Plum Brandy (Slivovitz / Šljivovica) is a wash recipe targeting original gravity 1.060 with a crushed plums (damson / stanley / european prune-plum) bill. Use it as the starting fermentation for brandy 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.
Balkan tradition (Serbian, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian). “Slivovitz” / “šljivovica” / “slivovica” — same spirit, different spellings. European prune-plum varieties (damson, Stanley, Mirabelle) carry the most character. Long pulp contact (21–42 days) extracts deep fruit — the slivovitz character lives in late hearts.
PIT WARNING: Plum kernels contain amygdalin which hydrolyses to hydrogen cyanide. Tradition tolerates SOME pits for a delicate almond / marzipan note, but commercial slivovitz is pitted. Pit at least 95% — a handful of cracked pits is the most you should leave.
PRE-FERMENT: Pit plums (mostly), crush pulp, add Campden 24 h before yeast (skip if wild-fermenting traditionally), add pectic enzyme 12 h before pitch.
FERMENT: 21–42 days on the pulp — long extraction is part of the spec. Some traditional recipes ferment 6+ weeks. Wild ferment from skin yeasts is the old way; modern Lalvin 71B is more reliable.
DISTILLATION: POT STILL, double-distilled traditionally. First strip to ~25% low wines, second to ~60–70% then proof down. WIDER CUTS than pear/apple — slivovitz character lives in the late hearts. Hearts collected to ~50% ABV off the spout.
AGING: White (unaged) slivovitz is traditional and is the most common style. Aged versions use oak (often used wine barrels or new American oak) for 1–5 years — gives amber colour + vanillin marriage.
GOTCHAS: DO NOT leave more than ~5% pits. Long ferment on skins is correct — don’t bottle-ferment style this; pulp contact is the whole point.
Source: HD forum + Eastern European distilling references. Typical OG 1.055–1.065, FG 0.995, wash ABV 7–9%.
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.