The subtleties of cooking apple mash. Apple moonshine recipe at home

Making moonshine from apples is a great way to recycle fallen fruit. If the stocks of jam and canned juice exceed all reasonable limits, it's time to understand this technology. The result is worth the effort - the output will be a fragrant, soft, fruity distillate, which is much better than a pure sugar counterpart. We will look at two proven recipes for apple mash: based on fruits and fresh juice.

You will need ripe or even overripe fruits of any variety (summer, autumn, winter), the sweeter the better. First, rotten, spoiled and moldy parts must be removed from apples so that they do not spoil the smell.

Theory. The average sugar content of apples is 8-15%, which means that about 85-170 ml of moonshine with a strength of 40% is obtained from 1 kg of raw materials. Adding 1 kg of beet sugar to the mash increases the amount of distillate by 1.1-1.2 liters (40%), but slightly neutralizes the fruity smell. In the case of sweet apples, sugar can be dispensed with, but sour varieties are best artificially sweetened. When compiling the proportions of the mash, remember that 3 parts of water are required for one part of the added sugar, it is enough to dilute the must only from apples with water by a third (pour 30% of the initial volume), from juice - by 20%.

Apple mash on alcohol, pressed or dry yeast will win back in 5-10 days, but a slight yeast smell may appear. Therefore, I recommend using wine or wild yeast (found on the surface of apples), these strains have only one drawback - long fermentation (15-45 days). On if time is not running out, it is advisable to wait.

Braga from whole apples

Ingredients:

• apples - 30 kg;
• water - 20 liters;
• sugar - 4 kg (optional);
• yeast - 100 grams pressed or 20 dry (optional).

Technology:

1. Peel the harvested apples from rot, pits and cores, then cut into small slices. Because of the bones and rot, an unpleasant bitter taste appears in moonshine, so use only the pulp and peel.

If the mash is made with wild yeast, even dirty fruits cannot be washed, you will have to wipe it with a dry cloth, otherwise you can accidentally wash off the wild yeast and the wort will not ferment.

2. Grind apple slices until smooth. This can be done with a grater, but the whole process will take a very long time. It is easier to use a drill with a special nozzle (see photo) or a crusher.

3. The resulting puree, together with the released juice, is placed in a fermentation tank.

4. Dilute sugar (if used) in water, pour the resulting syrup into applesauce (or just add water).

5. For accelerated fermentation, dissolve dry or pressed yeast according to the instructions on the label in warm water (not higher than 30 ° C), add to the container, mix. For wild yeast, skip this step.

6. Install a water seal on the neck of the container. Move the mash to a dark place with a temperature of 18-28 ° C.

7. Depending on the selected yeast, the apple mash will be ready in 5-45 days: it will taste bitter, brighten, stop bubbling, and the pulp will fall to the bottom. When these signs appear, you can start distillation.

Braga from apple juice

This recipe is much simpler than the previous one, but the aroma of moonshine will not be as bright due to the lack of pulp and peel.

Ingredients:

• apple juice - 5 liters;
• sugar - 1 kg (optional);
• water - 200 ml per 1 liter of juice and 3 liters per 1 kg of sugar;
• dry yeast - 10 grams (optional), can be replaced with unwashed raisins - 30 grams per liter of juice.

On the surface of the raisins is wild wine yeast, which does not give an unpleasant odor during and after fermentation.

Cooking:

1. Add sugar (optional) to apple juice, yeast to choose from: dry, wine or raisins.

2. Pour the wort into a fermentation container, put on a medical glove on top, making a hole in one of the fingers (see photo). An alternative is to install a water seal.

3. Put the bottle in a dark room with a temperature of 18-28°C for fermentation for 5-45 days (depending on the type of yeast).

4. After the glove is blown away, the mash becomes bitter and unsweetened, brightens, and a precipitate forms at the bottom, you can start distillation.

Obtaining moonshine from apples (distillation)

1. Braga, made according to the first or second recipe, is drained from the sediment into a distillation cube, after filtering through gauze to get rid of solid particles that can burn during the distillation process and give bitterness.

2. Distill the mash for the first time on a device of any design. Withdraw the product until the strength in the jet falls below 30%. Due to the ingress of fusel oils, apple moonshine may turn cloudy, this is normal and will be eliminated further.

3. Measure the total strength of the resulting distillate. Determine the amount of pure alcohol. For example, if there are 2 liters of moonshine 60%, then the drink contains 1200 ml of pure alcohol.

