Cherry plum (aka cherry plum or tkemali) grows in many regions of Russia. Due to its persistent aroma, it is an excellent raw material for the preparation of fruit mash. The only drawback is the low sugar content of the fruit, which requires a special approach. We will look at how to make moonshine from cherry plum according to a simple recipe used by many experienced moonshiners.
The sugar content of even ripe cherry plum berries is very low – only 4-5%. On natural fruit fructose (without sugar), the yield is minimal – up to 0,5 liters of moonshine with 10 kg of cherry plum. 1 kg of sugar in Braga increases the amount of distillate by 1,1-1,2 liters, but slightly levels the fruity taste and aroma. The more sugar, the less cherry plum notes remain. It’s a compromise between quality and quantity.
On wild yeast, cherry plum mash ferments for 15-45 days. Alcohol or baker’s yeast reduces the fermentation period to 5-9 days, but worsens the smell of moonshine. If possible, I advise you to put mash without yeast.
Ingredients:
- ripe cherry – 10 kg;
- sugar – 1-2 kg (optional);
- water – 5 liters and another 3 liters for each kilogram of sugar;
- yeast – 30 grams dry or 150 grams pressed (not desirable).
Plum mash recipe
1. From the unwashed cherry plum (so that wild yeast remains on the peel), remove the bones. The process is laborious, but if you put the pulp on fermentation along with the seeds, moonshine can be bitter. Leaving the bones, you act at your own peril and risk.
2. Grind the pulp together with the peel to a state of homogeneous gruel. The easiest way to do this is with a meat grinder or a drill with a metal rod at the end.
3. Dilute 1 kg of sugar in 0,5 liter of water, add the resulting syrup to the liquid, mix.
4. Bandage the neck of the container with cherry plum pulp with gauze and put it in a warm dark place for 1-2 days. At this stage, we activate the natural yeast that is on the surface of the berries.
If there is no fermentation on the third day, in order not to spoil the food, you will have to add artificial yeast (150 grams of pressed or 30 grams of dry). Yeast can be added immediately at the third stage, then the fermentation process will go more actively.
5. If foam, hissing and a sour smell appear, pour the mixture into a fermentation container.
6. Dilute 3 kg of sugar in 1,5 liters of water. Pour the syrup into the cherry plum mash, mix well.
7. Add the remaining water, mix again. It is advisable to leave at least 20-25% of the volume of the container free for foam.
8. Install a water seal on the neck (you can use a medical glove with a hole in your finger). Fermentation with natural yeast is slow, so without a water seal, the mash can turn sour.
9. Put the container in a dark place with a temperature of 20-28°C. Depending on the activity of the yeast and the temperature regime, fermentation lasts from 15 to 45 days. You should not worry, under the water seal the mash will not deteriorate.
Obtaining moonshine from cherry plum
10. In order to prevent burning, the plum mash that has won back (it has become lighter and bitter in taste without sweetness, the water seal does not let gas in) is drained from the sediment, filtered through gauze, squeezed out the cake well.
11. Overtake the wash for the first time at the highest possible speed. Select distillate before the drop of the fortress in the jet below 30%. The product may be cloudy, this is normal.
12. Measure the strength of the collected moonshine. Determine the amount of pure alcohol (volume divided by 100 and multiplied by the fortress).
13. Dilute the distillate with water to 20% and make a second distillation. Collect the first 10-15% of the yield of pure alcohol separately. This fraction is called “heads”, because of the content of harmful substances it is hazardous to health and can only be used for technical purposes.
14. Select the main product (“body”) until the strength in the jet falls below 45%.
15. Dilute the finished cherry plum moonshine with water up to 40-45% and close it hermetically. To improve the taste, leave for 2-3 days.
