How are we doing about potatoes? Let's make potato moonshine.

Moonshine brewing in our country has a long, one might say ancient, tradition. Strong alcoholic drinks first appeared in Rus' in the 16th century, under Tsar Ivan the Terrible. At that time, the production of any alcohol became a state monopoly, and the death penalty was guaranteed for the production of “homemade” vodka. Alcohol could only be consumed in special royal taverns, which cost a lot of money and was at first the privilege of rich people - merchants, guardsmen, and royal servants. A simple peasant could drink normally only after a month of hard work.

However, times have changed. First, the boyars, and by the 19th century, ordinary peasants were given the opportunity to brew moonshine at home. When the First World War began, a ban was introduced on the sale of vodka, which is why the preparation of moonshine began to take on the character of a tradition - the strong drink was used to pay for the work done, consumed personally, and sold “under the counter.” Accordingly, the technology for producing a pure and strong drink at home was developed; folk craftsmen developed recipes for preparing and purifying the product, as well as various kinds of liqueurs and balms based on home-made moonshine.

In general, if you step back from small details and look at the bigger picture, it becomes clear that it was the state’s attempts to ban this ancient tradition that led to “surges” in moonshine activity. The last of such government interventions was the so-called prohibition law, adopted under M.S. Gorbachev. This law, which was supposed to limit the consumption of strong alcoholic beverages by the population, led to the revival of the former art of making alcohol at home, including moonshine.

Making moonshine from potatoes

Before dwelling on the technical details of preparing this wonderful drink, I would like to explain why this might be necessary in our enlightened 21st century, why we need moonshine from potatoes at home, when, for example, in a store you can buy alcohol of any strength and for every taste.

1. There is always a risk of poisoning from counterfeit booze, no matter what store you buy it from. This may be the result of either counterfeit goods, a production failure, or the use of low-quality raw materials supplied to the distillery.
2. Price. Nowadays, in an era of economic crisis, this factor is important. Sometimes there is a need to organize festive feast or simply relieve stress accumulated during hard working days. Why take away a significant amount of money from the family budget if you can make moonshine at home?
3. Traditional way of life. It’s hard to imagine a Russian person without this drink. The cooking process itself looks like a kind of sacrament, and the taste of freshly roasted “pervak” brings back memories of tall grass in the village and potatoes baked in a fire near the river.

Why potatoes?

In our article, potatoes are considered as the basis from which moonshine can be made, since it has some advantages relative to other products. Cheapness is the main one. Traditionally, many families in our country stock up on potatoes for the winter, but in the spring it turns out that some of the potatoes harvested last year remain unconsumed. I don’t really want to eat it anymore, due to the fact that after long storage the former taste qualities have been lost.

However, you can use these last year's supplies as raw materials for cooking ancient drink. The tubers of this root vegetable are rich in starch, which, decomposing into fractions, is converted into sugar and, with certain processing, begins to ferment, which is what we need. Based on the above factors, folk craftsmen have developed a lot of recipes for making potato moonshine, so this the best choice. The recipe for making moonshine from potatoes, described below, has been time-tested and is used everywhere. It is with his example that we will tell you how to make moonshine.

Recipe for making moonshine - “Babka”

The best raw material for making potato moonshine is frozen potatoes - they have a “sweet” taste. If in winter your “reserves” were stored in good conditions And in a natural way are not frozen, it is recommended to put them in the refrigerator for a while in order to artificially achieve the desired effect. To make this recipe, you will need the following products:

• Potatoes - 20 kg;
• 1 kg flour;
• 0.5 kg of yeast;
• 25 liters of boiled water.

Instead of flour, old recipes used malt - soaked and sprouted grains of wheat, barley or rye. It promoted the release of sugar from the starch contained in potatoes. Sugar subsequently ferments under the influence of yeast, which leads to the appearance of our beloved drink. However, the technology for making malt is too labor-intensive and complex: it requires skill and the availability of grain of the required quality, so we will still describe the method using flour.

