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Homemade “cognacs” are one of the most common topics for discussion on forums for homemade alcoholic beverages. Their recipes have been improved for hundreds of years, and now many moonshiners manage to make, if not a complete analogue of real cognac, then its very high-quality replica, which, with proper exposure, becomes an excellent product, tasty, fragrant and beautiful in its own way.
I’ll make a reservation right away – you won’t get “cognac” in the full sense of the word by any of the methods below. However, even the low-grade booze that is sold in our stores is not and cannot be cognac. However, it is quite possible to make a wonderful, very special drink with its own flavor and aroma properties. And your product will be much better than any Koktebel.
Today we will present two of the most common, thousands of times proven recipes – home-made cognac from moonshine on oak bark “in Latgalian style” and the so-called “village” cognac on oak chips.
On the forums I came across the phrase that comparing real and homemade cognac is the same as comparing a living and rubber woman. This approach is completely wrong! Each of these recipes has its own special charm. Cognac from moonshine on oak bark is not a chemical fake, but a living, noble drink, moreover, made by oneself.
Continuing the analogy: if the original cognac is a pretentious Parisian fashion model, with whom, except for the philosophy of Deleuze, there is nothing to talk about (and even only in French), then our home-made “cognac” from moonshine is a healthy village laughter, with which even to the hayloft, even to the BAM construction site, even to Siberian exile.
Cognac from moonshine at home. A little about raw materials
As already mentioned, it is impossible to make cognac from moonshine with your own hands, but you can make a good, high-quality original drink. Naturally, this requires three things – high-quality alcohol, the right proportion of ingredients and long exposure.
As for the quality of moonshine, all the authors of the recipes are unanimous – it should be the highest! A good grain double or triple distillate is suitable, or rectified, prepared in a beer column and diluted to the required strength. The best cognacs from moonshine at home are obtained if grape alcohol was used for them – chacha or its simplified counterparts.
Now let’s talk about the second mandatory ingredient – oak. Do-it-yourself cognac from moonshine can only be made if you have specially prepared wood from this tree. Why is it so important?
Chips or chips are, so to speak, an ersatz barrel – a common and affordable replacement for oak wine barrels. What will oak give to our drink?
- Tannins. Dissolved substances of the tannin group give the drink astringency and a peculiar bitter aroma, which softens with aging.
- Aromatic acids. During the biosynthesis of lignin contained in wood, natural flavors are released. There are many of them, but first of all it is syringaldehyde (it gives a smell similar to lilac) and more pronounced vanillin. Imagine, it is found not only in vanilla beans and shopping bags, but also, for example, in cinnamon, cloves, olive oil, coffee, and, of course, in oak wood.
- Lactones and phenolic compounds. Also an important element of the bouquet of drinks aged in barrels or on wood chips. During the heat treatment of wood, substances of the furan series are formed in it, giving our cognac the very aroma of “caramel”.
So, oak is tannins, vanillin and caramel. If not chips or wood chips are used, these flavors and aromas must be artificially communicated to the drink. Therefore, recipes for home-made cognac from moonshine on oak bark often include additional ingredients – for example, natural wine, vanilla sugar or pods, caramel syrup.
In general, enough theory, let’s go directly to the recipes for homemade cognac from moonshine.
Cognac in Latgale. Recipe proven by generations!
Latgalian tincture is the most common way to ennoble moonshine “under cognac”. The recipe was invented in Latgale, a historical region of modern Latvia with a long tradition of home brewing. There are extremely many variations of this drink, but there is one classic recipe that has been used for generations and always gives a good, stable result. We will bring him.
Ingredients:
- 3 liters of moonshine at least double distilled, diluted to 50 degrees.
- Oak bark (sold in a pharmacy) – 2 tablespoons. I recommend that you pre-soak the bark for 10 minutes in boiling water, dry it, and only after that put it in a drink, otherwise it will contain too many tannins. You can also replace the bark with an equal amount of oak chips.
- 3 cloves.
- Nutmeg (whole) – 1/5 part or ground – on the tip of a knife.
- Cardamom – 1 small box, lightly crushed with a knife.
- Sugar – 3 tablespoons.
Preparation:
- Sugar must first be dissolved in a small amount of moonshine, as an option – make a simple caramel syrup.
- We put all the ingredients in a jar, pour in moonshine and add syrup, shake everything well and set aside in a dark place.
