Naartjie Brandy or Mampoer Recipe

 

DISCLAIMER: Distillique does not believe in providing and selling recipes, as this goes against the Craft of producing your own products. The recipes we share have been sourced from clients and other sources, and as such, Distillique takes no responsibility and makes no guarantees regarding the quality, accuracy or safety of these recipes. Recipes are used at own risk, and are for the purpose of experimentation, inspiration and guidance.

    

This recipe is enough to make a 5lt Fermentation at 16% ABV, which should yield (in an Alembic Pot Still) around 1.2lt of final product. For larger fermentations, all ingredients can just be multiplied accordingly.

    

PLEASE NOTE: This is a VERY simple recipe, and it does not include pH adjustment, pectolyase enzyme treatment, or clarification techniques. For more information on how to improve your product even further, we recommend you enrol for our W1 – Fruit Based Spirits Online Course.

       

The Recipe for Home Made Naartjie Brandy (or Mampoer)

   

Consumables

    

• Naartjie: 10 kg (or 5lt of store-bought preservative free Naartjie Juice)

• Sodium Metabisulphite: 100 grams 

• Yeast (Wine yeast with a minimum ABV Tolerance of 15%): 5 grams 

• Yeast Nutrients: 5 grams

• Granulated White Sugar: 1 kg (per 5lt fermentation – you will not use all of it, but that is the maximum you should hopefully need)

• Distilled Water (available from the local Pharmacy)

• 20g French Oak Barrel Chips

    

NOTE: If purchasing the Juice, make sure you get the thickest, least processed, most natural juice you can get your hands on. Certain juices are overly processed and filtered, and as a result little flavor transfers during the distillation process. Also avoid brands that say “100% Pure Juice” opposed to “100% Pure Naartjie Juice”. Where the latter will just contain Naartjie Juice, the former would normally be Apple and Pear juice mixed with Naartjie Juice. Also, when using purchased juice, buy a punnet of Naartjies as well (one per 5 lt fermentation). You can use the pulp and peel to add more flavor to your fermentation.

    

Equipment 

     

• Fruit Juicer (ideally the type that separates liquids and solids – not needed if using store bought juice)

• Large glass or stainless-steel bowl (or bucket or drum for larger fermentations)

• Straining cloth

• Kitchen sieve 

• Funnel 

• 5 litre fermentation bottle (or larger fermentation bucket or drum depending on scale)

• Fermentation lock with bung (if available and if suitable depending on size)

• SG Hydrometer

• Siphoning tube 

• Still (ideally Alembic and not Reflux, unless you know how to run your Reflux Still in Zero Reflux or Low Reflux modes)

• 5 x 25 ml Tot Glasses (per 5lt Fermentation) for Heads

• 100 ml Measuring Cylinder

• Alcoholmeter

• 1 000 ml Measuring Cylinder or Glass Jar(s)

• 20 x 25 ml Tot Glasses (per 5lt Fermentation for Tails – larger plastic cups would be more practical for larger batches, i.e. 20 x 50 ml for 10lt, 20 x 75 ml for 15lt, 20 x 100 ml for 20lt, etc.)

    

Process

      

1. Prepare a sterilization solution. Dissolve 16 grams of Sodium Metabisulphite powder per one litre of water (make about 5 - 6 litres, or more as required based on size of equipment). 

   
2. Sterilize all your equipment and set aside.

   
3. Wash the Naartjies with the Sodium Metabisulphite solution (this will kill any bacteria and wild yeast present on the surface of the Naartjies, as well as remove the wax that is sometimes used to treat the fruit and seal the peels).

   
4. Naartjie peel is rich in flavor and aroma because of the Citrus Oils in it, but these same oils can cause what is known as the Louching Effect - where the distillate becomes hazy when you dilute it due to the oils precipitating out of suspension. To avoid this we remove the Naartjie peel with a potato peeler - just the zest - which we put to one side (we are going to use it later). Then we remove the white pith, as this can cause a bitter flavor in the final product. Now break the fruit into segments. Juice the Naartjie segments, but keep the pulp separate - we have a use for that too. Take the zest, put it in a plastic container or bag, and freeze it.