Mash preparation technology

So, let's proceed directly to preparing potato moonshine:

1. You need to peel the potatoes and wash them.
2. Grate the tubers.
3. Immerse the resulting slurry in 15 liters of boiled water at a temperature of no less than 60 degrees.
4. Add a kilogram of flour into the container.
5. Mix all ingredients thoroughly.
6. After some time, when sediment forms in the container, pour the contents into another container.
7. Add, stirring, ten liters of water.
8. Next, you need to wait about two hours until a sediment appears, and then pour the liquid component into the container from which we first poured the contents. So, in fact, we got potato mash.
9. We pour yeast diluted in water into the mash; we must ensure that the water is at a temperature of less than 28 degrees.
10. Upon completion this process Potato mash should stand for 6 to 14 days.
11. Braga will be ready when the above deadline has passed and it will have light color, slightly bitter aftertaste and sediment.
12. After all the above procedures, we distill our product using a moonshine still.

Moonshine distillation technology

Moonshine from potatoes has its own characteristics, due to its slightly higher initial content fusel oils in the product. However, you should not be afraid of this, since the technology described below allows you to obtain a truly high-quality product.

The following procedure must be followed:

1. The potato mash we received was distilled on the machine for the first time. It is necessary to continue expelling until the product degree drops below 30%.
2. Drain everything into one container and measure it with an alcohol meter to find out the amount of alcohol obtained.
3. Add water until the strength of the resulting mixture reaches 20% and repeat the distillation process. The first thing that comes out based on pure alcohol is about 15% should be set aside. It is they that contain an increased concentration of fusel oils. Drinking this is strictly not recommended, as it can cause damage to health, but it can be used for economic purposes.
4. Stop distilling when the strength of the moonshine drops below 45%.
5. Give the resulting moonshine the strength you prefer by diluting it with water in the required proportions. It is also recommended to let the potato moonshine sit in a cool place for 2–4 days.
6. Congratulations! You received the first product and became a successor to the ancient tradition of moonshine brewing.

Attention, TODAY only!

Schnapps is so popular in Germany that it is called German schnapps national drink. It has been produced in this country since the 16th century. The strength can be in the range of 20–40%. In appearance and taste, German schnapps resembles Russian vodka, but may have fruity flavors. It all depends on the raw materials.

The classic base is grain or potato moonshine, but apples, bananas, grapes, strawberries, and cranberries can also serve as raw materials. There are more than 30 basic schnapps recipes. Peach schnapps is especially popular in Germany, Austria and Scandinavia.

History of schnapps production

The Germans say: “We call everything we are going to drink schnapps.” However, schnapps is not an exclusively German invention. The drink appeared simultaneously in Germany, Austria and several other Scandinavian countries. However, Austrian schnapps is unpopular and is not supplied to the world market. The fact is that in Austria small companies are engaged in the production of schnapps. Due to lack of funds, they supply this alcohol in quantities sufficient for consumption exclusively by local residents. Austrians drink their own schnapps, so the drink is little known outside the country of origin.

The Old Norse word “snappen” translates as “to drink in one gulp, to swallow.” The first written mention of the drink dates back to the 15th century. The production of schnapps in large wineries began at the end of the 16th century. Enterprises for its production were built in what are today Germany and Austria. The center of production to this day is Tyrol.

Initially, the schnapps recipe was used to prepare medicine from almost all diseases. This “elixir” was credited with rejuvenating properties. Later, schnapps began to be consumed simply for pleasure, as an intoxicating drink.

Raw materials for making schnapps

A schnapps recipe can include a variety of products. However, preference is given to fruits and berries. There is also plenty of classic grain and potato moonshine flavored with herbs. Every reputable manufacturer has established relationships with a reliable supplier of wild berries. Such a picker knows his secret berry spots in the nearby forests.

Sometimes German schnapps is aged in glass bottles, but barrel aging is rarely used. The highest quality drinks are still prepared using recipes that date back to the 1500s. They do not contain sugar or chemical flavors. There are many varieties of schnapps, only industrial ones there are more than 30. Also, this alcohol has its own unique recipes produced by drinking establishments and restaurants.

Potato schnapps recipe

The basis for classic schnapps is often potato moonshine, which can be prepared at home.