- The time of infusion is from two weeks, but not more than a month, so that the alcohol base does not pull too much tannins out of the bark. When insisting on the battery, the time is reduced to a week – 10 days, but this is not a very correct method, it is better to wait.
- After the tincture has acquired a brown color and a bright aroma, it must be filtered, bottled and kept for at least six months in a dark place.
They say that after two years of aging, Latgalian cognac becomes especially pleasant. With each month of rest, the drink becomes more and more rich, soft and similar to real cognac!
Homemade cognac from moonshine. Country style recipe
This version of the drink, in principle, is similar to the previous one, but it uses much more ingredients, and there are many cooking variations – for every taste. I will describe recipes that use oak chips, so before you make cognac from moonshine in this way, you will need to prepare the material. Well, or buy it in special stores. How to prepare and burn oak chips is written at the end of this article.
Ingredients:
- Good moonshine 45-50 degrees – 3 liters;
- Oak chips of medium roast – 6 pieces 10 cm long and about 4×4 mm thick.
- Sugar – 2 tablespoons (for caramel syrup);
- Rose hips – 15 small berries (read the educational program on rose hips in this article);
- 3-4 peas of black pepper;
- A teaspoon of large-leaf black tea (it is better to take a good one, as a cheap one can be dyed);
- St. John’s wort – 1 small sprig or a teaspoon without the top of the pharmacy ground. This ingredient is better to put less than more.
Optional components (optional):
- Raisins black and white – a tablespoon;
- Pitted prunes – 1 pc;
- Vanilla pod – 3 cm;
- Oregano – 1.5 grams;
- Thyme – 1.5 grams.
It is quite possible to do without the second list, the drink will come out original anyway. If there are difficulties with St. John’s wort, it can also be excluded. But I would add vanilla, there is not much of it here and it will give only a subtle, barely perceptible note in the bouquet of the drink.
Preparation:
- Make caramel syrup – light brown.
- Put all the ingredients in a jar, pour alcohol, add caramel, close the lid tightly.
- Insist in a dark place for a week, then pull out the prunes (if you use it) and vanilla.
- The total time of infusion is from two weeks to a month (no more), the jar needs to be shaken periodically.
- When the aroma has become pronounced, and the color is dark enough, the liquid must be filtered through several layers of gauze, then through a cotton filter.
- Leave to rest in the bottle for at least 3 months, better – more, in a dark cool place, so that the tannins in the drink soften, the tastes become friends and rounded, and the aroma becomes softer. If a precipitate appears after settling, filter again.
As we can see, it is not so difficult to prepare cognac from moonshine at home, the drink turns out to be beautiful, fragrant, with a multifaceted taste. The longer you keep it, the better it will be!
Preparation of oak chips at home
And now let’s talk about the ingredient that is included in many recipes for homemade cognac from moonshine – oak chips. She does it this way.
- A dry oak chock or log is taken from a trunk or a thick branch.
- The wood is carefully split along the grain. It has been proven that alcohol penetrates into wood by 2 mm, so the optimal chip size is 4×4 mm.
- Chips are placed in cold water for 12 hours.
- After this time, the old water is drained, and the chips are poured with fresh water, in which you need to put soda – about a teaspoon per 5 liters.
- After 12 hours of infusion, the water is drained again, the chips are placed in a colander and placed on a steam bath – they need to be steamed, not boiled.
- Our raw materials are also steamed for about 12 hours, on low heat. When the water that boils in a saucepan turns brown, it must be drained and replaced with fresh water.
- Now the chips need to be pulled out and dried in the air for the same 12 hours.
- The next step is warming up. The tree must be laid out on a wire rack and put in the oven at a temperature of about 150 degrees. Keep for about 4 hours.
- After another 12 hours, repeat the procedure. At this stage, a pleasant smell of vanilla and caramel should appear. We hold again for 4 hours, let’s rest for another 12.
- And the final stage is the actual roasting. To do this, the oven must be turned on at 200 degrees, if there is, set the grill mode. Bake until the wood chips begin to smoke. Once that’s happened, you’re all set!
As we can see, preparing oak chips for cognac from moonshine at home is a rather long process, but not very laborious. This is useful if you are going to be making a lot of oak aged drinks. Such material is stored indefinitely in a warm, dry place, it can be used as needed.
“Rum Diary” wishes you successful experiments! Prepare more alcohol – beautiful, tasty and different, and drink it in moderation and with pleasure!