4. Dilute moonshine with water up to 20%, do not clean, so that a light apple flavor remains.

5. Overtake again. The first 8-12% of the amount of pure alcohol (the more, the higher the quality) is taken into a separate container. This fraction (called "heads") usually has an unpleasant odor, contains many harmful impurities and can only be used for technical purposes, drinking it is dangerous to health.

6. Select the main product to a strength in the jet of 40%.

7. Dilute all moonshine obtained from apples with water to the desired strength (40-45%). To stabilize the taste, pour the distillate into a glass container, close it hermetically, put it in a dark, cool place for 3-4 days. After the end of the mixing reaction, the taste will stabilize and become better.

Another option for making apple distillate is shown in the video.

Apples are used in home brewing for a number of reasons. Firstly, because of the availability of raw materials in various regions. Moonshine can be prepared from any variety, regardless of the sweetness and ripeness of the fruit. Both carefully selected varietal fruits, and wild game, carrion, regrading will do.

In addition to the budget of the feedstock, do not forget about the taste characteristics of moonshine. It has a subtle sweetish aroma. This is what captivates connoisseurs of aged Calvados, fruit eau de vie and homemade cider. Our apple moonshine is a close relative of these noble drinks. Let's figure out how to make moonshine from apples, using several recipes as an example.

Raw material selection

Apples

The taste of fruit is determined by an important parameter for home brewing - the sugar content. Everyone who has ever driven moonshine knows that yeast “eats” sugar and releases valuable ethyl alcohol in the course of its life. Accordingly, the alcohol content of the future mash depends on the amount of sugar in apples. On average, according to the percentage of sugar, all varieties can be divided into 4 groups:

• wild game or sour varieties - 6%;
• unsorted sweet and sour - 10%;
• sour-sweet and tart garden - 16%;
• sweet - 20%.

Without yeast and sugar, only sweet fruits can be fermented. For mash from sour varieties, the addition of sugar is mandatory. The more sour the apples, the more sugar you will need.

Yeast

Yeast in the manufacture of apple mash for moonshine is a matter of taste. And both literally and figuratively. Artificial yeast speeds up the fermentation process at times, but partially interrupts the fruity aroma. Use them additionally or rely on wild microorganisms living on the peel of berries and fruits - decide for yourself.

As a natural alternative to baker's or dry yeast, raisins can be offered. If you want a faster result without losing flavor, opt for wine yeast.

Preparing apples

The hackneyed truth: “Fruits should be washed before eating” does not work in all cases. Moonshine apples do not need to be washed, so as not to kill the wild yeast living on the peel. It is better to wipe the dirtiest fruits thoroughly with a dry cloth. Natural microorganisms will not interfere even if you are going to add yeast in any case. They will help create a nutrient medium and speed up fermentation.

Purchased apples will be an exception. Of course, it is understood that usually moonshine is driven from its own crop due to its overabundance. But if the stars have aligned so that you are using imported apples of unknown origin, it is better to wash them well.

The next stage of preparation is cutting off the excess. For moonshine from apples at home, you will not need bones, cuttings, stalks. They hold a lot of tannins. We also cut out the rotten pulp.

Braga from apples for moonshine

This method attracts with its simplicity. Everything is quite simple even for a beginner moonshiner. The amount of sugar added depends on the sweetness of the fruit. Experienced winemakers recommend taking 4 kg of sugar for 30 kg of sour apples, 3 kg for sweet and sour apples, and 2-2.5 kg for sweet ones. We take water at the rate of 5 liters for every kilogram of sugar. Here is one of the recipes for moonshine from sour apples. For other varieties, the technology will not change, and the number of ingredients can be recalculated independently.

List of ingredients:

• sour apples - 15 kg;
• water - 10 liters;
• granulated sugar -2 kg;
• pressed yeast - 50 grams or dry - 15 grams.

Cooking method

1. Chop prepared apples. It is not necessary to achieve the consistency of puree. Moreover, such a thick mash will be difficult to overtake. For processing, you can use a vegetable grater, blender, food processor or even a grinder. It all depends on the volume of processing. Apple porridge should be about 5 liters.
2. We measure out 9 liters of water and mix with apple porridge in a large container. Pick up a convenient bottle with a wide neck in advance. Then it will be convenient to fill in the apples and stir the mash.
3. From the remaining liter of water and sugar, we prepare sugar syrup. Pour sugar into warm water and cook until it is completely dissolved. Cool the finished syrup to room temperature and add to the apples and water.
4. It remains to add yeast. To activate them, pour warm water in a ratio of 1:10 and wait 10-20 minutes. You can add some sugar to speed up the process. After the appearance of light foam, add them to the apple mixture.
5. We leave the must to ferment for 1.5-2 weeks. To do this, remove the closed bottle in a warm place. Once every few days, stir the wort and knock off a dense hat from the surface.
6. The readiness of the mash is determined by several criteria. The pulp will fall out. The hissing and bubbling on the surface will stop. The taste of mash will change from sweet to sour or even bitter.

