Improve the taste of moonshine with cinnamon and lemon. Proven recipes for refining moonshine at home

Moonshine is ethyl alcohol, and this product has a characteristic smell and taste. Many home liquor drinkers find the characteristics of pure distillate distasteful, which leads to a desire to use ingredients that improve the characteristics of moonshine. How to improve the taste of moonshine, making it soft and pleasant?

The sharp taste and aroma of alcohol appears due to the presence of fusel oils in the product, which not only spoil the distillate, but are also harmful to health. If there is a lot of fuselage in the moonshine, then before adding the ingredients for refining, these impurities must be removed. The second distillation of moonshine, carried out using the same technology as the first, helps to remove excess fuselage.

To fix the result of distillation of fusel oils, it is recommended to additionally clean the moonshine. This can be done using activated charcoal, taken at the rate of 12 grams of the drug per 1 liter of moonshine. During the day, the distillate is insisted on coal, after which it is filtered through a gauze filter.

Potassium permanganate helps to purify alcohol, ridding it of ethyl taste and smell. In every three liters of distillate dissolve 3 grams of the drug, combined with a glass of warm water. In this state, moonshine is kept for 12 hours, after which it is filtered.

Milk softens the taste of the distillate well, but it can only be used after double distillation. 100 grams of pasteurized milk is added to 10 liters of the product and infused for a week in a dark place. After that, pure moonshine is separated from the sediment.

Additives

After cleaning, moonshine can be ennobled by adding natural fillers. If desired, you can use store-bought dyes used according to the instructions. If there is an intention to do without synthetic ingredients, then the choice is made in favor of all kinds of pharmacy herbs, spices, berries and fruits.

What to add to moonshine for taste:

• glucose;
• sugar;
• zest;
• oak chips;
• herbs;
• ascorbic acid.

How to remove the unpleasant smell of moonshine with these ingredients:

1. Sugar: for 1 liter of distillate take a tablespoon of refined sugar and mix thoroughly.
2. Oak bark: before adding to moonshine, the ingredient is slightly dried in an oven or a special dryer. For every 1.5 liters of product, take a tablespoon of bark. Infusion of moonshine takes 2-3 weeks.
3. Glucose powder: 5 grams of glucose powder are dissolved in a liter of the finished product.
4. Zest: with a sharp knife, cut the zest from one large lemon and one large orange, trying not to touch its white layer, which gives bitterness to the moonshine. For each liter of moonshine, they take a dessert spoon of ground zest and insist the distillate for 3 days in a cold room.
5. Black pepper: it is enough to take 3 peas per 0.5 liter of homemade moonshine and keep the drink for 2 weeks.
6. Ascorbic acid: take 2 grams of the drug and add it to 1 liter of alcohol.

It happens that the ingredient to eliminate the alcohol smell was added in excessive amounts. To remedy the situation, it is enough to dilute the distillate with purified water.

Recipes

Improving the taste of moonshine is achieved by adding natural ingredients that have a characteristic taste and aroma. These include fragrant herbs, fruits, inflorescences. The features of choosing an aromatic component to improve the taste of alcohol depend on what kind of drink the moonshiner wants to get.

There are proven recipes in moonshine brewing, according to which you can prepare fragrant and tasty alcohol:

1. Mead: per 1 liter of distillate, take 2 cloves, 4 black peppercorns, a tablespoon of honey and 2 hot pepper pods. For two weeks, the distillate is insisted on a mixture of spices in a dark, cool place. After this time, honey according to the recipe is added to the tincture with spices and kept for another week. Refrigerate before serving.
2. Homemade cognac: 2 tablespoons of black tea and sugar are added to 5 liters of distillate. Also, 10 black peppercorns, 10 cloves and 6 bay leaves are introduced into the mixture. For ten days, moonshine is insisted on spices and filtered through a homemade cotton filter.
3. Anisovka: 5 star anise stars are taken for 1 liter of moonshine and this drink is kept for a week. If desired, a small amount of granulated sugar can be added to alcohol.
4. Cranberries: per liter of purified distillate, you need to take a glass of sugar and the same amount of pure cranberries. Berries are rubbed with sugar and poured with a liter of moonshine. The drink must be kept for 7 to 14 days, and filtered before serving.

Improving the taste of homemade moonshine is a wide field for the manifestation of imagination, since aromatic ingredients can be combined with each other, getting unique alcoholic drinks for feasts.

Even in the case of proper mash and fractional distillation, the taste of moonshine can remain tough - slightly burning the throat and drying the tip of the tongue. Often, owners of distillation and beer columns face this problem. To make moonshine soft, you need to choose the right ingredients and calculate the proportions.

Remember that softening the taste does not replace cleaning and does not improve the quality of moonshine, but can only mask the shortcomings of a bad distillate in some cases. Therefore, I recommend adding the substances listed below to a double, fractional distillation drink.

