A classic mash recipe with pressed yeast. Braga from sugar and yeast

Sugar moonshine is a classic of Russian moonshine. She won love among many lovers homemade alcohol. Exists great amount recipes for making mash from sugar at home, in which the proportions sometimes differ, but the yield of moonshine is always almost the same. Making homemade alcohol is justified for several reasons. The first is the environmental friendliness of raw materials, sugar pure product and properly prepared moonshine does not cause poisoning and severe hangover. The second is the cost of the product, making moonshine at home is much cheaper than buying store-bought alcohol.

Approximately 1.1 liters come out of 1 kg of granulated sugar. ready drink strength of 40 degrees.

As a result, you will get a decent drink, and if you ennoble it by various methods, then it will not be inferior to expensive ones. elite drinks. The easiest way for a beginner is to make mash from sugar and then distillate. How to prepare a drink correctly, what proportions to use, what dishes and how many ingredients to take, the entire cycle of obtaining moonshine is described in detail in this article.

To make mash you will need: fermentation utensils, water, sugar, yeast, water seal, saccharometer, aquarium heater. The last three devices are optional, it is quite possible to do without them.

Container for mash. The main indicators when choosing dishes for fermentation are: volume, material of manufacture, tightness. For some types of mash, a water seal is also needed, which performs two functions: it ensures the release of carbon dioxide and prevents oxygen from entering the mash.

The volume of the fermentation tank depends entirely on your needs. Be sure to take into account that the mash should fill no more than ¾ of the volume fermentation tank. Otherwise, there is a risk of foam being thrown out during fermentation.

Material. The most preferred material for fermentation is glass. various bottles, glass jars. You can also use food grade stainless steel. Plastic containers of various sizes are currently sold, the main thing is to make sure that it fits food products. Often at home, aluminum dishes, milk flasks, and pots are used. It is very convenient if the container has a drain valve, which will greatly facilitate the work.

1. Be sure to thoroughly rinse all dishes before use hot water using detergent and then dry well with a clean towel. The cleaner the dishes, the less the risk of souring the mash, which can lead to bad taste moonshine.

2. Before pouring water, place the fermentation tank on a stand 0.5 meters high. Firstly, this will improve heat exchange, and secondly, it will be easier to drain the fermented mash in the future.

Which yeast to choose. For the preparation of moonshine, it is advisable to take special alcohol yeast. The use of alcohol yeast gives a higher yield of alcohol during fermentation, better organoleptic. The instructions always say how much sugar a pack is designed for. The only disadvantage of alcoholic yeast is that it is difficult to find them and the price is quite high. But instead of alcohol, available dry or pressed ones are suitable. Dry yeast is taken at the rate of 20 grams per kilogram of sugar. Proportions for pressed: 100 grams per 1 kg of sugar.

When using dry yeast, the mash turns out to be no worse in quality, and sometimes even better. Raw pressed ones give the drink too fusel flavor, and the use of dry ones gives rapid fermentation and abundant foaming. Another plus of dry and alcoholic yeast is a long shelf life.

What kind of water to use. Good proper water is the basis of the taste of the final product. For cooking sugar mash water should be well purified, odorless, tasteless and without additives. The most suitable water is spring or bottled. If used tap water, then before use it is recommended to defend it for 1-2 days, and then carefully drain it with a hose. Hydromodule: per 1 kg. sugar - 4 liters of water.

Classic sugar moonshine recipe

According to this recipe, mash is prepared from sugar and yeast. The yield of purified moonshine is approximately 5.5 liters after the second fractional distillation, the alcohol content of the drink is 45 °.

Sugar - 5 kg;
Dry yeast - 100 gr;
Spring water - 20 liters.

Pour warm water at 25-30 ° into the container where fermentation will take place, add sugar. Stir the mixture thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Recently, complaints about sugar have often been received - it does not ferment well, it is not sweet, etc. To avoid embarrassment, you can use the device - saccharometer. The saccharometer shows the density of sugar in the wort. For normal mash, the saccharometer should show a density of 18-22%.
In a separate bowl, ferment the yeast. Pour in 300 ml of water at 28°C, add a tablespoon of sugar, stir, add dry yeast, stir, after about 10-15 minutes, when the yeast has risen, add it to the fermentation tank. To reduce foaming during fermentation, it is recommended to add Saf-moment yeast - 11 gr. If you use pressed yeast in the recipe, then you need to take them 500 gr.
For normal operation, yeast, in addition to sugar and water, requires top dressing. This is not a mandatory moment, but it is desirable, it allows you to speed up the process. There are chemical special top dressings with phosphorus and nitrogen, there are ordinary household methods of top dressing mash. First of all, this is black bread, for 20 liters of mash, half a loaf will be enough. Also, as a top dressing, it is recommended to use grapes, raspberries, strawberries at the rate of 15-20 pieces per 20 liters.
It is not necessary to use a water seal for sugar mash, it is enough to loosely close the lid, and if the neck is small, then cover it with several layers of gauze.

