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Moonshine from apples without sugar and yeast. Preparing high-quality apple mash for moonshine - proportions, recipes. How to make it with apple juice

This is a simple recipe for fruit mash, which is used to make berry moonshine. Be sure to run it twice and filter through a carbon column to remove fusel oils and other harmful impurities as much as possible.

Ingredients:

  • apples – 10 kg;
  • water – 7 l;
  • sugar – 1.5 kg;
  • dry yeast – 7 gr.

Dry ones can be replaced with pressed ones at the rate of 1:5, that is, in this recipe you will need 35 grams. wet.

Procedure:

  1. The fruits are washed well, the core and seeds are removed and chopped. You can use a grater, a meat grinder, a crusher - it doesn’t matter, the main thing is to get a puree.
  2. Transfer to a glass container and fill with 5 liters of water.
  3. Heat the remaining 2 liters of water, add sugar and stir until dissolved. Add to wort.
  4. Dissolve the yeast in 100 ml of warm water, leave for a quarter of an hour until bubbles appear and add carefully to the base. Mix everything, cover with a glove or a lid with a water seal.
  5. The wort is fermented for 2 weeks in a dark, warm place at a temperature of 22-28°C. To do this, it is convenient to use an aquarium heater or place a container near the battery.

Every 2-3 days the mash is mixed so as to completely drown the pulp accumulating on the surface. It blocks the air, and if it is not removed in time, the mushrooms will stop developing.

  1. After the end of fermentation, which is determined by the deflation of the glove, the absence of gas formation, the clarification of the liquid and noticeable sediment, the liquid is filtered through 2 layers of gauze and sent for distillation.
  1. Be sure to do double distillation. At the first stage, they are not divided into fractions; the heating is turned off when the strength of the stream drops to 35°.
  2. Dilute the distillate with water to 20° and put it on distillation again. Heads (12%), bodies (80%) and tails are selected after 40°.
  3. The finished apple moonshine is passed through a carbon filter and diluted with water to the desired strength (see table).

It can be consumed neat, or aged on oak chips for 6-24 months to make homemade Calvados (apple brandy).

VIDEO: How to make moonshine from apples at home

How to make moonshine from juice

Often, thrifty housewives prepare juice in the fall - it is no less healthy than the fruit itself, but is stored longer. It is convenient to use it as a preparation for future moonshine. Judging by the quality and organoleptics, it will be difficult for a beginner to understand where the alcohol is from apples and where from juice. But it is best to infuse this drink for six months or a year in an oak barrel or on oak chips.

Ingredients:

  • apple juice – 20 l;
  • dry yeast - 40 gr. (can be replaced with pressed ones - 200 g);
  • sugar - 4 kg.

Cooking method:

  1. Pour 19 liters of juice into the bottle, heat the remaining juice and dissolve the sugar in it. Mix with the main mass.
  2. Yeast is diluted according to the instructions in a small amount of warm water, left for 15-30 minutes to activate and added to the main composition.
  3. Mix everything carefully and close the bottle with a rubber glove or a lid with a water seal. Send to a warm, dark place for 3-4 weeks until the end of fermentation. How to determine this - see above.
  4. Filter the liquid through several layers of gauze and send it to the distillation cube.
  5. At the first stage, they are not divided into fractions; the heating is turned off when the strength of the stream drops to 35°.
  6. Dilute the distillate with water to 20° and do a second distillation. Heads (12%), bodies (80%) and tails are selected after 40°.
  7. The finished apple moonshine is passed through a charcoal filter and diluted with water to the desired strength (see table above). Before tasting, you need to let it brew for 3-4 days.

VIDEO: How to make cider from juice

Apple mash recipe without yeast

In this case, wild strains will be used, which are present in abundance on the peel of the fruit. The most important thing is not to wash them before cooking; in extreme cases, wipe them off with a dry cloth so as not to remove the strains. Adding raisins or wheat malt will speed up fermentation.

