To get excellent moonshine you need to know all the intricacies of moonshine. Basics of moonshine brewing at home
It seems like everyone knows about moonshine, a strong alcoholic drink. And many people mistakenly believe that moonshine “loses” in quality to more noble drinks. In fact, this is absolutely not true, because if everything is done correctly, following the technology of each stage without violations, you will get an ideal product - transparent, strong, and most importantly - your own!
Homemade moonshine recipes are very diverse, because the peculiarity of the drink is that it can be prepared from a wide variety of raw materials. Grain, berries, fruits, vegetables, all kinds of jams, tomato paste, starch and even candies - all of the above are suitable for infusing mash and subsequent distillation, while each type of raw material makes it possible to prepare a certain type of moonshine. From grains you will get a strong and strong drink, from berry mash - a more aromatic one, the main thing is that the raw materials are of high quality. So, choose any of the methods we suggest and get started!
Moonshine from sugar
You will need 3 kilograms of sugar, 15 liters of water and yeast (100 g). Mix the ingredients and leave for a week. Next is distillation in the apparatus. To improve the taste and give a pleasant aroma, you can put a few currant leaves or a bunch of dry fragrant dill in the mash before infusion.
The given recipe for sugar moonshine is an example of how you can make a strong alcoholic drink yourself from a minimum set of products.
Recipe for making moonshine without yeast
1 option
In this case, the main component will be the well-known tomato paste. So, take a liter of paste, stir it with sugar, dilute the resulting slurry with water and add any beer there. Infuse the resulting mixture in a warm place until the mash ferments. And only then do we distill it.
You will need 5 kilograms of sugar, 15 liters of water, and 0.25 liters of beer.
Option 2
Grind candies (three kilograms) with any fruit filling, then transfer the entire mass into water, stir, and leave to ferment for about 5 days. Then we do the distillation. Water consumption - 20 liters.
Recipe for making moonshine from jam
You can use any jam (raspberries, currants, blueberries, strawberries), as long as it ferments. For 3 liters of jam we take 1.5 kilos of sugar, 15 liters of water (necessarily warm), 100 g of yeast. Mix and place in a warm place. After 5 days we distill.
Moonshine from potatoes
This recipe is labor-intensive, and it is very important to withstand the technological subtleties of the process.
Required:
- 10 kg of potatoes;
- 4 kg of oats;
- yeast (approximately 600 g);
- water (38-40 liters).
Grind the oats and pour boiling water over them. Grate the potatoes, then add them little by little to the oat mixture, stirring constantly. Leave for three hours, then gradually add water and yeast and stir. Close the tank tightly with a lid and place it away from light. As soon as sediment and bubbles appear in the container, it’s time to distill.
Moonshine from honey
The main component of honey mash is, of course, honey. You will need three kilograms of it. In addition, you will need the same amount of sugar, 300 g of yeast. Water is also used in this recipe; you will need twenty liters of it.
We mix the two main components - sugar and honey in water, then add yeast to the mixture, mix everything thoroughly and set it to ferment. After a week, the finished honey mash can be distilled into moonshine.
Moonshine from corn
To get high-quality moonshine from corn cobs, you must first prepare the mash. To do this, grind the corn (about 8 kg), add 1 kg of wheat flour, mix everything thoroughly. For kneading, it is best to use a large enamel tank. Then add boiling water (35-40 liters) to the mass, mix, put the tank on the stove and cook for about 4 hours.
Next, cool the mixture, add barley malt (1 kg), mix and leave for two hours, after wrapping the tank with a blanket. Then cool the resulting mixture a little (to about 20 degrees), add 100 g of yeast, and let everything ferment for seven to eight days. Let's distill. The malt used is sprouted barley grains.
Bread moonshine
This recipe calls for the use of both bread and grain. Required ingredients:
- black bread (seven loaves);
- ten kilograms of boiled potatoes;
- sprouted grains of oats, barley or wheat (six kilograms);
- 1 kg of yeast.
Soak the bread in 10 liters of water, then grind the mass thoroughly. We also grind the grain and mash the potatoes until it reaches the consistency of porridge. Mix all the ground and mashed products together, add yeast and set aside the mixture to ferment. After 7-8 days, the mash can be distilled, and it is better to do this twice.
Recipe for making moonshine from grain
This recipe is also labor-intensive, but the resulting drink is strong and of high quality.
Take 10 kg of any grain, soak it in water for about two to three days, and then dry it until crisp. Pour the grain into a tank (preferably an enameled one), fill it with ten liters of hot water, stir everything well. After two hours, add another 10 liters of hot water and again leave the mixture for two hours. Then add cold water (2 liters), add yeast (500 g), and set it to ferment for three days. After fermentation is complete, the composition is distilled. To get better quality grain moonshine, you can distill it twice.
Wheat moonshine
This recipe uses regular wheat grain. The calculation is this: grind four kilograms of grain, add the same amount of sugar and water (three liters) and put it in a warm place. After five days, add another kilogram of sugar and warm water (18 liters), and leave everything for about seven days. The last stage is distillation (twice).
This recipe is often called classic, and it is the one that is most often used in practice.
Moonshine from sprouted wheat
The mash according to this recipe is infused with sprouted grains. It is convenient to germinate it on baking sheets - scatter the grain and fill it with warm water. During the germination process, we control the humidity, maintaining the ambient temperature no more than 17 degrees and turning the grain approximately every 6 hours. After about 8-10 days, the wheat grains usually germinate. Then we grind the grains, add yeast and water to the mass and leave until the contents ferment. The process will take about 6-7 days. We distill the product twice.
