Softening moonshine at home: with sugar, glucose and other methods. How to improve the taste of moonshine? Correct flavoring technology

Undoubtedly, many are interested in the question of how to properly infuse moonshine, while improving its color and taste, ultimately making the drink more noble? These questions are relevant for any person who decides to make moonshine at home. Some choose the option of aging the drink in wooden barrels, since wood can give it a pleasant taste and color, while others simply limit themselves to adding a variety of flavors and flavoring additives for moonshine.

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Variety of additives for moonshine

The best way to give moonshine a noble color and taste is a long-tested method - you need to infuse it using natural ingredients, for example:

berries;
fruit;
herbs;
nuts;
honey, etc.

There are many options, but the main conditions are always the same - the naturalness of the chosen product, and its good aromatic and taste qualities. The same ingredients are used both fresh and dried, do not forget to grind them thoroughly before adding into the drink. The best options for flavoring additives for making moonshine infusions are spices, fruits, berries and herbs.

To make the tincture unique, it is better to use fruits and berries collected from your own forest or garden. In addition, making your own tinctures provides enormous opportunities for constant experimentation, because each time you can use new ingredients and end up with your own new drink, always different from the previous one.

How long to infuse moonshine

The time required for infusion can vary greatly; everything here directly depends on the ingredients added. So, dry ingredients need at least three weeks(and in some cases - five or more weeks), and for fresh fruits, fourteen days are enough. Do not forget that before you start infusing the strength of the moonshine should not be less than 50 C.

To speed up the infusion process, it is sometimes possible to add fresh ingredients to it, this will help improve the aromatization of substances. If the process is carried out in the above order, the result of repeated distillation will be an aromatic alcoholic essence, its strength will be from 60 C and more. In addition, they are stored for a long time and can also preserve their high taste for a long time.

How to speed up the infusion process

Moonshine producers often conduct unique experiments to find fairly quick ways to add the desired aroma and taste to a ready-made drink. To do this, they often use concentrated solutions, which need to be boiled for about fifteen minutes with fresh herbs, covered with a lid. Then the liquid is infused for a short time, after which it is distilled, and the resulting decoction is added to the already prepared moonshine, observing the required proportions.

Alcohol meters are used to measure the strength of the resulting drink. Often, connoisseurs of homemade alcoholic beverages use this mixture and the resulting moonshine when re-infusing the compote used during the preparation of the decoction.

If we talk about plants, they are chosen based only on their own tastes. Before choosing a particular plant as a flavoring additive for moonshine, it is recommended to carefully study all its properties, which will allow you to use only those parts that emit a pleasant and powerful smell, while also having the appropriate taste. Most often used:

mustard;
anise;
cloves;
cardamom;
caraway;
marjoram and other herbs.

In addition, ginger and oak bark are ideal, giving the drink a rich taste. In addition to herbs, nuts and dried fruits are also often used.

Adding syrup to moonshine

But not only plants can change the taste of moonshine; their manufacturers often use a variety of sweet syrups for these purposes. To prepare this syrup you need to dissolve one kilogram of sugar in one liter of hot water, then boil for several minutes, constantly stirring the liquid and removing foam from it. The finished solution is infused for two weeks until a sediment appears, which is removed before adding it to the moonshine. After adding the solution, the drink is filtered through charcoal, and then poured into containers and infused for three days. It should also be noted that you can add sugar if desired. replace with honey.

Moonshine with homemade jam

There is another simple flavoring additive for moonshine, associated with the use of ordinary homemade jam, which gives the drink not only taste, but also color. Consumption is low: for three liters of moonshine you will need only four teaspoons of jam. Rowan tinctures are also extremely popular. When preparing them, moonshine is infused with dried rowan berries for a week, then sugar is added to it, then the tincture must be strained.

How to add color to moonshine

To give the drink an atypical color, any natural dye should be added to it before filtering. To do this, you can use various natural dyes:

Saffron with blueberries and blueberries - this will give the resulting drink a golden color.
To obtain a yellow color, add a tincture of lemon balm, celery, horseradish and parsley to the moonshine.
To add red color, use dried blueberries.
If you want your drink to take on a sky blue hue, then add cornflower flowers to it.
Black currants will help the moonshine acquire a green color.
To give it a cognac hue, you can use homemade caramel from fried sugar or black tea.

Recipes for tinctures with moonshine

To prepare such a drink, you will need four liters of double distilled moonshine, which are poured into 210 g of fresh jasmine flowers. It is distilled over high heat and a small amount of sugar syrup is added to give it a sweet taste. As a result, you will get a very aromatic drink, completely devoid of bitterness and harshness of smell.

Moonshine with cloves. To prepare clove moonshine, you will need 110 g of crushed clove fruits; they will need to be filled with six liters of moonshine. Then mix the liquid and pour it into a glass container, close tightly and leave in a warm place for seven days. After infusion, distill the drink. To prepare a syrup based on this moonshine, you need to mix two kilograms of sugar with it, then boil it a little and leave for one day. Then you need to filter the resulting broth well.

Moonshine from mint. To prepare the drink, you will need 20 grams of mint, as well as sage, wormwood, rosemary and cardamom (2 grams of all of the above, except for sage - you need a little more than 3 grams). The ingredients need to be poured into one liter of moonshine with a strength of 50 C, and left for three weeks.