It is best to use unwashed apples, freshly picked from the tree - there are a huge number of wild strains on their skins

Ingredients:

  • sweet juicy – ​​20kg;
  • water – 6 liters;
  • sugar – 6 kg;
  • raisins – 200 gr.

Cooking method:

  1. Grind apples in a convenient way - using a meat grinder, grater or crusher to obtain fruit puree.
  2. Place the puree in a glass or enamel container, add 2 kg of sugar and 3 liters of water. Stir, cover with a cloth and leave in a warm place for a couple of days to ferment.
  3. Transfer the mixture that has already begun to ferment into a bottle, add the remaining sugar, water and all the raisins. Stir, cover with a glove or a lid with a water seal and send to a warm place where the temperature is stable and stays at 22-27°C.
  4. After fermentation, filter the mass and send it to the distillation cube.
  5. The distillation process is identical to the previously mentioned methods. At the end, the moonshine is filtered through a charcoal filter and bottled.

Made from apple pulp

When preparing juice, an excess of pulp remains - the result of grinding the fruit in a juicer. It is usually thrown away, but we suggest using it as a base for making apple moonshine at home. If the apples have not been washed beforehand, then yeast is not added to the wort, otherwise they are added at the rate of 2-3 grams of dry or 10-12 pressed for each kilogram of cake.

For fermentation, it is advisable to use alcohol or wine yeast.

Ingredients:

  • cake – 10 kg;
  • water – 30 liters;
  • sugar – 1 kg;
  • yeast – 20 gr.

Cooking method:

  1. Cake, water, sugar syrup and prepared yeast are poured into the bottle. You need to leave a third of the volume in the container for the foam cap that forms during the fermentation process. Close with a lid with a water seal or a rubber glove, with holes made in the fingertips of the glove.

  1. The mash is sent to a warm place where the temperature is maintained in the range of 22°C...28°C. Every day the hat is sunk with a wooden stick so that it does not interfere with the access of oxygen.
  2. After 2.5-3 weeks, when carbon dioxide stops being released, the liquid is drained, filtered through 3 layers of gauze and sent for distillation.

Do not allow the cake to get into the distillation cube so that when heated it does not burn and spoil the taste of the finished drink.

Chacha

The difference between chacha when starting apple mash for moonshine is the use of dried fruits. It is mainly driven in winter, when fresh fruits have already “gone away”

Compound:

  • Dried fruits – 10 kg;
  • water – 50 liters;
  • sugar – 15 kg;
  • pressed yeast – 1500 gr.

Cooking method:

  1. Pour dried fruits with water and boil for 15-20 minutes.
  2. Add sugar to hot water, stir and cool to 27-30°C.
  3. Dissolve the yeast in warm water and carefully mix into the main mass.
  4. Everything is mixed, the bottle is closed with a glove or a lid with a water seal, sent to a dark place for 2-2.5 weeks and left to ferment at a temperature of 22-27°C.
  5. Drain the sediment, filter through cheesecloth, after which the mash can be distilled.

Principles of moonshine

For distillation, a distiller is used - a complete moonshine still. It is desirable to have a dry steam tank to additionally select fusel fish during the work process.

Be sure to distill the mash twice, which helps improve the taste of the finished drink and completely remove impurities - methyl and isoamyl alcohol, acetic and formic acid, acetone, etc.

It is advisable to wait 2-3 days between distillations, adding chopped fresh apple to the distillate. The raw alcohol is pre-diluted to 20°.

During the first distillation, the raw material is not divided into fractions. On the second stage, the heads are selected (12% of the total), the body (80%) and the tails are cut off - the accumulator is removed when the strength of the stream drops to 40°.

The finished distillate is passed through a carbon column twice, again to improve taste and quality.

VIDEO: The secret of making homemade wine from apples

Natural moonshine made from apples at home is aromatic and tasty. The sale of the product is relevant for those who have a summer house or access to a large harvest of apples. In conditions when some of the fruits fall off, or the harvest is so large that it cannot be handled through harvesting, preparing aromatic moonshine from apples becomes an excellent way to process stocks.