How to soften moonshine

There are two groups of substances: sweeteners and acidifiers. The first group includes:

1. Sugar. A simple, affordable option. The disadvantage is that depending on the quality, it can give the drink a slight turbidity and an unpleasant odor. To avoid side effects, it is advisable to use refined sugar, and before adding, crush the pieces into sand or grind them into powder with a coffee grinder (the best option) and smell them. The average amount is 1 tablespoon of sugar per 1 liter of moonshine with a strength of 40%.
2. Glucose (dextrose). The very best solution. Sold in pharmacies and specialized stores. Any form of release is suitable: in powder (it is this type that is called dextrose), tablets or an aqueous solution (in ampoules). To soften moonshine with glucose, 5-25 ml of a 20-40% aqueous solution or 1-5 grams of dry matter per 1 liter of forty percent distillate is required. Before adding the tablet must be crushed to a powder. The taste of expensive store-bought vodkas is softened with dextrose.
3. Fructose. Sweeter than sugar by 1.8 times. Release form - powder. It has proven itself well for fruit distillates: from apples, grapes, cherries, peaches, etc., but it is also suitable for drinks from other raw materials. Proportion - 0.3-0.5 tablespoon per 1 liter of moonshine (40 degrees).
4. Honey. You need a fresh liquid or in the form of a syrup (mix with water in equal parts, bring to a boil, boil for 2-3 minutes, removing the foam, then cool to room temperature). The disadvantage is that it can give a precipitate, affect the color, aroma and add characteristic honey tones to the distillate, which is not always appropriate. Usually they add no more than 0.5 tablespoon of honey per 1 liter of moonshine, the main thing is to dissolve it well.
5. food grade glycerin. Viscous, clear, syrupy liquid. Registered as food additive E422. The main problem is that glycerin gives excessive sweetness, it is difficult to correctly calculate the concentration in small volumes, and cloying taste appears. To soften moonshine, 1-5 ml of glycerin per 1 liter with a strength of 40% is required.

Acidifiers include (added separately or together with sweeteners):

1. Ascorbic acid. White crystalline powder with a sour taste, which dissolves well in water and alcohol. In a pharmacy it can be sold in the form of a dragee. Used to soften any kind of distillate, prevents oxidative processes. To soften moonshine, you need 3-5 grams of ascorbic acid per 1 liter.
2. Lemon acid. A more affordable home remedy that performs its functions no worse than "ascorbic". You can use both pure citric acid - 2-6 grams / liter, or replace it with lemon juice - squeeze 1 medium lemon per 1 liter of moonshine. Lack of lemon juice - can give sediment and turbidity.

Glucose powder (dextrose) - the best option

Moonshine flavor softening technology

1. Dilute the distillate with water. Make a fortress 1-2% higher than you need to get in the end.

2. If moonshine is made from sugar or grain raw materials, it is desirable to carry out carbonization - filtration of the drink through birch or coconut activated carbon (brands BAU-A, KAU-A, BAU-LB). There is no fundamental difference between the two methods of carbonization (infusion of moonshine on coal and passing through a column or other filter).

Coal will remove the largest molecules of harmful impurities (slightly improve the quality) and partially oxidize the aldehydes contained in ethyl alcohol to acids under the influence of air in the pores of the coal. As a result, esters will appear, which in themselves soften the taste of moonshine.

Do not clean berry and fruit distillates, otherwise the aroma of raw materials may disappear.

3. Pour 100-150 ml of moonshine into a separate container. In 2-4 passes, add the selected sweetener and (or) acidifier, starting with the minimum dosage. After each addition, stir the distillate until the substance is completely dissolved and record the amount of ingredients, then evaluate the taste after 4-5 minutes.

4. After the softness of the moonshine is satisfactory, proportionally recalculate the amount of substances for the entire required volume, add to the distillate and mix.

Preliminary calculation - fractional addition of a softener to a limited amount of drink minimizes the risk of spoiling the entire batch. I advise you to perform this procedure every time, even if the optimal proportions are already known, since the quality of sugar, glucose, honey and other substances changes.

If too much emollient is added, you can try to lower the concentration and stabilize the taste with another batch of moonshine or pure alcohol with water. Another option is re-distillation.

5. Close the container hermetically. Transfer to a dark room with a temperature as close to zero as possible, the recommended temperature is 2-4°C. Leave for 3-4 days to complete chemical reactions and stabilize the taste.

Cloudiness (milky color) may occur depending on the quality of the water and other ingredients. If, when kept in the cold, the cloudiness did not disappear after 5 days after mixing or a precipitate formed (it happens when lemon juice and honey are added), filter the moonshine through cotton wool.

The assessment of any drink is made primarily in appearance, followed by smell and taste. All kinds of aromatic additives and plants help to give these qualities to the drink.