The question of how to soften moonshine and diversify its flavor palette is faced by everyone who tries to prepare strong alcoholic drinks at home. This is especially important when you have a large amount of high-quality raw materials, and you want to get the most pleasant and soft-to-use product. Today in our country there are many recipes, tested over centuries, that allow us to achieve the highest taste and aroma characteristics from home-made alcohol. And this is not surprising, because Russian moonshine even in the 19th century surpassed both cognac and whiskey in its quality. Our ancestors knew how to soften moonshine at home without losing its strength.

Softening the taste of moonshine: the secrets of our ancestors

First of all, our great-great-grandfathers used only half of the prepared mash for distillation. Only frost-resistant varieties of rye, as well as spring water and selected yeast were used for the starter. They approached the cleaning process with particular scrupulousness and caution. The following ingredients were used for this:

whole milk;
coals obtained by burning wood of certain species (linden, beech, birch);
egg whites.

The cost of such a product in those days was a hundred times higher than the price of Scotch whiskey, so it was a pleasure practically inaccessible to commoners. It was prepared only for the royal table or for sending abroad. It was enjoyed by such celebrities as Catherine the Second and Frederick the Great, Gustav III and Voltaire. So the Russian people have long known how to purify and soften moonshine to such an extent that it turns into a drink worthy of royalty and nobility.

Softening the taste of moonshine: highlights

Homemade high-proof alcohol simply needs softening, because it is characterized by such qualities as a rough taste and a pungent odor, which repel many. Therefore, those who like to make their own alcoholic drinks are trying to eliminate these shortcomings.

At first glance, distilling and softening moonshine at home is not a difficult task. All that is needed for this is the presence of a distillation cube (this is what the name of a moonshine still looks like in scientific terminology) plus minimal skills in distilling. But to achieve a pleasant taste and get rid of an unpleasant specific odor, the distillation process alone is not enough.
So, what is needed to soften moonshine? First of all, it is necessary to adhere to correct distillation technology. And of course, it is impossible to obtain a pleasant aroma and taste of the product without the use of appropriate additives. These additional ingredients are very simple, harmless, and absolutely easy to purchase.

There are a number of factors that have a direct impact on the quality of the drink and allow you to soften moonshine at home:

a thoughtful approach to choosing a recipe for preparing mash (some initial components, such as peas or potatoes, provide a large yield of the finished product, but it will need to be subjected to secondary distillation and even in this case you will have to rack your brains on how to soften the taste of such moonshine);
choosing a high-quality distillation cube (a good moonshine still should be equipped with a reflux condenser or steam steamer - they make it possible to obtain a surprisingly pure drink with a fairly mild taste already at the first stage of distillation);
control that all utensils used (the container in which fermentation occurs, all elements of the distillation cube, containers intended for collecting the product and its subsequent storage) are well washed, otherwise you will not be able to achieve the desired softening of moonshine either with honey or any other ways;
choosing the most effective method for purifying the drink (the best results, as in the old days, are provided by components such as milk, charcoal and egg whites);
the use of flavoring additives (they can not only improve the quality of the distillate, but also fill it with additional pleasant aromas and flavors).

How to soften the taste of moonshine at home: additives

The quality of the drink can be improved both at the distillation stage and after. Here are a few particularly popular and most accessible methods used to improve the taste characteristics of home-distilled strong alcohol.

Softening moonshine with sugar

One teaspoon of burnt sugar or caramel made from it per liter of product. The minimum settling time is 24-48 hours. However, this method allows only to mask the presence of fusel oils and other undesirable impurities, but not to neutralize them.

Option with zest

You can use the peel of any citrus fruit you have on hand. Before zesting, fruits should be thoroughly washed and wiped to remove the chemical preservatives used by suppliers to increase the shelf life of the fruit. Don’t get carried away and cut off only the upper – colored part of the skin – the soft white layer will give the drink additional bitterness, and this is what you want to get rid of. This method is better and more effective than softening moonshine with sugar.

To infuse 1.5 liters of the product, you need to take the zest of one large orange (lemon). Limes and tangerines are usually much smaller, so you will need two of these citrus fruits. The drink will be ready in one to two weeks.

Softening moonshine with oranges and lemons

This option is very popular. Thanks to the biologically active substances contained in large quantities in these citrus fruits, fusel oils remaining after distillation and purification are completely neutralized. Here you can focus on your own taste, but the approximate proportion is half a fruit per 1.5 liters of drink. The orange (lemon) is thoroughly washed and dried, after which it is cut into slices along with the peel and sent to a container with moonshine. Then the jar is closed and placed in the pantry, where it will infuse for 7 days.

Softening moonshine with glucose and other sugar-containing products

You can soften moonshine with fructose, honey or glucose, the main thing is to remember to dissolve these ingredients thoroughly before adding them to the container with the drink. If you decide to use fructose, take 1 tablespoon of the substance per 7-8 liters of product.
When using honey, be prepared for the unusual reaction that it gives in contact with moonshine - heat is released and air bubbles appear. You need to wait for this process to finish, and then add several tablets of pre-ground activated carbon to the container. After which the jar should be closed with a tight lid and placed in a dark place for storage. It is important to observe the temperature regime - no higher than +3–4°C. In such conditions, moonshine must be kept for four days. The honey additive completely removes the characteristic odor and makes the product tender.