Any recipe for apple mash does not require significant financial costs, is unpretentious in preparation and has a high chance of being successful even after the first attempt. The positive thing about making mash is that you can leave it as is, without turning it into moonshine, and get an excellent soft drink or cider.

Suitable apples for mash

You can make mash from almost any apple. Even pulp or pieces with rotten parts removed are suitable. But ideally, it is advisable to use whole sweet fruits. The sugar content in the wort for apple mash, and subsequently the alcohol content in it, will depend on the type of fruit used, the sweeter the better.

Sour and neutral fruits require additional sugar. Approximate division by amount of sugar and fruit acids:

  • Game and sour varieties contain 6% sugar and 1.3% acids
  • In ungraded sweet and sour fruits the figures are 10% and 0.9%
  • Sweet, sour and tart soda apples contain 10% sugar and 1% acids
  • Sweet apples consist of 10% sugar and 1% fruit acids

Let's look at several suitable options for making mash from apples.

Recipe for whole apples with yeast

The proposed recipe for apple mash can become an independent drinking drink, or suitable for further distillation.

Here's how many ingredients you need to take:

  • 30 kg apples
  • 4 kg of sugar (you can omit it if the apples are sweet enough)
  • 20 liters of water
  • 100 g dry yeast

The apple moonshine recipe looks like this:

  1. Cut the apples in half or quarters
  2. Grind all the apples using a meat grinder or a drill with a special construction attachment until you get a homogeneous puree.
  3. Place the puree into a fermentation container and add 16 liters of water.
  4. Dissolve the sugars in the remaining water and also transfer them to the fermentation container.
  5. Before adding the yeast, you need to ferment it, pour it into warm water at a temperature of 30 to 35 degrees in a ratio of 1:10 and let it brew for 10-20 minutes

    Dry baker's yeast or any other yeast is suitable for making apple moonshine, but wine yeast is ideal for making apple moonshine.

  6. After the yeast cap has risen, add the yeast to the wort and mix everything
  7. Close the container tightly, install a water seal and place the apple mash in a warm place up to +25 degrees for 7-12 days
  8. Every other day the mash needs to be opened and checked. When a dense layer (cap) of pulp forms, mix it well so as not to sour
  9. When all the pulp has settled and the mash becomes lighter, you can still do additional clarification with bentonite or immediately begin distilling the apple mash

Distillation of apple mash

  1. Apple mash must be distilled 2 times
  2. For the first distillation, it is advisable to use a steam generator or steam-water boiler. The method allows you to distill the liquid without filtration, which retains more apple flavor. If you do not have this equipment, take it and squeeze it through several layers of gauze.
  3. Pour the finished mash into a distillation cube. It is important that pieces of cake do not fall into the tank, otherwise they will begin to burn and give off bitterness.
  4. The first distillation is distilled almost down to 5% alcohol in the stream. The first distillation often produces cloudy moonshine due to apple fusel oils
  5. Measure the strength of the resulting raw alcohol and determine the amount of absolute alcohol

    Before the second distillation, apple moonshine can be infused with fresh apples for 3-4 days; this will enhance the apple aroma of an already aromatic product.

  6. Dilute the resulting raw material with clean water up to 20-30% without additional cleaning methods, because a pleasant apple aroma should remain in the final product
  7. Distill a second time, dividing into fractions. Select the first 10% of the absolute alcohol of the heads, they have an unpleasant odor and contain many harmful impurities, you should not drink this
  8. Select the main product to a temperature in the cube of 91 degrees, select the rest separately for further processing, such as rectification
  9. Dilute the resulting moonshine to a strength of 40% and leave it to rest in glass in a dark place for at least 7 days; after the end of aging, the moonshine acquires a delicate aroma and loses its unpleasant aftertaste.

