How to make mash for moonshine from sugar: the best recipes

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Moonshine is a strong alcoholic drink that is produced at home from mash. Making moonshine is not the prerogative of only Russian people. In fact, strong alcohol for own consumption is produced in almost all countries. Not everywhere this process is not against the law. But in our country it is allowed to produce alcohol in small quantities for personal consumption.

Good moonshine can only be obtained from high-quality mash. The simplest home brew recipe for moonshine is from sugar and yeast. Although there are many other options.

What mash is made of

The most popular mashes are sugar and wheat (cereal). In such recipes, the availability of raw materials and simple fermentation technology captivate. However, many people make more interesting raw materials for the production of moonshine, for example, from fresh fruits and berries, vegetables, candied jam, peas. beekeepers activelyuse honey. A couple of decades ago, all distillers were fond of distilling strong alcohol from raw materials obtained from inexpensive sweets - sugar "pillows" with jam.

Today, with the advent of the fashion for craft brewing and making unusual alcohol at home, distillers are carried away by making strong drinks with exotic additives - unusual fruits, spices and seasonings. However, for the most part, such components already get into ready-made strong alcohol, where they give their taste and aroma to the drink by extraction. Moonshine itself is still made from traditional mash, most often using only two components - sugar and yeast. If you adhere to the classic recipe and do not violate the production technology, then it is from such raw materials that high-quality home-made alcohol will be obtained - strong, transparent, with a minimum amount of fusel oils.

How to make brew for moonshine from sugar and yeast? There is one basic recipe and many variations. After all, any mash contains these two ingredients. It is they who form alcohol, which, by distillation, turns into a strong drink.

Proportions

Making mash is a simple process. There are only three basic ingredients: sugar, yeast and water. But everyone cares about the right proportions. Braga for moonshine from sugar during fermentation should work out the entire resource. That is, the sugar must all break down and, under the influence of yeast, turn into alcohol. If there is not enough yeast, this will not happen. And it turns out thatsome of the sugar was wasted.

If you add too much water, it increases the distillation time and energy costs. The cost of alcohol is increasing.

All of these problems can be avoided if you choose the right proportions of water, sugar and yeast. Braga for moonshine, with the right ratio of all components, turns out to be light, with a hoppy aroma and a characteristic bitter taste. All sugary substances in it are processed into alcohol.

We bring to your attention a table of the ratio of the main ingredients.

Sugar, kg	Water, l	Yeast, g	Tank volume, l
1	4	20	8
2, 5	10	50	15
5	20	100	30
7, 5	30	150	40
10	40	200	50
20	60	300	80
25	100	500	150
45	180	900	225

According to the basic recipe, the correct proportions of the main components are 1:4:20. This means that for every kilogram of sugar (or equivalent raw materials) you need to take 4 liters of water and 20 g of live yeast. Depending on the required volume of alcohol and the capacity of the fermentation tank, the number of components can be increased or decreased, keeping the same proportion.

Braga for moonshine from sugar and yeast after distillation turns into a strong distillate with a mild taste. With the full production of sugary substances, each kilogram of sugar turns into one liter of alcohol with a strength of 40%.

Moonshine making equipment

To make brew for moonshine from sugar and yeast, you need to acquire a minimum set of equipment for moonshine. It is better to do this in advance so that at the last moment you do not run around the shops in search of the right things. To make strong alcohol you will need:

1. Fermentation tank (you can read about how it should be below).
2. Waterlock. This is a device for removing carbon dioxide. It also prevents oxygen from entering the mash and prevents it from sour. A water seal can be made independently - from a syringe, a rubber glove, cotton wool and other improvised means. You can buy ready. Its price is 200-300 rubles. There are also fermentation tanks already equipped with a water seal.
3. Silicone hose - for pouring raw materials from one container to another.
4. Wadding, gauze, filters - for filtering liquids.
5. Moonshine still.
6. Alcoholometer. With it, you can control the distillation process, as well as bring the resulting alcohol to the standard 40%.
7. Containers for the resulting alcohol - bottles with a tight lid.

Container for fermentation

Those who want to start making brew for moonshine (from sugar and other raw materials) need to get a suitable fermentation tank. Most people use any suitable capacity container. However, not all of them can be used to ferment foods.

Usually mash is placed in tanks made of the following materials:

1. Stainless steel. Robust, heavy and expensive container. Braga ripens perfectly in it, however, in order to rearrange the vat, you will have to first drain all the liquid. If finances allow, then it is on it that you should stop your choice.
2. Food grade plastic. Very light, inexpensive tanks. On sale you can find containers of any configuration and volume. Almost all distillers use plastic tanks. They have few drawbacks, and all of them are easily covered by a low price.
3. Glass. Glass containers are a great option for producing goods. The material is inert, easy to clean, and can be sterilized if necessary to keep out wild yeast strains. The only negative is fragility. In addition, it is rare to find large glass containers.
4. Oak wood. It is pointless to ferment raw materials in oak barrels. After distillation, almost allsubstances extracted from the wood will evaporate. And the container itself will be saturated with a characteristic yeasty smell. In oak barrels, it is better to infuse ready-made strong alcohol, which will somehow justify the high cost of such a container.
5. Aluminum. It is better not to use tanks made of this metal for fermentation. Aluminum easily reacts with foreign substances and forms harmful impurities.