Product consumption:
- two kilograms of grain;
- water thirty liters;
- half a kilo of yeast.
Rye moonshine
To make rye moonshine, we first germinate the rye grains, then grind them and then dilute them with water. Stirring constantly, heat the mixture a little and bring it to a jelly-like state.
Then put the tank or large pan in a warm place for about ten hours. Next, cool the mixture to a temperature of about 17 degrees, add the yeast and set it to ferment. We distill it once.
Water is taken based on the amount of grain 1:3, yeast - 50 g per 1 kg of grain.
Recipe for making moonshine with pine nuts
In this case, distillation of the mash is not required. Take 3 liters of high-quality vodka or good moonshine, add 200 g of raisins, 200 g of peeled pine nuts. If you like tart drinks, you can add one tablespoon of dry oak bark.
To obtain a mild taste, it is recommended to add about 100 g of honey. Mix all the ingredients, pour into a jar, roll up the lid and put in a cool place for 1.5-2 months. After standing, there is no need to distill the drink; simply filter it through a strainer or cheesecloth. Moonshine with pine nuts is ready!
Moonshine with prunes
To prepare such a fragrant moonshine tincture, you will need half a kilo of prunes. There is no need to remove the bones. We thoroughly wash the prunes, fill them with moonshine (6 liters), and let them sit for a month. Then filter the drink. Moonshine infused with prunes is ready for use.
Moonshine from millet
We take two three-liter jars of millet and cook it until the cereal is completely boiled. Cool the porridge a little, add two kilograms of flour and warm water to make a porridge-like mixture. Carefully dilute 200 grams of yeast in water, add it to the resulting porridge with millet, and mix.
We let the contents ferment. After five to seven days, we distill the finished mash, and it is better to do a double distillation.
Moonshine with cranberries
You cannot make moonshine directly from berries. But cranberry tincture with moonshine is very popular.
This will require 4 liters of strong, high-quality moonshine, two kilograms of cranberries, and a quarter kilogram of sugar. Add moonshine to the berries, add sugar, mix everything. To ferment, put the mash in a dark place and keep it there for three months. After the expiration date, the aromatic cranberry infusion can be consumed.
Rice moonshine
You will need three kilograms of rice (long, round - it doesn’t matter), three full glasses of any sprouted grain (malt), two hundred grams of yeast.
Add warm water (8 liters) to the boiled rice (do not drain), cool slightly, add ground sprouted grain. We leave the mixture for 10 hours, pour the already diluted yeast into it and let it ferment for a week.
After 6-7 days, carefully filter the mass, then distill it. From this amount of ingredients, approximately 3.5 liters of moonshine is obtained.
Apple moonshine
To prepare a strong alcoholic homemade drink, you can use apples of any variety.
Peel the fruits (10 kg), grind them, and place them in a container. Add sugar (calculation: 150 g per 1 kg of apple mass), leave to ferment for five days. Then we filter the mixture, add sugar (150 g per 1 liter) to the resulting liquid mass, and set it to ferment again, this time for two weeks.
We distill the resulting apple mash twice, after which excellent moonshine will be ready.
Moonshine from peas
First grind the peas into flour, then boil them. Cool the resulting mass, add malt (3-4 cups), mix and leave for 8 hours. Then add the yeast and let it ferment for a week. In some cases, fermentation can last up to 10 days.
After fermentation, we filter the mash and distill it once.
Consumption: peas - three kilograms, 200 g of yeast, sprouted grain (malt) - 3 glasses, 10 liters of water.
Moonshine from wine
The recipe for making wine moonshine is simple. We take 10 liters of any quality wine, pour yeast into it, cover the tank with gauze or tie it with a towel and put it in a warm place. After 6-7 days, the mash should be ready, and after that we will distill it into moonshine.
Moonshine from beer
Good moonshine can be made from unpasteurized, so-called “live” beer. To do this, pour beer (5 liters) into a container, mix thoroughly, allowing all gases to escape. As a result, there should be no foam at all. Next, we do the first distillation, add a little water (about half a liter) to the resulting distillate and distill again. After this, we leave the product for three days, and the moonshine is ready for use.
Recipe for making odorless moonshine
Moonshine has a peculiar pungent smell that not everyone likes. To remove the odor, the drink should be cleaned.
Here are the ways we offer you for this:
- For three liters of finished moonshine, add 2 g of potassium permanganate. After some time, sediment will form in the drink. Carefully drain the moonshine, avoiding mixing the sediment into the purified liquid.
- Pour fresh milk into the prepared moonshine and distill it. Consumption: for 6 liters of alcoholic drink, take one liter of milk.
Moonshine from birch sap
For mash we take 15 liters of juice, three kilograms of sugar, yeast (100 g). Lightly heat the birch sap, then add sugar, stir, and then add yeast.
Let the mixture sit for a week, then filter and distill the liquid.
To improve the taste, before putting the resulting mass to ferment in a warm place, you can add cherry or garden currant leaves.
Rowan moonshine recipe
- We sort through ripe rowan berries and remove bad or damaged berries. Add sugar and water. Mix everything, add the yeast, stir the mass thoroughly again and only then let it ferment. Fermentation time is approximately two weeks. Next comes distillation. Product consumption: rowan - three kilograms, water - five liters, yeast - 100 g.
- In this recipe you will need to take berries, bread kvass instead of water, and yeast. Thoroughly crush the rowan, add yeast and kvass, mix. Then we put the mixture to ferment (about 6 days). We distill once, add moonshine (6 liters) and distill again.
