For a long time in Rus', during feasts, celebrations, and games, intoxicating drinks of various strengths were consumed: mead, sbiten, mash, moonshine. Moonshine was produced from wine based on various fruits and berries, so the taste of this original Russian alcoholic drink It was distinguished by great variety, and its recipe became a family heirloom and was passed on from father to son.

Making high-quality moonshine is not at all easy; this drink requires high quality raw materials, strict adherence to technology, and precise fulfillment of all recipe instructions. From homemade wine with a volume of 20 liters you can make just one liter of moonshine. But what moonshine! From him the Russian soul flows with a flowing song, the legs themselves go into a daring dance, and a friendly conversation turns into an intimate heartfelt conversation.

Moonshine from wine: purer than tears!

Moonshine produced at home from wine made from grape and apple raw materials is considered one of the most delicious types of moonshine. The manufacturing process consists of several stages:
- preparation of wine materials,
- its fermentation,
- distillation,
- cleaning finished product.

Let us consider each stage in detail using the example of apple raw materials for winemaking. The process is identical for grape wine, but it’s much easier to get juice from grapes than from apples. We will need:
– apples – 15 kg;
– water – 10 l;
— granulated sugar – 3 kg;
– yeast – 100 g.

1.

Harvest ripe apples do not wash, but dry clean, removing the core, dirt, damaged areas and rot. We extract the juice of their fruits using a juicer, and if you don’t have one, then the apples should be crushed in any other way, for example, using a grater. Squeeze out the crushed mixture using gauze and a press. Place the finished juice in an enamel pan for initial fermentation, which will cause a violent process that separates the juice into pulp and liquid. On the third day of fermentation, the pulp that has accumulated on top should be removed using a colander.
We measure the resulting juice to maintain the required proportion of adding granulated sugar. We add this sweet ingredient to the wine material at the rate of 200 grams for each liter of liquid. Mix the wine mixture thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add water and yeast to the solution.

2.

Now pour the resulting liquid into glass vessel and close it with a water seal. We place the bottle with wine material in a room where the temperature ranges from 18 to 24 degrees. Fermentation of apple raw materials takes one and a half months, but even after the process of carbon dioxide separation has completely died down, you should wait at least five days until the fermentation processes in the apple mash are completely completed. It is very important to guess the moment of complete ripening of the mash, since the quality of the future moonshine depends on this. If the mash is too old, the moonshine will be tasteless and weak, and if, on the contrary, it is not ripe, the yield of moonshine will be significantly reduced.

3. Distillation

So, let's proceed to the most important stage of moonshine production. The mash obtained as a result of fermentation is placed in alcohol mashine and heat over low heat. As soon as the liquid warms up, turn up the heat. It is very important that the moonshine still is completely sealed - this is necessary in order to minimize the loss of product through evaporation. We provide cooling and monitor the temperature. As soon as the temperature approaches 90 degrees, moonshine begins to drip - the so-called “pervak” - 250-300 ml of liquid with an unpleasant, pungent odor. Pervak ​​is a poisonous liquid that should never be consumed. After the first batch, moonshine comes out, suitable for consumption. Its volume is about three liters, and the strength reaches 60%. Then the strength is reduced and a drink with a strength of about 40 degrees is distilled, the volume of which is also about 2-3 liters.

You can check the quality of the finished product using a cotton swab dipped in fresh moonshine. If it burns, the product will turn out great. However, the process is not over yet.

4.

Cleaning moonshine consists of straining the product through a sieve with crushed activated carbon. This will help remove foreign odors and random impurities. It also has a good effect on the quality of homemade alcohol. low temperatures. Moonshine placed in the freezer significantly improves taste and smell, since all harmful impurities will be frozen and removed from the product.

To improve the taste and aroma of the drink, you can add some dried apples to the wine moonshine and leave for two weeks.

Video of making homemade moonshine

Why is grape wine distilled into moonshine? In industry, cognac and Calvados are obtained from the distillate obtained by distilling grape wine. But in home use, this is usually done in order to “prevent wine from going to waste” of dubious quality. If homemade grape wine is taken as a raw material, then you can get a distillate that is superior in quality to that obtained by distilling sugar mash. By by and large, even any other homemade wine - be it apple, plum or other - will give an excellent result, and its aging in this case does not matter much.