Fermentation. In order for the wort to ferment well, it needs to provide a favorable temperature regime. The ideal temperature for fermentation is 28-31 °C. It can be slightly lower, but in no case higher than 35 °, at this temperature the yeast will die and the mash will not ferment.

A warm room or the use of an aquarium heater allows this mode to be provided. Heaters come in various capacities from 50 watts and more powerful. For 40 liters of mash, 100 watts of power is enough, provided that it is indoors. The convenience of the heater is that it maintains a stable temperature with the built-in thermostat. Set on the regulator 28 ° and lower into the fermentation tank, connect to the power supply.

With proper temperature maintenance, the presence of top dressing, fermentation lasts 7-14 days. Once or twice a day, the sugar mash must be stirred well to remove carbon dioxide.

How to determine the readiness of the mash:

Carbon dioxide stopped emitting, the water seal calmed down, stopped gurgling. There are no rising bubbles on the surface. Light a match over the mash, if it burns, then no gas is released.
Stratification is present in the mash, the top layer has become light, the yeast has partially precipitated.
The taste of mash has become bitter, no sweetness is felt.
The smell and taste of mash has the smell of alcohol.
The most accurate method is to use a sugar meter. If the wort has fermented, then the saccharometer will show “0”.

Clarification and cleaning of mash

Clarification and degassing should be done in order to improve the final taste of moonshine. Degassing is the process of removing residual carbon dioxide. To do this, the wort must be heated to 55 ° C, live yeast dies at this temperature. One of the most simple ways clear the mash with cold, if the temperature allows. Braga for a day or two to take out in the cold -5 ° or + 5 ° and she naturally brighten up. The yeast will settle, after which the mash must be decanted, that is, carefully drained from the sediment using a thin silicone or PVC hose.

You can speed up the process and lighten the mash with other more fast ways using bentonite, gelatin or protein. For sugar mash, it is most often preferred to use bentonite for clarification. Bentonite is a natural product, natural white clay. For cleaning fit brand Pi-Pi-Bent, the main thing is that there would be no flavorings in it. For 20 liters of mash, 2-3 tablespoons of clay are enough. Before use, it must be dissolved in a glass warm water and mix thoroughly. Then pour the mixture into the mash and mix. After 12-24 hours, the mash becomes transparent, it remains only to drain it from the sediment.

Getting moonshine from mash

First race. Pour the clarified, purified mash into the cube of the moonshine still. And overtake at high power. Heads and tails do not need to be removed during the first distillation. The first time the raw material is taken almost to the water, so that there would be 5-7 degrees in the stream.

Intermediate cleaning. Got moonshine before second fractional distillation must be free from contaminants. There are many proven ways to do this. The most popular method among distillers is charcoal cleaning. There is a way to clean with oil and others.

Purification of moonshine with coal. You can clean raw charcoal using a charcoal filter or pour charcoal with raw coal. For the first method, you need to make a filter from plastic bottle. Cut off the bottom of the bottle a, drill a few holes in the cork. Put a layer of cotton wool tightly into the cork, screw it onto the bottle. Pour BAU or KAU coal at the rate of 10-12 grams of coal per 1 liter of moonshine. Pass moonshine through the filter. In the second method, pour coal directly into raw alcohol. Grind coal beforehand, add 50 g per liter. Stir thoroughly, insist overnight. Then filter the moonshine. Coal absorbs up to 80% of fusel oil and various esters.
Purification of moonshine with sunflower oil. For cleaning, you need to take refined sunflower oil. Dilute moonshine to 15-20 degrees of strength, add 20 grams of oil per liter of raw alcohol. Stir well three times at intervals of 1-3 minutes. Leave for a day to settle, drain with a tube without touching the upper oily layer. Strain through a cotton filter. For cleaning efficiency, these two methods can be combined. First oil, then charcoal.

Fractional distillation. Purified, diluted moonshine from sugar up to 20 degrees, pour into the distillation cube of the moonshine still and proceed with the distillation with the selection of fractions. Select at low power head fraction. The heads are selected drop by drop, the selection rate is 1-2 drops per second, such a slow selection allows you to qualitatively get rid of the poisonous first fractions. The number of heads is taken 50 ml from each kilogram of sugar.

Then change the receiving container and select the drinking fraction "body". The body is taken up to 45-50 degrees in the jet. Then the tails will go, it's up to you to select them or not. Usually, the tail fraction is added to the mash before distillation in order to increase the yield of moonshine.

