Contents
According to the technology for making mash from starch, moonshine made from sugar or fruit raw materials differs significantly. Two additional stages are added – obtaining malt (you can buy ready-made) and saccharification of starch, the yield of the finished product depends on the correct implementation of which.
Theory
Starch itself does not ferment, so saccharification is required first – the breakdown of starch to glucose under the influence of enzymes contained in malt (sprouted grain of barley, wheat or rye). It is glucose that is needed for alcoholic fermentation, the higher the concentration of this substance in the mash, the more moonshine will turn out. Theoretically, with 1 kg of pure starch, you can get 1,4 liters of forty-degree moonshine, but in practice, losses must be taken into account – up to 15%.
In industry, malt is replaced with ready-made enzymes – amylosubtilin and glucamorin. Amylosubtilin divides the starch molecule into aligosugar and dextrins. Glucavamorin – converts these breakdown products into glucose. Now anyone can buy the necessary enzymes in specialized stores, doing without malt. This greatly simplifies the whole process, but it is worth remembering that chemical additives can adversely affect the taste.
Considering that most moonshiners do not buy enzymes, we will next look at the classic technology in which malt is used to saccharify starch.
Ingredients:
- starch (potato or corn) -10 kg;
- malt – 2,5 kg;
- water – 40 liters;
- dry yeast – 100 grams (pressed – 500 grams).
Starch mash recipe
1. Getting malt
The technology is as follows: put the grain of wheat, barley or rye harvested more than 2 months ago into a tray with a layer of 2-3 cm and irrigate with water, but the grains should not be allowed to float. Close the tray with film or glass, then put it in a well-lit place at 10-20°C (optimum temperature is 12-15°C). Irrigate sprouted grains with water once a day. The malt will be ready in 5-8 days. It remains to dry the grains, separate the roots and, before preparing the mash, grind to the state of cereals.
An alternative option is to purchase ready-made (dried) malt.
2. Boil the starch
During this stage, the raw material is prepared for saccharification.
Pour starch into a large saucepan, add water (30 liters) and mix well. Boil the contents of the pan for 120 minutes over medium heat until a homogeneous mushy mass is obtained, stirring constantly so that there are no lumps.
3. Breakdown of starch
A very important stage at which it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature and time regimes, otherwise the glucose output will be minimal.
Grind the dried malt in a meat grinder. Cool boiled starch to 60°C, add malt and stir. Maintain the temperature at 60°C (permissible fluctuation – 2-3 degrees) for the next 45 minutes. This can be done by slowly heating, wrapping the pan in warm clothes or transferring it to a bath of hot water.
Then quickly (in 20-50 minutes) cool the mixture to 25-29°C, place the wort in a fermentation tank, add the remaining water (10 liters) and yeast diluted according to the instructions on the package, then mix. It is desirable that at least 25% free volume for foam remain in the container.
4. Fermentation
The conversion of extracted glucose into ethyl alcohol under the influence of yeast.
Move the container with mash to a dark place with a temperature of 16-25 ° C and install a water seal. After 3-8 days, the seething in the water lock will stop, the mash will taste bitter, brighten, and sediment will appear at the bottom. This means it’s time for a race.
Obtaining moonshine from starch
5. Distillation
Braga is drained from the sediment into a distillation cube, distilled without separation into fractions. Select distillate before the drop of the fortress in the jet below 30%. Measure strength. Determine the amount of pure alcohol (multiply the volume by the percentage of the fortress and divide by 100).
Dilute moonshine with water up to 20%. Overtake again. Collect the first 10-12% of the yield of pure alcohol separately. This “head” is a faction dangerous to health. Select the main product (“body”) until the strength in the jet falls below 45%, then finish the distillation or collect the “tails” separately.
Dilute the resulting starch moonshine of the middle fraction to 40-45%, pour into a glass container and close tightly. Leave for 2-3 days to stabilize.
