Alcohol from apples at home. Video recipe for calvados from apples at home

Calvados is one of the most famous drinks in Normandy (France). Its popularity for the French knows no bounds. Calvados today took a place in the hearts of our compatriots. Moreover, it has now become popular to make it yourself. We will talk about how to make Calvados at home in our article.

Origin story

Of course, the popularity of this drink increased when Erich Maria Remarque mentioned it in his work “Triumphal Mark”. Apparently, this German genius, having tasted Calvados, was so delighted with its taste that he decided to dedicate a few lines to him in his work. Actually this flavored drink- the merit of the Normans. It is made in the province of Calvados, which is located on the territory of Lower Normandy. Therefore, Calvados is the real pride of the nation.

by the most large enterprise in the world that produces this drink is AOC Calvados. This is a huge area where more than 50 varieties of apples are grown. Therefore, if you want to cook Calvados at home, stock up on different varieties of apples (sour, sweet, sweet and sour, bitter).

How is classic Calvados prepared on an industrial scale?

As you know, Calvados is one of the most "capricious" drinks, because it is made from ... 50 varieties of apples. by the most important condition for the perfect brandy are the tannins and titratable acids that abound in these aromatic fruits. All apples for Calvados should be in harmony with each other. palatability, sugar content and acidity, so they are divided into bitter, sweet, sour and sweet and sour.

In some regions, some pear varieties are also grown for the drink.

So, apples are carefully selected and mixed in certain proportions (each has its own recipe). The classic ideal Calvados is prepared in a ratio of 20% sour apples, 40% sweet and 40% bitter, 10% sweet and sour. To improve the taste, some manufacturers add pear juice.

The fruits are harvested in Normandy in August-September. Then they are taken to primary processing. There they are carefully selected. Those apples that have damage and insufficient degree of maturity are rejected.

Next, the apples are washed and chopped. The resulting fruit mass is sent to special containers, where it is macerated for several hours. After that, the mass is sent under a press for squeezing the juice. The juice is then fermented for 6 weeks. Distillation is carried out in alambiks or special pot stills. The ideal option is a double distillation. The resulting young Calvados is diluted with water to slightly reduce its strength. So, a freshly made drink has a strength of more than 50 degrees. Young Calvados has a light shade. With exposure, the color changes to a pleasant chocolate. Over time, the strength of the drink decreases. The taste of Calvados can be different - depending on the recipe.

Making Calvados at home. fruit selection

It is better to use different varieties of apples, but if this is not possible, then only sweet and sour can be used. It is necessary to collect fruits from a tree. Fallen apples can be damaged, so they are often not used to make calvados.

So, apples must be selected carefully. The fruits must not be overripe or underripe. All kinds of cracks, rot and damage should also be excluded.

Making cider

So, cooking Calvados at home should start with cider. To do this, apples must be crushed and squeezed out the juice. It is not recommended to wash the fruits with water before use, just wipe gently. This is necessary in order to remain on the peel natural yeast. So, the resulting juice should be filtered several times. The purer it is, the closer we will get closer to the real taste of the Calvados drink. At home, a little clean warm water is added to the pulp. After a day, the mass should be squeezed out again. The resulting liquid must be poured into the juice and left for a day. After the specified time has elapsed, the foam is removed from the infusion and the sediment that has accumulated at the bottom is separated.

Leave the must to ferment. Ideally, it will take about 3-4 months. The container should be used with a water seal. If this is not possible, you can use a rubber glove with a hole in the finger. The storage temperature must be above 20 degrees. Next, the resulting cider must be separated from the sediment using a thin hose.

Some home-brewers prefer to make cider with the addition of yeast. Everything to your taste. But it is better if Calvados at home is prepared without adding yeast. Many manufacturers of this drink claim that those on the peel of the fruit will be enough.