   
5. Place your sieve over a clean bowl, and line it with your straining cloth. Pour the juice through the straining cloth to remove any unwanted solids that might have ended up in it. Put a couple handfuls of pulp in the straining cloth and gather the edges and twist to wring out as much of the juice as possible. Repeat until all the pulp has been processed and all juice has been extracted.

    

6. Using your SG Hydrometer, take a sample of your juice in the 100 ml Measuring Cylinder and measure the Brix Percentage (percentage sugar). Take this measurement, multiply it by the volume of juice in litres, and by 10 (S = Bx x V x 10) that is the amount of grams of sugar in the juice. If using purchased juice, look at the sugar content on the packaging and add it all together.

   

7. To reach 16% alcohol in your fermentation, you need 1 360 g of sugar per 5 lt fermentation. If you have less than 1 360 g, add the difference in granulated sugar, and stir vigorously to dissolve it.

    
8. Pour the juice with the dissolved sugar into your fermentation vessel, and add about a third of the pulp. If you are going to use the zest during distillation, you do not need to add the pulp.

    
9. Add the nutrients and yeast and shake well. 

    
10. Close your container and fit the fermentation lock (bubbler). Remove the red cap on the bubbler and fill the bubbler with water to the indicated mark. Replace the red cap onto the bubbler. If you do not have a bubbler, make a small hole inside the lid of the bottle to allow the CO2 formed during fermentation to escape. Some people make a slightly bigger hole and attach a clear plastic tube which they run into a bottle of water. It does not really matter what method you choose, as long as the CO2 is allowed to escape, and no bugs are allowed into the fermentation.

     

11. Place the fermentation bottle in a comfortable (21-25 °C) room, out of direct sunlight. The darker, the better – especially if the fermentation bottle is clear plastic.

    
Your fermentation will start in the next two days. You would notice bubbles of CO2 gas escaping from the “bubbler” if you have one, or through the plastic tube in the water, these are signs that the fermentation is working. If you only have a hole in the lid, place a balloon over the hole and see if it inflates.

   
12. Allow the juice to ferment for at least 8 - 10 days. 

     
13. After the fermentation is completed (no more bubbles), take a sample without disturbing the bottle by putting your siphoning tube into the fermentation, place your finger over the top, and take out a sample. Pour the sample into your measuring cylinder and measure the sugar content again with the SG Hydrometer. It should read 0 Brix. If not, then something went wrong and the fermentation is not dry. You can try to troubleshoot the fermentation by referring to our article on Stuck or Stalled Fermentations, or if the Brix Level is Low enough, decided to Distill it. Ideally though you should only distill the fermentation if it is completely dry (all sugar fermented).

    

14. Rack your Fermentation:

    

a)       If the fermentation is done, place the fermentation vessel in a Fridge for 48 hours (if possible). The cold will cause all the dead yeast and sediment to settle to the bottom. This is called “Cold Crashing”.

b)      Remove the fermentation cap (with bubbler) and insert the siphoning tube gently into the wine without it touching or disturbing the sediment at the bottom of the fermentation. 

c)       Suck on the open end of the tube until the wine almost reaches your mouth. Then pinch the tube closed and lower it into a clean bottle (lower than the fermentation bottle) to start the syphon. 

d)      Keep on siphoning until the wine level in the fermentation bottle almost reaches the sediment at the bottom of the fermentation bottle. The siphoned wine will now be much clearer. 

e)      All skins and solids must also be left behind. Do not be greedy and try to get every last drop of liquid out – you will end up with sediment in the wine, and this will cause Yeast Bite or Yeast Burn in the final distillate. If you do feel there is too much liquid left, then pour it through the straining cloth and sieve, rack the liquid recovered, and repeat the siphoning process.

     

15. Prepare your still. You are about to distill a flavorful product, so the slightest contamination of previous runs will spoil it. Refer to our Article on Cleaning your Still for tips on how to clean it properly. At the same time, take your Naartjie Zest out of the freezer an allow it to defrost.   

