How to make your own moonshine from barley?

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

Moonshine is a type of whiskey distilled from sugar and grain or fruit crops. Distillation is the only way to make moonshine, and still distillation is the most popular method. The process occurs when the mash is heated in a large container or tank. The vapors rise to the condenser where they are converted into ethanol.

The consistency of the mash will affect the production of ethanol. A different ratio of products in the mash recipe can radically change the taste and quality of moonshine. Different fermentation times and temperatures during cooking can also change the flavor of the finished product. Therefore, it is extremely important to follow the instructions and follow all the requirements for preparing the drink.

Moonshine from barley

For the preparation of a good product, it is best to use cereals - 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 cook 10 liters, then you should clearly calculate the required amount of products.

Here, for example, consider how to make moonshine from barley with the addition of sugar, from 1 kilogram of which the output will be 0.51 liters of alcohol. This isonly 50 grams. Accordingly, for one hundred grams it is necessary to use 2 kilograms of sugar, and to get the output of moonshine from 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 go through a preliminary processing stage. What does it mean? And this means that you need to make m alt from barley.

The next step is the preparation of raw materials

To make moonshine from barley, the first step is to germinate the grain, that is, to create m alt. What it is? How and why to do it? The quality of the drink depends on how the m alt is prepared, how high-quality it is. Brewing m alt involves several rules:

Sorting of raw materials. A large mesh sieve can help with this. After that, the grain should be passed through a finer sieve. Next, the grains are washed in hot water heated to 60 degrees.

After sifting and washing, the raw material is soaked. It is better if this is done in a wooden or enameled container. During soaking, debris and husks will float, after which they can be easily collected and removed. Just do not fill in all the grain at once, as this will complicate the process of removing the remaining debris. It is much easier to remove all the slag if it is placed in a soaking container in small portions and left for several days. At the same time, you should systematically change the water in the tank. To understand that the grains are ready, you need to take a coupleseeds and remove their husks. If the grain bends easily and does not break, then it is ready for the next stage - m alting.

Growing m alt

M alt from grains is prepared in a special room where the air temperature cannot be below 18 degrees, and the humidity should not exceed 40%. Remember that this component takes a lot of time to prepare. 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.

Steps of making m alt

Sprouted grains are poured onto a baking sheet with a layer of 3 cm and covered with a damp piece of soft cloth. After that, all seven days the layer of grain should be systematically ventilated and turned over. It is better to do this every 6-8 hours. At the same time, keep in mind that the material with which the grain is covered must always be wet. This means that it must be moistened periodically with warm water.

When the sprouts grow to 5-6 centimeters, and the roots grow to 15 millimeters and begin to intertwine with each other, you should finish m alting.

Drying grain

Drying also takes time. The quality of vodka depends on this process. The grain must be placed on a baking sheet in order for it to dry. It is better to do this in the kitchen or somewhere warm. After 3-4 hours, the baking sheet must be taken out in the sun. If moonshine is prepared in the winter season, then the pallet with grain should be placed in the oven withtemperature not 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 that, the grain should be passed through a colander and the finished raw materials should be placed in a container, which should be hermetically sealed and placed in a secluded place while the m alt is being prepared.

By the way, the m alt must first be filled with water with a temperature of about 65 degrees. Here the raw material is aged for 10-12 minutes, after which the liquid is drained. Next, the grain must be crushed with a coffee grinder and the resulting mass should be poured 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. You should get a composition that resembles sour cream in consistency.

Fermentation

The whole process, from the very first step, begins with the preparation of all components, which, as a result of fermentation, turn into mash. As far as it turns out to be of high quality, so will the quality of moonshine. Everything depends on it: taste, strength, and smell. Fermentation, on the other hand, implies a rather serious process of a chemical reaction, which depends entirely on the temperature and concentration of the incoming products. To describe all this more clearly, it is worth saying that at the time of fermentation, sugar breaks down, forming instead ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide, which causes fermentation. At the same time, a big roletemperature plays. And if it’s even clearer, then good mash is obtained only if the temperature in the room where the fermentation process itself takes place is from 18 to 24 degrees.

Help: you can't 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. To prevent midges and debris from getting into the container with liquid, at the time of fermentation it must be covered with gauze so that all edges fit snugly against the surface of the dish.

Reference: you can make moonshine from barley without yeast. They can be easily replaced with cereal mash, which is formed during the germination of grains.

How do you know when the fermentation process is over?

Check if the fermentation process is over? very simple. To do this, light one match and hold it over the surface of the mash. If the match goes out, then the fermentation process has not completed, and you will have to wait.

But if the lit match does not go out, it means that the barley brew for moonshine is already ready. It is better to fill it in the moonshine on the same day for the last stage, that is, for the haul. Using this method, you can get ready-made alcohol called moonshine, or, as they say, homemade fire water, that is, vodka. You can check how many degrees, using an alcohol meter. You can also take a few drops of the finished product to the bottom of the spoon and light it. If there is enough alcohol in the resulting substance, the contentsspoons 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. Once the mash has been processed and turned into moonshine from barley and sugar, it needs to be cooled and cleaned of resins and turbidity.

Help: making moonshine from barley will not be difficult if you follow everything strictly according to the instructions.

Cleaning moonshine from resins and sediment with milk

One liter of milk should be poured into a container with moonshine, as a result of which the alcohol will become cloudy. But do not be afraid, because already on the third day the sewage will fall into the sediment, and the liquid will become transparent, like a tear. The main thing is to carefully drain the clean moonshine, and just pour out the sediment.

Cleaning moonshine with coal and cotton wool

This will require a lot of cotton wool and charcoal powder. Cotton wool must be rolled up, and coal powder should be scattered between its layers. After that, the cotton wool is carefully rolled up and tightly rammed into a watering can, which, with a home-made filter, is placed in a clean container, where the finished vodka is slowly poured. The cotton filter can be changed several times. It all depends on what moonshine turned out at the exit? and how dirty the cotton filter is.

After cleaning, homemade vodka is ready. It can be brought to the table. If the preparation of moonshine from barley is treated correctly, then the result will exceed all expectations. Such a drink, pleasant to the taste, pure astear, it's not a shame to treat the dearest guest.