Recipe with yeast from apple juice

On freshly squeezed or ready-made industrial apple juice, mash is used for moonshine, only if it is 100% natural without preservatives, otherwise fermentation will be difficult and fertilizing for the mash will be required.

How to prepare mash from apple juice:

  1. Take 5 liters of juice
  2. Take 30 g pressed yeast or 10 g dry yeast, preferably wine yeast
  3. The technology for making moonshine from apple juice is the simplest, mix all the ingredients in a fermentation container and leave to ferment in a warm, dark place
  4. After fermentation is complete, remove the mash from the sediment.
  5. Essentially this is young wine, after double distillation you will get moonshine from young apple wine
  6. The resulting “wine” can be bottled and left to rest for several months, so you will get a delicious cider as an independent drink
  7. To obtain moonshine from apple juice, distill it twice

Yeast-free recipe

Before making moonshine from apples, it is important to test the selected variety. If there is no yeast in the recipe for apple mash for moonshine, you need to conduct a test: puree 1 kg of the selected variety and stir with 200 g of sugar. The mixture should be actively “walking” by the evening of 2 days.

If the test is successful, begin preparing the ingredients for apple mash without yeast:

  • 10 kg apples
  • 4 kg sugar
  • 100 g raisins

The cooking recipe consists of several stages:

  1. Make a puree and mix with sugar
  2. To speed up fermentation, add raisins
  3. Mix well for 10-15 minutes until the sugar is completely dissolved.
  4. After 10-14 days, remove the cake
  5. Apple mash is filtered through several layers of gauze
  6. Add 6 more glasses of sugar and leave for 2 weeks
  7. After 2 weeks, the apple mash for moonshine is removed from the sediment and filtered, becoming ready for further distillation

Let's sum it up

The prepared apple distillate is perfect for any time of year. Its unobtrusive aroma goes well with cold appetizers, chicken and vegetable dishes. Having prepared the drink once, you will definitely want to use similar recipes again. After all, this process is quite simple, cost-effective and accessible.

Every more or less well-read person has heard of Calvados. Many of us have had the opportunity to try this magnificent apple distillate at least once.

But not everyone has the knowledge to make something similar in their own kitchen (even if it’s not the canonical Calvados, but an unpretentious, but no less pleasant moonshine from apples). In this regard, the primary question is: how to make (or rather, how to prepare or, if you want, supply) apple mash for moonshine.

Believe me, the distillate made from mash made according to this recipe has never disappointed anyone.

List of ingredients

    Apples – 30 kg

    Granulated sugar – 2-4 kg

    Water – 10-20 l

    Dry wine yeast – 100 g

Cooking method


In our case, the apple pulp remaining after obtaining the juice can also be used. At the same time, the output will be a kind of apple equivalent of the famous chacha.

List of ingredients

    Apple pulp – 10 kg

    Granulated sugar – 5 kg

    Water – 35 l

    Yeast – 100 g dry or 500 g pressed

Cooking method

If you are a true gourmet, you should choose this option. Apple brandy, prepared from pure juice, is the most perfect in its taste and aroma.

List of ingredients

    Apple juice – 15 l

    Granulated sugar – 3 kg

    Dry wine yeast – 200 g

    Honey - to taste

    Lemon zest - to taste

Cooking method

    Strain the juice from the sediment for several days, then mix with sugar and yeast solution; If desired, you can add a little honey and lemon zest.

    Keep the resulting substance in a dark, warm place for a month, stirring it periodically.

    After the specified period, the finished mash can be put into use.

Apple mash without yeast

All of the above-mentioned mash options can be prepared without yeast and, accordingly, without sugar.

The main thing is to leave the fruit unwashed so as not to destroy the wild yeast necessary for this type of fermentation.

The tangible advantages of this method will be the taste of the distillate not distorted by the sugar-yeast factor and the reduction in financial costs for its preparation.