In this article, we will tell you in detail what to insist on moonshine to give it a creative color, aromatic smell and spicy taste.

The range of herbs and spices is so large that it opens up almost limitless possibilities for changing the taste of moonshine. By themselves, spices such as nutmeg, bay leaf, vanilla, cinnamon, or pepper do not have a special nutritional value, but they contribute to better digestibility of moonshine by the body and this gives it a variety of flavors, so you can’t ignore them in preparing this drink.

The most pronounced aroma is given by spices containing a large amount of essential oils and glucosides, which can accumulate in different parts of plants: leaves, roots, seeds.

The duration of the preparation of infusions depends on the raw materials and the temperature at which the infusion takes place, and on average lasts from 2 to 5 weeks. At higher temperatures, the duration of infusion is in some cases reduced. Such a tincture will be early.

If the resulting infusion is overtaken, you will get a more concentrated and saturated infusion with essential oils.

However, you need to add aromatic substances already in the finished product, and not in the mash. If you add them to the mash, and then overtake, the effect will be very weak, the low alcohol content in the mash will not allow the herbs to give up all their nutrients. Distillation makes it possible to increase the alcohol content of the drink.

Change in taste and smell of moonshine

In order to improve the taste of moonshine, after the distillation is completed, it can be mixed with the same infusions on which it was insisted. For example, if moonshine was insisted on lemon skins, then after distillation, lemon peels should be added again and insisted again.

Fresh and dry spices and herbal supplements, as well as extracts prepared from them, can improve not only the smell of the drink, but also its taste. It must be borne in mind that moonshine is a strong drink containing alcohol, which will interact very actively with the additives that are added to it, as a result of such insistence, its taste will change significantly. Therefore, it is very important not to overdo it with the addition of spices, and also to know what effect you will achieve by adding this or that spice.

1. add bitterness to the drink - orange and lemon zest, star anise, vanilla and bay leaf, cinnamon;
2. spices will be added - rosemary, saffron;
3. spicy-burning effect will give - cardamom, nutmeg;
4. a hot drink will turn out if you add - ginger, cloves, black pepper;
5. the drink will be moderately hot after adding allspice.

You can use these spices by combining them with each other.

Changing the color of moonshine

By insisting on all kinds of additives, you can also influence the color of the drink, changing it beyond recognition, and sometimes turning it into completely new favorite home-made drinks, the recipes of which we will give below.

Depending on what color you want to achieve, you need to infuse moonshine on certain components. If you want to impress your guests with a creative color, then try to infuse moonshine with these components:

• To obtain a golden color, it is best to infuse moonshine on saffron, walnut membranes, and orange peels.
• The drink will turn yellow when insisted on mint, lemon balm, as well as a small amount of saffron. Celery leaves will give the same color.
• Red color will give blueberries. If you want to impress guests with an intense red color, you can use carmine food coloring mixed with cream of tartar in a ratio of 6 to 1. These components must be crushed into powder and dissolved in warm, almost hot water. Strain the resulting solution and add to moonshine.
• Scarlet color can be achieved in the same way, but in other proportions of 4 to 4. Boil 4 grams of cream of tartar and 4 grams of food paint, add a liter of water, filter. Depending on how much solution is added to the moonshine, you can adjust the intensity of the color. The remaining solution can be stored for later use.
• Not saturated blue color will give infusion on sunflower seeds. You can add a decoction of blueberries, adjust the color saturation by the amount of decoction poured in, or add carmine, which will tint the moonshine. You can strain the drink through fresh yarrow leaves.
• A delicate blue color will give an insistence on cornflower flowers.
• Green color will give parsley or blackcurrant leaves.
• Brown can be achieved with melted sugar, tea leaves, instant coffee and oak bark.

Cognac at home

Making this native French drink at home is not a myth at all. You can also prepare such alcohol on the basis of moonshine, the main thing is to insist it correctly.

Cognac is a noble drink and it is not customary to swallow it in one gulp. They drink it a little bit, enjoying not only its taste, but also its aroma. That is why this drink is served in special glasses that help retain its aroma.

As a raw material for making a drink, we take moonshine. The better its quality is, the more pleasant and noble the drink will turn out to be. We will insist moonshine on oak bark. It is she who, in combination with burnt sugar, will give our drink the necessary color.

The recipe for cognac is quite simple. We add moonshine to the infusion container - this is our alcohol base. Determine the amount at your discretion and adjust the addition of ingredients accordingly. Consider the example of 3 liters. Sugar in the amount of two teaspoons, heat over fire. When it starts to melt and turn yellow, add it to our alcohol base.

The second component is oak bark, it will need three tbsp. spoons. You can buy it at any pharmacy or replace it with wood chips mined on your own.