If you want to know how to soften moonshine with glucose, then experienced moonshiners suggest taking from 10 to 20 milliliters of the substance per volume of one liter of product. The ratio is selected based on personal tastes and the concentration of the drug indicated on the ampoule. So, only you decide how much glucose to add to moonshine to soften it.

Uses of walnuts

For this method, you need to take the partitions of 10-12 fruits, which are located between the slices of the edible part of the nuts. This amount goes for every half liter of product. The infusion should last about a month.

Softening moonshine with glycerin

To improve the quality of a homemade alcoholic drink using this additive, you need to take glycerin at the rate of 1 tablespoon per liter of moonshine.

How to soften moonshine with nutmeg

Some people prefer sweet alcohol, so they are looking for ways to soften moonshine with honey or glucose, but there are also lovers of more piquant flavors. For them, you can offer a simple recipe using such an aromatic spice as nutmeg. The product will indeed acquire a spicy taste and become noticeably softer, but it is important to strictly adhere to the required ratio - one pinch of ground spice per liter of drink. The optimal infusion period is two to three weeks.

Uses of black pepper

Here’s another recipe for those who don’t want to think about how much sugar to add to moonshine to soften it, and prefer spices. For every half liter of the finished product, add three to five peas and leave for 2-4 weeks, after which you will get a surprisingly pleasant and easy-to-drink drink. The combination of black pepper with strong alcohol gives simply excellent results.

A method for softening moonshine using oak bark

No other method can compare with this recipe if you want to get the purest possible product with unique taste. Just add crushed oak bark at the rate of one tablespoon per 1.5 liters. And keep in mind that the longer this infusion is aged, the milder its taste, but the minimum is two weeks. During this time, you will have a drink that is in no way inferior to famous whiskeys.

How to soften moonshine with pine nuts

This method allows you not only to give homemade alcohol qualities that cannot be achieved by using fructose to soften moonshine, but also to turn it into a truly healing drink. For every half liter of product, take 25 grams of nuts, and they can be either peeled or with shells, but the taste of the future infusion will have significant differences. To remove unnecessary resin, the unpeeled nuts must be thoroughly doused with boiling water.

We introduced you to the most common recipes, but how to soften moonshine at home - with sugar, lemon zest or nutmeg - choose for yourself. And don't be afraid to experiment.

You have learned how to soften moonshine and you have managed to get an alcoholic drink with a wonderful aroma and excellent taste, and now it’s time to discuss ways to give it the desired color. Most often, moonshiners give their product cognac shades by adding tea to it. Typically, a tablespoon of crushed tea leaves is taken per liter of alcohol, but if you want to achieve greater richness, you can safely add more.

Among other natural dyes, the following inexpensive and accessible additives are often used:

dried blueberries and lingonberries will help make the moonshine red;
yarrow flowers and cornflower petals color it blue;
mint and blackcurrant leaves give a green tint.

We also recommend a very interesting recipe based on prunes. It will allow you to soften the moonshine, give it the most delicate aroma, and color it in such a popular cognac shade. For a three-liter jar, take 100 grams of prunes. You can drink this wonderful drink within 7-10 days. To get homemade cognac with an interesting taste, you can also use instant coffee - half a teaspoon per liter of product.

Some moonshiners resort to using commercially produced food colorings. Although these substances are considered harmless and open up broad prospects for coloring homemade alcohol in a variety of colors and shades, experts are convinced that it is better to limit ourselves to using the usual means of natural origin.

Softening moonshine, giving it different flavors and tinting it makes it possible to fill your home bar with a wide variety of home-made alcoholic drinks. You will have something to brag about to your friends and guests. In addition, you will know for sure that you are drinking a truly high-quality product, and not poisoning your body with alcohol of dubious quality or simply a surrogate.

Moonshine is the most “natural product” that is suitable not only for consumption in its original form, but also for preparing a wide variety of tinctures, including medicinal ones. To make them, various gifts of nature are used: dried fruits, spices, dry herbs, berries, etc. Please note that as a result of simple manipulations you can get a very decent, 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 purification process.

Refining moonshine is an activity bordering on haute cuisine. You can intelligently combine various ingredients to get individual bouquets. Russian moonshine liqueurs with bitter “warming” flavors are famous. All kinds of seasonings are the best way to enrich drinks with spicy and fiery tones. You can sweeten moonshine using syrups. The easiest way to prepare:

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

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

Based on the type of effect, additives for moonshine can be divided into the following groups:

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

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

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

Black tea

The simplest method, which has virtually no effect on the taste. For 3 liters of moonshine, just add 1 tablespoon of high-quality black tea (not from a bag), stir, tightly close the jar with a lid and leave for 3-5 days in a dark place.

Every day the shade will change, starting from cognac light brown and ending with a rich black color. Lovers of beautiful smells can infuse moonshine with dry tea with the aroma of barberry, bergamot, or add a clove bud along with the brew.

Orange (lemon) peels

The specific smell of poorly purified moonshine is removed, and a pleasant sourness appears in the taste. The addition of lemons makes the moonshine light green, and the addition of oranges makes it slightly yellow with a golden tint. Only pre-dried peels are suitable for refining, 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 flavor moonshine with cognac, adding interesting flavor notes to the drink that 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 exposure duration can be changed at your discretion.