Distillation

Making Calvados at home requires a double distillation. For the first time, it is not necessary to divide alcohol into fractions. There is also no need to be afraid that the drink is not strong enough. You can be sure that with subsequent distillation, the degrees will rise significantly. In the process of the second distillation, it is necessary to separate the first part of the alcohol and the last, leaving only the middle for later use. The strength of the middle part of the distillate should be 60-70 degrees.

Excerpt

What's next to make a Calvados drink? The recipe at home involves pouring the distillate into a barrel. The barrel must be made of oak. If this is not available, you can use a glass container. In this case, it is necessary to use pegs or oak chips so that the future Calvados acquires the desired taste, color and smell. They should be no thicker than 8 mm and no longer than 15 cm. Before use, they should be thoroughly soaked. After that, the pegs are dried and fired. Then they are placed in glass containers, filled with alcohol and kept for 6 months (ideally more than a year). The longer the exposure of the pegs, the better.

It should be remembered that sawdust and bark are used in this case should not be, otherwise Calvados may acquire a bitter taste.

After all these manipulations, the resulting drink is filtered, bottled and tightly corked. That's the whole recipe for Calvados from apples at home.

How to make Calvados at home? Simplified version

Unfortunately, at home it is quite difficult to achieve the real taste of Calvados. If only because not everyone has oak barrels. Yes, and it takes a lot of time to prepare it, but you really want to taste it quickly. For this, a simplified version was invented.

We need the following products:

• Apples - 2 kg.
• Vodka - 1 l.
• Sugar - 200 g.
• Pure water - 150 ml.
• Vanillin - 1 sachet.

Cooking process

Calvados from apples, made at home, requires careful selection of apples. Remember: if at least one apple is damaged and rotten, then the drink will be hopelessly spoiled.

So, the fruits should be washed, core cut and cut into medium cubes. We take 3- liter jar, put apples there and sprinkle them with vanilla. Pour vodka into the mixture and put the contents in a dark place for fermentation. During this time, the jar should be shaken well several times a day. The content is filtered several times. Then sugar syrup is prepared (there should be less water than sugar) and added to the tincture. The resulting mixture should be cooled, bottled and sealed tightly.

Calvados must be stored at a temperature not exceeding 15 degrees. You can use it immediately after preparation. We hope that the question of how to cook Calvados at home will no longer arise.

Improving palatability

So, after you have prepared Calvados, you can try to improve its taste. Suitable for this flavor additives which can be bought at any store. You can also add berries, nuts and dried fruits. You need to insist the drink until the flavoring substances dissolve in it. Once this happens, strain the Calvados and bottle it.

Another way to prepare Calvados

So, for this we need the following ingredients:

• Apples of bitter varieties - 700 g.
• Sweet apples - 700 g.
• Sour apples - 350 g.
• Sweet pears - 200 g.
• Sugar - 20 g.
• Vodka (moonshine) - 1 l.
• Pure water - 1 glass.
• Vanillin - half a glass.

Cooking process

Rinse apples and pears thoroughly, peel and cut into cubes. In a 3-liter jar, which should be sterilized in advance, apples must be placed first, and then pears. Sprinkle the layers generously with vanilla sugar. After that, pour out all the vodka. Cover the jar with gauze and put it in a dark place for fermentation, for about 2 weeks. Do not forget to shake the contents during the infusion process.

After the specified time, strain the infusion several times, then pour it into a saucepan, which should be put on a small fire. At the same time, sugar syrup must be prepared. When it's ready, carefully insert it into the pan. cook on small fire about 30 minutes. Then the future drink is cooled and bottled. It should be stored indoors at a temperature not exceeding 15 degrees. That's all! Our Calvados is ready. It can also be prepared from moonshine at home by adding instead of vodka.

If you want to add some variety, try making cocktails from this drink. They will not only be to your taste, but will also bring zest to any festive atmosphere.

So, to 40 ml of Calvados, add 30 ml of juice and 20 ml sugar syrup. Now shake everything thoroughly, add ice and enjoy.