Spices can also be added at your discretion. Nutmeg, vanillin are perfect, bay leaf and allspice will add spicy bitterness, cinnamon and cloves will add spices. In order to get a more saturated color, you can add 100 gr. dry tea leaves or 7 tablespoons of instant coffee. Citrus fruits can also be used as spices, the skins of two oranges are suitable.

After all the components are added, the drink must be mixed, tightly closed and infused. An indicator of its readiness will be the color - caramel. The longer the drink is infused, the better and richer the color will be. Now it remains only to strain the drink.

Enjoy a noble drink!

Absinthe at home

The recipes for making absinthe can be different. But all of them require additional distillation after infusion, and differ only in the composition of the spices added. The process of making absinthe drink includes several stages.

Stage 1

1. 25 gr. dried wormwood (separate from stems and use only heads and tops);
2. 50 gr. fennel (you can use seeds);
3. 50 gr. anise (you can also use seeds);
4. 1 liter of moonshine (can be replaced with 85% alcohol).

Pour all herbal supplements with an alcohol-containing base and leave for at least a week.

Stage 2

Add half a liter of water to the infusion and overtake. Distillation is carried out directly with herbs until all the liquid is gone. The herbs must remain moist, it is very important to ensure that they do not start to burn, otherwise this will affect the smell and taste of absinthe. With the help of distillation of herbs, the most valuable thing that is in absinthe is given away - essential oils. From the usual insistence, the effect will not be so effective. This drink will acquire softness only after a while.

Stage 3

Now the resulting distillate must be turned into absinthe - colored and flavored. The traditional color of absinthe is green. In order to achieve this color, you need to take 10 gr. dry wormwood, 10 gr. hyssop flowers and 5 gr. lemon balm. All herbs should be crushed and crushed. Add 400 ml of distillate to the herbs and steam to a temperature of 50 degrees. You can do this procedure in a device specially designed for that. Under the influence of temperature, the herbs give off the chlorophyll contained in them and saturate the distillate with aroma. After the liquid has cooled, it must be filtered. The strength of this drink should be 70-85%.

Stage 4

The next step is the aging process. Absinthe is considered the most valuable, which changes its green color to yellow with age. The last stage is the acquisition of quality by the drink.

Herbal tinctures

You can make moonshine not only pleasant, but also a healthy drink if you insist it on herbs. Just like in the case of absinthe, after insisting, it must be sorted out again. Herbs for infusion can be selected at your discretion. Here are recipes for mixtures of herbs on which moonshine can be infused.

Recipe 1. "Therapeutic moonshine"

In moonshine (5 liters) add a mixture of herbs:

• mint and sage - 200 gr each;
• galangal and ginger - 50 gr.

It will take 14 days to insist on moonshine, stir as often as possible, and after it has been infused, strain and overtake again.

Recipe 2. "Moonshine on pistachios"

For a recipe for pistachio moonshine, you need to take 1 tbsp. a spoonful of cinnamon, grapefruit skins, cardamom, nutmeg and cloves. Add half a glass of pistachios, a slice of rye bread and 200 gr. honey.

Recipe 2. "Khrenovukha"

This horseradish tincture can also rightly be called healing. The recipes for this tincture were known in Russia even under Peter 1. For its preparation, 1 liter of moonshine will require 300 gr. horseradish and 3 tbsp. tablespoons of honey, spices, you can add cloves and peppercorns. The period of infusion of such a tincture is 2-3 months

All the above recipes can be interpreted at your own discretion by changing the amount of spices or adding new ones at your discretion. Do not be lazy to experiment, inventing your own recipes, and the result will amaze your guests!

Many of us like to prepare homemade alcoholic drinks. In this case, you can apply your knowledge, show imagination. Having received pleasant and, possibly, exclusive drinks, you can then treat your loved ones with pleasure. Still popular is such a traditional drink as moonshine. Its taste and smell depend on raw materials, adherence to technology, and also on some nuances and additives that will ennoble it. How to make delicious moonshine?

Ways to Improve Taste

To get the perfect drink, you need to strictly follow the distillation technology and know some of the nuances. However, it is often necessary to make additional efforts to make the moonshine more palatable and remove the specific fusel smell. There are three main ways to improve:

• redistillation
• additional cleaning
• improving additives

Redistillation

Fusel oils give an unpleasant smell and taste, and they are the worst component of this drink.

The most effective way to improve the quality and taste of moonshine is the re-distillation of raw alcohol, the so-called fractional distillation with the separation of head and tail fractions, if everything is done correctly, no additional ways to improve the taste are required. The result will be a drink that is more transparent, with a more pleasant taste and smell. A good result can be obtained if apples are added to moonshine before distillation. For 5 liters you need several slices of fresh fruits and a handful of dried ones. All this is infused for three days, filtered, diluted to 20-30% alcohol and distilled, excellent apple moonshine is obtained.