The disadvantages of the mentioned method include a long fermentation period, sometimes reaching up to two and a half months, as well as a smaller amount of finished brandy obtained at the exit.

Drinking apple mash, essentially cider, is a pleasant-tasting, self-sufficient, refreshing low-alcohol drink.

List of ingredients

    Sour apples – 5 kg

    Sweet apples – 5 kg

Cooking method

    Squeeze juice from soft but not rotten fruits.

    Separately stand the juices from sour and sweet varieties of apples for 3 days.

    Then, remove them from the sediment and mix to taste.

    Bottle the resulting preparation, throwing a few raisins into each bottle.

    Seal the bottles very carefully and place them in the cellar or refrigerator.

    In about a month, your drinking mash will be ready.

Of course, such a drink can be prepared using the sugar-yeast method, but we would not recommend drinking it in its pure form.

Firstly: yeast will significantly worsen the organoleptic properties of the drink, and secondly: undistilled yeast mash contains a significant amount of toxic substances that can seriously harm your body.

    Choose fresh fruit

    When selecting fruits for mash, try not to use fallen apples with rotten rot. If you still cannot manage without falling apples, carefully cut out all the rotten areas. Otherwise, the semi-finished product for moonshine will turn out to be too bitter.

    10% rule

    When placing the wort in the fermentation container, make sure that there is at least 10% of the free space left in it, which is necessary for the accumulation of foam and carbon dioxide.

    Baker's yeast - a taboo for quality alcohol

    When making mash, you can use baker's yeast. In this case, the fermentation process may be completed in a week, but the product itself will have a characteristic unpleasant taste and smell.

    Sugar mash with apples

    You can try adding apple pieces to a regular sugar-yeast mixture for moonshine. In this case, at the end of the fermentation period, you will have a refined sugar mash with apples.

    Experiment

    It is allowed to mix apples with other fruit and berry ingredients. In this way, for example, you will get a mash from apples and plums or a mash from apples and grapes. The main thing in such cases is to ensure that the sugar content of the future wort does not exceed 20%. Otherwise, fermentation simply will not take place.

    Mash from pears and apples

    If you have prepared a distillate based on a mash of pears and apples, it should either be consumed within the next few months or aged in an oak barrel for about a year. According to experts, this drink, after six months of storage, partially loses the fullness of its flavor bouquet for some time.

Error or something to add?

Properly prepared apple moonshine is an incomparable strong alcohol. He hasstrong apple aroma and a pleasant soft aftertaste.

You may hear a complaint that homemade apple moonshine does not have a strong enough taste.

And the point is in small, but very important secrets, which we will tell you about as the story progresses.

Recipes for cooking with whole apples

Since there are plenty of apples in our middle zone (especially in the south), it is not surprising that apple moonshine is no less popular than plum or grape moonshine. Which of the proposed options for making moonshine from whole apples you choose depends not only on your preferences, but also on weather conditions.

For example, if it rains at a time when the apples are already ripe and ready for processing, then you cannot do without yeast.

Need to know . It is on the surface of dry and unwashed apples that yeast is contained, which will convert the fructose and sucrose of the apples into alcohol.

If you wash the apples, the yeast will be washed off and instead of fermentation you will getordinary vinegar souring . Therefore, recipes with washed apples must contain yeast.

We offer recipes for moonshine made from whole apples.

By leaps and bounds

It involves the use of washed apples. Let's take:

  • 30 kg of ripe apples. Not necessarily straight from the apple tree. You can use carrion, as well as apples that have been slightly spoiled during storage.
  • 20 liters of soft spring or bottled water without gas.
Keep in mind . Using hard tap water (both when making mash and when diluting the finished product) will result in an iron taste.
  • 4 kg sugar.
  • Dry yeast (Saf-Levure and others) - 100 g, or 0.5 kg pressed (preferably alcoholic).

If this is too much mash for you, you can proportionally reduce the amount of ingredients.

Attention! When making proportions, keep in mind: one part sugar requires 3 parts water by weight.