Conclusion

As you can see, repeat real taste Calvados at home is quite difficult due to the inability to purchase proper equipment. But, using our recipes, it can be brought closer to natural.

Calvados ( apple cognac) - a drink that came to us from Normandy, which is also called apple brandy. For a long time, Calvados was considered the drink of the poor, because it is made ordinary apples. But after the great Remarque mentioned it in his works, this drink became very popular with high society. Certainly, real calvados it is very problematic to make it with your own hands, since its peculiarity lies in the fact that it must be aged in oak barrels.

However, it can still be done at home. classic recipe. You can also make this drink from apples yourself (or rather, its imitation), insisting apples on strong alcohol at home. Both vodka and moonshine are suitable as an alcohol base. An important role is also played by which apples you plan to make Calvados from. You can combine different varieties - bitter, sour, sweet and sweet and sour - the main thing is that the fruits are small and fragrant. Pears will also work if they are sweet and sour.

It is best to choose varieties collected in September. Calvados is considered one of the most "finicky" alcoholic beverages, regardless of which recipe is used in the manufacture. Fruits are mixed in the most different proportions, but if it is not possible to make Calvados from several varieties of apples, then it is recommended to take only sweet and sour.

The recipe for a real classic Calvados according to the white scheme

fruit selection . For this drink, only fruits collected from a tree are used; fruits that have fallen to the ground are no longer suitable for Calvados. Harvested apples do not need to be washed with water to keep on the skin of the fruit wild yeast where fermentation will take place.

Cooking:

Excerpt . In order to ennoble the resulting one by turning it into Calvados, it must be poured into an oak barrel for infusion. If you don't have a barrel, you can use oak chips, previously prepared. Chips measuring 7 by 7 mm, 8-10 cm long, put in a three-liter jar in the amount of 9-11 pieces and pour apple moonshine. Close jars with lids and leave for 4-8 months to ripen, shaking occasionally.

Filtration. Aged homemade calvados (apple cognac) must be filtered through a gauze filter and bottled. Let stand for a week in a glass, so that the drink “reaches”. You can start tasting homemade Calvados.

In the video, the recipe for Calvados, which is prepared according to the red scheme with pomace with added sugar and wine yeast. Using this technology, it is easier and faster to make apple distillate, the distillate is also obtained with the aroma of apples, but due to the addition (sugar and yeast), such a drink cannot be called a classic.

Simplified Calvados Recipe

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to cook a real classic Calvados at home, for the reason that few people have an oak barrel on the farm. In addition, cooking time traditional drink it takes a lot, so the winemakers came up with an alternative simplified recipe. To make homemade calvados by infusion, you will need 2 kg of apples, 1 liter of vodka (can be replaced with moonshine), 200 grams of sugar, 1 sachet of vanillin and 150 ml of purified water. Special attention it is worth paying attention to the fruits: if at least one apple comes across rotten, then the drink can be considered irretrievably spoiled.

• Wash the fruit thoroughly and cut into small pieces, do not forget to throw out the core.
• Transfer from a three-liter glass jar, sprinkle with vanilla on top.
• Next, pour vodka (or moonshine) into the container and remove to wander in a dark place.
• Shake the jar well several times a day for two to three weeks.
• After that, make syrup from water and sugar and add to the future Calvados.
• Then strain the drink through cheesecloth, pour into bottles and close tightly, leave for storage.

This recipe allows you to make a drink with your own hands, in terms of its taste as close as possible to the original. Calvados is stored at a temperature of about +15 degrees (it can be lower, but not higher), it can be served immediately after cooking. If desired, along with chopped apples, you can add some berries, nuts or your favorite spices - this will only add spicy taste drink.