Each distillation improves the quality of alcohol, it can be distilled twice or thrice.

Additional cleaning

You can improve the taste of moonshine and get rid of the fusel smell by cleaning. It is aimed primarily at getting rid of the drink from fusel oils. The fewer of them, the more pleasant it will be to taste and smell.

Freezing

Freezing This is the old way of cleaning. The bottom line is that water with fusel oils freezes pretty quickly if you put a container of moonshine in the freezer. As soon as a layer of ice appears on the walls of the container, what is not frozen is carefully drained, this is the purest part of the drink. This cleaning can be repeated 2-3 times.

Activated carbon cleaning

Activated carbon cleaning- also a good way to ennoble moonshine. As a rule, activated carbon acts as a filter, which absorbs fusel oils and removes an unpleasant odor, at the same time improving the taste of the drink. The essence of filtration is to pass moonshine through coal. To do this, it is folded into a fabric bag, which is placed above the container, and the drink is poured through such a filter at low speed in detail and.

You can buy activated charcoal tablets at the pharmacy.

You can use any household water filter (), since the filter elements are always based on activated carbon.

Other cleaning methods

Improving the quality of homemade alcohol is quite simple. Baking soda combines very well with fusel oils, but using baking soda will take longer to clean up.

Sugar syrup, cooked in proportions of 1: 1, will give the moonshine a pleasant taste and add sweetness. The amount of syrup depends on taste preferences and may vary. You can use . Honey can be used instead of syrup. When adding jam, you need three to four teaspoons per three-liter jar. This will change the color of the moonshine, and the berries from the jam will add flavor. Infuse a drink with syrup, honey or jam for 3 days.

Of the fruits, citrus fruits are most often used. For a three-liter jar, the zest of one lemon or orange is enough. In the same jar, you can add a tablespoon of tea leaves or coffee beans and be sure to insist for several days. If you need to get a more noble drink right away, then instant coffee is suitable. Add one and a half teaspoons per liter of moonshine, mix, and the drink is ready.

Any dried fruits will enrich the taste palette of homemade alcohol. Prunes are often used, which give a slightly smoked-sweet flavor and cognac color. The same color, but with a less pronounced taste, can be obtained by insisting on dried apples. Blueberries or blueberries will give a beautiful reddish color to the drink and soften the fusel taste and smell. From spices, any are used: cardamom, saffron, pepper, cloves.

In moonshine stores, you can find essences and ready-made kits that improve the taste and allow you to make famous branded drinks from moonshine.

Bonifiers

Bonifiers are food additives designed specifically to improve the taste of alcohol and further refine it. They are available in liquid or powder form. The choice of a bonifier depends on preferences and purposes of its use. Before buying, you need to carefully study its composition and method of application.

Now you know how to improve the taste of your moonshine using various methods, as well as their combination. The process of making homemade alcohol is a creative activity, the result of which is the most delicious homemade moonshine.

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A comment

Moonshine is the most “natural product” that is suitable not only for consumption in its original form, but also for the preparation of a wide variety of tinctures, including healing ones. For their manufacture, various gifts of nature are used: dried fruits, spices, dry herbs, berries, and so on. Note that as a result of simple manipulations, you can get a very worthy, tasty and aromatic drink that can compete with its counterparts of "aristocratic" origin. In order to get such an impressive result, you need to use a carefully prepared "base", that is, moonshine that has gone through a repeated cleaning process.

Refinement of moonshine is an occupation on the verge of haute cuisine. You can correctly combine various ingredients, getting individual bouquets. Famous Russian moonshine tinctures with bitter "warming" tastes. Best of all, all kinds of seasonings enrich drinks with spicy and burning shades. You can sweeten moonshine with syrups. The easiest way to cook:

• Boil 1 kg of sugar in 1 liter of water. Be sure to remove the foam.
• Then let the syrup brew for 2 weeks, because the composition may contain sediment, which during this period will concentrate on the bottom of the container and, of course, must be removed. Honey is also used as a sweetener for moonshine.

When adding syrup or honey to a drink, alcohol must be heated so that gases begin to be released. When the gas separation ends, the drink can be considered ready for further action - filtration. It can be done with coal. Purified moonshine is bottled and infused for 3 days at a temperature of 3-4°C. Delicious sweet drink is ready!

According to the type of impact, additives for moonshine can be divided into the following groups:

• taste;
• aromatic;
• cleaning chemicals;
• natural adsorbents;
• dyes.

The division is somewhat arbitrary, since many plants and chemicals act simultaneously on taste, color and smell.

Flavoring and coloring substances are added in different ways:

• poured in dry form (chopped herbs, wood chips, ready-made additives in the form of powders);
• in the form of infusions or decoctions;
• in the form of essences and aromatic oils;
• during distillation (dry additives must be placed in a steamer, liquid additives can be poured into the mash).