Now that you know how to make mash from different varieties of apples, let's learn how to make it from apple juice.

Braga from apple juice

Getting apple juice

If instead of apples you have become a happy owner of natural apple juice, you can only be congratulated. Moonshine from apple juice is even easier to make than from whole fruits. True, here, too, you need to be sure of the raw materials. The composition can only contain apples, sugar and a little citric acid.

The second way to get apple juice and be sure of its composition is to make it yourself. At first glance, this may seem like an over-complication of the process. In fact, the labor costs are not so great, and the result justifies itself. Braga from fresh apple juice is more noble, and the taste and aroma are thinner. It is excellent for making fruit wines (eaux de vie) and cider.

There is another argument in favor of apple juice mash. The pulp of apples is rich in pectin. It decomposes to methanol during fermentation. It is difficult to determine its quantity in domestic conditions. But those who want to play it safe resort to cooking mash "in white", that is, without pulp.

apple mash recipe

The composition of the mash is simple: juice, sugar and yeast. But again, we pay attention to the sugar content of apples and, accordingly, the sweetness of the finished juice. Depending on the variety of apples, a different amount of sugar will be required.

List of ingredients:

Cooking method

1. We get juice from apples in any way available to you: with a grater, juicer, food processor. Squeeze out the pulp, filter. We hold out for a day. Drain the clear, slightly cloudy juice from the sediment.
2. Activate the yeast in warm water for 15-20 minutes. Wine yeast allows you to achieve optimal results. Unlike bakery or dry ones, they do not give a characteristic “mash” smell, but retain a natural one.
3. In a glass bottle of the appropriate volume, mix the juice, sugar and yeast.
4. After 3-4 weeks, we check the readiness of the mash according to the signs from the previous recipe. Shake the bottle periodically during fermentation.

Distillation of moonshine from apples

The made mash must be removed from the sediment. Before this, it is recommended to move it from a warm room where fermentation took place for 1-2 days to a cool place. And only after that merge. Before driving the mash, you can pass it through a cotton-gauze filter.

1. For the first distillation, we slowly bring the moonshine still to 80 ° C. Braga can be distilled without separation of fractions. At this stage, this is not critical. The selection of the distillate is usually carried out "dry" until the strength drops to 5 °.
2. To improve the aroma of the drink, before the second distillation, we advise you to insist the distillate on apples for several days. We dilute the flavored distillate 50 to 50 with water and proceed to the next step.
3. In the second distillation, be sure to separate the primary "heads" and the final "tails". From each liter of apple mash (recipe 1) we select 50-70 ml of “heads”, for apple juice mash (recipe 2) - 80-90 ml. After the fall of the fortress below 40 °, “tails” begin. To get a stronger moonshine, you can stop a little earlier.

Before using moonshine, it is better to withstand 1-2 weeks. You can do it just in an ordinary bottle, or you can do it in an oak barrel. An extravaganza of taste and aroma is guaranteed.

Attention, only TODAY!

To prepare apple mash, it is advisable to take autumn or winter varieties - they are much sweeter than those that ripen in summer. But since winter varieties are denser, they will need to lie down in a warm place for a while. To prepare a drink, you need to take ripe apples, a little sugar, a large container - an enamel pan or a milk can, a grater, a meat grinder, a juicer or a blender, gauze for straining and filtering.

apple mash recipe

Before you make mash from apples, you need to sort them out well, remove the rotten ones, cut and clean the core with seeds.

Rotten apples give the drink bitterness, so the fruits must be sorted out very carefully.

Cut the prepared apples into small slices and chop in a meat grinder or in a blender. Transfer the resulting puree to a fermentation container and leave warm for several hours.

Add 1.5-2 liters of water and mix well. Heat the rest of the water and dissolve the sugar in it. Cool to a temperature of no more than 30 degrees, pour in the yeast, mix and pour into applesauce.

Cover with gauze and leave in a warm place for 6-7 days to ferment. Using this recipe for apple mash, you can do without sugar - if the fruits are sweet enough. Before use, strain the sediment and pour into small half-liter bottles.