    

16. Add your wine to your still – do not overfill it, but leave at least 10% headspace to avoid foaming during the distillation process. OPTIONAL: Place your Gin Bag on top of the boiler - between the boiler and vapor chamber - and fill it with the Naartjie Zest. We are going to use these peels to add more flavor to the distillate through the process of Vapor Infusion. Do not add too much, otherwise you will struggle with the Louching Effect.

    

17. Apply heat to your still – slowly. Don’t rush it. If you add heat too fast it will boil too vigorously. You will also get smearing of flavor compounds. Refer to our Article on the Effect of Boiling Rate on Fractions for more information.

     

18. Take off your heads – minimum 5 ml per litre – in your first Tot Glasses. For a 5lt Fermentation 25 ml should be enough, but take off at least 5 times that amount – 125 ml spread over 5 tot glasses. Do not assume all of it is bad though. Starting at the last tot, use sensory evaluation to decide which of the tots are bad and which are good. Keep the good, discard the bad, but the first tot must definitely be discarded.

    

19. Take off your hearts – about 80 to 100 ml at a time. Do not let everything run into one container. You never know when your tails might start, or flavors might change. You don’t want to contaminate the good with the bad, so take it off in increments, and only add into the 1 lt measuring cylinder(s) or jars or bulk container if you are sure you are happy with the quality. If the quality is okay, but different, rather keep it separate.

    

20. Once you have removed about 550 ml of Hearts per 5 lt Fermentation, switch over to your Tails Tot Glasses or Cups. Fill them in the same way you filled the Heads Tot Glasses. Once you have filled them all, turn off your still.

    

21. Evaluate your tail fractions by smell and taste. If it is good, add it to the Hearts. If it is bad, don’t. Do not worry about alcohol percentage now – if it tastes watered down, that is fine. We are after flavor, aroma and mouth feel, not alcohol.

    

22. Once you have added in the tail fractions you like, measure the alcohol percentage and volume of your entire mix. Do the following calculation: V x MAlc% / 0.43 = WTA, where V is the Volume in litres or millilitres, MAlc% is the measured alcohol percentage in decimal form (so 65% becomes 0.65) and WTA is the water to add in litres or millilitres. This is a very rough calculation. For more accurate Calculations, refer to our Article on Dilution Calculations.

     

23. Add the calculated water amount using the Distilled Water. Make sure the water and alcohol are both approximately the same temperature. If you wanted to make Mampoer – your product is now done and you can proceed to step 25. If you want Brandy, go to the next step. If your product goes white or hazy, do not worry. This is the Louching Effect. Refer to the video below for more information on how to handle it.

   

    

24. Place the diluted product in a bottle and add the French Oak Chips. Seal the bottle and leave it for 5 to 10 days, shaking the bottle a couple of times per day. After 5 days, start checking the smell and taste. Evaluate the level of Wood and Sherry Notes. Once you are happy with the level of woodiness, pour it through a couple of Coffee Filters to filter out the wood and dust. Remember not to try and copy the color of a commercial product – those colors are normally artificial.

    

NOTE: Step 22 and 24 can be swapped if you are in a hurry. Placing the Chips in undiluted alcohol will cause it to extract flavor, aroma, and color faster, but it is more difficult to get the right balance again after dilution, as you will dilute the taste as well.

    

25. If you want the product smoother, add some Invert Sugar to it – 5 to 15 grams per litre of product. A light honey will also work. Add small quantities at a time, dissolve fully, and then taste before adding more. You can always add more. You cannot take out.

    

26. Pour a double, no ice, no Coke, at room temperature. Sit back, smell it, sip it, keep it in your mouth, roll it around, swallow, breathe slowly and deeply through a slightly open mouth, and enjoy what you have made.

       

NOTE: This is only a basic recipe. Producing proper Brandy or Mampoer has much more detailed steps not discussed or mentioned in the above recipe. If you would like to learn more on processing fruit, important analysis and additions, proper fruit fermentations and distillation, and even enhancing the spirit further before bottling, you can join our Fruit Based Spirit Online Course.