Recipe for Apple-Pear Calvados

Many summer residents are wondering how to cook Calvados on their own, when a lot of apples and pears have accumulated in the bins. different varieties. Exists excellent recipe through which you will receive great drink. In his alcohol base moonshine is included (which can be replaced with vodka), the main thing is to do everything correctly and correctly observe the proportions.

From the ingredients you will need 700 grams of sweet and bitter apples and 350 grams of sour, 300-350 grams sweet and sour pears, 1 liter of vodka (or replace it with moonshine), half a glass of vanilla and regular sugar, glass of water.

1. Rinse the fruit well, remove the seeds and cut into small cubes.
2. In a three-liter sterilized jar, first put the apples, then the pears.
3. Pour vanilla sugar, then pour moonshine into a jar.
4. Then you need to do this: cover the container with gauze and put it away to wander in a dark place.
5. Then a drink of apples and pears should stand in the cool for two to three weeks.
6. Shake the jar every day to mix the ingredients.
7. After the required period, the future Calvados should be filtered through gauze.
8. The next step is to pour the drink into the pan and put on a slow fire.

After the first experience with the barrel, it was homemade bourbon, I realized that there was even more desire to move towards aged drinks. I came across three buckets of apples of different varieties for nothing, and I immediately decided to make Calvados. In this article, I will provide a detailed homemade calvados recipe.

• Apples - 3 buckets, 2 varieties of sweet and one bucket of very fragrant and neutral in sweetness,
• Sugar - 3 kg.,
• Water - 12 liters.,
• Wine yeast for white wines – EU 1118 10g.

Making apple mash

First, the apples need to be washed well so that the wild yeast does not interfere with the cultured ones. Since there were not many apples, I decided that I would manually clean them from rot and core, so that there would be a pure apple mass. Then the apples were crushed with a construction mixer into a fine-grained porridge.

To obtain a higher yield of the product added invert syrup with the expectation that wine yeast it is better to process sugar in this form. After mixed apple porridge, water, syrup. Yeast fell asleep with warm water with a calculation of 1 to 10, let them stand for 15 minutes and poured them into a fermentation tank.

Fermentation of apple mash

Fermentation lasted 2 weeks at a temperature of 20-22 C, every day several times the mash was well mixed, fermentation took place without a water seal. The readiness of the mash was determined by the bitter taste, the lightening of the top layer. Since I do not have a steam generator, I filtered the mash from apple pulp using gauze, squeezed well.

Distillation of apple mash

I did a double distillation, the first was the selection of raw alcohol to the lowest possible degree in the jet. In total, I received 7 liters. a fortress of 34%. The second one is fractional, the head fractions selected approximately 7-10% of the AC, and also constantly controlled the smell of the distillate. For the barrel, I specially grabbed some fragrant tail fractions, completed the selection by 65%, came out on the basis of 2.5 liters. a fortress of 88%.

Dilution and pouring into a barrel

Before pouring the apple distillate into the barrel, he poured cherry-raspberry wine for 2 weeks, the barrel itself has already worked on bourbon and grain whiskey. The distillate was diluted to 65% and sent for aging at room conditions. Oak barrel of 5 liters.

Drain from the barrel

During aging, I constantly tasted a little, after 2.5 months I decided to drain and dilute to a drinking degree - 40-42%, left it in the glass to rest for another month.

homemade calvados has a bright woody-orange color, plays in the sun. The aroma is richly apple with a honey-floral tinge, we can distinguish a woody smell. The apple component is also clearly felt on the palate, it is drunk softly, in the aftertaste there is a note of light woody bitterness. Separately, I recommend that you familiarize yourself with the recipes for homemade bourbon and grain whiskey.

Below is a video clip of detailed recipe making homemade calvados. The video contains all the steps from cooking apple mash before tasting from the author of the blog.

Calvados is calling card region of the same name in the province of Lower Normandy. This brandy is made by distilling apple or pear cider.

The drink dates back to the 15th century, and is now protected by the "Rules of Authenticity of Origin" (AOC in French). This means that only the distillate that is produced in several departments of Lower Normandy can be called Calvados.

