He is not Limoncello for you: we make moonshine from 20 lemons in 7 days – ideal for the New Year’s table

New Year holidays are just around the corner, and I decided to surprise the guests with something new, natural, homemade. My old passion is to experiment with what grows in the garden. And this time I decided to try something exotic and New Year’s – lemon moonshine.

The taste is pleasant, the cost is average. And it’s quick and easy to prepare. Yes, and a lemon is suitable for the festive table, after all – a winter, New Year’s fruit.

The story was sent by blog subscriber Vladislav.

What ingredients and equipment will be needed

So what you need:

• Lemons, about 20 pieces. It has been verified from personal experience: it is better to take thin-skinned ones brought from Abkhazia. Then the mash will get a pleasant aroma and taste, even without a hint of fuselage, and will not be bitter. And if you save on junk goods at a discount, the quality of the final drink will deteriorate. It makes sense to take dry or fresh lemon zest – the aroma is preserved, and less sugar is required.
• Wine yeast, 1 large packet, 100 gr. Bakers will not work, the acidity of the lemon is not suitable for them, too high. But with wine it turns out.
• Yeast “Saf-moment”, 3 gr., So that the mash does not foam too much.
• Filtered water, about 20 liters.
• Sugar, 5 kg of granulated sugar per 20 liters of water.

That’s all you need. I think there is in the bins of every moonshiner. And now to business.

The cooking process

This is how we prepare lemons:

1. Wash our lemons with hot water. Then carefully remove the zest with a vegetable peeler so that the white layer remains. You can also on a grater, if more convenient. We don’t throw anything away!
2. We crush the pulp into a cake, finely chop the zest and combine everything. If we like bitterness in citrus fruits, then you can leave the white layer on. Little life hack: my wife likes to make lemonade from fresh citruses. So, the remaining cake, I freeze, and then I use mash for sourdough. I don’t miss anything!
3. Now dissolve in 500 ml of water heated to 30 degrees (out of a total of 20 liters), add yeast. We leave for 10 minutes. In boiling water, the yeast will die and the fermentation process will not go!
4. At this time, pour sugar into a tank of water and put citrus cake. Add yeast solution, mix well. The temperature of the resulting liquid should be 27-30 degrees, and foam will appear on the surface.
5. The resulting mash is loosely closed and sent to a dark and warm place for 7-10 days. Ready mash does not foam, does not hiss, has a smooth surface. We filter the mash from the cake, and then lighten it with bentonite – white clay in powder. For 10 liters, 1 tbsp is enough. l.

After that, you can proceed directly to the distillation. We perform it twice, as usual, without forgetting the main rule for obtaining a clear drink: after the first distillation, add it to 40-degree moonshine in water until we get an alcohol solution with a strength of 25 degrees.

If you do the opposite, the finished drink will be cloudy. Again distilled with the selection of heads and tails.

What will be the result

The result is a pale yellow moonshine with a light lemon aroma and taste. The longer the drink is infused, the brighter the taste and aroma will be. But this is already an amateur.

I want to warn you in advance about what I read on the internet. Many complain that, as a result, moonshine on lemons is bitter. This may be due to too thick a layer of zest and a white layer, or the lemons were not doused with hot water before cooking.

Just rinse the lemons thoroughly and remove the white layer between the peel and the pulp.

The cost of such a product from the specified number of components is about 2500-2700 rubles, depending on where to make the purchase. That is, for this amount we received 5 liters of natural citrus moonshine.

This is what the final product looks like.

What can be added

Please note: since lemons contain very little sugar compared to other fruits and berries, to obtain moonshine of sufficient strength, you will need, accordingly, more sugar than usual. But you can try to replace it with honey.

Now we are planning to try to do the same, but on tangerines. You can also mix oranges, tangerines and lemons together. And what do you advise? I heard they add more coffee, ginger, cinnamon, mint and even oak bark, have you tried it?

Tell me, and I will share my signature recipe for real Russian horseradish. And I’ll tell you next time how I cook moonshine on watermelons.