Important tips for those who are puzzled by the question “how to distill wine into moonshine”:

• It is not recommended to use store-bought wine, especially “boxed” wine, as a raw material due to the content of dyes and preservatives. It is difficult to get rid of them, and they will spoil the organoleptic properties of the moonshine.
• Any homemade wine of any quality is suitable for distillation, with the exception of sour wine. When souring, acetic acid is formed, which causes a sour taste, and it will not be possible to completely get rid of it either during distillation or purification.
• Moonshine obtained from homemade wine is ready for consumption after the first distillation good equipment. He has high quality and is suitable for any. But if you infuse it on oak chips (or in a barrel, if available), you can get real cognac.

What to drive?

It is worth choosing a moonshine still made from quality materials. You can do it yourself, but it’s best (we recommend choosing a device with a distillation column brand). An alambik (a moonshine still made of copper) is well suited for distilling wine, since copper “takes” a lot of harmful substances. More would be better suited mash column with installed Panchenkov copper mesh.

How to distill grape wine into moonshine?

Keep in mind that ten liters of homemade wine with a strength of 15 degrees will yield approximately two liters of moonshine with a strength of 40 degrees.

1. We remove sediment from the wine, if there is any, otherwise it will burn in the distillation cube. This can be done either by “removing” the wine from the sediment using a flexible hose, or by filtering through cotton wool or several layers of gauze.
2. Pour wine into the cube.
3. The distillation speed should be moderate.
4. The heads must be taken into a separate container, approximately at the rate of 200 ml per 10 liters of wine. Focus on the smell: when it stops being unpleasant, the desired “body” of moonshine will go directly.
5. Then everything is standard, as when distilling mash: we drive the “body” to a product strength below forty degrees, and the “tails” can also be taken into a separate container for subsequent strengthening of the mash. The “tails” are distilled to an average strength of 10 degrees.
6. The resulting moonshine is ready for use. But if you are still dissatisfied with the quality, you are confused by the aroma or color, it can be subjected to secondary distillation. It is not recommended to clean with charcoal or oil, since in addition to impurities, they will take away the fruity notes of taste and aroma from the drink.

If you decide that re-distillation Maybe, then dilute the resulting moonshine to a strength of 20 degrees, and make the same selection of fractions: heads-body-tails.

Now the moonshine is definitely ready. Let it sit in the refrigerator for a couple of days and dilute it to the desired, pleasant strength.

The same procedures can be carried out with other homemade fruit and berry wines; if followed, the result will be very, very worthy.

Calvados and cognac are the two most famous strong drinks, for the preparation of which fruit and berry raw materials are used. It is quite possible to make moonshine from wine that is similar in taste at home.

What kind of wine can be distilled?

The highest quality and cheapest product is obtained from wines homemade. A drink made from apple or grape material has a good taste and aroma, but moonshine made from homemade wine based on other berries and fruits will also turn out very good.

The only limitation is sour wines. The taste of vinegar cannot be corrected even with distillation; moonshine from sour wine cannot be improved even with multi-stage purification. The rest of the failed wines can be distilled; if you use old wine, you will get an even tastier drink.

Store-bought wines can also be used for distillation into moonshine; high-quality fruit and berry wines will make a wonderful drink, although the cost of such a product will be very high, unless you got the material for nothing or very cheaply.

How to make moonshine from wine

If the wine has sediment, then first of all you will need to remove the sediment. Its presence can spoil the taste and quality of the final product. No other preparation is required, just pour it into alembic.

To turn wine into high-quality moonshine, you should adhere to the following rules:

• The process should proceed at a low speed; strong heating can lead to burning of wine materials, which will have a bad effect on the taste
• Do the primary distillation without dividing into fractions. select until the temperature in the cube is 99 degrees
• Dilute the resulting distillate with water to 20-30 percent alcohol content and distill it a second time, this will allow you to obtain a high-quality product.
• Collect 10% heads from absolute alcohol, use them only for technical purposes
• As soon as a good moonshine starts to smell good, collect either 70% of absolute alcohol, or until the temperature in the cube is 92-95 degrees, preferably up to 92
• Collect the remaining tail fraction separately
• For example, it’s not worth doing additional cleaning because it will kill the fruity notes in the flavor bouquet.
• Dilute to 40% strength and let it sit in glass for a week and then do a tasting (see)

The amount of moonshine obtained depends on the strength of the wine materials. Theoretically, from 1 liter of wine with a strength of 14 degrees, you can get up to 200-250 grams of a high-quality 40% drink.

