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For a long time we hadn’t been able to get out of the stuffy city, but then my wife got it all right – let’s go to the village, visit our parents. The offer, of course, is tempting, and my missus’ father-in-law is a well-known moonshiner throughout the district, constantly practicing new recipes.
In general, on the very first weekend after this conversation, we drove several hundred kilometers from the city, as, indeed, from civilization as a whole.
Story from my subscriber Ivan.
Why I decided to make alcohol myself
The village greeted us with fresh air and the scent of cut hay. However, there were other, more specific smells. But these are all trifles.
A hearty feast on the occasion of the long-awaited meeting unfolded in the evening. From the city, I took with me several bottles of vodka, which my father-in-law did not even look at. We treated ourselves that day to various inventions of a relative.
The next morning, realizing that my stomach was still in place, and my head was not screaming about the presence of a hangover, I began to find out what we had consumed yesterday.
Father-in-law answered questions cheerfully and accurately. It seems that if you give him a pen and paper, and in a few days a book on the basics of provincial moonshining would be published.
A couple of days later I had to return to the city. A few weeks after the trip, I was already wandering the halls of a liquor store.
A month later, the arrival of my friend was expected, with whom fate divorced us 15 years ago, and for two days I have been puzzling over how to surprise my friend, and this is still that guru in alcohol.
Then I remembered my father-in-law and the abundance of alcohol on his table. Realizing that it would not be possible to surprise a friend returning home from Latin America with branded alcohol, I decided to go the other way and try my luck with drinks of my own production.
What ingredients are required
In the evening, after much deliberation, I opted for apple cider. It was autumn outside the window, so it was not difficult to get apples in the right amount. For a long time I was looking for a notebook sheet on which my father-in-law wrote down recipes for especially remarkable drinks for me.
The records were found in the morning, along with the documents for the car. How they got there remained a mystery to me, but the reasons for the sly grin of the traffic police officer who stopped us on the way home from the village became clear.
Cider in the bud looks like this
I decided to make cider with a margin, as advised in the notes of a relative. As a result, for the preparation of the drink I needed:
- One 10-liter bucket of apples, which my mother-in-law sent us to the city as an opportunity along with friends.
- One and a half buckets of water. At first I wanted to use ordinary tap water, but after a little thought, I decided not to risk it and bought drinking water in 5-liter bottles from the store. For each of them I had to pay about 50 rubles.
- 2,5 kg of sugar were also purchased along with water and knocked out of my pocket a little less than a hundred rubles.
- Special wine yeast was the most expensive commodity. Their price ranges from 150 to 2 rubles.
The cooking process
The next day, the process of making cider began, which had to be divided into several stages.
- The father-in-law wrote that apples just need to be passed through a meat grinder. This is where I failed miserably at first. Either the apples were too large, or the hole in the meat grinder was too small, but the fruits did not want to plunge into an environment that was unusual for them. I had to cut them into small pieces and try again. This time luck smiled at me, and in about twenty minutes an incomprehensible substance was ready in the bucket, which looked a bit like mashed potatoes. It was required to fill it with water and leave to infuse for two weeks.
- After this time, I strained the whole thing and added sugar and yeast. Having carefully corked the container, I left it in a warm pantry for 10 days. On the advice of my father-in-law, I added 70 grams of yeast, which, according to a relative, made the cider very strong.
- At the end of this period, I had only to strain the drink again and pour it into glass bottles.
My father-in-law warned me back in the village that cider could not be stored for a long time. After about six months, it turns into ordinary vinegar. Actually, I didn’t mean to.
What result did I get
After three weeks of the process, a golden honey drink flaunted on my table. I could not resist and conducted a tasting of one bottle. The cider tasted very good.
Behind the delicate aroma of apples, alcohol notes were slightly felt, which, however, did not spoil the overall delicate taste of the drink. The addition of yeast at a higher concentration than usual made it possible to give the cider a strength comparable to an average wine.
Finished products
The goal has been achieved. A friend was very surprised when he tasted the cider. For a long time I could not believe that I made this drink with my own hands.
In my opinion, home-made alcoholic drinks made from natural products are much easier to drink than kazenka. What do you think?