1. Wash the potatoes and chop them as finely as possible using any available method.
2. Potato porridge is poured hot water at the rate of 300–500 ml per 1 kg. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for at least 1 hour. It is best to use open steam heating from a steam generator. Ready porridge should have a translucent consistency without clots or lumps of starch.
3. The mass is cooled to 70°C and the enzyme amylosubtilin is added. Stirring occasionally, keep at this temperature for 20–30 minutes.
4. Add to amylase-liquefied wort water solution glucomarin enzyme. The temperature should be between 65–68°C. The mass is infused in this mode for 30–60 minutes until the starch is completely saccharified.
5. The wort is cooled to 30°C and yeast is added to it.
6. When the mash is ripe, it is distilled by heating it with steam. The distillate is diluted with water to 12–15% and re-distilled with the selection of “heads” and “tails”. The resulting potato moonshine will have a strength of 45–60%. It is diluted with softened water to the desired strength and purified using a filter.

How do you drink German schnapps?

Schnapps is an unpretentious drink; there are no strict rules for drinking it. However, this strong alcohol can be drunk beautifully and with pleasure. German schnapps is poured into small round glasses in portions of approximately 20 grams. Depending on the type of drink, a small pear or half an apricot is placed in the glass. Schnapps is strained drop by drop to enjoy the delicate aroma and pleasant aftertaste.

Another way is to drink it in one sip. A special fork is attached to the glass; you use it to catch the fruit, evaluate its aroma, drink the contents of the glass and snack on this fruit. They say that schnapps promotes digestion after a feast with “heavy” dishes, such as fatty German sausages or duck.

You can’t do without schnapps if there is herring or crayfish with fragrant dill on the table. Drinking is often combined with singing drinking songs.

Considering the cheapness and general availability of potatoes, it is not at all surprising that they attracted the close attention of craftsmen who produce alcohol at home.

In addition, if winter supplies of “earth apple” exceed the family’s needs, the best way getting rid of the excess will be the production of high-quality moonshine.

It is difficult to agree that the result will be a masterpiece of moonshine, but still, with the right approach, the quality of such alcohol can be brought to a high level.

I invite you to join and explore together alternative way processing tubers, in particular, making moonshine from potatoes at home using a simple recipe.

First of all, let's look at the elementary technology for producing mash from frozen potatoes for subsequent preparation at home of high-quality moonshine, which is popularly called “Babka”.

It is the frozen tubers of the root vegetable that contain required amount starch to activate the fermentation process. Therefore, before directly preparing the mash, I recommend keeping the potatoes in the refrigerator for at least three days.

List of components

Cooking process

• Preparing mash

• Preparing moonshine

Recipe for potato mash based on bread

The presented quick recipe will require a little more material investment, but as a result, you can prepare high-quality alcohol from excess old potatoes at home.

Yeast is unable to activate on potato starch in pure form, so adding bread will help convert starch into sugar, which the yeast will then convert into alcohol. Finished product has a subtle aroma fresh bread, which softens the alcohol smell, making it less pronounced.

List of components

Cooking process

Mash recipe for moonshine from potatoes without sugar

This method is simple and quick cooking high-quality mash, which will take no more than a week.

List of components

Cooking process

1. Wash the root crop tubers and cut out the damaged areas.
2. Grind the prepared vegetable using a coarse grater.
3. Place the oat grains in a blender bowl and grind into a fine powder.
4. Pour water into large saucepan and bring the liquid to a boil.
5. Pour 5 liters of ground oats hot water and stir the mixture thoroughly until the lumps disappear completely.
6. Add potato pulp there, mixing it in small portions.
7. Cover the mixture with gauze and leave it in a warm place for 3-4 hours.
8. Pour the remaining warm water into the infused mixture and add yeast, previously diluted according to the instructions.
9. Pour the resulting wort into a fermentation bottle and install a hydraulic seal.
10. We expect the fermentation process to stop, which usually lasts no more than five days.
11. We drain the mash from the resulting sediment and pour it into the distillation cube.
12. We carry out double distillation according to the instructions described in the first recipe.

Mash recipe for moonshine from potatoes and sprouted grains

Experienced moonshiners highly praise moonshine made from potatoes and sprouted grains. As a cereal base, you can use wheat, barley or rye grain. The finished alcoholic drink has a mild taste, which allows you to use it both in its pure form and to create wonderful cocktails.

List of components

Cooking process

Video recipes for moonshine from potatoes

I would also like to draw your attention to several videos in which folk craftsmen offer their own versions of making quite high-quality moonshine from potatoes at home and tell you in great detail how to do it.

• Video No. 1.