Nuts and partitions

The simplest solution: add 15 walnuts to 1 liter of moonshine for 7 days, then strain through cheesecloth. The taste and color of the drink will change beyond recognition. The recipe for moonshine with pine nuts is somewhat more complicated; it requires preliminary evaporation of the nuts, removing excess resin, then aging for 30 days. But the result is worth it, if there is a sufficient amount of fruit (150 grams of nuts per liter of moonshine).

Caramel (burnt sugar)

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

Instant coffee

Quickly changes the color of moonshine and eliminates the unpleasant odor. New notes appear in the taste. It is enough to add half a teaspoon of coffee per liter of moonshine. After coffee, you can no longer dilute the drink with water, otherwise it will become cloudy, and filtration will not help, only distillation.

St. John's wort

Colors moonshine light brown. Tincture recipe: add 1 tablespoon of dried St. John's wort per 1 liter of moonshine, stir, close the jar tightly and place 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. You should not drink more than 300 grams of this tincture at a time.

Food colorings

Not a bad option for those who urgently need to tint their 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 purchasing.

Delicious moonshine recipes

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

Making moonshine “Green tea”

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 to dilute seven and a half liters of moonshine (double).
Squeeze the tea leaves there (through the cloth) and let it sit for eight days. When these days fly by, add another hundred grams of the same tea and two and a half liters of water.
There are three steps left to do: distill, sweeten, filter.

Homemade moonshine “Clean Rice”

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).
Add two hundred grams of brewer's yeast (white) and four hundred grams of water.
Leave this “mixture” to ferment for four days. After that, add six liters of spring water (soft) and twelve liters of double moonshine.
Distill so that you get only nine liters of moonshine.
Take another vessel (any), “throw” vanilla into it (four teaspoons) and a little seventy-degree moonshine (triple).
Leave for four days and filter. To the moonshine that you have already distilled, add vanilla tincture and a few drops of oil (rose).
Take oak bark (six hundred grams) and galangal root (five grams).
Put them (root and oak bark) in a bag (canvas). Place the bag in a container with moonshine and seal the container tightly.

Moonshine "Sage Fairy"

Just pour some ready-made moonshine over fresh apples. All apples must be thoroughly soaked in alcoholic liquid.
Afterwards, “subject” them to insistence for a period of six months. If you have the patience to wait for the result for a whole six months, you need, after exactly this period of time, strain the liquid, pouring it into a saucepan.
Add sugar to taste and place the pan with the liquid on the fire. Let it boil three times. Watch as carefully as possible to ensure that the moonshine does not suddenly decide to burst into flames.
Leave the liquid to infuse in some cool place.
It should be kept cool until all the grounds settle to the very bottom.
Then, strain what you get, adding water (calculation: two and a half liters of water per ten liters of moonshine).
After that comes distillation and filtration.

Making moonshine “Khlebushki”

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

Homemade moonshine “Rozochka”

Take rose petals, mash them and put them in some container. Sprinkle them with salt.
Next, you need to spread the cloth (wet), cover it with a circle with pressure and leave for eight days in a cool place.
When the rose petals begin to rot, stop the infusion period.
Place everything into a cube and fill with water (1:1). Then stir and distill.
All that remains is to add a little sugar and filter.

Making homemade moonshine “Svekolochka”

Take beets. Rub it. Pour water over the beets and boil (several hours).
Then drain the liquid into a container. And again - fill the beets with water, boil for the same time and drain.
In general, this “stage” needs to be done three times.
Add yeast to the liquid (calculation: one hundred grams per ten liters).
Leave for fifteen days until foam forms.
The final “stage” is the distillation.

Moonshine "Lavender"

Take one hundred grams of lavender flowers. You will also need cinnamon (twenty-five grams) and cloves (twenty-five grams).
Chop cinnamon, lavender and cloves and mix.
Pour twelve liters of moonshine with this mixture and let it brew for a week.
Afterwards, put a slice of bread with honey “on the surface” into the tincture.
Perform the distillation over low heat.

Several delicious recipes for moonshine tinctures

It is worth mentioning that literally anything can be infused with moonshine. The only question is what you will get as a result of your experiment. It is likely that the result of the applied imagination and effort will be the appearance of a new exotic drink. Well, while you are looking for a suitable idea, try the following recipes for moonshine tinctures, a detailed description of which you will find below.

"Hrenovukha"

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 - a potent alcoholic drink made from horseradish and moonshine. The main secret of making such a product is compliance with the proportions and infusion time. So, you need to mix 2 liters of fusel milk, 100 grams of coarsely chopped horseradish root, a little ginger, fresh lime and natural honey. Everything needs to be cut, since pureed ingredients make the drink cloudy and unassuming. Sometimes the recipe for horseradish tincture with 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 sits, the stronger the crap becomes. You need to drink it after straining, diluting it with the juice of sauerkraut or fresh cranberries.

We insist on oak

Moonshine tincture made from dried oak bark has a pronounced cognac hue and a distinct spicy taste with woody notes. Let’s say more, this oak bark liqueur 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 each amateur adds those ingredients that are more to his taste and habits. We offer one of the most delicious and popular recipes, simple to execute.

