Winemaking Recipe: Fruit “Brandy”

by Kevin Pfister

Here is a simple way to making a fruit brandy in a short time. Strawberry seems to be the best I’ve made so far but Blackberry and Peach were really good also. Though it’s called brandy, some may call this just a strong-alcohol wine as the process does not involve distillation or fortification. The time from start to finish is about 5–6 weeks, with allowing a week or two for clearing.

Makes about 3–4 gallons of fruit brandy.

Ingredients:

3 quarts (6 lbs.) of crushed fruit, including juice from crushing

8–9 pounds of granulated sugar

3 gallons water (1 gallon warm and 2 gallons room temperature)

2 thinly sliced lemons

2 thinly sliced oranges

Fleishman’s bread yeast, 1/3 yeast cake or 1 package

4 pounds of golden raisins (Important…MUST be golden raisins, because regular raisins will make an off flavor in the brandy)

Supplies:

One 5–6 gallon crock (see photo) 

Long wooden spoon

Towel or cheesecloth to cover

Process:

Add the fruit, 1 gallon warm water, and the sugar into the crock. Stir items to mix and dissolve the sugar. Stir in 2 gallons of room temp water. Check the SG, which should be 1.950 or higher.

Add the lemon slices, orange slices and yeast. Stir and cover with the towel or cheesecloth.

Stir with a wooden spoon every day for 7 days.

On the 8^th day, add the golden raisins. Cover for 21 days. Do not move or disturb the mixture during this time.

After the 28^th day, strain out the raisins and rack into a carboy with air lock to allow for clearing. After a week or two when clear, rack and bottle (don’t forget to test out a sample for quality control purposes).

The Strawberry is a big hit when taken out ice fishing in the winter with all of my friends on the frozen lake.

Enjoy…