Basically, moonshine is made from wine in two cases. For industrial purposes, a distillate is thus obtained from grape wine, which is then infused in oak barrels, as they say for real cognac and Calvados. But, as a rule, home distillation of wine into moonshine is aimed at giving old, expired or bad wine a second life in the form of moonshine. This moonshine is of very high quality, even better than classic sugar moonshine, especially if made from homemade grape wine.

I don’t recommend distilling cheap store-bought wine, especially the one sold in tetra packs. Such wines are of very low quality and often contain a preservative – sodium sulfate. A high concentration of preservatives and colorings in wine makes moonshine smelly, and such a product is not very smooth to drink. So it’s difficult to guarantee high quality moonshine from store-bought wine.

It's another matter when we're talking about about homemade wines: grape, apple, plum and cherry, the raw material does not matter. Because the distillate made from homemade wine is always of very high quality and aromatic. Even the aging of the wine does not play much of a role; young and old wines produce distillates of the same quality. This moonshine can be drunk immediately after distillation, but it is best to infuse this drink for another 6-12 months, in an oak barrel or something like that. Alternative option on oak chips, so you will get real cognac at home. The preparation technology of which is very similar to expensive elite drinks.

Moonshine can be made from any homemade wine: old, not tasty, etc. The only exception is sour wine; it contains acetic acid, which makes moonshine sour. And no cleaning method will help you get rid of it completely.

Technology for distilling wine into moonshine

We pour the wine into the still; if there is sediment in the wine, we try not to let it get into the still.

We distill slowly, the speed should not exceed 3 liters per hour. Be sure to select heads; you can distinguish them by their characteristic unpleasant smell As a rule, when distilling 10 liters of wine, the first 200 ml will be “heads”. They contain substances hazardous to health, so it is strictly forbidden to drink them.

Next, we begin to collect the main output in a separate container, and continue to do this until the strength of the moonshine drops below 40 degrees.

The subsequent output is called “tails”; drinking it is also not recommended, but it can be collected and then added to a new mash to increase its strength.

The main fraction can be considered ready-made moonshine, but if, due to some circumstances, the quality does not suit you, you can clean the moonshine with charcoal or soda. But I wouldn’t recommend doing this, because you can kill all the fruity taste and aroma of the distillate. It's best to re-distill it.

Dilute the moonshine with water to 20 degrees and pour it back into the distillation cube. We also divide the output into fractions.

The resulting drink can be considered ready. The only thing that may need to be done is to dilute it to a pleasant drinking strength of 40-45 degrees. And before putting it on the table, it is advisable to let it sit in the refrigerator for 2-4 days.

From 10 liters of wine with a strength of 13-15 degrees, about 2 liters of 40 degree moonshine are obtained.

The resulting drink is very much reminiscent of moonshine made from grapes, because in essence it is the same thing, because wine is essentially an ordinary grape mash, only prepared better so that it can be drunk.

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In order to make moonshine from wine you will need a little patience and availability suitable type guilt. The result is a high-quality, well-cleaned product that can be used for several purposes.

Let’s look further at how to prepare moonshine, what can serve as a raw material, and what wine should not be used.

How to use moonshine from wine

Distillate from grape wine is also obtained for industrial purposes. It is then used to make such elite drinks as cognac and Calvados. You can prepare a good one, and you will be able to obtain a product of excellent quality within 6–8 months after the end of the distillation process. For these purposes, only high-quality grape wine is suitable.

Homemade cognac from wine moonshine, the result will be vintage henna!

You will also need to place the resulting moonshine from wine in oak barrels for the specified number of months, in the absence oak barrels You can use glass containers. In order for the final product to acquire the desired shade and taste, oak chips are placed in the container. The resulting final product will not be inferior in taste to expensive brands of cognac.

However, even without such a tincture oak chips, moonshine made from fruit or grape wines has a pleasant soft taste and aromatic fruit notes.

What kind of wine can be taken for distillation?

For distillation, we take those wines that we definitely won’t drink!

Almost all types of homemade drinks are suitable for processing. You can use any wine, grape, sweet and semi-dry, fortified.

Failed young wines and those that have expired are suitable.

You can use store-bought wines (grape, fruit and berry), but you should remember that inexpensive brands contain a large number of preservatives, which will make the final product unsuitable for consumption. The drink will have an unpleasant sulfur smell and will be hard to drink. Good moonshine comes out of high-quality purchased wine, but its cost is ultimately high.

