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My grandmother has been my idol all my life. Everything she started to do turned into a fairy tale. When I was still a child, I saw how my grandmother brews moonshine.
This, in fact, not very childish process, seemed to me some kind of magical ritual. Well, when I grew up, I decided to try it myself, and my grandmother only smiled and gave me detailed instructions.
Story from my subscriber Irina.
Why I decided to make alcohol myself
Not so long ago, I began to notice that it is very difficult to buy high-quality alcohol in a store. Plus, it’s very expensive. Normal cognac can be bought from 500 rubles per bottle.
In addition, purchased alcohol often gives a headache, because no one knows what it is made from. My grandmother never bought hard liquor, and now I am ripe for such a decision.
Sometimes on holidays we would get together with the whole family and drink her tinctures and cognacs, which, by the way, are much better than purchased ones. She brewed liqueurs herself, made liquor and brandy at moonshine. That’s how I decided to try it. And suddenly it works.
What ingredients are required
To begin with, I decided to make homemade cognac. To do this, you need moonshine, which I myself previously kicked out and we also bought wood chips for brandy, which are sold in special stores. Usually there is everything to engage in the manufacture of alcohol at home.
I bought oak chips, which cost about 100 rubles per 100 grams. It gives an interesting aftertaste and a wonderful color to my moonshine. It is oak chips that give the bitterness that is present in cognac or in expensive brandy.
Some use oak barrels to infuse their cognac. Unfortunately, such a barrel is very expensive, not everyone can afford it. Our oak barrels are sold from 7 rubles, and this is the price of containers for small volumes.
I am writing the recipe with ordinary yeast, since spirit ones are hard to find. So, for 24 liters of water you need: 7 kg of sugar and about a kilogram of yeast, if you have ordinary bakery.
Light cognac – stood with wood chips for 2 days
Yeast is mixed separately. We put the yeast in the dishes, pour a little warm water (about 2 liters). Add 100 grams of sugar and put our shiver for an hour in a warm place.
Then pour the yeast and sugar into the water that is in the flask. We put the mash to roam. As the precipitate appeared, and the liquid itself becomes transparent – it’s time to drive. Distillation of mash takes me all day.
All my expenses were within 460 rubles. Sugar came out at 210 and yeast at 150 rubles. Plus wood chips 100 rubles.
The cooking process
I carefully listened to all the instructions of my grandmother and began to conjure. My husband and I bought a moonshine still. They put the mash on sugar and yeast. At first, we made mash with ordinary yeast, but then we switched to special alcohol yeast when it was possible to buy it.
In our city, they are sold in only two places. With them, the mash is nursed faster, and if you take the usual ones, then fermentation takes a very long time.
Understanding that the mash is ready for distillation is very simple. It becomes transparent, and a precipitate forms at the bottom. Yeast must be added to water, the temperature of which does not exceed 26 degrees. If the water is hot, then they will simply boil and will not ferment.
This is very important, the temperature must be right!
Once the moonshine is ready, I pass it through the filter twice. Moonshine turns out to be 70 degrees. I dilute it so that my future tincture is no stronger than 40 degrees. I dilute it with spring water, which we bring from the village especially for this purpose.
Another rule that everyone should know. Water is not added to alcohol, but vice versa – alcohol is poured into water. This is done so that your moonshine does not become cloudy when diluted, but remains transparent.
Different color of cognac depends on the time of infusion
Then I pour it into jars and insist. I put 2-2 small chips on a 3-liter jar. In this form, alcohol costs about 3 days, and then I bottle it.
You can insist longer, it all depends on what color and taste you want to get. When the cognac is bottled, you can put them in the bar.
What result did I get
My cognac turned out to be very tasty, and it came out about 5 liters. And it’s only 460 rubles. What a saving!
All my guests love it. Now I don’t buy strong alcohol at all, because my bar is lined with homemade cognac and vodka. Now on all holidays we drink only them.
Homemade alcohol is much better than purchased, firstly, you prepare it yourself and you know what it is made of. Secondly, it does not cause headaches, because all the ingredients are of good quality. Thirdly, it is saving money.
Have you made your own cognac?