Amount of products: kvass - five liters, berries - three kilograms, yeast - 50 g.
Apricot moonshine
From apricots, if all stages of the technological process are followed correctly, you can get a magnificent aromatic alcoholic drink.
Remove the pits from the apricots, grind them in a blender or meat grinder, add yeast, a little sugar syrup and let them ferment. After two or three weeks, filter the finished mash and put it on distillation. The best option is to distill two or three times.
Amount of products: apricots - 10 kg, sugar - 10 kg, water - three liters, yeast - 100 g.
Moonshine from barley
In essence, this moonshine recipe is the preparation of homemade whiskey, where the main raw material is barley grain. First, we germinate the grain (this takes from three to six days), then dry it and grind it. Next, pour boiling water for 10 hours, then add more water (the calculation is as follows: take three liters of liquid per 1 kg of ground barley), add yeast.
We set everything to ferment for about a week. Then we distill the mash twice.
Moonshine with dry yeast
Typically, dry yeast is used in combination with sugar, which then produces a better-quality drink. You will need a packet of factory-made dry yeast, five kilos of sugar and twenty liters of water.
Carefully dilute the yeast, mix it with pre-dissolved sugar and let the mixture brew for about ten days. Only after this do we distill the mash.
Malt moonshine recipe
Malt is obtained from sprouted grains of wheat, barley, and rye. In recipes with malt, you can avoid using yeast. Here's an interesting option:
- we germinate barley grains, dry them, grind them;
- prepare the brew: brew 200 g of fresh hop cones in hot water (2 liters), then strain the hop decoction, cool slightly, add three tablespoons of flour, stir, let stand for an hour;
- We take half a bucket of apples, add malt, steaming, warm water (to get a semi-liquid mass), then we set it all to ferment for about a week. Then we distill.
Moonshine on oak bark
Moonshine infused with oak bark has a pleasant aroma and beautiful color.
To prepare the drink, add dry oak bark to the prepared moonshine (approximately 30-50 g of bark per 1 liter). We insist at a temperature of 17-18 degrees for about a week, then filter and pour into bottles.
Moonshine made from flour
We dilute rye flour with water, then add yeast for fermentation and place in a warm place. After a week, perhaps a little more, the resulting mash is filtered and distilled.
Calculation of ingredients:
- 100 g yeast;
- For 1 kg of flour approximately 1 liter of water.
Banana moonshine
To prepare this exotic drink, take 1 kg of bananas, one pineapple, nutmeg (100-150 g), anise (120 g), sugar (100 g).
Peel the bananas and mash them into a puree with a fork. Peel the pineapple, cut the pulp into pieces, add sugar. Mix banana puree and pineapple pulp, add chopped nutmeg, and pour in moonshine (10 liters).
Leave for about 8 days, carefully filter. One distillation will be enough and your moonshine with a pleasant banana aroma is ready!
Mulberry moonshine
Good moonshine is obtained from mulberries (mulberries).
Mash 10 kg of berries, add sugar and yeast to the pulp. We put everything in a warm place, carefully monitor the fermentation process, stirring the mass during the first two days. Then we distill the mash.
You will need two kilos of sugar and one hundred grams of yeast.
Moonshine on rosehip
In this option, there is no need to distill the finished mash. Take five to six glasses of rose hips, add seven liters of water, mix the mixture.
Then add yeast (about 100 g) and sugar (4 kg). The fermentation period of the mass is about three months. After fermentation is complete, strain the liquid. Moonshine is ready to drink.
Persimmon moonshine
Grind the persimmons and squeeze out the juice. The next step is adding sugar and yeast. Calculation: for 10 liters of juice 1 kg of sugar and 50-80 g of yeast.
Let the mixture ferment in a warm container for about a week. We distill it in a still.
Herbal moonshine
Many people like to make moonshine using various herbs. This drink has a pleasant aroma, rich taste, and therefore is easy to drink.
- For six liters of moonshine we take dill (10 g), sage (100 g), coriander (30 g), rose hips (30 g). Fill the components with moonshine and leave for about five days. After standing, we distill the mass. After distillation, add sugar syrup (a glass) to the finished product.
- Take wormwood (20 g), mint (200 g), rosemary (15 g), cloves (10 g), fill everything with moonshine (12 liters), close tightly. We remove the container and leave for three days. After this, we filter the tincture and distill it once.
Grape moonshine
So, to make moonshine from grapes you will need:
- 10 liters of grape pomace;
- five kilos of sugar;
- yeast (100 g);
- 30 liters of water.
Gently pour the grape marc with water, let it sit, and add the rest of the ingredients. Stir the mixture constantly during cooking, then put it in a warm place. Exposure period is a week.
After this, we filter the mash and only then distill it. It is advisable to do the distillation twice, in this case you will get clear, tasty moonshine.
Moonshine recipe with pepper
It is impossible to obtain moonshine directly from pepper, but it is possible to impart certain qualities to the finished drink. This is especially important in cases where you want to get a drink with a beautiful color, without a specific moonshine smell, but with a pleasant aroma.
We take black peppercorns (at the rate of 15 g per liter), cloves (3 g per liter), ginger (10 g per liter). Add everything listed to the finished moonshine, let it sit for a week, and filter.
We have given only some recipes, but there are a lot of them. With a huge variety of options, everyone can find their own, most suitable, of the available products.
And having mastered the basics of moonshine brewing, you can experiment, coming up with new recipes for homemade moonshine. The most important thing is not to overdo it with drinking, remember that everything should be in moderation.
