Puree vs Concentrate vs Raw Fruit

[CountySeat]

Any thoughts on the difference in end product of starting with raw fruit vs puree vs juice vs concentrate? Obviously the juice and concentrate are less "crafty"  and easier to use but does anyone have an informed opinion on the differences in end product of starting with different types of material? We will try full fruit at some point but interested in starting with a concentrate but not if the end product is likely to be poor. Thanks!

[Oregon Spirit Distillers]

I have made several fruit mashes/distillations using both local fruit and locally produced fruit purees.  It is more "crafty" to use whole fruit.  If your goal is to become a producer of that fruit spirit then you should invest in the equipment to process that fruit.  If, like us, you are a whiskey maker who wants to occasionally make a fruit spirit my, recommendation is to use a puree.  Like cooking a big meal, making the mess is the fun part but cleaning it up is not as much fun.  this is especially true if you do not have the proper equipment.  We found that concentrates are more difficult to get flavor from because of the evaporation process.

[Shindig]

Has anyone had any success with making a flavored whiskey, rum, vodka , etc... with adding the fruit (purée or concentrate ) to the final spirit run (after two stripping runs)? If so any hints on ratios to get any flavor from it ? 

 If adding it to the ferment it would change the class I’m guessing. 

 

Thanks -

[CountySeat]

On 3/13/2018 at 5:09 PM, Oregon Spirit Distillers said:

I have made several fruit mashes/distillations using both local fruit and locally produced fruit purees.  It is more "crafty" to use whole fruit.  If your goal is to become a producer of that fruit spirit then you should invest in the equipment to process that fruit.  If, like us, you are a whiskey maker who wants to occasionally make a fruit spirit my, recommendation is to use a puree.  Like cooking a big meal, making the mess is the fun part but cleaning it up is not as much fun.  this is especially true if you do not have the proper equipment.  We found that concentrates are more difficult to get flavor from because of the evaporation process.

Thanks! We are likely to go the puree route. Do you closed ferment? Temp control? It seems like the best protocol is to temp control in a sealed fermenter which we aren't really set up for now. Also - with the purees, do you find you can rack of the fruit wine and distill it like a wort? or do you have a lot of solids in your mash? We have smaller stills for direct heating and not sure if they would be suitable for this project. We have a larger still that can run solids but it would be a much bigger batch. 

 

[Oregon Spirit Distillers]

We open ferment, no temperature control.  We do fruit in mashing, fermenting and distilling.  With a puree you might be able to rack off the solids but you might not have to separate.  If you have any agitation you will be fine.

[CountySeat]

Thanks - We may try it that way with minimal temp control. I'm a little concerned we'll be overrun by fruit flies though!

 

[JBillyB]

Fruit flies are always a concern, I know someone that had 110 gal of apple cider vinegar after a few months, although very good vinegar it's costly and counterproductive to allow such a thing to happen.

From my experience, fresh fruit has been best at quality but yields are lower due to using wild yeast from the orchard. 

I know very few folks using concentrate for batches over 50 gallons but they say it's been decent yields because they control the amount of concentrate to water ratios and it makes cleanup a cinch. 

Purees are ground so fine, that unless you can distill on the pulp it's not worth the effort to even try to syphon, rack or use a false bottom to retrieve the wort.

If you have the option of a retort "thumper" rack the clear wort off and put the remains in the retort. It's like steam stripping and you'll get the rewards of the skins and pulp with lots more flavor and complexity. 

James