I found candied jam in the cellar since 2003: what will happen if you try to make moonshine out of it

When you move to live in a village, the whole way of life immediately changes. First you build a bathhouse, then a house, then you start cattle, you start making blanks and the culmination of village life – you yourself start to make moonshine.

Not because it is a village liquid currency, just once you try it with your neighbors, you begin to appreciate the natural product and are ready to experiment for hours on different tastes with different ingredients.

Story from my subscriber Michael L.

From what it all began

My wife and I decided to audit the cellar. Human greed is an unpredictable thing, at first it seems that everything is not enough, you plant not 2 currant bushes, but 20, then you think what to do with the surplus.

So it happened with us, there were 20 liters of jam from previous years, one jar with the label of 2003, and even then it didn’t turn sour, but only sugared.

They began to think where to put all this magnificence. Making fruit drinks is not an option, we won’t drink so much, it’s inconvenient to give out even last year’s, and there’s no one in particular. The first thought that came to my mind was to put a braga. Sugar is not necessary, add a little yeast, in the summer heat that’s it.

Important! If the jam is already fermented, no need to add yeast. You can add fresh unwashed berries. Cherries, raspberries and currants ferment well!

What ingredients are required

You can make any proportions to your taste. From personal experience, I can say that the more sugar in the jam, the less it will be needed.

Orient yourself like this: if it seems normal to you in terms of sweetness, then the wort has turned out. A 20-liter bottle usually takes me about 5 liters of jam and a small pack of ordinary dry yeast.

I take regular water from a well. Many people advise to boil, but I don’t do this, I just leave it in the house to warm up to room temperature. I breed yeast in warm water, the temperature is about 37-40 degrees, so they begin to ferment more actively.

Important! It is preferable to take yeast in specialized stores. If it is not possible to go after them, ordinary dry bakeries will do. The ideal option is raw yeast, but there are very few of them on sale. In our rural store, they are rare.

The cooking process

Mix the jam thoroughly to get a homogeneous mass. If necessary, add water. Pour in the prepared yeast, add the rest of the water. Pre-prepare a container for mash: rinse thoroughly, can be sterilized. I do it in the sun, in direct sunlight.

I make a water seal myself, from an ordinary system for droppers. I used to use a simple rubber glove, it is most convenient to put on a plastic 20-liter bottle.

You can use any container that is at hand. An aluminum flask will do, although there are opponents of its use. It is ideal to have a glass bottle in the household only for wine and mash.

Add the rest of the water, mix everything and put in a dark, warm place for fermentation. A neighbor advised me to periodically shake the mass, but I did it only a couple of times, fermentation was active and without my intervention.

After 2 weeks, the mash was ready. He distilled it on a moonshine like “Dachnik”. At that time, we did not yet have water in the area, so the distillation in it was without a constant influx of water.

It was enough to lower one hose into the container. I didn’t like this method, too many “tails” remain, then I redid it.

What result did I get

For my taste, moonshine turned out with pleasant fruity notes. The only thing I refused was to mix different types of jam.

Assorted turns out too tart, maybe because there was a lot of plum jam, which knits.

It is better to make moonshine from one type of jam, so you get a better product with the aroma of a particular berry.

We got rid of some of the jam. Next in line were blanks with compotes. Maybe someone has experience how to process them into moonshine? I look forward to your advice.