Fix a weak wash

[Robert Groves]

Hello ,

I am new to distilling. This year was great for crab apples & I tried to make a wash with them. I had 65 lbs apples cut up & added 65 lbs sugar . I had 5 – 5 gal pails & divided the apples & sugar between them & added wine yeast , we do not have access to any distilling products where we live . The wash worked & bubbled away for over three weeks but is still only about 4 % ABV . I have siphoned of the clear liquid & now have a low alcohol cider .

Is there a way to increase the ABV for a distilling ?

Thanks Robert

[JimmySutton]

Do you know what the starting gravity of the apples and sugar was before you added the yeast?

You had the following correct?

65 pounds of sugar
65 pounds of apples- did you press them or just cut the up ?
do you know how much water you added to each bucket?

[Robert Groves]

hello ,

I do not know what the specific gravity was at the start , there were 5 US gals or a little less in each pail as well as about 13 lbs sugar , 13 lbs apples that were cut & cored . To that I added 1 packet of wine yeast that said it was good for 5 gals . Like I said before it worked away bubbling for over 21 days , I kept the temp at around 70 F the whole time . Now I have siphoned of all the clear & squeezed the apple mush through cheese cloth , ended up with fairly good tasting week cider I guess . Sure would like to be able to do something with it to get the ABV up to over 10% before I distill it .

Thanks Robert

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