At a time when you often hear about clandestine workshops where industrial alcohol is bottled, fake labels and excise stamps are glued on, and then a dangerous surrogate is massively put on sale, remembering old recipes for making home-made moonshine on grapes made from grapes will not be out of place.
In addition, if such alcohol is made for yourself and, as they say, for conscience, then after drinking it, your head does not hurt in the morning. Of course, subject to the measures in use and the correct cleaning technology.
Grape braga - An ideal raw material for producing wine alcohol, on the basis of which you can always make chacha, tinctures, cognac, brandy, grape vodka no worse, and maybe even better than many drinks with beautiful stickers available in retail.
Braga from grapes - especially the preparation of homemade moonshine
Braga can be prepared from any fruits and crops. It has long been noticed that the smell of moonshine contains the essential oils of those products from which the mash was prepared. Grapes and other fruits are an ideal raw material for making home-made raw alcohol. Essential (aromatic) oils, like alcohol, have a light molecular weight, have a “volatility”, and therefore, during distillation from the mash, they go into moonshine along with alcohol.
From fruit squeezes left after making homemade grape wine or juice, last year's jam, you can make good homemade moonshine. The smell of moonshine, the presence or absence of undesirable impurities in it depends on the quality of the raw materials for making the mash.
The second important point for obtaining alcohol from mash for grapes is the availability and low cost of raw materials. If you do not have your own summer house and grapes or other fruits grown on it, then buying fruits in the market or in the supermarket is not profitable. In addition, sellers often process fruit with hydrogen sulfide to increase their shelf life. Such raw materials must be washed, because hydrogen sulfide, passing into the mash, and then into alcohol, gives alcohol the smell of a rotten egg, which is unpleasant and harmful, spoils the product.
For the same reason, for the preparation of mash from grapes and dilution of the finished alcohol, only distilled water should be used after distillation. Tap water, even without a specific odor, contains impurities of metals and other elements, which, in combination with alcohol, can cause severe poisoning and various diseases. The addition of water to the mash is necessary to create a favorable humid environment, to regulate the acid balance in the grapes, because without the necessary pH level, fermentation will not start.
In the grape cake, after making the wine, yeast and a small amount of sugar still remain. These components are the basis of any mash. Fermentation occurs as a result of the vital activity of yeast.
Sugar processed by yeast is broken down into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The volume of the finished product and its strength depend on the amount of sugar and yeast, their ratio in a humid environment. Twenty grams of sugar processed by yeast gives 1% alcohol. It is estimated that 5 l of sugar produces 5 l of crude alcohol with a strength of 50-55%.
If, for example, 10 liters of water and 2 kg of sugar are added to the grape must, for distillation, it makes no sense to continue heating the wash after receiving 2.0 liters of moonshine, because this will reduce the strength of the alcoholic beverage. In addition, together with water vapor in the tank for alcohol, as a result, unnecessary impurities contained in the brew will begin to flow, which will adversely affect the quality of the alcohol.
Braga from grapes - the essence of the process of obtaining alcohol
Yeast, as mentioned above, produces alcohol as a result of fermentation, which, after fermentation is over, is distilled from the container with the brew into clean dishes. When the mash is heated, water vapor together with alcohol passes through the cooling system to a prepared, clean container. It is important to prevent boiling of mash from grapes during the distillation process. It is only necessary to warm it up to 90 C, because at this temperature water vapor is formed as much as possible. Alcohol has a lighter molecular weight than water. As a result of heating, he, together with water vapor, leaves the hermetically sealed reservoir with the washer through a cooling system, where the water again goes into a liquid state and flows through a hose (tube) to the raw alcohol tank. Molecules of water in a liquid state become heavier and carry alcohol along with them.
When distilling mash it is important to use high-quality moonshine stills. Some home distilleries, trying to save on the purchase of sealed containers, with a normal cooling system, "invent" their own distillation apparatus, but as a result receive smaller volumes of low-quality alcohol. A home distillery is not an expensive pleasure, and this is the case when you need to solve the problem: if you do it, then it’s good, but if it’s bad, then it’s better to abandon the idea at all - after all, it is not only about the strength of the drink, but also about its safety .
Further, the obtained moonshine is subjected to purification, after which it can be consumed or distilled again to get wine alcohol, or to prepare other, more interesting alcoholic drinks based on it. Everything is very simple.
How to cook mash on grapes?
In a large pot is placed fruit sourdough - wine production waste. This mass is combined with the right amount of sugar and poured with warm water. 300-500 g of grape pomace replace 100 g of alcoholic yeast. Grape cake should be fresh, with no signs of mold. Usually, the mash is prepared immediately after making the wort for the wine.
The sugar content in grape marc extracts (secondary raw materials) is negligible, since in the process of making wine all sugar has already been processed by yeast. If whole berries (primary raw materials) are used to make grape mash from grapes, then they are sorted and crushed to accelerate fermentation. When sorting, berries with signs of rotting and mold must be removed.
The sugar content of whole, previously unused berries depends on the grape variety. When using sweet grape varieties, it is not recommended to add too much sugar. Yeast with a high glucose content is sluggish. You need to add sugar taking into account the glucose content in grapes.
If you observe the correct ratio of sugar, water and wild yeast in the process of making mash from grapes, you can be absolutely sure that the fermentation stage will be successful and from the mash you will get high-quality raw alcohol.
Remember or write down:
3.0-3.5 liters of water (purified, but not distilled);
1.0 kg of sugar for grape meal, or 0.7-0.8 kg - for primary processing berries
0.3 - 0.5 kg of wild yeast (or wine starter).