The most acceptable would be moonshine made from homemade wine. Its cost is low and the end product is excellent.

When choosing raw materials for moonshine, you should not stop at sour wine. Moonshine made from sour wine has the smell and taste of vinegar. This unpleasant aftertaste cannot be removed by re-distillation, nor is it removed by multi-stage purification. Sour grape wines suffer from a particularly strong unpleasant aftertaste.

If you use sour wine, the taste of the drink will be hopelessly spoiled.

Making moonshine

Preparing this product is not particularly difficult for those who have already done it and will not be difficult for beginners. Those who have undertaken to distill homemade wine into distillate should use our advice:

• It is better to distill homemade wine twice. This way the final product will be more highly purified and of good quality.
• After processing, the resulting product should not be purified; this will neutralize the taste and aroma of the fruit.
• After finishing the distillation, homemade moonshine should be kept in a glass container for several days, and better month. The final aroma will be unique and the taste will be mild.

First distillation

All you need to do is pour the wine into the moonshine cube and start the process.

The first distillation of wine into moonshine

From 10 liters of wine with a strength of 13–14%, the product yield is about 3 liters, but the final result depends not only on the wine, but also on the speed of the process and is usually much lower.

Important! When pouring wine into a cube, be sure to drain it from the sediment and strain through several layers of gauze. Pieces of fruit or other ingredients should not get into the cube; they can block the movement of the distillate and cause an explosion.

For getting quality product It should be distilled slowly, at a rate of 3 liters per hour. The entire resulting product is divided into fractions:

• The head is the first 12% of the distillation (if 10 liters of wine are poured, then this is about 200 g). This fraction contains many harmful substances, has an unpleasant odor, is harmful to the human body, it is usually used for technical purposes (added to grape mash), but not drunk.
• The body is the main part, this part is determined by the strength (the presence of alcohol), it must be at least 40%.
• The tail or tails are the last part of the distillation and are often cloudy. It is also undrinkable.

The resulting product must be diluted with water up to 40%, poured glass bottles. It can be drunk after 2-3 days.

If a second distillation is intended, it is still better to divide the resulting product into fractions and use only the body diluted to 25% strength for distillation.

The resulting product should not be purified before the second distillation.

Second distillation

In principle, you can drink moonshine from homemade wine after the first distillation, but the second processing will allow you to obtain a very high-quality, soft product that is pleasant to drink.

It should be remembered that after the second distillation from 10 liters of the original product the yield will be slightly more than 2 liters.

First you need to dilute the resulting product to 20-25%. So, if you take 10 liters of 45-degree moonshine, then you will need to add another 5 liters of water to it. After this, you can pour the prepared product into the cube.

The resulting distillate should also be divided into fractions, and the heads and tails should be selected in the same proportions as during the first distillation.

Advice. To add an unusual flavor to the distillate, it can be infused for 2 weeks with dried apples, cinnamon or cloves.

Cleaning

Homemade moonshine from grape or fruit wines should not be purified; after cleaning, the aroma of grapes or fruit will disappear, which is very undesirable.

There is no point in purifying moonshine from wine that has turned sour; it will still not be possible to remove the taste of vinegar.

If you still have a desire or need to carry out cleaning, the easiest way to do this is with activated carbon.

To clean, you will need several tablets of activated carbon, gauze and cotton wool: the carbon is crushed, placed on gauze between layers of cotton wool, the cotton wool is also wrapped in gauze, then the resulting distillate is filtered through an improvised filter.

How to make moonshine from fruit juice

You can get an excellent quality drink from fresh fruit juice, best made from apple juice. To do this you will need:

• Apples, plums, other fruits – 15 kg;
• Pressed yeast (wine yeast is also suitable for moonshine) – 110 g;
• Sugar at the rate of 0.2 kg for every 1 liter of juice;
• Water – 10 l.

Before making moonshine, you will need to squeeze out the juice, make wine from it, and only then distill the distillate. The work should be carried out in the following sequence:

1. Squeeze juice from apples or other fruits and berries.
2. Place the resulting juice in a warm place for 3 days.
3. Then squeeze out the pulp and measure the amount of juice.
4. Dilute the juice with sugar, then add water and the required amount of yeast. Stir everything.
5. Pour the resulting mixture into a bottle and place it on a water seal for 1.5 months.
6. Then drain the sediment and pour it into a distillation cube.
7. During distillation, divide the moonshine into fractions.

Dilute the final product to the desired strength.