So:

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

Cranberry tincture with personally made moonshine attracts with its rich color and unique aroma of wild berries. This drink is equally liked by both women and men, which is facilitated by its lightness and unusual aftertaste. The most basic recipe for cranberry liqueur is as follows:

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

Rowan flavored drink

Rowan tincture with personally prepared moonshine is made using berries that have already survived good frosts. Before you start preparing the drink in an oak barrel, you should dry the rowan a little in the oven or oven. The moonshine used is regular sugar, plum, pear or apple, the main thing is that its strength is 70 revolutions. Experts in homemade tinctures recommend infusing rowan tincture for at least a year, but if you can wait a few years, then the rowan tincture will be worthy of participation in an exhibition of elite alcohol.

To do this, several prerequisites must be met:

Add honey or sugar;
cool the original mixture and leave it in a cool place for the first time;
filter through dense matter;
pour into an oak barrel and send to the cellar.

Using prunes

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

So:

To begin, crush 1 piece of allspice and 1 clove with a rolling pin.
Pour the resulting powder into a half-liter jar of moonshine, add 4 pitted prunes, 3 black peppercorns and a couple of grams of vanillin.
Cover all this with a lid and shake well, then leave for 10 days in a cool and dry place.
As soon as the infusion period has expired, the drink will need to be strained and poured into beautiful containers that can be placed on the table. They can be stored in the refrigerator, but not longer than one year. The tincture goes well with cold cuts, savory dishes and different types of cheese.

Quick additives 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, you need to soak herbs, spices and herbs in alcohol for a long time. Liqueurs are sweet alcoholic drinks of medium strength, in which fruits and berries set the main tone. Choose and get down to business.

So, what can you add to moonshine, as they say, without worrying too much:

Honey or syrup. A great way to give moonshine a pleasant flavor. Sugar syrup is boiled in a 1:1 ratio of sugar and water. Add according to taste and mix thoroughly. If there is a need to further purify the drink, add 3-4 tablets of activated carbon into a three-liter jar. Settling takes 3–4 days; after straining, the alcohol is ready for consumption.
Tea or coffee. Dry tea leaves and instant coffee effectively interrupt the spirit of moonshine and give the drink a new color. You will need 1 heaped tablespoon of tea per three-liter jar, leave for at least 5 days. Coffee needs 1.5 teaspoons, alcohol will be ready immediately.
Black or chili pepper. A chili pepper can add some spice to the drink - you only need one per liter of moonshine. Be sure to remove the seeds from the pod so that you don’t have to pour out the too spicy infusion. Black pepper cleanses the drink well and makes it beneficial for the digestive system. Enough 10 peas for a half-liter bottle. Both peppers require a week of aging. The color of the moonshine will not change significantly.

In general, you can add almost any spice to 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. Everyone can see for themselves that they exist: just light the moonshine in a spoon (if it doesn’t burn, it’s a bad product). After the alcohol burns, an oily liquid remains at the bottom. These are harmful fusel oils. How to get rid of them?

First: adhere to the production technology, do not increase the temperature, constantly change the cooling water.
Clean the finished moonshine from fusel oil using potassium permanganate. Throw 2-3 g of potassium permanganate powder into a three-liter jar. Wait for the sediment to settle. Carefully drain the moonshine. For this purpose, household water filters of the “Springhead” type are used. If not, you can simply strain the moonshine through a vessel with charcoal. A good substitute can be obtained at home. Light a birch fire. When the firewood burns out, but the heat is still very strong, fill a clay pot with coal and blow off the ash. Close the pot tightly with a lid. Wait for the coals to go out. Remove them from the pot, cool, and grind (not very finely). Can be used as a filter. You can throw it (at the rate of 50 g per liter) into moonshine. Let it stand for three weeks. Shake the container every day.
Filter. Take the time to do this and make sure that the taste improves and the amount of impurities decreases.

So, you already have a manufactured, purified product. It is already ready to eat.

Release form: powder or liquid. Moreover, the liquid immediately dissolves in the drink; the powder must be shaken until dissolved.

The liquid drug is measured with a syringe according to the recipe: usually 5 – 7 small divisions on the syringe (less than a cube) per 1 liter of alcohol. Dry dose – 1 tsp. per liter

Typically the expiration date is 1.5 years. So, if you buy a little fresh product in reserve, you won’t go wrong.

Reference. Bonificators are tested to ensure they are harmless to humans and the environment.

Classified as nutritional supplements. Recommended for removing poisons and harmful impurities from alcohol-containing drinks: moonshine, cognac, etc. When using them, the degree does not “sneak”, nor does the color change.

Is it possible to prepare this harmful absorber and taste enhancer yourself? In principle, everything that we add to alcohol for purification and softening is a bonificator.

But if you want it exactly like the store-bought one, look at the composition. For example, “Bread Gift” contains glucose, fructose, lactose, tartaric acid and vitamin B5 (pantothenic acid).

Buy all the ingredients separately and mix up your own bonifier. Instead of tartaric acid, you can use succinic or malic acid, and instead of lactose, whey.

Attention. Although manufacturers claim that you can drink alcohol immediately after adding a bonificator, it is possible that white flakes may form in initially crystal clear alcohol, which is confirmed by user reviews.