For the preparation of mash from grapes there is no need to add "factory" yeast. Cooked mash is placed in a warm place. After 4-5 days, a foam should form on the surface, an acid smell will appear. At the stage of rapid fermentation, fruit particles will float to the surface. When sugar is fully processed, solids will begin to settle. The taste of mash at the final stage of fermentation becomes bitter, the presence of alcohol is felt. The whole fermentation process occurs within 10-15 days.
It remains to tightly seal the pan with the ready-made grape made of grapes, insert the distillation tube passing through the "refrigerator" into the opening of the lid and place the container on the stove for heating and distillation.
Grape Braga - Home Cleaning Technology
The alcoholized liquid obtained as a result of distillation of mash from grapes must be thoroughly cleaned without fail. Even the best moonshine based on fruit raw materials contains fusel oils, which give it an extremely unpleasant odor and are harmful to the body. It is better that the cleaning be multistage. Known folk methods of aging and filtering moonshine.
The first way.
After the first distillation, manganese crystals are added to the moonshine. For a bottle of 3 liters, a few crystals are enough (6-7 pieces). The alcoholic liquid is first painted in a bright pink color, then gradually becomes rusty, and sinks to the bottom in the form of a brownish clot. Moonshine after such cleaning does not have any smells, except for the characteristic smell of alcohol, it becomes completely transparent. If after the first cleaning it was not possible to achieve the desired result, then the process must be repeated.
The second way.
In a bottle with moonshine, put charcoal or activated carbon and stand it for 7-10 days, after which the drink is filtered and used for further preparation.
1. Braga from grapes - a recipe for Georgian "chachi"
Composition:
Grape cake 20 kg
Sugar 7 kg
Raisins 0.5 kg
Water 25 L
Cooking method:
The real "chacha" is not ordinary moonshine, but Georgian brandy, which, after distillation, is kept in oak barrels. But in ordinary home conditions, when grapes are also luxury, oak barrels have nowhere to take, much less. Therefore, we use small tricks.
To make the fermentation process go without problems, grind the raisins and prepare the leaven. Put it in a bottle, add a glass of sugar and pour warm water. Place the bottle in a warm place, wait for rapid fermentation. Further, the preparation of mash from grapes and distillation occurs in the same way as described above.
The trick is that after cleaning the resulting alcoholized liquid, you need to add oak bark to it. Cork jars with “chacha” and oak bark, wrap them with opaque paper or cloth, remove them from the light, and forget about them, at least for one year, or even better - for three, five or seven years. Patience will be fully rewarded with a great drink.
2. Braga from grapes - the recipe of the Italian drink "grappa"
Composition:
Wine Yeast 100 g
Water 24 L
Sugar 8 kg
Grape cake 5 kg
Cooking:
Grappa is an Italian brandy. The preparation of mash and its distillation in the first stage is no different from Russian moonshine or Georgian “chacha”, with the exception of one feature: the cooked mash is fermented during fermentation like wine, tightly corking it with a water shutter. The main secret of the Italian drink is that grapes are used to make mash, which contain a sufficient amount of juice - the taste and aroma of the future drink depends on it.
After the fermentation is completely stopped, the mash is distilled, the resulting alcohol is purified and insisted on cherry branches. Grappa with a sweet taste is especially popular, so add sugar syrup to it during aging. To withstand the drink you need at least six months.
3. Braga from grapes of a muscat grade with orange peel
Composition:
Grapes (white muscat with sugar. 35-40% m3) 10 kg
Orange zest (fresh or dried)
Citric acid 20 g
Sugar 6.5 kg
Water 20 L
Activated Carbon 20 Tablets
Cooking method:
Sort and chop the grapes using any of the available methods. Add sugar, citric acid, zest of oranges to it. Put the prepared mixture in a stainless pan (40 l). When fermenting, there should be free space in the pan so that the mash does not run away (at least ¼ of the total volume). Put the pan in a warm place, eliminate the presence of drafts. Pour in warm water, mix and wrap the dishes with something warm. Observe for 3-5 days, mix. After the quiet phase of fermentation begins, you can stop by the tenth day. As soon as the berries settle to the bottom, try the mash. Readiness for distillation is determined by the absence of gas bubbles and the appearance of bitterness.
Proceed with distillation (see process description above). If it turns out that the turbulent phase of fermentation did not start after a week, then take 2-3 liters of mash, warm it to 25-30 C, and add 200 g of alcoholized yeast. In this case, the entire fermentation process will last longer.
After distillation, pour the obtained moonshine into bottles, and put 10 tablets of activated carbon in each of them, after grinding them. Insist a week. It is advisable to shake the bottles periodically. After filter.
Grape Braga - Useful Cooking Tips
Often at home in the manufacture of moonshine there are no measuring devices, and therefore there are difficulties with checking moonshine for a fortress. You can use proven folk methods to determine the strength:
If, for example, 5 kg of sugar was put in a container for making mash, for example, 5 liters of moonshine should be taken during distillation. Its strength will be at least 50%.
Dial a room temperature alcoholic beverage into a tablespoon and light a match. If the strength is below 40%, then such a drink will not catch fire. Intense blue flames indicate a high strength drink.
If the fortress of moonshine was lower than planned, do not rush to get upset. It can be repeatedly distilled, and by reducing the volume of the outgoing liquid by 2 times, you can get an alcoholic drink with an increased alcohol content, also 2 times.
