump agitation) helps a lot. Especially with grappa, as grape skins are buoyant little mofos. I know I'm not supposed to add water to skins for grappa, but have you seen how dry they come out of modern presses??!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
halfbaked Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 No pits in the mash for peaches.... Bitter spirits. freeze over ripe peaches and put in a barrel to thaw. After thawing use a drill and paint stirer to make liquid. Then strain pits out. Lots of flavors in skins so leave in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorghumrunner Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 Great, thanks for the suggestions everyone. So, if you use something like a grinder, you'll get a pulpy mash that could be then run through a juicer, or you could add water to it? If you're doing the latter, how are you measuring the brix or s.g? Are you just adding enough water to hydrate the pulpy mash from the grinder? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fldme Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 Start that mash to fermenting. It will break down into liquid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DISTILLATEUR Posted June 8, 2014 Share Posted June 8, 2014 We use Voran exclusively. if you need assistance in ordering from them shoot me an email. http://www.voran.at/en/machinery/media-center-fruit-processing/process-videos/de-stoning/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mendodistilling Posted August 20, 2014 Share Posted August 20, 2014 RM 5.5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorghumrunner Posted August 21, 2014 Author Share Posted August 21, 2014 RM 5.5 ? yeast and ph? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mendodistilling Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 This is the voran model for their ratzmill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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