Thus, the moonshiner has only two options: a stainless steel tank or a plastic container.

The volume of the fermentation tank should correspond to the volume of the distillation cube in the moonshine, plus 15% for foam.

Sugar, yeast and water

How to prepare the right mash for moonshine? Sugar, yeast and water make excellent raw materials. But in order for it to fully meet all the requirements, you need to take suitable products for its preparation.

Sugar can be used any. To reduce the cost, you should take the cheapest one. Some people experiment with different types of brown cane sugar. It doesn't make sense, because most of the time it's just regular sugar, just a little colored with dye.

Water for mash is taken the purest of all possible options, for example filtered, well or at least bottled. Tap water should only be used as a last resort, when there are no other options, as it is very hard and contains a lot of impurities.

To make the right brew for moonshine from sugar, you need good yeast. They break down sugary substances and turn them into alcohol. What is the best yeast to use? There are several options that can be compared in terms of cost and quality, namely:

1. Alcoholic. They appeared on the Russian market not so long ago, but have already firmly occupied their niche. When using alcohol yeast, the strength of the mash increases to 14%, and the ripening process is faster. In addition, alcohol yeast is not too sensitive to temperature and creates less fusel oils. Consumption of alcohol yeast - 100 g per 6 kg of sugar. Representatives - "Turbo 48", "Alkotek", spirit yeast produced in Belarus.
2. Wine. High quality and more expensive than alcohol. The difference in price can be from 100 to 1000%. However, wine yeast is considered a more professional product. They are used in home distilleries by true masters of their craft who know exactly how to use this product. The disadvantages of wine yeast are the high cost and more complex fermentation technology. Well-known representatives - "BirWengem", "Vinomax".
3. Bakery. In our country, for a long time, baker's live yeast was used for the production of mash. Unfortunately, they are at the bottom of this list. The strength of the mash when using baker's yeast is reduced to 10-11%, the yield of pure alcohol is much less. In addition, baker's yeast forms a lot of fusel oils, the smell and taste of moonshine deteriorate significantly. Many novice distillers are interested in how to make mash for moonshine from sugar and dry baker's yeast. Theoretically, such a product is intended for accelerated maturation. But in practice, it gives an unstable foam and insufficient activity for the processing of all sugary substances. So dry yeast is better not to use at all.

Invert

How to make a quick brew for moonshine? Fructose and glucose are first formed from sugar and yeast during the splitting process. And only then the second stage begins, when sugar compounds turn into alcohol. To speed up the ripening process, the breakdown of sugar into simple compounds can be done in advance. Thus, the duration of maturation of the mash is reduced, and the output is a better product. This can be done by first inverting the sugar.

Some distillers consider inversion a waste of time. But in practice, this process provides many advantages, namely:

• Accelerating the maturation of mash - by 4-5 days.
• Fewer fusel oils are formed in raw materials.
• Sugar is processed thermally, because of which any harmful microflora dies in it. Less risk of introducing wild strains of fungus into the tank.

However, there is a downside. When inverted, the yield of pure distillate is reduced by 10-15%, moreover, this process will take a couple of hours.

Inverting is done like this:

1. Heat water to 50 ⁰C.
2. Pour sugar in small portions and stir constantly tothe crystals were dissolved. Otherwise, they may sink to the bottom and burn.
3. After the sugar dissolves, the liquid must be heated to 72-75 ⁰С.
4. Pour in citric acid.
5. Heat the syrup to 80 ⁰С.
6. Refrigerate.

For every kilogram of sugar you need to take one liter of pure water and 4 g of citric acid. Inverting is not a mandatory process. In most cases, distillers put ordinary sugar or equivalent raw materials in the mash.

It must be remembered that when preparing an invert syrup, water must be taken from the total calculated volume for making mash. And at the final mixing of the ingredients, proportionally reduce its volume.

Cooking process

How to make brew for moonshine? Sugar, yeast and water, taken in the correct ratio, will make an excellent product for distillation.

