Grape alcohol: production technology, recipes and practical application

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

The production of grape alcohol is established in almost all countries of the world that do not have a ban on alcohol. It is made from dry wine, the strength of which is about 8-10 degrees. The raw material is double distilled.

Production Brief

Be sure to make sure that essential oils are also distilled, which will give the alcohol a pleasant aroma. But it is necessary to get rid of fusel impurities. This is usually done by separating the "tail and head".

How to get the highest quality grape spirit? To do this, after distillation, only the average portion of alcohol is used. The "head" has an excess of volatile fermentation products, which negatively affect the final product, and the "tail" is full of fusel oils.

Aging process

The result is grape alcohol, a strength of more than seventy degrees. It is this product that is sent for aging in oak barrels. After this procedure, the liquid acquires color, characteristic taste and aroma. The taste is positively affected by oxidation by oxygen, which penetrates through the porestree.

At some factories, oak shavings are added to the drink during aging. But only manufacturers of low-quality cheap cognac can afford it. During aging, a certain part of the grape spirit evaporates. The French say that angels are taking her away. From this it follows that in order to obtain alcohol with a high exposure, the raw material must initially have a maximum strength.

Grape alcohol and cognac

The technology described above leads to the fact that the noble alcoholic cognac in its composition contains not ethyl, but cognac alcohol. Its taste is much better, and it is much he althier for the human body.

Produce cognac from grape spirits. They make a blend, that is, they combine several drinks together. If cognac contains only one grape spirit, then this drink cannot even be called brandy. It's just cognac.

The number of stars on a drink depends on the age of the youngest spirit in the blend. By the way, according to GOST, grape spirit for cognac should initially, before aging, have a strength of at least 86%. If the blend was made by a real professional, then the same cognac will be produced every time, regardless of the year and the quality of the crop.

Homemade

Now, unfortunately, in the recipes for home-made cognac, the technology of "ennobling" moonshine is described. But grape homemade alcohol is much tastier and he althier, althoughits production process is a bit more complicated. Of course, it's hard to compete with French masters, but it's quite possible to prepare a worthy drink.

Naturally, grape spirit is produced from grapes. Muscat varieties are considered ideal material for such a case because of their bright aroma. But if you follow the technology correctly, you can get a wonderful drink from the same Lydia, Isabella, Dove or Stepnyak. The main condition is fully ripe berries. It is not recommended to prepare grape spirit from varieties such as Cabernet, Saperavi and Kakhet. Due to the high content of tannins, strong alcohol from such berries turns out to be hard.

How to make grape spirit

To make high-quality homemade alcohol you will need:

• thirty kilograms of grapes;
• two and a half kilograms of sugar (optional);
• four liters of water;
• barrel or pegs made of oak wood.

Important! The amounts of sugar and water are approximate. It all depends on how juicy and sugary the berries are. If the grapes are sweet, then you can generally do without adding additional sweetness. But, for example, in the northern regions, fruits most often have high acidity, and very little grape alcohol will be obtained from such berries without adding sugar at home. Although in industrial production sugar is not added at all. The exact proportions of additives will be calculated below, in the grape alcohol recipe itself.

Preparation of wine material

In order to get cognac spirit at home, you need two, or better three times, to overtake young wine through a moonshine still. But in order to do this, you first need to make the wine itself.

To do this, the berries must first be separated from the ridges, and then crushed together with the seeds. You can’t wash the grapes, because wild wine yeast is on top of the peel. If they are washed off, then the fermentation process will not begin. If the fruits are too dirty, then you can wipe them with dry wipes. If the berries have already been washed or harvested after rain, then in order for the grapes to ferment, you will have to add sourdough or store-bought wine yeast.

The resulting liquid is poured into a plastic or enamel bowl with a wide mouth. At this stage, you can add sugar (1 kg per 10 liters). Water is added at the rate of one liter of water per seven and a half kilograms of berries. Mix well.

Next, the container must be sent to a dark warm room for four days. To prevent midges from attacking future wine, the container should be covered with gauze or a clean cloth. After half a day, a cap of pulp forms on the surface of the liquid, which stops the fermentation process. To get rid of it, the wort must be stirred two or three times a day with a wooden stick or hand. In order for the drink not to turn sour, it must be stirred from the first day.

Fermentation process

After the specified time, the first signs of fermentation should manifest themselves. The wort will begin to foam and hiss, all the pulp will rise up and willcharacteristic aroma is distinctly audible. So it's time to filter the liquid. It is necessary to carefully drain the juice, and squeeze the pulp thoroughly through cheesecloth or cloth, but carefully so as not to damage the bones. The pomace can now be dropped.