The origin of the drink is also allowed from the Orne, Manche, Eure, Loire, Sarthe and Mayenne. And brandy highest quality produced only in the eastern part of the department of Calvados. Such a drink is not cheap - from five to eight thousand rubles per bottle. Even if to the smallest detail original technology production, the resulting drink cannot bear the proud name of "Calvados". It can only be called "apple brandy". Calvados, like cognac and armagnac, goes through a long exposure in barrels. But this does not mean at all that it is impossible to cook it at home.

And in this article we will describe all the phases of the artisanal process. Believe me: the resulting drink will be only slightly inferior to the branded Calvados.

Original technological process

In Lower Normandy, only 48 varieties of fruit are used for apple calvados. As a rule, only small but ripe fruits are selected.

Manufacturers carefully observe proportions. good brandy should consist of 70 percent bittersweet apples, 20 percent sour apples, and another 10 percent bitter apples. That is, dessert varieties are not suitable for a drink. Apples must have rich aroma and increased tannin, which is expressed in a slightly bitter taste. After pressing the juice, it is turned into cider. Then, when the wort has passed the fermentation process, it is subjected to a double distillation. But this is not yet Calvados.

Alcohols are skillfully mixed and placed in oak barrels, where they mature for at least two years. During this time, the distillate is gaining amber, the aroma of smoke and wood, and notes of dried fruits, caramel and spices appear in the taste.

Phases of making brandy

There are not so many recipes for apple calvados. And so that we don’t get a Slavic tincture or german schnapps should strive to adhere to the original technology.

The whole process can be divided into phases:

1. Picking apples and getting juice.
2. Making cider - low alcohol drink.
3. Straining.
4. Distillation. Receiving distillate.
5. Excerpt.
6. Filtration.

Of course, it is difficult to follow the manufacturer's technology completely. For example, you can replace glass jars with wood chips. But if you want the drink to be fragrant, strong and tasty, you should apply effort and patience.

Recipe for apple calvados at home. Step one

We carefully select apples. Often for juice they take not quite good fruit: broken, with spots of damage. But in this case, you need to be a perfectionist and strive for the ideal. We keep proportions. Seventy percent of apples should be moderately sweet and very juicy.

To start the process of preparing Calvados, select autumn (September-October). Then the apples reach their full maturity.

Don't forget to add another 20 percent sour varieties and 10 percent bitter. It doesn't mean you can take unripe apples who did not gain sugars. Unripe fruits have no aroma, and it plays a primary role in the drink. Never wash apples. After all, we need to preserve the wild yeast that lives on the peel. We simply cut out the core with stones from apples and squeeze the juice.

Any method will do, including modern ones. The juicer will allow you to get a product almost without pulp in just a few minutes. If the liquid came out too cloudy, filter it.

Step two. cider making

Pour the juice into a glass container. We put it in a dark place, but not in the cellar. Need room temperature. In a day - and even earlier - abundant foam will appear on the surface of the liquid. As the Calvados recipe prescribes, from apple juice it needs to be removed. This can be done in two ways. The first way is with a spoon. The foam is quite dense and the work progresses easily at first. But the remaining foam is difficult to remove. Therefore, the second method is preferable - through a tube. So you get rid of not only the foam, but also the sediment that the pulp has formed.

Pour the liquid into another tank and leave it under a water seal. If you don't have a professional setup (a glass convoluted flask), you can get out of the situation in one of two ways. Seal a jar of juice sealed lid. We make a small hole in it, into which we put a rubber tube. Its edge should not touch the juice. But we lower the other end of the tube into a vessel with water. Thus, air does not have the opportunity to enter the fermentation tank, but the resulting gases can leave the tank.

There is an easier way. Just pull a medical glove over the neck of the jar by piercing the rubber on one of the fingers with a needle. We leave the juice to ferment in a dark place, but with room temperature.