Refinement and refinement of moonshine

As a result, you will get moonshine from sugar with a strength of about 65 degrees. For drinking, such a fortress is too high, so it must be diluted with clean bottled water to 40-45 degrees. A special calculator will help to do this correctly. To soften the taste, moonshine can be heated on the stove to 70 degrees, while unnecessary substances will evaporate from it. Pour the diluted distillate into bottles, let it “rest in the glass” for 2-3 days, and preferably a week, and you can start tasting.

Sugar moonshine has a more neutral taste compared to grain and fruit distillates. Therefore, at home, it is more used for cooking. various tinctures and liqueurs and make other homemade alcohol.

6 liters of water
1.5 kg sugar
3 packs of Saf Moment
Water from the tap into a plastic bottle for a day for settling.
In the morning I got up, made syrup (5 liters of water and sugar, a little citric acid - half a teaspoon) - 1 hour over low heat.
I put in a bowl with cold water and add the remaining liter of water to cool faster.
When it became less than 30 gr. pour a little into a bowl, dilute the yeast and back into the container. We mix and forget for a week under a water seal.
There is no foam, although for reinsurance I put the bottle in the basin.
I clean it with bentonite (wee-wee-bent), yes, I take it from the cat.
A day later - like a tear.
I ship and receive

700 ml 80 gr. moonshine is without heads and tails

Is it necessary to select the head and tails? Or is it very dangerous?

Sugar moonshine is a classic Russian distillery. She has won love among many lovers of homemade alcohol. There are a huge number of recipes for making sugar mash at home, in which the proportions sometimes differ, but the moonshine yield is always almost the same. Making homemade alcohol is justified for several reasons. The first is the environmental friendliness of raw materials, sugar is a pure product and properly prepared moonshine does not cause poisoning and a strong hangover. The second is the cost of the product, making moonshine at home is much cheaper than buying store-bought alcohol. Approximately 1.1 liters come out of 1 kg of granulated sugar. ready drink with a strength of 40 degrees.

As a result, you will get decent alcohol, and if it is refined by various methods, then it will not be inferior to expensive elite drinks. The easiest way for a beginner is to “ferment” to make mash from sugar, and then get a distillate. How to prepare intoxicating drinks correctly, what proportions to use, what dishes and how many ingredients to take, the entire cycle of obtaining moonshine is described in detail in this article.

To make a mash you will need: fermentation dishes, water, sugar, yeast, water seal, sugar meter, aquarium heater. The last three devices are optional, it is quite possible to do without them.

Container for mash. The main indicators when choosing dishes for fermentation are: volume, material of manufacture, tightness. For some types of mash, a water seal is also needed, which performs two functions: it ensures the release of carbon dioxide and prevents oxygen from entering the mash.

Tank volume for fermentation depends entirely on your needs. Be sure to take into account that the mash should fill no more than ¾ of the volume of the fermentation tank. Otherwise, there is a risk of foam being thrown out during fermentation.

Material. The most preferred material for fermentation is glass. Various bottles, glass jars. You can also use food grade stainless steel. Currently, plastic containers of various sizes are sold, the main thing is to make sure that it is suitable for food products. Often at home, aluminum dishes, milk flasks, and pots are used. It is very convenient if the container has a drain valve, which will greatly facilitate the work.

Attention!

1. Be sure to thoroughly wash all the dishes with hot water and detergent before use, and then dry well with a clean towel. The cleaner the dishes, the less the risk of souring the mash, which can lead to an unpleasant taste of moonshine.

2. Before pouring water, place the fermentation tank on a stand 0.5 meters high. Firstly, this will improve heat exchange, and secondly, it will be easier to drain the fermented mash in the future.

Which yeast to choose. For the preparation of moonshine, it is advisable to take special alcohol yeast. The use of alcohol yeast gives a higher yield of alcohol during fermentation, better organoleptic. The instructions always say how much sugar a pack is designed for. The only disadvantage of alcoholic yeast is that it is difficult to find them and the price is quite high. But instead of alcohol, affordable dry or pressed, Belarusian ones are suitable. Dry yeast is taken from the calculation 20 grams per kilogram of sugar. Proportions for pressed: 100 grams per 1 kg of sugar.

The addition of dry yeast makes the mash in quality no worse, and sometimes even better. Raw pressed ones give the drink too fusel flavor, and the use of dry ones gives rapid fermentation and abundant foaming. Another plus of dry and alcoholic yeast is a long shelf life.

What kind of water to use. Good proper water is the basis of the taste of the final product. For the preparation of sugar mash, well-purified water, odorless, tasteless and without additives, should be used. The most suitable water is spring or bottled. If tap water is used, it is recommended to stand for 1-2 days before use, and then carefully drain it with a hose. Hydromodule: per 1 kg. sugar - 4 liters of water.