Connoisseurs of alcoholic beverages know how important it is for alcohol to be of high quality. Moonshine is a classic drink that you can make at home yourself from natural products.
You can give it any flavor you want. To get real high-quality moonshine, you need to strictly follow the preparation process.
Subtleties of moonshine brewing
Moonshine is a drink of Ancient Rus'. It was a must on any holiday table. In the 80s of the last century, the tradition of making this drink at home was revived in our country.
The ban on alcohol and the shortage of granulated sugar in stores prompted people to make moonshine from natural products. Grain crops began to be used most often.
In addition, grain-based drinks taste better than sugar-based drinks. It takes longer to prepare, but the result is a sweet-tasting alcohol that is easy to drink.
Preparing quality products at home is a very difficult task. It is necessary to approach this process carefully, observing all the subtleties and stages. Failure to follow the preparation rules can result in you ending up with a cloudy drink with an unpleasant odor and taste.
Classic cooking technology
Making moonshine takes up to two weeks. The entire process of moonshine brewing at home includes several stages:
- Selection of raw materials;
- Fermentation;
- Distillation;
- Cleaning;
- Introducing taste and aroma.
Selection of raw materials
The main criterion for this item is saving money. Sugar prices today are not cheap, so many are trying to replace it with other products that contain sugar and tannins. These products include:
- corn;
- sugar beet;
- potato;
- starch;
- berries and fruits.
Everyone chooses yeast according to their taste.
Fermentation
The main process in moonshine brewing is the fermentation of the product. The quality of the resulting moonshine depends on how it is organized.
Braga is made as follows. For 1 kg of sugar we take 100 grams of pressed yeast or 20 grams of dry yeast. Fill with 4.5 liters of water slightly above room temperature. Ideally, the temperature should be between 28 and 30 degrees.
You need to leave a little space in the jar, do not pour it to the very brim. Everything is thoroughly mixed. Dice the yeast into cubes and add to the water. Leave for thirty minutes until the cubes dissolve.
Shake the jar to mix the contents well. Crumble a small piece of cookie inside. This will help you avoid foam coming out. No need to stir. Insert a small plastic tube into the cap of the bottle.
Close the lid. Pour water into a small jar and lower the hose into it. Fermentation will begin in forty minutes. This can be seen by the bubbles in the small jar. The future moonshine is removed to settle for two weeks.
During the fermentation stage, certain rules must be followed:
- It is necessary to observe the temperature regime. At the very beginning, you need to make sure that the temperature is not too low. This may cause fermentation to stop. Fungi will not be able to die, but they will not develop either. At the same time, very high temperatures will lead to the death of fungi;
- The quantity of ingredients must be strictly observed. For example, not enough sugar will cause slow fermentation.
Distillation
The correct technology includes distillation of the product. Moonshine stills are used for this. By heating the mash, they release ethyl alcohol. Distillation is an important stage, but at home it is difficult to maintain the temperature regime for its implementation. The purpose of this stage is to separate the alcohol from other substances.
The first distillation is carried out at maximum power. The moonshine still tank is filled 2/3 full. As soon as the temperature reaches 89 degrees, the first drops will begin to separate.
During the first distillation, the “heads” and “tails” are not separated. This is due to the fact that during the boiling process the yeast emits a very unpleasant odor. The longer they cook, the worse it will become.
But there are often cases when the “heads” and “tails” are separated already during the first distillation. When the heat is high, the “heads” will come out first. They mean light impurities that begin to separate at a water temperature of 65 degrees. For every kilogram of sugar, up to 30 ml of impurities come out. You definitely need to get rid of them.
After the heads come out, heating continues. During this period, the bulk of the drink is separated. The distillation temperature should be 98 degrees. Once the temperature rises to 96, the “tails” or fusel oils will begin to separate. This is a particularly harmful part of moonshine.
During the first distillation, the “tails” are separated only from sugar-based mash. But in grain and fruit mash, these compounds give the aroma and taste of the drink. Therefore, they are not cut off in the first distillation.
“Tails” are not as harmful as “heads”, so they can not be thrown away, but can be used to add to the next mash.
Cleaning
After the first distillation is completed, the drink must be purified and prepared for the second distillation. This process can improve the quality of moonshine. You can clean it in several ways:
Many people use comprehensive cleaning using several options.
High-quality cleaning of moonshine is very important. It will not only add flavor to the drink, but will also relieve you of headaches and hangovers in the morning.
The purity of the product is best at a strength of less than 35 degrees. It is at this concentration that fusel oils are best separated. Before cleaning, the drink must be left for at least two days. Also, it should be at room temperature.
The fastest and most effective cleaning is done using activated carbon. The method of carrying out the procedure is as follows:
- a cotton pad is placed in the funnel;
- Next comes a layer of fine coal fraction;
- large fractions on top;
- then cotton pads.
Thus, you can clean the moonshine right away without additional difficulties.
If you want to purify with milk, it is best to do this after the final distillation. This is due to the fact that protein particles may remain in the drink, and when heated they will emit an unpleasant odor.
To clean 20 liters of a drink with a strength of 50 degrees, you will need a glass of milk. Take only pasteurized milk with a fat content of no more than 1.5%. The procedure is as follows:
- milk is poured into the moonshine and shaken well;
- close tightly with a lid and put away in a dark place for a week;
- The liquid must be mixed well for five days to ensure the milk reacts;
- For the last two days we leave the drink so that everything settles;
- filtration is carried out through layers of cotton wool.
This method is considered effective, since this is how purification is carried out in vodka production.