Changing the color of moonshine with natural dyes

The appearance of the drink subjectively affects the perception of its taste. Psychologists have proven that with the right color scheme, alcohol can seem tastier than it really is. Ladies are especially sensitive to the color of alcohol. The problem of transparent moonshine is solved by natural dyes, the best recipes of which we will consider further.

Black tea

The easiest way, practically does not affect the taste. For 3 liters of moonshine, it is enough to add 1 tablespoon of high-quality black tea (not from a bag), mix, close the jar tightly with a lid and leave for 3-5 days in a dark place.

Every day the shade will change, ranging from cognac light brown to rich black. Lovers of beautiful smells can infuse moonshine on dry tea with the aroma of barberry, bergamot, or add a clove bud along with tea leaves.

Orange (lemon) peels

They remove the specific smell of poorly cleaned moonshine, a pleasant sourness appears in the taste. The addition of lemons makes moonshine light green, oranges - slightly yellow with a golden hue. For refining, only pre-dried peel is suitable, preferably without white pulp, which gives bitterness. Recipe: put the peel of one medium orange or two lemons on 3 liters of moonshine, leave for 10-14 days in a hermetically sealed jar at room temperature.

Prunes

A great way to paint moonshine under cognac, adding interesting flavor notes to the drink, which are found in Armenian cognacs. For a three-liter jar of moonshine, you will need 100 grams of prunes, after 7-10 days of infusion, the moonshine will change color, a pleasant aroma will appear and the taste will soften. The duration of exposure can be changed at your discretion.

Nuts and partitions

The simplest solution: for 7 days, throw partitions from 15 walnuts into 1 liter of moonshine, then strain through cheesecloth. The taste and color of the drink will change beyond recognition. The recipe for moonshine on pine nuts is somewhat more complicated, it requires preliminary evaporation of the nuts, which removes excess resin, then 30 days of aging. But the result is worth it, if there are enough fruits (150 grams of nuts per liter of moonshine).

Caramel (burnt sugar)

A well-known method for making fake cognacs and whiskeys. To paint the moonshine in a pleasant yellow color, you need to heat a tablespoon of sugar over a fire until brown, then add the finished caramel to 1 liter of moonshine and mix until completely dissolved.

Instant coffee

Quickly changes the color of moonshine and interrupts an unpleasant smell. New notes appear on the palate. It is enough to add half a teaspoon of coffee per liter of moonshine. After coffee, it is no longer possible to dilute the drink with water, otherwise it will become cloudy, and filtration will not help, only distillation.

St. John's wort

Colors moonshine in light brown color. Tincture recipe: add 1 tablespoon of dried St. John's wort per 1 liter of moonshine, mix, tightly close the jar and put in a dark place for 7 days. Shake once a day, then strain through cheesecloth.

Remember that St. John's wort is a medicinal plant with a strong sedative (calming) effect. Do not drink more than 300 grams of this tincture at a time.

Food colorings

A good option for those who urgently need to tint moonshine. With the right dye, you can get any color without affecting the taste and smell. The main thing is to create a natural shade and follow the instructions on the label exactly. Not all food colorings are compatible with alcohol, you need to check with sellers before buying.

Delicious Moonshine Recipes

How to make good, delicious homemade moonshine at home? Here are some recipes to complete your collection.

Making moonshine "Green tea"

1. Pour two hundred grams of tea (green) with water. Tea, by the way, must be fresh and of the highest quality. This tea is needed in order to dilute it with seven and a half liters of moonshine (double).
2. Squeeze out the same tea leaves (through the canvas) and insist all this for eight days. When these days fly by, add another hundred grams of the same tea and two and a half liters of water.
3. It remains to do three actions: overtake, sweeten, filter.

Homemade moonshine "Clean Rice"

1. You need to take two hundred grams of rice (crushed), four hundred grams of raisins (large and boiled in water), one bottle of malaga and sugar syrup (as much as you want).
2. Add two hundred grams of brewer's yeast (white) and four hundred grams of water.
3. Leave this "mixture" to ferment for four days. After - add six liters of spring water (soft) and twelve liters of double moonshine.
4. Distill so that you get only nine liters of moonshine.
5. Take another vessel (any), “throw” vanilla into it (four teaspoons) and a little seventy-degree moonshine (triple).
6. Infuse for four days and filter. To the moonshine that you have already distilled, add vanilla tincture and a few drops of oil (pink).
7. Take oak bark (six hundred grams) and galangal root (five grams).
8. Put them (root and oak bark) in a bag (canvas). After placing the bag in a container with moonshine, tightly cork the container.