Store in the refrigerator for no more than three days.

Before making apple mash, peel one or two apples, chop on a grater or in a meat grinder and leave in a warm place for fermentation. If fermentation has not occurred after a few days, use sugar, if the puree ferments well, then you can not add sugar for this variety of apples.

apple juice recipe

According to the apple mash recipe, you can make a drink based on juice. It is best to do this from natural juice, and not purchased from a store - the taste of the resulting mash will depend on this. Making juice is pretty easy. Spoiled apples wash, peel, cut off all rotten places, remove seeds and core. Grind randomly and squeeze the juice with a juicer. If it is not there, you can scroll the apples through a meat grinder using a fine grate, put the resulting puree on cheesecloth and squeeze the resulting juice well.

Pour the juice into a jar, can or other container for fermentation, add sugar and yeast, mix well and leave in a warm place.

If you use mash for making moonshine, it must be insisted for at least a month, it will be ready for drinking in 7 days. A good drinking mash contains 6-9% alcohol, a stronger drink will have a pronounced alcohol taste and smell.

Before making apple mash, try them for sugar content - if apple juice or puree ferments for three days, sugar can be added. If you want to get a more fragrant mash, use several varieties at the same time - sweet and sour apples.

Watch the video of apple mash and you will see that making this drink at home is not at all difficult. A similar recipe has the famous apple cider, which can also be made from apples.

If you still have homemade juice preparations, then before putting the mash on apples, try making the legendary drink, the invention of which is often attributed to Charlemagne. Cider is more like sparkling wine and is perfect for any home celebration, although at its core it is an ordinary homebrew.

Five liters of homemade apple juice are heated to room temperature and mixed with a kilogram of granulated sugar. To make the sugar dissolve better, you can use a wooden spatula or whisk.

Pour the resulting mixture into a glass jar or a food-grade plastic barrel.

Put a gas outlet tube on top, the same as used in the manufacture of wine.

You can put an ordinary rubber glove on the jar and make a small hole in one of the fingers. Leave to ferment in a warm place, to speed up the process, you can wrap the container with a warm blanket.

After the appearance of sediment at the bottom of the container, the drink will need to be carefully poured into another dish.
Leave to ferment for a few more days.

When the bubbles on the surface cease to appear, once again drain from the sediment and pour into glass jars.

Now you know how to make apple mash and you can make a wonderful drink with your own hands. Drink mash preferably chilled, store in the refrigerator in tightly closed glass bottles.

Or use as a raw material for the production of alcohol at home.

It is universal. Let's learn from apples. And also we will study the general technology, which will subsequently allow you to prepare this drink from other raw materials.

Braga from apples

The recipe will be very relevant for those who grow fruit trees in their backyards. Indeed, sometimes apple trees in dachas give such a plentiful harvest that it cannot be disposed of by making jam, jam and dried preparations for compote. It's time to try such a wonderful product as apple mash. Ease of preparation (below we will analyze the recipe step by step and you will see how easy it is) is combined with great taste. With a small strength, this drink is still able to noticeably intoxicate, so it should be used with caution. It is also good that you can use carrion for its preparation.

Step by step recipe

Sort the apples, sort out the rotten ones. Clean, wash, cut. Squeeze out the juice in the way that is convenient for you. Pour a bag of dry yeast and a kilogram of sugar into it (this is the proportion for 5 liters of juice and one package of yeast). Place this blank in a high volume bottle. From above, on the neck of the container, you should put on the one bought at the pharmacy, and pierce it with a needle. Instead, you can use a special device called a "fermentation sheet". Now the drink should stay in a dark place for about a month. When the glove stops inflating, this will mean the end of fermentation. Now the apple mash should be filtered until transparent. It can be used to make homemade moonshine.

If you didn’t get apple mash

Let's take a look at some common mistakes to avoid the next time you make a drink. The fermentation process has many subtleties, so it is difficult for a novice winemaker and just an amateur to avoid failure.

Let's pay attention to several factors that interfere with the manufacture of mash. The first one is too little or too much sugar. Keep in mind that fruits contain natural carbohydrates. Apples, for example, are a medium sweet food. If you have sour fruits, you will need to add more sugar. The second negative factor should be called the choice of low-quality yeast. Many take bakers. But it's not right. When they are used, it is released that can spoil the taste of the drink. Also, the baking product is formed by volatile impurities, the presence of which requires additional purification of the drink, and abundant foam. Special alcohol yeast has advantages over all others and allows you to get the best drink. They will also shorten the fermentation time. Do not forget to buy a special activator, which is an organic top dressing for alcohol yeast.

