First attempt to distillate (drinkable alcohol) macerated fruits is a success!

[PPN]

Hi Folks, I posted that somewhereelse but I wanted to share in a more official manner!


Two days ago I made my first attempt to distillate alcohol, since 2 weeks I macerated "Arbouses" in water (this is the wild fruit from Arbustus Unedo), I filtered to keep only the liquid part and throw that in a pressure cooker linked with a copper tube shaped in circles in one end (to make seals I used flour and water). That end soak in cold water (be careful to keep it cold during distillation process) except where the alcohol will pour out (I just used a plastic bucket and drilled a hole in). I calculated to get between 0.5l and 0.6l of alcohol and got exactly 0.65l!

I'm very happy that first attempt ended so well using so basic tools, I'm already macerating another fruit (Coing), it's so nice cause there is a lot of wild fruits in my area although most of them aren't so enjoyable to eat except if you are doing marmelades (we do it!) or alcohol. That's funny to see how peoples are taking a huge care to the materials used for the distillation tools... this is reminds me our connoisseurs around, only glass and stainless steel!

Another Moonshiner around? Any attempt to include our beloved flowers in the process?

 

[el sargantano]

Oh this is quite similar to a portuguese traditional liquor from the strawberry tree (not related to regular strawberries).
There are tons of them close to my area in the wild and people pick the berries just before the cold season starts to freeze the forests (around end November/early December here).
This year I get around 800grs (c. 2 pounds) of fruit to brew a fermented fruit juice (FFJ) to extract its nutrients by a korean natural farming tecnique. I want to extract some special acids and flavonoids caracteristics of this plant to enrich a fertilizer. I expect a superpotent bloom bud food for some species (not only cannabis, fruit trees also).
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1j_xiXW__P2A5nJdBHq54ZYX3GWjd_BwH/view?usp=sharing

This is a very special plant in Mediterranean basin cultures since ancient times and its been subject of studies that go deeper each year.

Chemichal & biological properties:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wPzoF0lDrLTny5ShhcASC1EQR5fxImrd/view?usp=sharing
Depending on the maturation degree you get different liquor results:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dvrAkQt4gYVWuEoZKlPRObnZB7Y9FBm4/view?usp=sharing

That liquor has to be delicious!!

 

[PPN]

Yes some peoples call that tree "Arbre à fraise" or "Strawberry tree", and yes, the liquor/moonshine is delicious, not a lot rest now though!

I will take more attention to all that neglected wild fruits, if there is sugar in, it's a candidate for distillation!
Thank you for your input @el sargantano , I'm not so far from Portugal and it'sa country I always wanted to know, so close... and so far in the same time!

 

[scy123]

I tried some of this, but used fermented sugar to use in the distillation. The goal was getting as pure an ethanol (95%) as possible, so fermented sugar was the best option.

Fun fact $10 worth of sugar gets me around 4L worth of 95% ethanol, which is wild if you think about it.

I mostly attempted this cause I can't even obtain 95% ethanol around here, it's prohibited for sale apparently.

 

[PPN]

I tried some of this, but used fermented sugar to use in the distillation. The goal was getting as pure an ethanol (95%) as possible, so fermented sugar was the best option.

Fun fact $10 worth of sugar gets me around 4L worth of 95% ethanol, which is wild if you think about it.

I mostly attempted this cause I can't even obtain 95% ethanol around here, it's prohibited for sale apparently.

Good idea! It was allowed to buy a small volume (0.5 liter) in my country until a few years ago... I'll give a look to your idea!