Moonshine is a type of whiskey that is distilled from sugar and cereals or fruit crops. Distillation is the only way to make moonshine, and distillation in special cubes is the most popular method. The process occurs when the mash is heated in a large tank or tank. Vapors rise to a condenser, where they are converted to ethanol.
The consistency of the mash will affect the production of ethanol. A different ratio of products in the recipe for mash can radically change the taste and quality of moonshine. Different fermentation times and temperatures during cooking can also change the taste of the finished product. Therefore, it is extremely important to follow the instructions and fulfill all the requirements for preparing the drink.
Barley moonshine
To prepare a good product, it is best to use crops - barley, wheat, rye and so on. From one kilogram of barley, you can get up to 0.34 liters of finished moonshine. If you need to prepare 10 liters, you should clearly calculate the required amount of production.
Here, for example, consider how to make moonshine from barley with the addition of sugar, from 1 kilogram of which 0.51 liters of alcohol will be output. This is only 50 grams. Accordingly, for one hundred grams it is necessary to use 2 kilograms of sugar, and to get a moonshine yield of 10 liters of mash, you need to use 20 kg.
So, before you make moonshine from barley at home, you should stock up on all the ingredients. If barley is taken as the main component, then the raw material must undergo a preliminary processing step. What does it mean? And this means that you need to make malt from barley.
The next step is the preparation of raw materials.
To make moonshine from barley, the first thing you need to sprout the grain, that is, create malt. What it is? How and why to do it? The quality of the drink depends on how malt is prepared, how high-quality it is. Cooking malt includes several rules:
Sorting raw materials. A large mesh sieve can help with this. After this, the grain should be passed through a smaller sieve. Next, the grains are washed in hot water, heated to a temperature of 60 degrees.
After sifting and washing the raw material, it is soaked. It is better if this is done in a wooden or enameled container. During soaking, debris and husks will come up, after which they can easily be collected and removed. Just do not pour all the grain at once, as this will complicate the process of removing the remaining garbage. It is much easier to remove all the slag if it is placed in a container for soaking in small portions and left for several days. In this case, systematically change the water in the tank. To understand that the grains are ready, you need to take a couple of seeds and peel them off. If the grain bends easily and does not break, then it is ready for the next step - the cultivation of malt.
We grow malt
Grain malt is prepared in a special room where the air temperature cannot be lower than 18 degrees, and the humidity should not exceed 40%. Remember that preparing this component takes a lot of time. Sometimes this will take several weeks. It all depends on the type of grain, temperature and humidity in the room. The first seven days are considered especially important in cultivation.
Stages of making malt
Germinated grains are poured onto a baking sheet with a layer of 3 cm and covered with a damp piece of soft tissue. After that, all seven days the grain layer should be systematically ventilated and turned over. This is best done every 6-8 hours. At the same time, note that the material with which the grain is covered must always be wet. This means that it must be periodically moistened with warm water.
When the sprouts grow to 5-6 centimeters, and the roots increase to 15 millimeters and become intertwined with each other, with the preparation of malt should be completed.
Grain drying
Drying also takes time. The quality of vodka depends on this process. The grain must be placed on a baking sheet so that it dries. It is better to do this in the kitchen or where it is warm. After 3-4 hours, the pan must be taken out in the sun. If moonshine is prepared in the winter season, then the pan with grain should be placed in an oven with a temperature of no higher than 40 degrees.
How to determine how much grain should be in the oven? You need to take a couple of grains and rub against each other. If, after such manipulations, the roots easily fall off the seed, then it is ready and needs to be pulled out. After this, the grain should be passed through a colander and the finished raw materials should be placed in a container, which should be tightly closed and put in a secluded place until the malt is prepared.
By the way, malt must first be filled with water at a temperature of about 65 degrees. Here, the raw material is aged 10-12 minutes, after which the liquid is drained. Next, the grain must be crushed using a coffee grinder and pour the resulting mass with water, only with a temperature of 50-55 degrees. Everything must be thoroughly mixed, and to obtain a homogeneous mass, it is recommended to beat with a mixer. The result should be a composition that resembles sour cream in consistency.
Fermentation
The whole process, from the very first step, begins with the preparation of all the components that, as a result of fermentation, turn into mash. As far as it turns out high-quality, so will be high-quality moonshine. Everything depends on it: both taste, and strength, and smell. Fermentation implies a rather serious process of a chemical reaction, which completely depends on the temperature and concentration of the incoming products. If you describe all this more clearly, it is worth saying that at the time of fermentation the sugar breaks down, forming instead ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide, which causes fermentation. In this case, temperature plays an important role. And if it’s even more understandable, then a good mash is obtained only if in the room where the fermentation process itself takes place, the temperature is from 18 to 24 degrees.
Help: you can not make moonshine from barley without sugar!
The prepared mixture is placed in a container and left in a warm room for 14-15 days. Braga should be shaken systematically with daily sediment removal. So that midges and debris do not get into the container with the liquid, at the time of fermentation it must be covered with a gauze piece so that all the edges fit snugly on the surface of the dishes.
Help: you can make moonshine from barley without yeast. They can easily be replaced with cereal mash formed during germination of grains.
How to find out that the fermentation process is over?
Check if the fermentation process is over? very simple. To do this, light one match and hold over the surface of the mash. If the match goes out, then the fermentation process has not ended, and you will have to wait.
But if the lit match does not go out, it means that the barley from barley for moonshine is already ready. It is better to fill it on the same day in the moonshine for the last stage, that is, for the stage. Using this method, you can get ready-made alcohol called moonshine, or as they say, home fire water, that is, vodka. Check how many degrees, you can use an alcohol meter. You can also take a few drops of the finished product to the bottom of the spoon and light. If there is enough alcohol in the resulting substance, the contents of the spoon will light up.
But only professionals can resort to this method of measuring the degrees of the resulting moonshine. If you are new to this business, then it is better to use an alcohol meter for this. As soon as the mash was processed and turned into moonshine from barley and sugar, it must be cooled and cleaned of tar and turbidity.
Help: making moonshine from barley will not be difficult, if everything is done strictly according to the instructions.
Cleaning moonshine from resins and sludge with milk
In a container with moonshine, you need to pour one liter of milk, as a result of which the alcohol becomes cloudy. But do not be alarmed, as already on the third day, sewage will fall into the sediment, and the liquid will become transparent, like a tear. The main thing is to carefully pour clean moonshine, and just pour out the sediment.
Cleaning moonshine with coal and cotton
To do this, you will need a lot of cotton wool and charcoal powder. Cotton wool must be rolled up, and coal powder sprinkled between its layers. After that, the cotton wool is folded neatly and rammed tightly into a watering can, which with a home-made filter is put in a clean container, where ready vodka is poured slowly. The cotton filter can be changed several times. It all depends on what kind of moonshine came out? and how much the cotton filter is dirty.
After cleaning, homemade vodka is ready. It can be served at the table. If the preparation of moonshine from barley is treated correctly, the result will exceed all expectations. Such a drink, pleasant in taste, pure as a tear, is not ashamed to treat the most dear guest.