Therefore, it is recommended to put purified alcohol in the refrigerator for several days so as not to embarrass yourself in front of your guests. If flakes (sediment) appear, filter the drink through cotton wool, filter paper or coffee filters.

How to improve the taste of moonshine?

Components that affect the taste of alcohol can be added in the following ways:

improvement in the taste of moonshine occurs after adding crushed ingredients to the finished product ( vegetable raw materials, prepared tree bark and wood, spices);
add liquid ingredients in the form of a decoction, infusion;
used to change taste essential oils, essences, plant extracts;
liquid or dry ingredients can be added to, placed in a steamer.

Homemade or factory-made bonifiers are designed to soften the taste characteristics of alcohol, eliminate or replace the fusel smell with a more acceptable one.

What can you add to moonshine:

lemon or orange zest cut from two fruits, insist on three liters of alcohol for 2-3 weeks. Then strain the liquid and you can taste it;
walnut partitions(15 fruits are calculated for 1 liter bottle of alcohol). It is recommended to infuse for 3-5 weeks, after which the alcohol should be carefully strained;
150 g pine nuts soak in hot water for half an hour. Once dried, the plant material must be placed in a liter container with home-made alcohol. A month's infusion of raw materials turns the infusion into a beautiful brownish color, giving the moonshine a pleasant taste and smell;
when infused, 100 g of dried or smoked prunes the alcoholic drink produces 3 liters of delicious moonshine with a unique smoky aroma and cognac color of the drink;
a sprig of mint can be combined with a few slices of fresh lemon or orange per liter of alcohol;
beautiful shade, pleasant taste is guaranteed to the alcohol when infused with dry black or green tea, hammer or instant coffee;
10 peas black hot pepper soften the taste of moonshine after two weeks of infusion. Red chili pepper also works, from which it is first recommended to remove all the seeds that give the drink bitterness;
vanilla pod and 1-2 sticks cinnamon transform 3 liters of homemade alcohol into delicious moonshine intended for ladies' society.

Adding to it helps make the drink sweeter. sugar, glucose, honey, glycerin. However, it is necessary to observe the measure.

What to add to the steamer?

You can add an original taste to moonshine by using a steamer for flavoring (read:). A layer of dry additives in moonshine should not exceed 2 cm in height. Fill the device up to half the volume with fruits and berries. Use gives the drink a light pleasant taste and a barely audible aroma.

How to improve the taste of moonshine using a reflux condenser:

raisin gives the drink the aroma of grapes; you can add light notes of cinnamon by placing a piece of stick in the steamer;
cherry leaves enrich alcohol with the tart taste of berries;
multi-aroma is awarded to alcohol pieces of various dried fruits;
apple peel gives the drink the smell of Calvados;
citrus peels with a sprig of mint or lemon balm make the drink refreshing;
tile 75% black chocolate with addition oak bark or chips imitates taste;
a pair of stars star anise gives an anise flavor.

Additives to moonshine for taste

You can experiment with how to season moonshine by adding it to the container spices and herbs in various proportions:

mint, rosemary, sage, wormwood in a ratio of 3:1:1:0.5;
For 5 liters of strong drink, add 6 laurel leaves, 10 pieces of black pepper and clove spices, 2 tablespoons each. spoons of granulated sugar and large-leaf black tea, half a vanilla pod, zest from half a medium orange. The mixture is infused for 10 days and filtered. It turns out to be an analogue of cognac.

When choosing bonifiers, you should determine the purpose for moonshine brewing:

Improve the taste of the drink for home consumption.
Do .
Prepare sweets.
Imitate famous brands.

You should be very careful when using recipes in which wormwood flowers and leaves are added to improve the taste of alcohol:

wormwood in large quantities causes hallucinations and poisoning;
gives an extremely bitter taste, unpleasant for human perception;
is not excreted, but accumulates in the body.

What to use for color?

Giving a beautiful color to an alcoholic drink is one of the conditions for preparing tasty alcohol. Many plants or their parts (seeds, fruits, roots, bark, leaves) give the liquid a certain color and smell.

What to add to moonshine for taste and color:

hibiscus tea" gives a pinkish color and a pleasant taste with a slight sourness;
natural saffron enriches the drink with a floral aroma and bright yellow color. The tincture should not be stored in sunlight, as exposure to ultraviolet light will discolor the color of the product;
a berry bouquet with a pink color is obtained when infused raspberries, blueberries, blueberries;
blueness associated with the smell of meadow grass is obtained after infusion cornflower petals;
yellow - salad color with a refreshing taste is obtained after infusing alcohol on lemon zest;
gives a greenish color with a pleasant taste tarragon leaves.

To make the drink tasty and clear, it is recommended to add sugar before coloring.

Anyone can brew great moonshine at home. But beginners should remember the basics of an alcoholic drink to get a drinkable product.

For most people, moonshine has negative associations. When many people hear this word, they imagine a cloudy liquid that has an unpleasant taste and smell. This is all because not everyone knows how to refine moonshine. If you carry out a number of additional manipulations with it, you can get high-quality homemade alcohol.

Moonshine refining process

The quality of homemade alcohol depends on many factors. Even if you know how to refine moonshine, this does not guarantee that you will end up with a drink suitable for consumption. It is extremely important that the original product is of adequate quality. The distillate must be prepared from good mash using an appropriate moonshine still. If these conditions are not met, then no methods will allow you to obtain a quality product.