Step three. Straining apple wine

After some time, you will see how the fermentation process began in the jar of juice. As winemakers note, it is important that you do not immediately get apple cider vinegar.

But there is no need to add any sugars, let alone yeast, to the wort. Also, you should not resort to vodka and alcohol if you want to make real homemade calvados from apple juice at home.

The wild yeast on the rind of the sour fruit should do its job and start the vinous fermentation process. Violent blistering (or puffed up, as balloon, glove) in a month will be replaced by another phase. It will be a quiet maturation. How do you know when cider is ready? Winemakers advise to look closely at the bank under the water seal. If bubbles do not appear for several days, and the liquid has brightened and a precipitate has fallen, then the cider is ready. If you have a glove instead of a water seal, then it should completely fall off. Open the container and carefully strain the cider. Connoisseurs say that if this is not done, the solid parts will burn during distillation and spoil the taste of the drink. It is enough to pass the cider through several layers of gauze.

Step four. Primary distillation

To obtain apple calvados at home, necessary alcohol mashine. It would also be nice to have an alcohol meter to determine the degree of the drink.

At this stage of the preparation of Calvados, the main thing is not to be greedy. As winemakers assure, to prepare one liter of distillate, you need 14 liters of cider (or 20 kilograms of apples). Where does so much fluid go? To get a quality brandy, the cider is distilled twice.

During the primary distillation process (in Lower Normandy, copper "alambicas" of the Charente type are used for this), all the liquid is collected. At the output, we have the so-called raw alcohol with a strength of 25-30 degrees. It, unlike the pleasant-tasting cider, cannot be drunk.

Step five and most important

In most distilleries in Normandy, the apple calvados passes double distillation. This second distillation process is very responsible. Professionals say that it consists of three factions. If we compare moonshine with a green snake, then we will call these parts “head”, “body” and “tail”.

First, a liquid is released from the apparatus, which is saturated with toxic fusel oils. This is the “head” that must be mercilessly drained. The fortress of this sivukha is small, but you can’t drink it. "Heads" can be from 5 to 12 percent of all mash that has passed the first stage of distillation. Next comes the body. It is this that will become the future apple Calvados. We carefully collect alcohol with a strength of 80-90 degrees drop by drop. The tail comes out last. The strength of the liquid drops. When it reaches below 30 degrees, cut off this "tail". It can be collected in a separate container and saved for a new cider.

Sixth step. Replacement for oak barrels

As a result of our efforts, it turned out devoid of color and with a rather boring bouquet. apple moonshine. Calvados - more noble drink who needs to be given time to mature. It is hard to imagine an oak barrel in which brandy matures in a city apartment. We'll do without her. But we still need oak. And not sawdust, bark or shavings. They have a lot of tannins, because of which the drink will come out bitter.

We will need wood, which we will carefully divide into pegs 15 centimeters long and 1 cm in diameter. On three-liter jar it will be enough to cut the trunk 25-30 centimeters in diameter. Pegs are scalded boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes under the lid. We drain the water, pour a new one, this time cold. Soak for 20 minutes. Dry the pegs.

Excerpt

We carry out all manipulations with oak wood ahead of time so that by the end of the secondary distillation it is ready for use. We do everything this way.

1. First, dilute the resulting alcohol with distilled water to achieve a strength of 40-42 degrees.

2. Pour this liquid into a jar. At the bottom we will place oak pegs. Seal the jar tightly. You can even roll it up with an iron lid.

3. Then we leave the container alone in a dark place for six months or even a year. Nothing bad will happen if you uncork your apple calvados after a few years.

4. Before drinking the drink, it must be filtered through several layers of gauze.

An easier homemade calvados (apple vodka) recipe

The method of making brandy described above is complicated. In addition, something can go wrong at any of the phases. technological process- then the juice will turn sour to vinegar, otherwise the fermentation process will not start.