Moonshine "Sage Fairy"

1. Just fill fresh apples with some ready-made moonshine. All apples must be soaked through with alcohol.
2. After - "commit" them to insistence for a period of six months. If you have the patience to wait for the result for half a year, you need, after this particular period of time, strain the liquid, pouring it into a saucepan.
3. Add sugar to taste and put the pan, with the liquid, on the fire. Let it boil three times. Watch, as carefully as possible, so that the moonshine, suddenly, does not think to flare up.
4. Leave the liquid to infuse in some place that has coolness.
5. It should be cool until all the thick settles on the very bottom.
6. Then - strain what happened by adding water (calculation: two and a half liters of water per ten liters of moonshine).
7. After - distillation and filtration.

Making moonshine "Bread"

1. Make your choice: millet, barley, corn, peas, rye or wheat.
2. Pour the selected “component” with warm water and let it germinate, making sure that the grain does not sour.
3. When the grain germinates, it must be dried and ground into flour, adding, little by little, to boiling water.
4. Don't forget to stir.
5. When the liquid is very reminiscent of jelly - cover it and let it brew for twelve hours.
6. After - add one kilogram of peas (dry).
7. Leave to ferment for ten days.
8. Then - overtake.

Homemade moonshine "Rose"

1. Take rose petals, mash them and put them in a container. Sprinkle them with salt.
2. Next, you need to spread the canvas (wet), cover it with a circle with oppression and insist, for eight days, in a cool place.
3. When the rose petals begin to rot, stop the infusion period.
4. Put everything in a cube, fill with water (1: 1). Then - mix and distill.
5. It remains only to add a little sugar and filter.

Making homemade moonshine "Svekolochka"

1. Take a beetroot. Rub it. Pour beets with water and boil (several hours).
2. Then drain the liquid into a container. And again - fill the beets with water, boil for the same time and drain.
3. In general, this "stage" must be done three times.
4. Add yeast to the liquid (calculation: one hundred grams per ten liters).
5. Infuse for fifteen days until foam forms.
6. The final "stage" is the stage.

Moonshine "Lavender"

1. Take one hundred grams of lavender flowers. You will also need cinnamon (twenty-five grams) and cloves (twenty-five grams).
2. Grind cinnamon, lavender and cloves and mix.
3. Pour twelve liters of moonshine with this mixture and let it brew for a week.
4. After - put a slice of bread with honey "on the surface" into the tincture.
5. Do a slow fire.

Several delicious recipes for moonshine tinctures

It is worth mentioning that literally everything can be insisted on moonshine. The only question is what will you get as a result of your experiment. It is likely that the result of the applied imagination and effort will be the emergence of a new exotic drink. In the meantime, you are in search of a suitable idea, try the following moonshine tincture recipes, a detailed description of which can be found below.

"Hrenovuha"

Horseradish is a seasoning that is usually consumed in the winter season, which is facilitated by its warming properties. Fans of homemade preparations know that this plant is suitable not only for food, but also for making horseradish - an alcoholic drink made from horseradish and moonshine. The main secret of the manufacture of such a product is the observance of the proportions and timing of infusion. So, you need to mix 2 liters of sivukha, 100 grams of coarsely chopped horseradish root, a little ginger, fresh lime and natural honey. Everything needs to be cut, because the pureed ingredients make the drink cloudy and unassuming. Sometimes a recipe for horseradish tincture in diluted alcohol or moonshine is supplemented with currant or cherry leaves, red pepper and other additives. Infuse the mixture for at least five days. Remember, the longer the bottle stays, the more vigorous the horseradish becomes. You need to drink it after straining, diluted with the juice of sour cabbage or fresh cranberries.

We insist on oak

Moonshine tincture on dried oak bark has a pronounced cognac shade and a clear spicy taste with woody notes. Let's say more, this liqueur on oak bark is in many ways superior to industrial cognac, it has such a refined and "expensive" taste. There are a lot of recipes for making this version of moonshine tincture, because every lover adds those ingredients that are more to his taste and habits. We offer one of the most delicious and popular recipes, elementary in execution.

So:

• In a 3-liter jar of moonshine, you need to put 50 grams of oak chips, 15 grams of honey, St. John's wort and oregano;
• we also put 20 peas of allspice there, but we put cloves, coriander and vanilla sticks at our discretion;
• the minimum time for infusion of oak bark in moonshine is 3 days, but it is better if the mixture is left alone for several weeks.

Cranberry tincture on personally made moonshine attracts with its rich color and unique aroma of wild berries. Both women and men like this drink equally, which is facilitated by its lightness and unusual aftertaste. The most elementary recipe for cranberry tincture is as follows:

1. It is necessary to mix 800 grams of granulated sugar and a similar amount of crushed cranberries, and this must be done carefully and until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. The mass is poured with 1.5 liters of moonshine, with a strength of at least 40-50 revolutions.
3. It is possible that you want to reduce the sugar content in the drink or get rid of the sweetness altogether.
4. It's okay, the tincture will not suffer from this. Pouring on cranberries is infused for at least 2-4 weeks, after which it is filtered through several layers of gauze. If you notice a cloudy precipitate, there is no need to worry, it is of an exclusively natural origin.

