Due to the relatively high sugar content, gooseberries are perfect for making moonshine. The main thing is to get a lot of berries. We will consider a universal mash recipe, in which it is not necessary to use sugar and yeast. You will get an excellent fruity distillate with a light grassy aroma.
Gooseberries of any variety are suitable. Berries should be ripe, not rotten and without mold. The fruits must be sorted out, removing the defective ones, otherwise the finished drink will be bitter.
Ingredients:
- gooseberries (agrus) – 5 kg;
- water – 3 liters and another 4 liters for each kilogram of sugar;
- sugar – 500-1500 grams (optional);
- yeast – 20 grams dry or 100 grams pressed (optional).
Depending on the variety, ripening region and weather conditions, ripe gooseberries contain 9-15% sugar. This means that with 1 kg of raw materials, on average, 100-165 ml of moonshine with a strength of 40% will be obtained. To increase the yield, you can add sugar to the mash (1 kg will increase the amount of forty percent distillate by 1,1-1,2 liters). But some of the flavor will be lost. This is a compromise between quantity and quality: without sugar it turns out tastier and more aromatic, but much less.
On alcohol or baker’s yeast (pressed or dry), gooseberry mash will win back in 6-14 days, on wild fermentation it lasts 20-50 days. The problem is that artificial yeast slightly spoils the flavor, so if there is an opportunity and there is nowhere to rush, it is better to make gooseberry moonshine without yeast. Fermentation will start wild yeast, which are on the surface of the berries, the main thing is not to wash them off.
gooseberry mash recipe
1. Berries (if the mash is without yeast, always unwashed) chop in any way possible.
2. Add sugar, mix. Leave for 3-4 hours for the gooseberries to release juice. Skip this step if you are cooking without sugar.
3. Place the resulting mass in a fermentation tank. Add water and yeast (optional). Mix.
4. Install a water seal of any design on the neck of the container. You can use a medical glove by piercing a hole in one of the fingers with a needle.
5. Transfer the gooseberry mash to a dark place with a temperature of 18-26 ° C. Depending on the yeast and temperature, fermentation lasts 6-50 days. Signs of readiness: the water seal does not release gas for a day (the glove is blown off), a layer of sediment has appeared at the bottom, the mash tastes slightly bitter, the sweetness is not felt.
6. Filter the spent mash through gauze folded in several layers so that the remnants of the skin and pulp do not burn during distillation.
Getting gooseberry moonshine
7. Distill the mash for the first time, select the distillate until the fortress in the stream drops below 30%. Moonshine may be cloudy, this is normal.
8. Measure the strength of the distillate, determine the amount of pure alcohol. For example, if 1 liter has a strength of 65%, then it contains 650 ml of pure alcohol.
9. Dilute moonshine with water up to 20% and make a second distillation. The first 8-15% of the yield from the amount of pure alcohol is collected separately and poured. This is a harmful fraction with a sharp unpleasant odor, which is called “heads”, it is dangerous to drink it.
10. Finish the selection of the main product (“body”) when the strength in the jet drops below 45%. If desired, collect the “tails” separately.
11. Dilute gooseberry moonshine with water up to 40-45%. Before use, insist 2-3 days in a dark, cool place to stabilize the taste (chemical reactions should end after mixing with water).