The wort is poured into glass or plastic bottles. Keep in mind that during the fermentation process, carbon dioxide will be produced and foam will form, so you can fill the containers with juice no more than 70 percent.

You need to install a waterproofing agent on the dishes or put on a medical glove with a hole. The container is placed in a dark room. The air temperature should be within 18-27 degrees. The fermentation process lasts from 20 to 40 days. When the water seal stops bubbling or the glove deflates, the wine is ready. Its strength will be 10-14 degrees.

Alcohol distillation

First of all, the sediment must be removed from the young wine by straining it through cheesecloth. Then drive it through the moonshine at maximum speed. Then a minimum of harmful substances is released. It is too early to divide into factions. The selection of alcohol stops when its strength falls below thirty degrees. Next, the strength of alcohol is measured.

Be sure to calculate the proportion of pure alcohol. To do this, you need to multiply the amount of liquid received by the fortress in the shared version. For example, if you get 4 liters of distillate with a strength of 68 degrees, then the calculation will look like this: 40, 68=2, 72 liters of pure alcohol. Then the resulting distillate is diluted with water to 20 degrees.

During the second distillation, you need to separate the “head”, that is, ten percent of pure alcohol (in our situation, these are the first 270 grams), select and pour. This fraction contains an excess of harmful substances such as methanol and acetone. The selection ends, like last time, when the fortress falls below thirty degrees.

In order to get a really high-quality product, a third distillation is necessary. The drink is again diluted to 20 degrees and sent to the machine. Here, too, it is necessary to separate the first fraction, but now it is not 10, but 4 percent of the volume of pure alcohol. And the selection is made before the strength of alcohol does not fall below 45%. "Tails" from 45% to 30% can be used for home purposes, but they are not suitable for making cognac.

Home aged

To make homemade wine alcohol look like cognac, it must be insisted on oak. There are two ways to keep. The first option is to purchase an oak barrel and keep the drink in it. But for certain reasons, this method is used very rarely. It is much easier to use oak chips, and this method is cheaper. You can buy them or make them at home. The tree must be at least fifty years old. Fresh wood is poured with boiling water for ten minutes, then the water is drained, and the material is soaked again, only in cold water for about half an hour. Next, the tree needs to dry.

You need to use a stump ten to twenty centimeters long. It is divided into "chips" with a thickness of about five millimeters. The length must be calculated so that each peg fitsin a container for cognac infusion. Most often, three-liter jars are used. In each jar you need to put at least twenty chips. Before sending the distillate for aging, it must be diluted with clean water so that its strength does not exceed forty-two degrees. After the spill, the jars should be rolled up and left in a dark, cool place for a year on the floor, and preferably for a year. It is not recommended to keep homemade cognac on oak pegs for more than three years.

Caramelization

This procedure can be skipped. It just adds color to the drink and makes it a little softer. The fact is that even a year of insisting on oak at home does not give a noble cognac color. It is worth noting that this process is mandatory in the industrial production of any cognac, even French, even Georgian. How much caramel to add is a personal matter for everyone. The standard is fifty grams per three liters. Caramel syrup is also very easy to make at home. After adding the syrup, you need to let the drink brew for about a week.

Bottling homemade cognac

It is desirable to filter any strong alcoholic drink produced at home, including grape alcohol, through cotton wool. Everything, then it remains only to pour into a suitable container and start tasting.

Drinks made from grape alcohol

Brandy is a drink whose history is not exactly known. Strong alcohol was produced in ancient Rome, China, Greece, but brandy appeared only in the XII century, and gained some popularity already in the XIV.

The distillation of wine began to keep it longer and not deteriorate during transportation. It was supposed to be simply diluted with water before use. But it quickly became clear that if you store distilled wine in oak barrels, it becomes much more interesting than the original product. And so the drink appeared - brandy.

Subsequently, brandy, which was produced in the province of Cognac, was called cognac. Apple or pear brandy is called Calvados. But it's not about them now. Almost every country in the world has its own national drink made from grape alcohol. In France, it is cognac and, produced in Gascony, Armagnac. In Greece, they love Metaxa, it is, in fact, the same brandy, only it is diluted with nutmeg wine and insisted on fragrant herbs. Bulgarian brandy is called Pliska. There are also drinks for which alcohol was prepared not from wine, but from cake (pulp). These are Italian grappa, Georgian chacha and Balkan brandy.