Without yeast

This apple moonshine is made without yeast, although this is not entirely true. Wild yeast found on the skins is used. Apples are not washed!

If in doubt, addwine yeast , which will play their role and will not give the final product an unpleasant odor and taste (which happens when using dry or pressed yeast).

The disadvantage of this method is that the mash will play much longer - from 15 to 45 days.

You will need:

  • 2 buckets of unwashed apples. After processing, approximately 10 kg will remain;
  • 2 kg sugar;
  • 30 liters of water.
Please note! If you have very sweet apples, you can omit the sugar at all, although this will reduce the amount of strong distillate.

Juice Recipes

Moonshine can be made from fresh, just squeezed juice, or from juice that has been sitting in jars in your cellar for several years. True, in the latter case, adding yeast -Necessarily , canned boiled juice will not ferment properly, it can only turn sour.

Ingredients:

  • 5 liters of juice.
  • 1 kg sugar.
  • 4 liters of water.
Important. If you have a different amount of juice, then calculate the proportion as follows: for each liter of juice - 200 ml of water. Plus 3 liters of water per 1 kg of sugar.
  • 10 g dry yeast. This ingredient is optional. It can be replacedraisins (unwashed so as not to wash off the wild yeast from the surface). For a liter of juice (not wort, but juice) take 30 g of raisins.

The right mash for apple moonshine

Braga is prepared according to the usual rules. But there are also some nuances.

  • If you are preparing a mash from whole apples with yeast, you need to wash the fruit, then remove the core, cut out all damaged and rotten parts, and chop (using a meat grinder, blender, etc.). Don't throw away the pulp!
  • For mash without yeast, do not wash the apples, otherwise the process is the same.
  • When making mash from the juice, the pulp is squeezed out and thrown away.
Try it! When preparing mash for moonshine from apple juice, use a meat grinder, not a juicer.

The practice of experienced moonshiners confirms: in this case, already during the first distillation, moonshine will “give”great aroma , which will only intensify with the second distillation.

When using yeast, the mash can be placed in a flask or other container that is not hermetically sealed. With wild yeast - in a glass bottle under a glove. The pulp needs to be stirred regularly.

The fact that the brew is ready indicatessedimentation of pulp, clearing of liquid and bitter aftertaste without sweetness .

Distillation rules

The mash, strained from the pulp, is distilled in the usual way, without separating the heads and tails, until the strength in the stream is 20°.

Know! To get moonshine with a truly maximum apple aroma, after the first distillation you need to add it to a container with distillatedried apples and some fresh ones.

Choose apples of fragrant varieties! Approximate dose: for a three-liter jar of moonshine - a good handful of dried fruits and two chopped apples.

Moonshine on dried apples must be infusedfrom 3 days to 2 weeks . Then take out the apples, squeeze them, and dilute the remaining alcohol to 20° and re-distill, removing the heads and tails.

Attention! We select heads at the rate, as usual, of 10% of the expected amount of distillate. And we stop taking away the body (heart) when the strength in the stream is 40°.

Let the lower strength go into the tails, which can be added to the mash that you will put in later. Thisimproves organoleptic qualities future moonshine and will increase the amount of alcohol selection.

That is, we will get moonshine with a strength of 60, or even 65 degrees. It will need to be diluted with soft water (pour moonshine into water, and not vice versa! ).

We drive without a distiller

If you want to distill apple moonshine, but you don’t have a distiller yet, you can make onefrom scrap materials . Take an enamel bucket or tall pan.

Pour mash into this container to about half the volume. Place a small empty pan on top that will float on the mash. Make sure it does not reach the top edge of the larger container.

Cover a large pan with thick film and tie tightly. Pour cold water onto the film and make a small hole in the corner (for air). And begin to slowly heat the pan with the mash.

The alcohol vapor will begin to rise, form into droplets, and flow into the smaller pan. Watch the water poured onto the film. As it heats up, change it, add cold water or add ice.