Much easier to resort to the second recipe. It will turn out not quite Calvados, but also a strong apple distillate that tastes good.

1. Peel and core two kilograms of apples, cut into small cubes.

2. We put these pieces in a jar, pour it with a bag vanilla sugar(10 g). Pour a liter of quality vodka.

3. We cork the jar tightly and put the liquid to infuse at room temperature in a dark place for 15 days.

4. We extract apples, we outlive them.

5. Filter the liquid through a cotton-gauze filter.

6. Cook syrup from 200 grams of sugar and 150 milliliters of water. Let it cool down to room temperature.

7. Pour in apple vodka. Stir and bottle the tincture.

An even faster way

traditional recipe involves the preparation of Calvados from apple juice. But you can simplify your task by passing 15 kilograms of fruit through a meat grinder. From the resulting puree, you need to separate 300 milliliters of the wort. Add two tablespoons of sugar and dry yeast there.

While the foam cap is formed, boil the syrup. To do this, dissolve three kilograms of sugar in half a liter of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Let the syrup cool and pour in the wort with yeast. Place the entire pureed mass in a large container (up to 50 liters). Fill with mash and put under a water seal. Let's wait until the liquid ferments, then the foam will disappear, and the sweetness in the taste will go away. This may take two weeks. Next, we filter the liquid, removing cakes. We send a drink for distillation, which can be called homemade Calvados. To make it more like a noble Normandy brandy, winemakers recommend brewing it on oak pegs for about six months.

Calvados is an apple or pear brandy obtained from the distillation of cider. After distillation, it is customary to infuse it in oak barrels (similar to whiskey). In our country, Calvados most often means moonshine from, which very rarely someone insists in oak containers.

If you have too many apples different varieties, then they can be used to set the mash and further preparation Calvados. I propose to get acquainted with the simplest and famous recipe, as well as the technology of distillation of this drink.

Real Calvados is made from a mix of sweet and sour apples.

You probably won’t be able to get a real French Calvados, but you will feel subtle notes apple flavor is quite possible. To prepare 25 liters of mash, we need:

• Apples - 15 kg.
• Water - 10 liters.
• Sugar - 2 kg.
• Alcoholic yeast - 10 grams.

A small amount of yeast is argued by the fact that there are wild yeasts on the peel of apples that will complement the main ones.

That is why apples for mash are not washed, but wiped with a dry towel. It's pretty complicated handmade, which you will need to do to keep the taste of moonshine.

Ripening and distillation of Calvados

After you rubbed(without water!) apples, proceed to the preparation of the wort:

1. We cut the apples into slices, peel them from twigs and seeds, and then twist them in a meat grinder or blender.
2. Pour puree into fermentation tank. Add water, sugar and yeast.
3. We mix the wort well and install a water seal.
4. We put the container in a dark place for 1-3 weeks. Fermentation will depend on the temperature and the quality of the yeast, so the timing is quite flexible. Keep the temperature between 23-27 degrees Celsius.
5. When the mash stops, becomes bitter in taste and brightens, it will need to be drained from the sediment, filtered and poured into a distillation cube.
6. Ideally, you need to double distillation, and one of them should be separated into fractions "head", "body" and "tails". The first 100 ml of distillate will need to be selected as harmful "heads", and the rest will be collected as the main product.
7. If you don’t want to drive the mash twice, then perform one distillation with separation into fractions, this will be quite enough.
8. Ready moonshine do not drink. We still need to turn it into Calvados.

For dark color, the resulting drink must be insisted in oak barrel for at least a few months (from 6 and above).

Oak chips, membranes and nut shells will not give the same results as a natural barrel. That is why it is recommended to purchase wooden container in advance, otherwise your distillate will be clear.

As an instructional video, I suggest watching the video Antonych and Alexey Podolyak. Very sensible reasoning, which is interesting to listen to even for self-development. Recommended!