Secondary distillation
The second distillation is carried out in the same way as the first. The drink is heated, portions of 50 ml are collected for each kilogram of sugar. The process is carried out until the strength drops to 40 degrees.
Introducing taste and aroma
To improve taste and get rid of unpleasant odors, flavorings and additives are used. The taste is added to the drink by adding lemon and orange zest. A bitter taste can be made using vanillin and bay leaves. Cinnamon. Muscat will add a spicy taste to your drink.
Moonshine recipes
Standard
A classic moonshine recipe will require:
- 6 kg sugar;
- 25 g citric acid;
- 18 liters of water;
- dry yeast - 120 gr.
Three liters of water are poured into the pan and all the sugar is added. The water is heated to 80 degrees. The resulting syrup is boiled for 10 minutes. Next, add citric acid and cook over low heat for 60 minutes.
Add the remaining water and softened yeast to the cooled liquid to 35 degrees. Then the fermentation process begins.
To understand that the mash is ready for distillation, you need to observe the following signs:
- Appearance of alcohol odor;
- The surface of the mash becomes lighter;
- A precipitate appears;
- Bubbles and hissing disappear;
- The match does not go out over the mash.
Moonshine on oak bark
Moonshine infused with oak bark is similar to cognac. To prepare you need:
- 5 liters of jam or 5 kg of sugar;
- 15 liters of water;
- 350 grams of yeast;
- 50 grams of oak bark.
Oak bark is added at the rate of 50 grams per 1 liter of moonshine. The product is infused for about a week.
Homemade cognac
You can make delicious homemade cognac using moonshine. To do this, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and black tea, 10 black peppercorns, a pinch of vanillin, 6 bay leaves, and lemon zest to 5 liters of moonshine. The drink is infused for 10 days in a dark place.
Moonshine brewing technology is a very complex process that has its own subtleties and secrets. The nuances of preparing the drink come with experience, but if you listen to the advice and recommendations of those who have been preparing moonshine at home for a long time:
- For cleaning, it is best to use birch charcoal. This is what is used in water purification filters;
- to get a softer and more natural drink, brew wheat-based moonshine;
- Don’t skip a single step in preparing the drink. This may negatively affect the quality of the drink;
- if after cleaning the moonshine with milk a cloudy shade has formed, add a little orange zest;
- To get a quality drink, you need to take only clean water. If water is used from the tap, it must be left for at least 24 hours.
Once you understand the process of moonshine brewing, you can make natural alcoholic drinks to suit every taste at home. Using flavorings, you can make both cognac and tincture. There will always be bottles of high-quality and tasty alcohol on your holiday table.
All connoisseurs of homemade alcohol preparations know what moonshine is. This classic drink can be prepared independently, and you can make it taste varied, which will satisfy the requirements of any consumer.
And knowledge of the intricacies of the process and its constituent features will allow you to eliminate mistakes when making the right moonshine.
Home brewing
All residents of vast Russia, of course, have heard about moonshine. To some extent, it is the same symbol of the Russian people as nesting dolls, a bear or a balalaika. Russians affectionately call him simply “Sam” to foreigners.
However, it should be noted that the moonshine drink is popular not only in Rus':
- in Ukraine it is called gorilka;
- in Georgia and Abkhazia - chacha (grape moonshine);
- in the USA - moonshine;
- in Germany - schnapps;
- in Hungary - Polka.
Today there are many recipes for making homemade wine, which differ:
- constituent components;
- their quantitative ratio;
- the sequence of adding ingredients during the cooking process;
- time spent on fermentation;
- purity and transparency of the finished product.
As a rule, it takes an average of one month to prepare homemade Sam. This time depends on the fermentation period of the sourdough. The starter for moonshine is a ready-made homemade wine, it is called mash.
Making homemade mash
Before we learn how to brew moonshine, let’s learn how to infuse the brew at home. This wine can be prepared just from a mixture of sugar and yeast, it is considered the most popular home-brewed alcoholic drink. And there are many varieties of mash, depending on the ingredients.
Let's start the process of preparing it by studying the recommendations that will allow you to get this high-grade drink of the highest quality.
It is important to achieve an effect in which the infusion is transparent, without any foreign odors. Cook a little for the first time - if you succeed in the recipe and everyone likes it, you can aim for larger volumes.
Sequence of preparing homemade mash:
- take a perfectly clean and dry container (this can be a bottle, bucket or large jar);
- pour 2 kg of sugar into it;
- add 10 g of citric acid;
- dilute 200 grams of pressed yeast (or 40 grams of dry) in 6 liters of purified water;
- mix everything and leave to ferment at room temperature, closing the container with a water seal or pulling a rubber ball or glove over the neck;
- Fermentation of the product will be visible from the inflated ball, and to prevent it from bursting, the bottle must be shaken periodically.
To understand the exact calculation of the elements to be connected, you need to know that when using 2 kg sugar, as in our case, the output will be approximately 2.2 liters of brewed drink. There is no need to cook the mash; it is enough to let it sit for a certain time, periodically checking the taste. When infusing homemade wine it is important to guess the moment so that the mash does not sour. But this is not difficult to understand. If you like the result, pour the homemade wine into bottles, seal tightly and store in a cool place.
- mix all products;
- leave for a week in a warm place, covering the neck with a glove;
- After straining, you can begin the distillation process.