With a little practice, you will be able to accurately determine when it is time to stop the process, and the result will be aromatic homemade apple moonshine.

Transformation into Calvados

To turn apple moonshine into real Calvados, you will needoak barrel. It is better if before pouring our strong product into this barrelinfuse raspberry or blackberry wine .

Then Calvados will have an incomparable aroma: apple with a light berry note. You need to infuse Calvados for 7 months and only then try it, surprising all the guests.

If you don’t have an oak barrel (and the pleasure is not cheap!), you can use

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Apple mash for moonshine is an excellent base that helps you make moonshine at home with a pleasant smell and taste. To be fair, it is worth saying that you can make juice and jam from apples at home. But if there is no point in replenishing reserves, then you can turn your attention to the production of distillate. In addition, slightly spoiled fruits can be used to make moonshine, but provided that they undergo certain preparation.

Alcoholic drink made from apple mash

Moonshine mash can be made from almost any product. As for apples, there are at least two recipes that can be used without fear of spoiling the raw materials. In the process of making distillate, you can use not only fruits, but also juice.

Apple mash is a special product, the production of which should be approached with all responsibility. A distillate made from fruit has a number of disadvantages and a number of advantages. These shortcomings can be called insignificant, but it is still worth having an idea of ​​​​all the nuances before starting to create an apple base suitable for the production of moonshine.

So, what are the disadvantages of fruit mash:

  1. When using wild yeast, the mash ferments for a long time.
  2. When adding sugar, some flavor is lost.
  3. It will require patience and perseverance when making wort.
  4. You will have to sort through the apples and separate them from the seeds and cut out the core.

When making mash based on wild yeast (that is, using only those microorganisms that are present on the surface of fruits, berries and grains), it is worth keeping in mind that the mash will be ready in about 30–45 days.

The apple base is sensitive to sugar. You can supplement the mash with fructose or identify individual proportions that will help maintain the quality of the alcohol and at the same time speed up the fermentation process.

To make puree from a large amount of fruit, you will have to be patient. Of course, you can use a grater or blender. But it is better to purchase a special attachment for a drill - it will help crush fruits in large quantities.

The production of moonshine from apples takes place in several stages, the first of which is the preparation of raw materials. Peel the apples, remove the seeds and core. You can only use the pulp and peel directly. You will also have to eliminate rot and damaged areas of the pulp. A simple cleaning method will help rid the fruits of pathogenic microflora.

Braga made from apple juice or fresh fruits has a number of advantages, these include:

  • comparative ease of manufacture;
  • availability of raw materials;
  • abundance of recipes on the Internet;
  • pleasant aroma and taste of the product, which remains even after repeated distillation.

The simplest recipe and availability of raw materials are the main advantages of production. You can supplement the mash with various spices and seasonings - this will affect the taste and aroma of the drink. At the same time, the taste characteristic of exclusively fruit moonshine will remain unchanged.

Braga made from apple juice or fresh fruits can be drunk. Drinking mash has good characteristics; it can be used both to create moonshine and for use as an independent product.

Recipes for apple moonshine

There are two recipes that will help you prepare a high-quality drink at home. One recipe involves the use of fresh raw materials, that is, apples themselves, and the other involves the use of juice.

So, how to make mash from apples and what ingredients are needed to create a quality drink:

  1. 30 kilograms of apples that have been pre-cleaned and have already been turned into puree.
  2. 4 kilograms of sugar (it is not necessary to use sugar, especially if the apples themselves are sweet, you can add glucose, or preferably fructose, to the mash; but if the fruits are sour, then you cannot do without sugar).
  3. 20 liters of water. We give preference to spring or well. You can buy water in the store; you should choose the one that is intended for feeding children. If tap water is used, it is recommended to let it stand and only then use it.
  4. 20 grams of dry yeast or 100 grams of pressed yeast (you can do without yeast, provided that wild yeast is used).