Every more or less well-read person has heard of Calvados. Many of us, at least once, have tasted this magnificent apple distillate. But not everyone has the knowledge to make something similar in their native kitchen (whether it’s not even the canonical Calvados, but an unpretentious, but no less pleasant moonshine from apples). In this regard, the paramount place is occupied by the question: how to make (or rather, how to cook or, if you want, put) mash from apples for moonshine.

Believe that the distillate made from the mash made according to this recipe has not disappointed anyone yet.

List of ingredients

1. Apples - 30 kg
2. Sugar - 2-4 kg
3. Water - 10-20 l
4. Dry wine yeast - 100 g

Cooking Method

The apple pomace remaining after receiving the juice, in our case, can also be used. At the same time, the output will be a kind of apple equivalent of the famous chacha.

List of ingredients

1. Apple pomace - 10 kg
2. Sugar - 5 kg
3. Water - 35 l
4. Yeast - 100 g dry or 500 g pressed

Cooking Method

If you are a true gourmet, you should stop at this option. Apple brandy, made on the basis of pure juice, is the most perfect in terms of taste and aroma.

List of ingredients

1. Apple juice - 15 l
2. Sugar - 3 kg
3. Dry wine yeast - 200 g
4. Honey - to taste
5. Lemon zest - to taste

Cooking Method

1. Juice, settled for several days, decant from the sediment, then mix with sugar and yeast solution; If desired, you can add a little honey and lemon zest.
2. Keep the resulting substance in a dark, warm place for a month, stirring it periodically.
3. After the specified period, the finished mash can be used.

Braga from apples without yeast

All of the above mash options can be prepared without yeast and, accordingly, without sugar. The main thing is to leave the fruit unwashed so as not to destroy the wild yeast necessary for this type of fermentation. The tangible advantages of this method will be the taste of the distillate not distorted by the sugar-yeast factor and the reduction of financial costs for its preparation. The disadvantages of the mentioned method include a long fermentation period, sometimes reaching up to two and a half months, as well as a smaller amount of finished brandy obtained at the exit.

Drinking apple mash, in fact - cider, is a pleasant-tasting self-sufficient refreshing low-alcohol drink.

List of ingredients

1. Sour apples - 5 kg
2. Sweet apples - 5 kg

Cooking Method

1. Squeeze juice from soft, but not rotten fruits.
2. Separately defend juices from sour and sweet varieties of apples for 3 days.
3. Then, remove them from the sediment and mix to taste.
4. Bottle the resulting blank, throwing a few raisins into each of the bottles.
5. Cork the bottles very carefully and put them in the cellar or refrigerator.
6. In about a month, your drinking mash will be ready.

Of course, such a drink can also be prepared using the sugar-yeast method, but we would not recommend drinking it in its pure form. Firstly: yeast will significantly worsen the organoleptic properties of the drink, and secondly: undistilled yeast mash contains a significant amount of toxic substances that can seriously damage your body.

1. Choose fresh fruit

   When selecting fruits for mash, try not to use fallen apples with rot. If you still couldn’t manage without falling apples, carefully cut out all the rotten areas. Otherwise, the semi-finished product for moonshine will turn out to be too bitter.

2. 10% rule

   When putting the wort in the fermentation tank, make sure that there is at least 10% of free space left in it, which is necessary for the accumulation of foam and carbon dioxide.

3. Baker's yeast - a taboo for quality alcohol

   In the manufacture of mash, you can use baker's yeast. In this case, the fermentation process may be completed in a week, but the product itself will have a characteristic unpleasant taste and smell.

4. Sugar mash with apples

   You can try adding pieces of apples to the usual sugar-yeast preparation for moonshine. In this case, at the end of the fermentation period, you will get a refined sugar mash with apples.

5. Experiment

   It is allowed to mix apples with other fruit and berry ingredients. In this way, for example, you will get a mash of apples and plums or a mash of apples and grapes. The main thing in such cases is to ensure that the sugar content of the future wort does not exceed 20%. Otherwise, fermentation simply will not take place.

6. Braga from pears and apples

   If you have prepared a distillate based on pears and apples, it should either be consumed within the next few months or aged in an oak barrel for about a year. According to experts, this drink, after six months of storage, for some time partly loses the fullness of its flavor bouquet.