A few years ago I was visiting a friend of mine who came from the USA. He spent his holidays there and brought not only fridge magnets, but also “American whiskey” – bourbon.
I can’t say that the taste won me over, but it was somewhat different from the whiskey that I had previously tasted.
It turned out that the whole difference is in the feedstock. Well, how could I, a moonshine specialist, not try to make real bourbon myself?
Here is a letter sent to me by my subscriber Nikolai Aleksandrovich. I think you will like his recipe.
What is bourbon
Experimenting with different raw materials for making moonshine, I became interested in corn. And this is no coincidence – one of the famous whiskey varieties is made from it. So I decided to make homemade bourbon.
Bourbon is a whiskey made in America from corn grains. This is where it differs from any similar European drink, which is traditionally prepared from barley.
For the preparation of bourbon, the most ripe and juicy corn is used, so the drink gets a peculiar flavor and aroma of sweet corn grains.
The drink I made is a stretch to call bourbon. Common cornmeal was used as raw material. However, the corn moonshine turned out to be surprisingly good.
Necessary ingredients
In order for the carbohydrates in corn to turn into alcohol, they must be made to ferment. But there is very little pure sugar in this culture. The predominant part of carbohydrates is present in corn in the form of starch. And he will not wander on his own.
Fermentation is necessary to break down starch and turn it into sugar. To do this, during the cooking process, rye or wheat malt is added to the corn. So, for the preparation of corn moonshine, you will need the following ingredients:
- corn flour – 2 kg;
- malt – 400 g;
- water – 10 liters;
- dry yeast – 10 g.
Instead of cornmeal, you can take grits and grind it finely. The water must not be boiled. It is advisable to collect it from a well, saturated with oxygen. With the indicated amount, the distillate yield will be approximately 1,5-1,7 liters.
How to cook mash
To prepare the mash, you will need a water bath, otherwise the components may burn on direct fire, ruining the taste of the future drink. The cooking process is as follows:
- Leaving 1 liter of water cold, heat 9 liters in a water bath to 50 ° C and pour flour into it, stirring constantly.
- Cook the resulting porridge at the same temperature for about 15 minutes. In this case, care must be taken not to form lumps.
- Then increase the temperature to 65°C and cook for 15 minutes while stirring.
- Add the remaining 1 liter of water and heat the entire mixture to 75-80°C. After closing the lid, keep at a constant temperature for about 20 minutes.
- After this time, you need to cool the future mash to 65 ° C and pour crushed malt into it.
- After thoroughly mixing the contents, put the pan in a warm place for 7-8 hours. You can wrap it in a thick blanket to keep the temperature longer. After this time, the mash should become sweetish.
- Dilute and activate the yeast in a glass (250 ml) of water at a temperature of 25-30 ° C according to the instructions on the package and pour into the wort.
- After cooling the mash to a temperature of 25-30 ° C, leave it for fermentation, pouring it into a fermentation tank with a water seal or with an ordinary rubber glove.
- After about 5-7 days, carbon dioxide will stop escaping from the tank. This means that the mash has fermented.
It’s time to start racing.
Distillation of corn distillate
You need to distill corn mash twice. During the first distillation, a distillate with a strength of 65-70% vol. The first distillation is carried out without the selection of “heads” until the fortress drops to 25-30% vol.
Secondary distillation should be carried out by diluting the resulting distillate with water to a strength of 20-25% vol. And now it is necessary to select unnecessary fractions – “heads” and “tails”.
The first part – approximately 100 ml must be thrown away or used for technical purposes. You can’t drink it. Distillation must be carried out until the fortress drops to 45% vol.
The resulting distillate must be diluted with water to a strength of 40-42% vol. After aging in a closed bottle for 2-3 days, moonshine should be fragrant and slightly sweet in taste.
If you are not too lazy and keep it for a couple of months in a small oak barrel, you can get real bourbon, although not produced in America.
Personally, I like the second option. It gives the drink a noble color and some softness.
Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health. Take care of yourself!
True, my friends, after tasting bourbon from a barrel, say that you should not wait so long, you can just insist moonshine on pharmacy oak bark for a week. Somehow I disagree with them. And you? Is there a difference in the taste of a drink infused on wood chips and in a barrel?