Cooking:

1. Prepare the fermentation tank - wash well and pour over with boiling water.
2. Heat clean water to 28-30 ⁰С.
3. Pour all the sugar (or invert syrup) into the vat. Stir carefully until the crystals are completely dissolved. When mixing, use only a clean tool, such as a ladle treated with boiling water.
4. Pour out 500 ml of liquid from the fermentation tank. Dilute the spirit yeast according to package directions. Usually they need to be left for a couple of hours in a warm and dark place so that they "play". The fact that the fermentation process has begun can be recognized by the foam that appears.
5. Pour the yeast liquid into the fermentation tank. Install water seal.
6. Put the vat with mash in a dark place with a constant temperature: +20…+30 ⁰С.
7. The ripening time will depend on many factors. Usually it is 7-12 days.
8. How to determine the readiness of mash for moonshine? From sugar and yeast, an alcohol-containing liquid should be obtained. In the process of fermentation, it is cloudy, with foam, and bubbles of carbon dioxide constantly come out of it. When the mash is ready, the liquid is clarified, and sediment falls to the bottom. The foam disappears, but the mash will have a characteristic hop aroma and bitter taste.
9. After the product has matured, it must be poured into another container using a hose so as not to touch the sediment.

Lightening

Is it necessary to carry out the clarification of mash for moonshine? A lot of fusel oils are formed from sugar and yeast during the fermentation process, which spoil the taste and smell of moonshine. Clarification significantly improves the quality of the finished alcohol.

For every 10 liters of liquid you need to take 2 g of gelatin. Then pour the required amount of gelatin with clean cold water at the rate of 200 ml per 1 g of gelatin. The product should be left to swell for about a day, every 5-6 hours it should be stirred and the water changed to fresh. After the gelatin swells, it is poured again, but with warm water, and sent to the fermentation tank. The clarification process takes three days. After that, the liquid can be removed from the sediment.

Acceleration of ripening

How to make a quick brew for moonshine? Braga from sugar and yeast ripensin 7-12 days. Sometimes she needs a little more time. However, there are ways to reduce the waiting time:

1. Using invert syrup (described above).
2. Adding crusts of black bread to the mash. They reduce foam and serve as an excellent nutrient for yeast.
3. Addition of tomato paste at the rate of 50-100 g for every 10 liters. Speeds up ripening by several days.
4. Using soaked peas as a fermentation catalyst. On pea raw materials, mash really comes faster. However, many distillers believe that the taste of the finished alcohol is noticeably reduced.
5. Mixing the mash with a clean tool at least once a day. Speeds up ripening by 15-20%.
6. Using more water. The proportions of sugar and yeast for home brew for moonshine are calculated for a certain volume of water. If you increase it, then the fermentation process will go faster, as the liquid will become less concentrated. However, the fortress will decrease and the yield of the finished product will decrease.
7. Using high quality, freshest yeast. It is this component that determines how quickly the fermentation process will proceed.
8. Soaked raisins - 100 g per 20 liters.
9. Jam - 100 ml per 10 liters.
10. Crushed unwashed seasonal berries - one handful.
11. Crushed m alt - 250 g per 10 liters.

There are other ways to accelerate maturation. For example, some moonshiners add specially processed … chicken manure to the mash. Most people are so doubtfulthe ingredients are repulsive, so we will not describe this method.

Distillation of moonshine

Preparing mash for moonshine from sugar is only half the battle. Next, you need to overtake the raw materials to obtain high-quality alcohol.

The distillation process is carried out in two stages. First you need to overtake all the liquid until the fortress drops to 20⁰. Then the alcohol-containing liquid must be cleaned with activated carbon, filters, soda, potassium permanganate, freezing or any other suitable method.

After that, you can start the secondary distillation. The first 40-50 ml for each kilogram of sugar or equivalent raw material is the “head”. Such alcohol is the most harmful, and it can only be used for technical purposes. The "body" is collected next, until the moment when the fortress falls below the standard 40%. Next, "tails" are collected, which can be used in the secondary distillation of the next batch of alcohol. This allows you to slightly increase the yield of the finished product.

There are many recipes for making brew for moonshine: from sugar, jam, berries, cereals, vegetables, honey and other foods high in carbohydrates. Below you can read some popular and tried and tested recipes.

Beginner distillers are interested in how to make mash for moonshine from sugar and yeast. We have already given the proportions of products for the basic recipe above. Other actions are also described. So to get a good mash, you just need to carefully follow the instructions.

Recipeapple mash

Each experienced distiller has his own recipe for the best brew for moonshine - from sugar, jam, honey or seasonal berries and fruits. Apple-based mash is recognized as one of the highest quality.

Ingredients:

• Apples sweet or sweet and sour - 15 kg.
• Clean water - 10 l.
• Sugar - 2.5 kg (if the fruits are sour and do not contain enough fructose and sucrose).

How to make brew for moonshine from sugar and apples? To do this, follow the following instructions:

1. Sort the apples, remove bad areas and turn into fruit puree. Fruits do not wash, so as not to remove natural strains of fungi.
2. Pour water with sugar and send to the fermentation tank. Install water seal.
3. Put in a room with a temperature of 18-30 ⁰С.
4. Apple must ferments for a long time - 30-50 days. When the gas stops emitting and the liquid brightens, you can drain it and start making vigorous apple moonshine.

