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Recently visited a friend. We haven’t seen him for a long time, although we live on neighboring streets. Either work, or just want to relax with the family, and so they crossed paths with him in the store and agreed to sit for a bottle.
Even in my youth, everyone knew my friend as an avid moonshiner, so I was very surprised when, having gone to visit him, I saw ordinary cognac in my glass. To my silent question, my friend, smiling, replied that he makes this cognac himself.
This story was shared by our subscriber Alex.
What ingredients and equipment will be needed
I didn’t believe it at first. Okay, wine or beer, but to make cognac at home … I have not heard this yet. It is natural that I became interested in this topic. Still would! In the store, good cognac is not so cheap.
The questioning of a friend began. To begin with, I decided to find out what ingredients and equipment are needed to make cognac.
After a few drinks, the friend became more accommodating and described everything to me in detail.
Note! All ingredients for homemade cognac can be purchased at a regular grocery store.
For the manufacture will need:
- alcohol base (quality vodka or moonshine);
- prune;
- sugar;
- cotton wool;
- a glass jar or other container where cognac will be infused;
- funnel (you can cut the neck of a plastic bottle);
The comrade immediately noticed that special attention should be paid to the choice of high-quality prunes. This is not for you to cook compote, this is a serious matter!
Important! Prunes for brandy must first of all be fresh.
15 minutes and two toasts lasted advice on choosing prunes. The main ones are:
- uniform appearance and no damage to the skin;
- fruits must be dry;
- prunes of good quality should be elastic and fleshy to the touch;
- fruits should not stick to fingers;
- it should taste slightly sour, but not bitter;
- dried fruit should not be too wrinkled.
The cooking process
Having figured out the ingredients and uncorking a new bottle for better visualization, we proceeded directly to the preparation process. Fearing that the quality of homemade cognac would be stronger than my memory, I decided to write down:
- First you need to take a container that is suitable in size.
- Pour a liter of vodka or moonshine into the container.
- We lower 30-50 grams of prunes into the container.
- Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar.
- The jar with the product is placed in a dark room, closed from the sun.
Prunes, as it turned out, are used for different purposes …
After 40 days of infusion, a liter of fine cognac is obtained.
Attention! It will not work to hide the container from the wife in the cellar. The air temperature in the room must be at least 14 0С. Will have to look for another place.
How to filter the resulting tincture
The feast was in full swing, however, the cognac came to an end. I already wanted to run to the store for a new bottle, but a friend firmly assured me that he did not drink store-bought alcohol. Of course, we had not seen him for a long time, but somehow we did not want to wait another 40 days until a new portion of the skate was infused.
Tasting
Important! Before use, homemade cognac must be filtered.
Fortunately for me, a semi-finished product was almost ready for use in the pantry of a friend. It only remained to strain it.
We quickly built a makeshift filter. A layer of gauze and cotton wool was placed in the cut neck of a plastic bottle and cognac was poured through them into another container.
As a friend explained, this must be done in order to get rid of excess impurities and natural sediment from prunes.
What will be the result
Half an hour later we again drank a pleasant, sweetish liquid of a light brown color with a spicy aroma of prunes. Dried fruit muffled the alcohol notes in cognac, making them almost invisible.
Note! Cognac produced at home is cheaper than its store counterparts.
Enchanting notes of prunes and he himself
Remembering the prices for brandy in the store, I decided to ask about the cost of producing homemade cognac. It turned out this:
- good vodka can be purchased in a store for 400 rubles, about the same amount goes to making high-quality moonshine;
- for a kilogram of sugar you will have to pay 40 rubles (and we only need a few spoons);
- a kilogram of dried prunes costs 200 – 400 rubles. (a kilogram is enough for a whole box of cognac, if not more);
- I think you can get plastic bottles, cans, cotton wool and gauze in any home.
It turns out that cognac made at home is an order of magnitude cheaper than its store counterpart.
What can be substituted in the recipe
A friend told me that making alcohol at home is almost an art form in itself. Here you can not adhere to strict standards and improvise as much as you like.
Note! There are several variants of cognac made from prunes. For example, for a woody taste, you can add an oak segment.
Various spices such as cloves, vanilla and even chocolate are added to improve the taste and aroma before infusion.
The next time I went to visit a friend, he gave me a few more types of cognac to try. What types of home-produced alcohol have you tried?