Contents
Most novice moonshiners believe that all you need to make mash is water, sugar, yeast, and the right temperature. Their more experienced colleagues additionally feed the yeast (pressed or dry) with other substances, ensuring normal fermentation. The essence of this optional, but very desirable stage of home brewing, we will consider further. I will talk about the best methods for feeding mash.
Theory
For normal life, baker’s yeast, in addition to sugar and water, also requires micronutrients, which are initially very scarce in syrup. First of all, it is phosphorus and nitrogen, without them the mash wanders less actively and accumulates more harmful impurities.
Attention! Top dressing is needed only for moonshine from sugar, fruit and grain mashes do not need this, since there are a sufficient number of elements in the raw materials themselves. Third-party substances (even natural ones) can change the smell of moonshine for the worse.
1. Chemical top dressing
For each kilogram of added sugar, add 2 grams of ammonium sulfate and 3 grams of superphosphate to the mash. These substances can be replaced with one teaspoon of a complex fertilizer containing nitrogen and phosphorus, for example, nitrophoska, ecohuminate and others.
Alternative options: rotted chicken manure (4-5 grams per liter of mash) or ammonia (1 gram per 2 liters of mash).
Chemical feeding of yeast is very effective, but this method is not accepted by supporters of organic moonshine (from pure natural products). In addition, not everyone likes to drink moonshine, knowing that chicken manure or fertilizers were added to the mash, although these substances are harmless in the right proportions.
In most cases, chemical top dressing is used by moonshiners working for sale, who need mash for a couple of days and a high yield of the finished product.
2. Adding malt
Malt is the dried germinated grains of barley, rye or millet. You can buy it at the store or make your own.
To feed the yeast, 1 kg of ground malt per 40 liters of mash is required. Recipe:
- Heat water to 63°C.
- Gradually add sugar and malt, stirring constantly. Boil for 3-5 minutes.
- Cool the mixture to 30 °C and add diluted yeast.
- Close the mash with a lid or put under a water seal. After a few days, you can start distillation. The finished moonshine will have a pleasant grain smell.
Adding malt is the best way to feed yeast – it’s environmentally friendly and works great. The disadvantage is that you need to buy or grow malt, which requires additional time or financial costs.
3. Purchased yeast with additives
Some manufacturers offer yeast that contains all the necessary nutrients and trace elements in a bag (there is a prefix “Turbo” in the name). It remains only to mix water with sugar and add this yeast according to the instructions.
A great option for those who do not mind spending money on getting high-quality moonshine.
4. Folk remedies
First of all, this is feeding the mash with black bread (one loaf is enough for 30 liters). For another 10 liters of mash, you can add 5-10 crushed grapes, raspberries, strawberries, currants, 50 ml of any freshly squeezed fruit juice or 80-100 grams of tomato paste.
The advantage in the availability and naturalness of dressings, the disadvantage is that this method works a little worse than the previous ones.