Rowan flavored drink

Rowan tincture on personally prepared moonshine is made using berries that have already survived good frosts. Before you start preparing a drink in an oak barrel, the mountain ash should be dried a little in the oven or oven. Moonshine is used ordinary sugar, plum, pear or apple, the main thing is that its strength is equal to 70 revolutions. Specialists in home tinctures recommend brewing rowanberry for at least a year, but if you manage to endure a few years, then rowanberry tincture will be worthy of participating in an elite alcohol exhibition.

To do this, several indispensable conditions must be observed:

• Add honey or sugar;
• cool the initial mixture and at first insist it in a cool place;
• filter through dense matter;
• pour into an oak barrel and send to the cellar.

Using prunes

Prunes will help you make an original, tasty and healthy drink from ordinary moonshine, which gives the drink a mild taste and unusual color. Before you make a prunes tincture from home-made moonshine, stock up on the fruits themselves, which can be bought in a store or prepared on their own. If you have to take the store option, do not choose large and light brown fruits that have already lost the lion's share of their taste and aroma.

So:

1. To start with a rolling pin, crush 1 piece of allspice and cloves.
2. Pour the resulting powder into a half-liter jar of moonshine, put 4 pitted prunes, 3 black peppercorns and a couple of grams of vanillin into it.
3. Close all this with a lid and shake well, then leave for 10 days in a cool and dry place.
4. As soon as the infusion period expires, the drink will need to be filtered and poured into beautiful containers that can be put on the table. You can store them in the refrigerator, but not longer than one year. The tincture goes well with cold cuts, savory dishes and cheese of different varieties.
   

Quick additions to moonshine

When deciding what to add to moonshine, you need to decide what it is for. If you want to mask an unpleasant odor, you can add dry or dried berries and fruits to alcohol. To obtain healing tinctures, spices, spices and herbs must be kept in alcohol for a long time. Pourings are sweet alcoholic drinks of medium strength, in which the main tone is set by fruits and berries. Choose and get to work.

So, what can be added to moonshine, as they say, without much bother:

1. Honey or syrup. A great way to give moonshine a pleasant flavor. Sugar syrup is cooked in proportions of sugar and water 1:1. Add to taste, mix thoroughly. If there is a need to further purify the drink, 3-4 activated charcoal tablets are thrown into a three-liter jar. Settling takes 3-4 days, after straining the alcohol is ready to drink.
2. Tea or coffee. Dry tea brewing and instant coffee well interrupt the moonshine spirit and give the drink a new color. Tea will need 1 heaping tablespoon per three-liter jar, stand for at least 5 days. Coffee needs 1.5 teaspoons, alcohol will be ready immediately.
3. Black or chili pepper. A chili pepper can give a spice to a drink - you only need one per liter of moonshine. Be sure to remove the seeds from the pod so that you do not have to pour out too spicy infusion. Black pepper cleanses the drink well, making it useful for the digestive system. Enough 10 peas for a half-liter bottle. Both peppers require a week of aging. The color of moonshine will not change significantly.

In general, almost any spices can be poured into pure strong alcohol: whole cinnamon, saffron, cumin, bay leaf, dried and fresh ginger, star anise, whole or ground nutmeg, and others.

How to get rid of fusel oils?

The worst thing about moonshine is fusel oils. That they are, everyone can see for himself: it is enough to light moonshine - in a spoon (if it does not burn, this is a bad product). After burning alcohol, an oily liquid remains at the bottom. These are harmful fusel oils. How to get rid of them?

1. First: compliance with the production technology, do not increase the temperature, constantly change the water cooler.
2. Ready-made moonshine should be cleaned of fusel oil with potassium permanganate. Throw 2–3 g of potassium permanganate powder onto a three-liter jar. Wait for the precipitate to fall. Drain the moonshine carefully. For this purpose, household water filters of the "Spring" type are used. If not, you can strain the moonshine simply through a vessel with charcoal. Its good substitute can be obtained at home. Kindle a birch fire. When the firewood burns out, but the heat is still very strong, fill the clay pot with charcoal, blow off the ashes. Close the pot tightly with a lid. Wait for the coals to go out. Take them out of the pot, cool, pound (not very finely). Can be used as a filter. You can throw (at the rate of 50 g per liter) into moonshine. Let it stand for three weeks. Shake the vessel every day.
3. Filter. Do not be too lazy to do this and make sure that the taste improves, the amount of impurities decreases.

So, you already have a manufactured purified product. It's already ready to use.