A skilled moonshiner is conducting an interesting experiment, which will highlight the tasting characteristics of two types of mash for moonshine from potato tubers. In the first case, the master uses beer light malt as an additional component, and in the second, enzymes A and G.

• Video No. 2.

This video will introduce you to simple production alcohol from potatoes and green malt at home. A folk craftsman will share his experience and provide you with a lot of useful advice.

• Video No. 3.

After studying this video, you will learn about all sorts of subtleties and nuances that accompany the process of preparing mash for moonshine from potatoes using koji yeast.

Helpful information

• In the process of preparing potato moonshine, it won’t hurt you to know how to —lighten the mash—.
• Also no less useful will be information on how.
• Sometimes unforeseen complications arise, and knowing what to do if the mash has stopped playing and is still sweet, you can solve the problem yourself.
• It would be useful to know how long the mash is fermenting so that, if necessary, you can intervene in time and make the right decision.

When starting to prepare potato moonshine, be prepared for the fact that the resulting alcohol will be of rather dubious quality. In this regard, you will have to make a lot of effort to get rid of the hydrocyanic acidity and smell of fusel oils, but anyone can turn it into a good alcoholic drink. Also, in comparison with the classic sugar distillate, this type of moonshine has a low product yield, but do not throw away excess potato stock.

Write what you think about the taste of this alcohol, and share new ideas for its preparation.

In Russia, back in the 18th century, moonshine began to be produced from potatoes, which became a serious alternative to grain raw materials. Many craftsmen today make quite good alcohol at home from a small potato supply. The quality of such a drink can be brought to a fairly high level.

Historical reference

There is reliable confirmation that during the reign of Ivan the Terrible strong alcohol have become widespread. In the first taverns opened then, only wealthy people could drink alcohol. This right was enjoyed by the royal guardsmen, who were very proud of it.

If the royal servant was distinguished by something special, he became the owner of a special personalized ladle. The holder of such an award was allowed to drink moonshine for free by scooping it up with this ladle, but this could only be done once.

Gradually, moonshine became the lot of the boyar class. Only since the 19th century were peasants allowed to produce this alcoholic drink. From the mash, for the production of which grain and yeast were used, they managed to obtain moonshine, which in its purity and quality composition is not inferior to the best varieties famous French cognac.

To effectively remove other toxins from the resulting drink, manufacturers used milk and egg white. Along with application large quantity grain, this significantly increased the cost of moonshine, so not everyone could afford to drink it.

To reduce the cost of an alcohol-containing product, moonshine from potatoes began to be produced in the mid-19th century. Such raw materials significantly reduced the cost and simplified the production process in comparison with grain material, especially the highly valued barley.

Homemade potato moonshine: recipe

Currently, every family uses potatoes for food. Many people stock this product for the entire winter period. Almost all summer residents grow their own potatoes.

Taking into account the general availability and cheapness of this “earth apple,” as the tubers of this vegetable were called under Peter the Great, many people who produce alcohol at home paid close attention to potatoes as the optimal type of raw material for home brewing.

It's probably better to use the excess supplies of this product for cooking. homemade alcohol than throwing out rotten potatoes in bags with the onset of spring.

There are several proven recipes telling how to make moonshine from potatoes. For example, for 25 liters of water, take 20 kilograms of potatoes, one kilogram of wheat flour and half a kilo of yeast.

The potatoes are washed thoroughly, rubbed coarse grater and pour in fifteen liters of slightly heated water. The resulting mixture must be mixed well and flour added. After stirring again, you need to let it settle so that a sediment forms.

Then the liquid part is poured into another container. The remaining water in a volume of up to ten liters is added to the resulting precipitate. Add the previously drained liquid part and pour the yeast into it.

The moonshine obtained from potatoes is infused for about two weeks. After it has fermented, it is distilled using a moonshine still. Next comes the mandatory stage of purifying the resulting alcohol-containing liquid from toxins and various impurities.

Cleaning methods

Can be cleaned with potassium permanganate, activated carbon or milk.

Potassium permanganate is simply poured into the liquid obtained after distillation, and harmful substances immediately precipitate.

Activated carbon powder is also poured into the liquid. The cleaning will be better the better large quantity coal will be used.

The adsorbent should stand in the moonshine for 24 hours, then the drink should be drained.
Milk, which requires one glass per ten-liter volume of moonshine, cleans alcohol-containing liquid quite well.

