In today's post, we will delve a bit into the topic of homemade, aromatic plum brandy production. We will divide the post into two parts - first, we will prepare the mash separately, and in the next one, we will conduct its distillation on a fractionating column.

Where to start? Of course, with plums! The commonly repeated truth states that for plum brandy, we choose fallen, bruised, and rejects that we wouldn't use for more "consumable" purposes, such as making jam. It's all about the sugar content - after all, "overripe" fruits have the most of it, but let's try not to use fruits that have started to decay or show signs of mold - it would ruin all our work because the sweet plum mash is an ideal place for the growth of unwanted bacteria, fungi, and mold before our noble fungi, yeast, get to work on it. Another folk truth claims that true plum brandy doesn't include yeast. This is, of course, utter nonsense because yeast naturally inhabit the fruit skins, so even if we don't want to add yeast... that's precisely what we're doing. However, wild yeasts are unpredictable, have low alcohol tolerance, and it's simply a waste not to add tested, noble strains that not only produce more alcohol but also impart a much better bouquet. We will use a mixture of Fruit Turbo Yeast, which includes noble yeasts along with the right amount of yeast nutrient. It's not "chemistry" but carefully selected strains of noble yeasts that yield excellent fermentation results without the need to adjust nutrient doses - everything is in one package. Simple, quick, convenient, and most importantly - yielding great results!

If you have more plums, use professional FD-3 yeast, used in micro-distilleries around the world.

Let's get to work! First, we need to crush our fruits to extract the sweet juice. You can use your hands for this, but it's more convenient to employ a bit of technology - a mixer and a drill work perfectly here. It's important not to use galvanized mixers - fruit acids dissolve the protective layer. Acid-resistant mixers are available for purchase, which will serve us for years. We welded a few thin acid-resistant sheets to our mixer, which were then sharpened by grinding. This significantly speeds up the fruit processing, but caution should be exercised near the barrel wall, as a spinning blade can cut through it.

At this stage, we will also limit the amount of methanol in our mash. Methanol is a by-product of pectin fermentation, i.e., long chains of sugars present in fruits and grains. That's why methanol cannot be "driven out" of sugar - yes, yes, the PRL propaganda had weak scientific foundations. Plums and apples have a lot of pectin, so it's worth limiting their amount at the outset by adding pectin enzyme. It not only cuts those long chains, reducing the source of methanol formation, but also indirectly increases the amount of juice available to yeast through its action. Of course, the amount of methanol produced even without adding the enzyme doesn't pose a threat to humans, especially since it will be consumed together with the antidote, ethanol. However, this amount is enough to intensify the symptoms of the "next day," so since we can, why not help ourselves?

When we crush the fruits (alternating left and right rotations significantly speeds up the process), we add pectin enzyme dissolved in a small amount of warm water. At this stage, we have time to sweeten the whole if necessary. We measure the sugar content in the juice with a saccharometer - for plums, it's typically 10-12°Brix. If our plums have less, we can sweeten the mash to this level. Adding white sugar or glucose increases the amount of alcohol. However, sugar should be dosed cautiously, as more than 1kg/10kg of fruit threatens a "moonshine," a sharp taste of the distillate.

Another trick, which doesn't harm the taste and aroma but significantly increases our comfort, is adding an anti-foaming agent. Fruit mashes tend to push up a layer of seeds and skins during fermentation. Trapped between them, carbon dioxide, naturally produced during fermentation, causes this compact mass to rise to the surface, which in turn creates the need to push it down every few hours. To limit our trips to the fermenter and minimize the risk of infection, we add an anti-foaming agent - the most convenient is an anti-flatulence agent containing simethicone. It's worth choosing the children's version, in drops - in the absence of this, capsules were used in the video, which require prior breaking. A few drops/capsules take care of the foam. This trick can also be used during the distillation of easily foaming mashes, such as beer.

Seeds and skins remain in the container during fermentation - we don't remove them. The so-called Prussian acid from the seeds evaporates at the very beginning of distillation, releasing below 30 degrees. It doesn't pass into the distillate, so let's not add unnecessary work. The seeds also introduce the desired bitter note - that's why a few seeds are always added to plum liqueurs.

We always check the progress of fermentation with a saccharometer. It should be completed after 3-4 days, and then we can essentially distill it. If we don't want to do it immediately - after all, the longer the mash stands, the more aromatic it becomes - we should pour off the clear liquid (without skins, seeds, and yeast sediment) into a separate container, and in this state, it can mature without access to air for months, just like any wine. Such long maturation requires periodic pouring off from the accumulating yeast sediment every few weeks. Due to the risk of infection, we do not recommend maturing in plastic barrels (large lid, low tightness, easy access for insects). Glass balloons are perfect for this purpose.

In the next post, we will focus on distilling our plum brandy!