Wheat

The recipe for brew for moonshine from sugar and wheat also does not include alcohol yeast. The fermentation process will go at the expense of the leaven. Connoisseurs note that wheat moonshine is softer, with a characteristic grain aroma.

Ingredients:

• Wheat - 2 kg.
• Sugar - 2 kg.
• Clean water - 15 l.

Cooking mash for moonshine from sugar and wheatso:

• Sort and rinse the wheat well to separate all foreign inclusions.
• Pour a third of the grain into a separate container and pour water. Wheat should be left covered for a couple of days until sprouts appear. This germinated grain will serve as a starter for the mash.
• Add 300 g of sugar to sprouted wheat, mix and leave in a warm and dark place for 8-10 days.
• Combine water, sugar, grain and sourdough in a fermentation tank. Install a water seal. Braga will be ready in 7-10 days.

From candied jam

Old jam can be safely recycled. Any variety can be used. But distillers note that especially good moonshine is obtained from mash, obtained on the basis of fragrant currant, bird cherry and cherry jam.

How to make brew for moonshine? Jam is first made from sugar and berries. It can be used both fresh and used old and candied. Braga must be prepared according to standard technology. For every 30 liters of water, you will have to take 5-6 kg of jam and about 200 g of alcohol yeast.

Candy

The raw material for mash is usually different caramel, which mostly consists of sugar. Before cooking, all sweets must be well kneaded or crumbled. The proportions of the ingredients are as follows: for 20 liters of pure filtered water - 5 kg of caramel and 200 g of alcohol yeast.

Cherry

Many novice distillers are interested in how to make mash for moonshine from sugar and berry juice. Make it prettysimple, although processing the fruit takes some time.

To make mash, you need to sort out 20 kg of ripe cherries and squeeze the juice from the berries. Then you need to add 2 kg of sugar (or an equivalent amount of invert syrup) and 200 g of yeast diluted in warm water to it.

Honey

There are many recipes for making mead. But for distillation, you can use the simplest, namely: mix 6 kg of honey, 50 liters of filtered water and 600 g of alcohol yeast.

Mead infused for about a week. It can be consumed as an independent low-alcohol drink or distilled into stronger alcohol with pleasant honey notes.

Beetroot

Every second villager knows how to make brew for moonshine from sugar and beets. This recipe is decades old and still in demand.

Ingredients:

• Beets chopped, boiled or baked - 16 kg.
• Alcohol yeast - 800g
• Filtered water - 20 l.
• Sugar - 10 kg.

All components are mixed and infused for four days. Then mix well and leave until the final ripening.

Watermelon

Excellent mash can be made from watermelon pulp. To do this, the pulp of watermelon (5 kg) is mixed with 0.5 kg of sugar and 300 g of yeast. Next, you need to add some warm water - no more than one liter - and leave the mash alone for about 7 days.

Potato

There are dozens of recipes for making potato mash. her popularitydue to the availability of raw materials. The distillers note that the taste of the original product will be quite acceptable.

Ingredients:

• Potatoes - 20 kg.
• Rye flour (can be replaced with wheat) - 1.5 kg.
• Clean water - 30 l.
• Alcohol yeast - 400g

Potatoes must be grated on a fine grater. Mix flour with hot water so that there are no lumps. Next, combine all the components and cook according to standard technology. The fermentation process is long and will take at least 15-18 days.

Pea

Pea mash comes to readiness the fastest. It usually takes 3 to 5 days to mature.

Ingredients:

• Dry peas – 2 kg.
• Sugar - 3 kg.
• Water - 20 l.
• Yeast - 300g

Cooking:

• Pour dry peas with water. Use about half of the total.
• Boil the remaining water with sugar.
• When the peas are soaked (after 6-12 hours), pour them, along with the remaining liquid, into a fermentation tank.
• Add cooled sugar syrup (if desired, it can be inverted beforehand).
• Dissolve alcohol yeast according to instructions, add to mash.
• Put in a dark and warm place.

Pea mash ripens very quickly. But some distillers note that when this ingredient is added, the taste of moonshine suffers greatly.

Instead of a conclusion

Which mash recipe is better? About itone can argue endlessly. Each distiller pursues its own goals in the manufacture of raw materials. One needs the mash to come up very quickly, in a matter of days. And in this case, it is best to use pea raw materials. Others aim for low cost. It decreases if you use less store-bought products like sugar and yeast and rely more on produce from your own garden. Therefore, it is better to put apple or potato mash. Fans of classic recipes use only sugar and yeast during fermentation. And connoisseurs of strong homemade alcohol are experimenting with various fruit additives that improve the taste of the finished drink.