Other potato moonshine recipes

High-quality moonshine from potatoes is obtained with the addition of oats. For this they take following ingredients: potatoes - 10 kg, oats - 6 kg, yeast - 1.5 kg, water - 35 liters.

The preparation method is as follows: the ground grain is poured into five liters of boiling water, then potatoes are added there, which are pre-ground.

Infusion continues for three hours, then after the mixture has cooled, yeast is added and the remaining water is poured. The mash is infused for about five days, then it can be distilled.

Recipe using sprouted grains

Some experts praise moonshine made from boiled potatoes and sprouted grains.

To do this, take any sprouted grain in a volume of 4 kg. It is crushed, then mixed with pre-boiled and grated potatoes, of which 8 kilograms are taken. After 12 hours of exposure, the mixture is poured into 25 liters warm water and add 100 grams of yeast.

To ferment the mash according to this recipe, about one week is enough.

Frozen potato mash

Frozen potatoes can also be used to make mash. Everyone knows that such potatoes have a sweet taste. This is probably optimal application for root vegetables damaged by frost.

The recipe for making mash is the same as with regular potatoes, and the cost of the drink will decrease. Of course, in this case, the taste of moonshine will change somewhat, so you need to try everything. Some experts specially freeze potatoes in freezer refrigerator before putting it to ferment.

The following recipe for producing moonshine from frozen potatoes is used: take 20 kg of frozen potatoes, 25 liters of purified water, one kilogram of flour and half a kilo of yeast.

Well-washed potatoes are grated and poured boiled water, cooled to 50 degrees Celsius. Then the flour is slowly introduced, while everything must be constantly mixed with a wooden spatula. The solution should stand for a while, then the liquid is drained from the sediment and the remaining water is added to it.

When the mash sits, it needs to be filtered. Yeast is added to the resulting wort, after which the container should be placed in a warm, dark place. Fermentation time is about two weeks.

Ways to speed up the process

Some homemade potion producers are not satisfied with the long fermentation times of raw materials, so craftsmen are improving the recipe in this direction.

For example, the process is accelerated by adding sugar to moonshine from potatoes.
There is the following recipe, which allows you to slightly reduce the time it takes to bring the mash to readiness. To do this, take 4 kg of potatoes, 10 kilograms of sugar, 8 loaves of bread and 500 grams of yeast for 25 liters of warm water.

The potatoes are pre-cooked and pounded using a wooden pestle. Next, granulated sugar is added to the container. You can add a little milk, then add the yeast. All the bread is crumbled and also added to the total mass. Then everything is filled with slightly cooled boiled water.

After a day, such mash can already be distilled. This method used when the time to make moonshine is extremely limited, and there are quite a lot of raw materials.

Yeast-free moonshine recipe

Some Internet users share their own experiences on how they make moonshine from potatoes without yeast.

It is known that the process of transformation into monosaccharides actively occurs in acidic environments. This allows you to use, for example, sour apples to make mash.

After harvesting potatoes, there is always a lot of small change and chopped root crops left at the dacha, which makes no sense to store.
These substandard potatoes need to be washed and crushed or chopped, for example, in a meat grinder.

You also need to take, for example, apple pulp, which remains from squeezing the juice. It is advisable to have the same amount of cake as mashed potatoes. Mix all this together and place in one or more containers. There is no need to add yeast.

The containers should be filled no more than two-thirds full, since after a couple of days the intensive fermentation process will begin and the volume of the puree will increase significantly.

All this will ferment for about three weeks. As soon as the wort suddenly settles, this will serve as a signal that the fermentation process has ended. The liquid must be drained from the sediment immediately so that it does not have time to peroxidize.

The result is a gray slurry, which is best filtered first and then distilled through alcohol mashine.

The resulting liquid must be purified with manganese, then activated carbon and milk must be used. After this, the alcohol-containing product is distilled a second time and some kind of fragrance is added to it ( vanilla sugar and so on.).

Potato moonshine is a controversial matter. Some complain about its economic inexpediency, others about its rough, harsh taste, and still others about its unpleasant, aggressive intoxication. However, world experience - Poles, Scandinavians, Americans, Irish - shows that it is possible to make good potato vodka. In general, whether to drive or not is up to you. And ours is to tell you how to do this in the best way.