From the wort
This recipe is suitable for those craftsmen who have mastered the production of homemade alcohol using all of the above methods. It is especially painstaking and time-consuming. The raw materials for the preparation of such alcohol can be flour, grain, or any cereal - this is the basis of the wort. To receive it you need to do the following:
Such mash must be distilled not on fire, but in a water bath. After all, when cooking sourdough over an open fire, the thick mixture (porridge) will simply burn and spoil the taste and color of the future moonshine.
After repeated cleaning and boiling of the pervacha, the finished moonshine should be strained and can be tasted. The resulting drink in such a complex and extraordinary way can be used as an ideal basis for further preparation of cognac or whiskey at home.
We looked at only a few of the simplest recipes for making moonshine at home. When performing them, you should carefully study the recommendations below.
The beauty of homemade alcohol is that it is prepared only from natural products. After all, they make moonshine from almost everything that is at hand.
For this purpose, in addition to sugar, use:
- vegetables;
- berries;
- fruits;
- jam;
- candies.
You can use this universal product as a separate drink (we already know that it is called Sam), or you can make a more noble alcohol from it:
- cognac;
- whiskey;
- liquor.
Homemade moonshine may not work out the first time. Don't despair. Be patient. After gaining the necessary experience, you will be able to brew luxurious alcoholic drinks right in your kitchen.
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If there is a truly popular alcoholic drink in Russia, then, without a doubt, it is homemade moonshine. Such alcohol has several obvious advantages. Firstly, the availability and low cost of its ingredients. Secondly, complete safety. When you properly distill moonshine with your own hands, you can be completely confident in the quality of the final product.
Agree, it’s quite strange to talk abstractly about making moonshine. This process can and should be analyzed only from the practical side using the example of a specific recipe. With your permission, this article will discuss in detail the home technology for distilling moonshine from sugar and yeast. Moreover, this moonshine recipe is considered the most popular and even classic.
However, before we talk about specific actions, we will briefly touch on two important points, without which it will not be possible to brew high-quality moonshine.
1. A good product can only be obtained from quality components. There is no need to save on them.
2. All containers (pots, jars, bottles) that will be used in the production of moonshine must be truly clean. First, they must be thoroughly washed with hot water and wiped with a clean piece of cloth.
Action plan
The entire technology for preparing good moonshine can be divided into two large successive stages:
- obtaining high-quality mash;
- preparing the drink itself.
Remember, only if you strictly follow this technology will you be fully satisfied with the result of your work. In this case, the resulting moonshine will be much tastier and better than the vast majority of brands of store-bought vodka.
Getting mash
1. Preparation of ingredients.
We will need:
- granulated sugar – 4 kg;
- clean water – 12 liters;
- dry yeast – 80 grams;
- citric acid – 15-18 grams.
Particular attention should be paid to water. This is the key to the good taste of moonshine. If you have the opportunity, use well or spring water for our recipe. If you only have tap water, then put it in a bucket and let it sit for 2 days.
Remember, it is forbidden to distill or boil water, as this will result in loss of oxygen, and without it, complete fermentation is impossible.
Instead of 80 grams of dry yeast for making moonshine, you can use 400 grams of pressed yeast. It's not too important.
The final yield of moonshine from this amount of initial ingredients will be 4-4.5 liters. If you want to distill a larger or smaller volume of alcohol, you need to respect the above proportions and change the amount of raw materials used accordingly.
2. Inverting sugar.
Such a tricky name, at first glance, implies the usual preparation of sugar syrup using only citric acid. This process has specific objectives.
No matter how carefully you select granulated sugar, a variety of bacteria can be found on the surface of the crystals. When we make mash for moonshine, these microorganisms will begin to multiply in a comfortable, warm and humid environment. This is not hazardous to health, since during the distillation process they will all die. However, these bacteria will have a bad effect on the organoleptic properties (smell and taste) of moonshine.
In addition, inverting sugar can significantly speed up the fermentation process of the mash.
To prepare sugar syrup with citric acid, follow these steps. Pour 2 liters of water into an enamel pan of suitable size, place on low heat and heat to a temperature of 75-80 degrees Celsius.
Then carefully pour out all the prepared granulated sugar. Stir constantly. All crystals should completely dissolve and form a homogeneous mass with water. Bring the liquid to a boil and keep on the burner for 9-10 minutes. Don't forget to remove the white foam from the surface.
Add citric acid very slowly, reduce heat to low, cover the syrup with a lid and simmer for an hour. After this time, remove the pan from the stove and let it cool to a temperature of 28-30 degrees Celsius.
3. Connect the components.
Pour the cooled sugar syrup into a clean fermentation container. Pay attention to an important detail. The container should not be filled more than 75% or three-quarters full. For proper full fermentation, free space is necessary. Otherwise, when foam forms, the fermenting mash may overflow through the neck.
Now it's time to add the yeast. Don't just pour them into the fermentation container. Dry and compressed yeast have their own addition procedure. Follow the directions exactly. This will allow you to set the mash correctly, which will ultimately have the best effect on the prepared moonshine.
If you are using compressed yeast, it should first be completely dissolved in 200 ml of sugar syrup. To do this, pour the liquid into an enamel bowl. Add yeast to it and cover with another bowl. Wait until the characteristic foam begins to form. As a rule, 10-11 minutes is enough.
If you are using dry yeast, you must follow the instructions on the package. Most often it is enough to add them to a saucepan with a small amount of warm water at a temperature of about 35 degrees Celsius. Then you need to wrap the container in a towel or blanket and place it on the battery for 25-35 minutes. The signal that the yeast is ready will be the same foam cap.
Now all we have to do is pour the active yeast into the sugar syrup.
