Subject to the technology of preparation, moonshine from melon turns out to be soft, with subtle notes of fruit. The main thing is to remove the skins and bones, which give an unpleasant bitter aftertaste. Substandard overripe melons are suitable as raw materials, preferably as sweet as possible. First, be sure to cut out the rotten and moldy parts that can ruin the mash.
On average, 1 kg of melon contains 80 grams of sugar. This means that to obtain 1 liter of forty-degree melon moonshine, 12-14 kg of fruits are required. To increase the yield by 2.5 times, I advise you to add sugar, this will not affect the quality. The liquid in the fruit is more than 90%, so if you follow the indicated proportions, water is not needed.
Ingredients:
- melon – 15 kg;
- sugar – 1.5 kg (optional);
- dry yeast – 25 grams (150 grams pressed or sourdough).
There is no wild yeast in the melon pulp, so that the mash does not turn sour, you need to add artificial dry, pressed or alcoholic yeast. An alternative option is to make a starter from raisins or fresh berries, but fermentation will last five to six times longer, but the aroma of moonshine will be more pleasant.
Melon mash recipe
1. Cut the fruits into two halves, remove the seeds. Scoop out the ripe pulp with a spoon and crush to make juice.
Bones, peel and green unripe pulp make moonshine bitter, these parts should not get into the mash.
2. Pour the juice into a fermentation container, add sugar (optional), yeast or sourdough diluted according to the instructions on the label. Mix.
3. Install a water seal or a medical glove with a hole in one of the fingers on the neck of the container (made with a needle). Check the seal to ensure no air gets inside.
4. Put the melon mash in a dark place with a temperature of 18-27°C. On artificial yeast, fermentation lasts 5-10 days, on sourdough – 25-45 days.
5. When the water seal stops gurgling (the glove falls off), the wort brightens and becomes bitter in taste without sweetness, drain the spent mash from the sediment (can be filtered through cheesecloth) into the distillation cube of the moonshine still.
Getting melon moonshine
6. Distill the mash for the first time, select the distillate until the strength of the output in the jet falls below 30%. Measure strength. Determine the amount of absolute alcohol (multiply the strength by the volume and divide by 100).
7. Dilute the resulting (possibly cloudy) liquid with water up to 18-20%, then overtake again.
8. Pour the first 12-15% of the yield from the amount of absolute alcohol into a separate container. This is a harmful faction “head”, which is suitable only for technical needs. Due to the high concentration of harmful substances, it is dangerous to drink it.
9. Finish the selection of the main product (“body”) when the yield falls below 45 degrees. If desired, collect the “tails” separately.
10. Dilute ready-made moonshine from melon with water up to 40-45% and keep for 2-3 days in hermetically sealed glass containers in a dark, cool place before use.
