Apple Pie Moonshine is a wash recipe targeting original gravity 1.075 with a apple juice / cider + white sugar bill. Use it as the starting fermentation for moonshine runs in Broover, or as a reference template for your own variation.
Sugar bill, yeast, nutrient, target original gravity, and fermentation temperature band. These values pre-fill the New Wash form so you're not retyping them every time you start a fermentation.
Two-phase recipe — a cider wash distilled into apple eau-de-vie, then post-distil infusion with apple juice, cider, spices, and brown sugar to recreate the apple-pie character. Final bottling is a liqueur (22% ABV) not a spirit.
PHASE A — CIDER WASH: Use PRESERVATIVE-FREE pressed apple juice or cider. Potassium sorbate / sodium benzoate kill the ferment dead — check the bottle. Top up to 25 L with juice (preferred) or water if juice volume short. Add sugar to lift OG from juice’s natural ~1.045 to ~1.075. DAP for nitrogen — apple juice is nitrogen-poor and ferments stall without it. Cool ferment (18–22°C) preserves apple esters. 10–14 days.
DISTILLATION: Pot still, single spirit run preferred — preserves apple character. Yield ~2.5 L at 50% ABV. Wide hearts cut. METHANOL WARNING: pome fruit (apple) produces methanol from pectin. Don’t skimp on foreshots / heads cut — discard first 50 mL per 25 L wash + heads until ester smell is clean.
PHASE B — POST-DISTIL INFUSION (per 1 L of 40% distillate): Gently heat (do NOT boil) 1.5 L apple juice + 500 mL cider + 200 g brown sugar + 3–4 cinnamon sticks + 4–5 whole cloves + 1/2 vanilla pod to ~70°C, simmer 20 min, cool fully. Combine with the distillate. Rest 2 weeks minimum (6 weeks better). Strain spices before bottling. Final ABV lands ~18–22%.
GOTCHAS: Preservative-treated juice kills ferment. Boiling infusion drives off aromatics + turns cinnamon bitter. Ground cinnamon → cloudy bitter product — whole sticks only.
Source: HD forum + Clawhammer Supply blog. Folk recipe with regional variations.
Broover is the workflow app for craft and home distillers — track every wash, distillation run, and bottled lot from a single screen with full provenance from kettle to bottle. Clone this recipe to your account and Broover pre-fills your next wash from these settings; strip and spirit runs link automatically, and the bottled lot at the end traces all the way back to this recipe.