4. Fermentation.
To properly organize the process, we should use a water seal. You can buy it at any specialized store or make it yourself at home. If, when preparing moonshine, you have previously made a similar mash without using sugar syrup, then in this case you will be amazed by the pleasant aroma with caramel notes.
The fermentation tank should be placed in a room with a constant temperature of 25-32 degrees Celsius. Additionally, she should be wrapped in blankets.
The duration of this stage can vary greatly and take from 3 to 9 days. Twice a day you need to shake our container vigorously for a minute. By doing this, we will help remove excess carbon dioxide, which inhibits fermentation.
There are several obvious signs that make it clear that we can start brewing moonshine. These include:
- a bitter taste indicates that the yeast has completely converted the sugar into alcohol;
- carbon dioxide stopped being released and the gurgling of water in the water seal disappeared;
- sediment has collected at the bottom of the fermentation tank, and the mash closer to the surface has noticeably brightened;
- a pronounced alcohol aroma appeared.
Remember, before you start distilling moonshine, you must have 2, or preferably 3 of the listed signs.
5. Degassing.
Using a thin plastic straw, drain the mash and sediment into a suitable sized saucepan. Place it on the stove and bring it to a temperature of 48-52 degrees Celsius. By doing this, we destroy the last living yeast and eliminate excess carbon dioxide.
6. Lightening.
To carry out the clarification procedure, we need high-quality bentonite. This is the scientific name for natural white clay. Make sure that the bentonite contains no foreign impurities. Otherwise, the taste and aroma of moonshine will be completely ruined.
To lighten the resulting mash, it is enough to take 1.5-2 tablespoons of white clay crushed to a powdery state. Fill it with a full glass of heated water, stir thoroughly. After 12-15 minutes, bentonite will look like thick sour cream.
After this, add white clay to the mash and vigorously shake the container for 2-3 minutes. Then leave it for a day and proceed to distillation or distillation of moonshine.
This stage not only allows you to clarify the mash, but also acts as an important first stage in the purification of future moonshine. In this way we eliminate most of the harmful substances formed during the fermentation process.
Please note that remaining sludge must not be discharged into the sewer system. This can lead to blockage, which is then difficult to remove.
Distillation process
7. First distillation of moonshine.
We pour the mash, cleared of impurities, into a moonshine still (distillation cube). The task of this stage is to isolate ethyl alcohol from the mash. Some lovers of home brewing are accustomed to completing the production of moonshine at this point. It should be noted that the raw alcohol obtained as a result of the first distillation can indeed be drunk. However, the taste and aroma of such moonshine leave much to be desired.
Moonshine must be distilled over low heat. Get used to doing fractional distillation, that is, immediately dividing the resulting product into three fractions: heads (primary alcohol), body (raw alcohol) and tails.
In our case, the heads will be the first 200 ml of output, that is, 50 ml for each kilogram of granulated sugar used to make the mash. Pervak is an extremely harmful liquid that contains a huge amount of harmful impurities. Drinking it is strictly prohibited. It's best to just pour out the heads.
Our goal is precisely the second faction, which is usually called the body. During the distillation process, you need to carefully monitor the strength of the resulting alcohol. This is extremely important. The selection of this fraction should be stopped when the strength of the alcohol in the stream becomes less than 40-41 degrees. For accurate measurements, it is best to use an alcohol meter.
The last fraction is tails. It should also not be drunk. Tails contain fusel oils in large quantities. However, it is not necessary to pour them out at all. It is acceptable to use tails to increase the strength of the next batch of mash.
8. Cleaning.
You are free to choose any of them for this purpose. In my opinion, the best quality result is achieved by cleaning raw materials with coal.
Regardless of the method you choose, before starting the cleaning process, you must dilute the resulting raw alcohol with clean water to a strength of 16-20 degrees. This is a prerequisite for obtaining excellent results.
9. Second distillation.
The purified raw material must be poured back into the moonshine still. Immediately put it on the lowest possible heat. We split the fractions again. We select 200 ml of pervak.
After which we begin to select the homemade double distillation moonshine itself. The collection should be completed after the alcohol strength drops below 40-41 degrees.
10. Dilution.
This stage is mandatory only for those who want to get moonshine with an ethyl alcohol content of 40-42%, which is usual for most strong alcoholic drinks. Alcohol should be diluted with clean water.
11. Advocacy.
The last step remains to be taken before the long-awaited finale. It should not be ignored. It is the settling that allows you to maximally balance the taste of moonshine. Simply pour the alcohol into clean, pre-prepared glass jars or bottles. Seal them hermetically and leave them in a dark room for 3-5 days.
Now you know exactly how to properly distill moonshine at home.
In the last few years, in shopping centers you can find specialized stores selling goods for home brew. The increase in the number of such stores is due to a sharp decline in the quality of alcoholic products in the public retail chain. This article explains the basic principles ethanol synthesis or raw alcohol, which can become a good business in a BP environment. After reading it, you will understand what the quality of the resulting product depends on.
Ethanol synthesis or ethyl raw alcohol– a complex multi-stage process. At the first stage, it is prepared feedstock. It can be any product rich in sucrose or starch: sugar beets, grapes, potatoes, apples, halva, molasses, etc. The most common and well-known is sugar. Sugar is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:4, after which it is added to this solution yeast.
The quality of water and yeast determines how quickly you will get matured mash, suitable for distillation. When using tap water, it must first be boiled and cooled to remove the chlorine it contains.