Algorithm of actions

When using an apple mash recipe, special attention must be paid to the process of making the wort and the subsequent fermentation of the mash.

So, where to start and how to make the right mash:

  • When the apples are processed into puree, they should be immersed together with the juice in a fermentation container.
  • After the puree is sent to the container, you need to dilute the sugar in warm water. You can prepare a syrup - this will significantly improve the quality of the distillate, or you can simply pour sugar into a container and fill it with warm water.
  • Then yeast comes into play. They will have to be diluted based on the instructions on the package. The yeast should be allowed to sit in warm water for a while, and then sent to other components of the future moonshine. If wild yeast is used, then skip this point.
  • Afterwards, mix the mash thoroughly to saturate it with oxygen, which is necessary for a full fermentation process.
  • The final stage in the process of preparing mash should be considered closing the container with a lid equipped with a water seal. If there is no such device, then we use a glove - we make a small hole in the middle finger and put the glove on the container.

We send the container with mash to a room with a stable temperature. After 5-10 days it will be ready for processing, but provided that the manufacturer used wine, alcohol or baker's yeast. But the product made with wild yeast will be ready in about 45 days.

Recipes for apple-based mash may differ in various additions; you can use any fruit and make adjustments to the recipe. But the recipe described above should be considered a classic; it will allow you to prepare a high-quality product with a pleasant taste and aroma at home.

Mash recipe for moonshine with juice

The mash made from juice can be used as a base. It will help to expel moonshine with a bright aroma of fruit.

To create a quality drink, you will need the following ingredients:

  1. 5 liters of good apple juice (naturally, the juice should not be packaged, but prepared independently).
  2. 1 kilogram of sugar (you can refuse to use sugar if the apples were sweet or reduce the amount).
  3. Water (we calculate the proportions as follows: 200 milliliters per 1 liter of juice and 3 liters per 1 kilogram of sugar).
  4. 30 grams of dry yeast (if we use wild yeast in the process of making the product, we can replace dry microorganisms with raisins in the proportion of 30 grams per 1 liter of juice).

If wild yeast is used in the production process, then you should not wash the raisins, just like apples before making juice. The fruits should be wiped with a dry cloth. Washing will kill all microorganisms and cause the mash to sour.

So, when all the components are ready, let's start creating the mash. The process is not particularly complicated; it takes place in several stages:

  • Add juice to the container, mix it with sugar and yeast. It is advisable to soak the yeast before placing it in the container. You can make syrup from sugar or simply dissolve it in warm water.
  • Then mix the components thoroughly and send them to a room with a stable temperature. The temperature should not exceed 28 degrees. After 5–10 days, the product will be ready for processing, provided that dry or pressed yeast was used during the manufacturing process. Based on wild yeast, the mash will be ready for distillation in 45–60 days. It all depends on the activity of microorganisms.

Making moonshine from mash

Once the mash is ready for processing, it will have to be filtered. As a filter, use gauze folded in several layers or a cotton-gauze filter. Filtration will help remove large apple residues and avoid spoilage of the mash during the distillation process.

If the product burns to the walls of the distillation cube, then you can pour out the mash and put in a new one. The burning taste and corresponding aroma cannot be removed even after repeated distillation in the apparatus.

After the product has passed filtration, it should be poured into the distillation cube and begin distillation. It is better to carry out fractional distillation with separation of the “heads” and “tails”; it is worth selecting the “body” until the strength in the stream drops to 30 degrees.

If after the first distillation the apple moonshine is cloudy, it is recommended to re-distill it, since there is a high probability that the drink is rich in fusel oils. In principle, turbidity is a normal phenomenon; you can simply pass the alcohol through the filter several times. But if the dregs remain, the product should still be reprocessed - this will affect the taste of the drink, eliminate the aroma, but will significantly increase the quality of the moonshine.

It is worth noting that apple-based recipes are incredibly popular among distillers. They allow you to create a drink at home without much expense that can compete with store-bought alcohol.