If you are sure that you have prepared the right moonshine, then the next step should be refinement. This multi-stage procedure can significantly improve the taste of alcohol. So, you can get not just moonshine, but cognac, vodka or even whiskey. How to refine moonshine? This procedure includes the following steps:

first of all, the drink must go through a purification procedure to get rid of harmful impurities, cloudy color and sediment;
at the second stage, it is necessary to add appropriate additives to the liquid, which help give the moonshine a pleasant aroma;
Naturally, the drink needs to be allowed to brew.

Cleaning methods

If you don’t know how to refine moonshine, then perhaps you should start by cleaning it. If you want to get true pleasure from alcohol, then it must be free of all harmful impurities. Because other foreign substances in moonshine create an unpleasant odor and taste. In order to rid your drink of them, you can use the following methods:

Re-distilling moonshine is the most effective method of purifying it. For this you will need a special device. At the end you will get strong and pure raw materials, from which you can make high-quality cognac.
Filtration can be done using coal or any other substance that has absorbent properties. Their action should extend not only to suspended particles, but also to dissolved ones. You need to pass the liquid through the filter several times in a row.
A common folk method for purifying moonshine from foreign impurities involves using egg whites. It absorbs all excess substances, leaving the liquid crystal clear.
The most effective and at the same time the longest method involves the use of a device such as a moonshine purification column. It is advisable to use it when the strength of the drink exceeds 50 degrees. After cleaning the moonshine from foreign substances, it can be diluted with water.

Natural additives for making cognac

To be tasty? You can go one of two ways - use natural or artificial ingredients. Many people choose natural ones. It is important to understand that it will take a lot of time to prepare the drink, but the result is worth it. When adding natural ingredients to moonshine, you need to pay special attention to their combination and proportions. Each product has specific properties that may change when mixed or placed under certain conditions.

Few people know that with the help of certain additives, ordinary moonshine can be turned into real elite alcohol. Your guests will not be able to distinguish a homemade drink from an expensive store-bought one. So, you should pay special attention to the following best homemade cognac recipes from moonshine:

For a liter of purified semi-finished product you need to take a small pinch of soda, a couple of black peppercorns, a bag of vanillin and a teaspoon of black brewed tea. Place the vessel with the liquid on low heat and heat. The maximum temperature of moonshine should not exceed 70 degrees, otherwise the alcohol will evaporate. After you turn off the burner, cover the container with a lid and let it sit until it cools completely. Filter the future cognac and leave it in a dark place for a week.
A fairly common component of homemade cognac is walnuts (a large handful). In this case, it is not the core or even the shell that is used, but the partitions that are located inside it. You will also need a small amount of cloves, cumin and a couple of packets of vanilla sugar. Place all these ingredients in a three-liter bottle of moonshine and leave for 2 weeks. To give the drink a touch of freshness, you can experiment with lemon zest.
Real cognac is prepared in a wooden barrel. But unfortunately, this is not always possible at home. To do this, you will need oak bark, which is pre-steamed in boiling water. For every one and a half liters of moonshine you need to take a tablespoon of infusion. To give the drink a spicy aroma, you can add a little cinnamon and a couple of peppercorns.

Ready concentrates

If you are not confident in your knowledge about the use of natural ingredients, then it is quite acceptable to use ready-made flavoring additives for moonshine. Their main advantage is the balanced composition, thanks to which you can accurately replicate the aroma of real cognac or other elite drinks. In addition, cooking time is significantly reduced.

The packaging of the finished concentrate describes a clear sequence of actions for preparing a drink that is close to the original. You don’t have to experiment on your own with combinations of ingredients and standing times, because all you have to do is follow the instructions. The main rule is that the strength of moonshine should not exceed 60 degrees, otherwise the taste may be distorted.

Serious attention must be paid to the fact that the concentrate must be of high quality in order to be tasty. You should not skimp on this supplement, because if it turns out to be of low quality, then the feast can lead to serious health problems. It will be better if you buy the concentrate where you can pre-taste the finished drink.

Homemade apricot moonshine

What could be better than fresh fruit? They can be eaten fresh, put into baked goods, made into jam, and so on. But you can also use them to prepare alcoholic drinks. So, the following recipe is quite popular. At home, the following recipe is often used:

Wash 10 kilograms of fruit thoroughly, remove seeds and mince (or use a blender);
add 5 kg of sugar to the resulting slurry and add 15 liters of water;
to speed up the fermentation process, add 100 grams of fresh yeast;
for 7-10 days, the liquid should be infused in a warm place, in a hermetically sealed container (if you decide not to add yeast, then preparing the drink will be delayed for up to 45 days);
a signal that the mash is ready will be the formation of sediment at the bottom and the liquid acquiring a bitter taste;
first you need to filter the future moonshine several times through several layers of gauze;
using a special apparatus, distill until the drink reaches a strength of 45 degrees.

This moonshine turns out to be very soft. Light apricot notes will make the drink special.

Recipe and yeast

The basis of moonshine is mash. Despite the fact that its composition is quite simple, the preparation process requires the fulfillment of certain conditions. The recipe for mash made from sugar and yeast requires the following proportions of ingredients:

3 liters of purified water;
1 kilogram of sugar;
150 grams of yeast (if you prefer to use dry raw materials, you will need 50 grams, but in this case you will also need a little citric acid).