Yeast, before adding them to the sugar solution, it is necessary to “revive” them - that is, place them in warm water (30-35 degrees Celsius) and keep them in this water for about half an hour until foam appears in the yeast solution. After this, the yeast is added to the sugar solution. For better dissolution of sugar, the water in which it is planned to be dissolved is preheated to a temperature of 80-90 degrees. (Or, what is more effective, they boil sugar in it for several hours to obtain the so-called “invert sugar”. In any case, after receiving the medium, it is cooled to a temperature of about 30 degrees. 27 - ideal conditions for the growth and functioning of yeast - approx. knowledgeable people.)
After adding yeast, the fermentation process begins, lasting several weeks with strict adherence to temperature and constant removal of carbon dioxide, which is formed during fermentation. When the temperature drops, fermentation stops, and when the temperature rises, the yeast may die. Therefore, the temperature must be strictly controlled. Thermostats for aquarium fish do an excellent job of this task.
A water seal is used to remove gases. The simplest design of the valve is a hose, one end of which is inserted into a fermentation tank, and the other into a jar of water. At the very beginning, the fermentation process proceeds rapidly, with abundant gas formation, so it is necessary to monitor the free flow of the hose.
The fermentation process is not fast and takes an average of 14 days. It can be accelerated by actively mixing the fermentable raw materials. During Prohibition, household washing machines were even used for this purpose.
Special yeast with the prefix “turbo” in the name is also available for sale. This means that yeast contains enzymes that speed up its growth. When using such yeast, a product ready for distillation can be obtained in a few days. At the end of this stage, the product should be mash - a low-alcohol raw material for the subsequent synthesis of ethanol. The strength of the mash, as a rule, does not exceed 14-16 degrees. Braga is a light translucent solution with yeast sediment in a fermentation container.
The next step is distillation or obtaining raw alcohol(moonshine). Yeast-filtered mash is poured into the distillation container and heated to a certain temperature. Vapors from the mash evaporating when heated pass through a coil tube lowered into cold water. During the heating process, the temperature of the mash begins to rise and when it reaches 65-70 degrees, the first drops of liquid with a characteristic pungent odor appear at the outlet of the coil tube. This is the so-called first"(first fraction), which is acetone.
« Pervach"is a strong chemical poison that can cause severe liver damage even in small doses. In industry it is used as a solvent called industrial alcohol. Collect it in a separate container. You will wipe the contacts with a thin layer. In general, it has a lot of uses, since it is a good solvent for fatty deposits. With a distillation cube capacity of 10 liters, you will get at least 200 ml of “pervach”.
When the temperature of the mash vapor reaches 73 degrees, the separation of the primary material stops and begins to flow out of the coil drop by drop raw alcohol, aka moonshine. The heat should be reduced, otherwise the mash brought to a boil will throw sedimentary yeast into the coil tube, which will give the drink a characteristic white color. The temperature on the thermometer stabilizes at 73.0-73.5 degrees and its further growth stops until the raw material with maximum strength is separated. As a rule, this is 40-60 degrees (depending on the initial strength of the mash).
As soon as an increase in temperature is recorded (over 74 degrees Celsius), further distillation must be stopped. If you continue the process while the temperature on the thermometer continues to rise, you will feel the characteristic smell of fusel oils, and the strength of the product will drop in parallel with the increase in temperature.
If you are interested in quality rather than quantity, then it is wiser to interrupt the distillation process at the very beginning of the temperature rise. Having opened the distillation cube, you will be surprised that a fairly large amount of mash remains in it (at least 1/3 of the volume of the cube), only now it is called not mash, but bard. This is a high-calorie raw material rich in enzymes, which in the old days was poured into the manger of cattle so that they would gain weight faster. How you use the stillage is up to you.
What to pay attention to. With a distillation cube capacity of 10 liters and a mash strength of 16 degrees, you should get about 4 liters of high-quality raw alcohol, requiring neither filtration nor re-distillation. This is with scrupulous adherence to the process. Where did the remaining 6 liters go? 200-300 ml – primary product, 4 liters of product, and the rest stillage. Don't mind 6 liters? It's a pity! From them you can get about 2.5 liters of moonshine with a strength of about 30%. True, this moonshine will have a strong smell of fusel oils and will taste unpleasant.
So, it’s a pity to pour out the bard not only for you. At distilleries, where the distillation stills have capacities 100-1000 times larger than yours, tens and hundreds of liters have to be drained of the first liquid and stillage. And these are losses. Therefore, it is not profitable for alcohol producers to produce high-quality products. That’s why the alcoholic drinks that reach the shelves are by no means of the best quality. Think about it. Take care of your health! Maybe buy some moonshine still- not such a bad idea?
Editor's note
We remind you that at this particular moment only the distribution of home-made alcoholic products is prohibited. For personal use, moonshine can be distilled calmly, but once you start distributing it, especially for money, and not “free of charge, as a service,” then that’s all, administration at a minimum.
UPD: in response to numerous comments
The article is for informational purposes only, intended to give a general idea of the processes that ensure the synthesis of raw alcohol. We deliberately do not consider private cases related to the industrial production of this substance, as well as special cases of manufacturing various wine and vodka products. Nevertheless, we cannot help but respond to the fair comments of our readers. Yes, yeast will most likely die at the specified temperature, since the optimal conditions for its existence are 27 degrees Celsius. Yes, invert sugar is a more efficient medium for their growth, allowing for greater production. Yes, alcohol is produced in production using hydrolysis and rectification methods. And the answer to many other statements is also “yes”. So thank you, dear readers, for fighting so zealously for the clarity of numbers and wording. We are grateful to you for your advice and will try to take them into account in our next articles on this topic.