As for the technology for making mash, it starts with sugar syrup. To do this, heat the sugar with a small amount of water until completely dissolved. The liquid should boil for about 10 minutes. Next, you can add citric acid, after which the heat is reduced and the syrup is left to cook for another half hour.

The quality of water is of great importance for preparing delicious moonshine. To avoid the formation of sediment and unpleasant taste, you should use purified water. If you take liquid from the tap, do not boil it under any circumstances. It's better to let it brew for a couple of days. Water is mixed with pre-prepared syrup.

Sourdough is made from yeast. To do this, simply fill them with water according to the instructions to activate this ingredient. To begin the fermentation process, add the yeast to a container with previously prepared ingredients. They should stand in a warm place for 5 days. The signal for the end of the process will be the cessation of the release of carbon dioxide.

To improve the taste of moonshine, the mash must undergo a degassing procedure. To do this, it is necessary to heat it up, as a result of which the active release of excess carbon dioxide will begin. If after this you add a little white clay or gelatin, the mash will become much cleaner and lighter.

How to give moonshine color

If you are interested in the question of how to refine moonshine, then you must understand that it needs to be given not only a pleasant taste, but also a beautiful, rich color. To do this, it is not at all necessary to use synthetic dyes. The following natural ingredients can give your homemade alcohol a pleasant tint:

To give the drink a pleasant golden hue, use saffron. But since this spice is very expensive, it can be replaced with orange peels or walnut partitions.
Moonshine will acquire a rich red color if you add several dried blueberries to it.
To make the drink sunny yellow, use mint or lemon balm. Parsley and celery also have a similar effect.
If you add dried cornflower flowers to moonshine, they will color it an exotic blue color.
In order for the moonshine to become emerald green, it is worth using black currant leaves. They can be replaced with green onions. To get rid of the unpleasant taste and smell, the juice squeezed from the feathers should be simmered over low heat until the volume is reduced by half.
If you want the drink to take on a brown cognac hue, add a little burnt sugar to it. You can also use black tea, but it must be of high quality.
The easiest way to color moonshine is to add a little jam to it. This way you will not only give the drink a bright shade, but also make it sweetish, with subtle fruity notes.

Moonshine without odor

Quite often, moonshine has a very unpleasant odor. This is one of the main reasons why this drink has gained notoriety. How to drive The answer is simple: strictly follow the technology. It is important that the device is kept clean and that the water and other components are of proper quality. Also a fairly common mistake is exceeding the temperature. If you were unable to avoid the unpleasant odor, then the finished product can be removed in the following ways:

For three liters of moonshine you need to take about 2 grams of manganese. Dissolve it in the liquid and wait for a precipitate to form. After this, the drink must be passed through a filter. The procedure can be repeated several times until the smell disappears.
To remove fusel oils from moonshine, use baking soda. It must be added to the liquid at the rate of 10 grams per liter. After 12 hours, sediment will form at the bottom, and therefore the moonshine must be carefully drained.
If you do not want to add any foreign substances to your homemade alcohol, then the unpleasant odor can be removed using a method such as freezing. Simply place a glass or metal container of moonshine in the freezer. Water with foreign impurities will freeze to the walls of the vessel, and the alcohol will remain in a liquid state. All that remains is to pour it into another container.
Charcoal is an excellent absorbent. It needs to be crushed well, and then wrapped in several layers of gauze. You need to pass the moonshine through such an improvised filter several times.
Residents of rural areas, where access to various types of plants is almost unlimited, quite often use violet root to eliminate unpleasant odors. It just needs to be placed in moonshine for 2 weeks.

Popular recipes for aromatic drink

To make the aroma and taste of moonshine pleasant and refined, use the following proven recipes:

To make the drink have a pleasant sweet and sour taste, pour 2.5 kilograms of blackberries or raspberries and add a little vanillin. The longer the moonshine infuses, the brighter the berry aroma will be.
You can get an aromatic and tart drink if you add rowan to the moonshine. The number of berries should be such that the liquid covers 2/3 of them.
The recipe for Moscow moonshine can be considered quite interesting. To prepare it, add 20 grams of ginger and 50 grams of mint per 3 liters of liquid to homemade alcohol. This drink should infuse for about a month.
Real mead can be made by adding 4 tablespoons of a sweet product per liter of moonshine. To make the drink even more rich and spicy, add a little coriander, lemon balm and oak bark.
Autumn is the time for apples. Fill a glass bottle tightly with fruits, then pour moonshine into it so that it fills all the free space. Place the container in the sun for 10 days. In this case, the liquid must be constantly shaken. After you strain the drink, add sugar to it at your discretion and let it brew for a couple of days.

conclusions

Unfortunately, a drink such as moonshine has acquired a bad reputation in the eyes of most people. Nevertheless, preparing homemade alcohol can be compared to real art, because it can satisfy the needs of even the most picky gourmets. To do this, it is important to know how to refine moonshine. It is worth noting that no amount of filtration and flavoring will help make your drink elite if the production technology is not followed. If you are confident in your knowledge, then you can safely experiment with different flavoring and aromatic additives.