Classic sugar moonshine recipe

Ingredients:

Sugar - 5 kg;
Dry yeast - 100 gr;
Spring water - 20 liters.

Wort preparation:

Pour warm water at 25-30 ° into the container where fermentation will take place, add sugar. Stir the mixture thoroughly until the sugar is completely dissolved. Recently, complaints about sugar have often been received - it does not ferment well, it is not sweet, etc. To avoid embarrassment, you can use the device - saccharometer. The saccharometer shows the density of sugar in the wort. For normal mash, the saccharometer should show a density of 18-22%.
In a separate bowl, dilute, ferment the yeast. Pour 300 ml of water at 28°C, add a tablespoon of sugar, stir, add dry yeast, dilute, after about 10-15 minutes, when the yeast rises, add it to the fermentation tank. To reduce foaming during fermentation, it is recommended to add Saf-moment yeast - 11 gr. If you use pressed yeast in the recipe, then you need to take them 500 gr.
For normal operation of yeast, in addition to sugar and water top dressing is required . This is not a mandatory moment, but it is desirable, it allows you to speed up the process. There are chemical special dressings with phosphorus and nitrogen, there are ordinary household ways to “cheer up” the mash. First of all, this is black bread, for 20 liters of mash, half a loaf will be enough. Also, as a top dressing, it is recommended to use grapes, raspberries, strawberries at the rate of 15-20 pieces per 20 liters.
It is not necessary to install a water seal for sugar mash, it is enough to loosely close the lid, and if the neck is small, then cover it with several layers of gauze.

Fermentation. In order for the wort to ferment well, it needs to provide a favorable temperature regime. The ideal temperature for fermentation is 28-31 °C. It can be slightly lower, but in no case higher than 35 °, at this temperature the yeast will die and the mash will not ferment.

A warm room or the use of an aquarium heater allows this mode to be provided. Heaters come in various capacities from 50 watts and more, which one to choose depends on the capacity of the container. For 40 liters of mash, 100 watts of power is enough, provided that it is indoors. The convenience of the heater is that it maintains a stable temperature with the built-in thermostat. Set on the regulator 28 ° and lower into the fermentation tank, connect to the power supply, the temperature will stand and be maintained automatically.

With proper temperature maintenance, the presence of top dressing, fermentation lasts 7-14 days. Once or twice a day, the sugar mash must be stirred well to remove carbon dioxide.

How to determine the readiness of the mash:

Carbon dioxide stopped emitting, the water seal calmed down, stopped gurgling. There are no rising bubbles on the surface. Light a match over the mash, if it burns, then no gas is released.
Stratification is present in the mash, the top layer has become light, the yeast has partially precipitated.
The taste of mash has become bitter, no sweetness is felt.
In the smell and taste of mash there is a clear aroma of alcohol.
The most accurate method is to use a sugar meter. If the wort has fermented, then the saccharometer will show “0”.

Clarification and cleaning of mash

Clarification and degassing should be done in order to improve the final taste of moonshine. Degassing is the process of removing residual carbon dioxide. To do this, the wort must be heated to 55 ° C, live yeast dies at this temperature. One of the easiest ways to lighten the mash with cold, if the temperature allows. Take Braga for a day or two in the cold -5 ° or + 5 ° and it will naturally lighten. The yeast will fall to the bottom, after which the mash must be decanted, that is, carefully drained from the sediment using a thin silicone or PVC hose.

You can also speed up the process and lighten the mash in other faster ways using bentonite, gelatin or protein. For sugar mash, it is most often preferred to use bentonite for clarification. Bentonite is a natural product, natural white clay. The Pi-Pi-Bent brand is suitable for cleaning, the main thing is that there are no flavors in it. For 20 liters of mash, 2-3 tablespoons of clay are enough. Before use, it must be dissolved in a glass of warm water and stirred thoroughly. Then pour the mixture into the mash and mix. After 12-24 hours, the mash becomes transparent, it remains only to drain it from the sediment.

Getting moonshine from mash

First race. Pour the clarified, purified mash into the cube of the moonshine still. And overtake at high power. Heads and tails do not need to be removed during the first distillation. The first time the raw material is taken almost to the water, so that there would be 5-7 degrees in the stream.

Intermediate cleaning. The resulting moonshine before the second fractional distillation must be cleaned of harmful impurities. There are many proven ways to do this. The most popular method among distillers is charcoal cleaning. There is a way to clean with oil and others.

. You can clean the raw using a carbon filter or fill the coal with raw. For the first method, you need to make a filter from a plastic bottle. Cut off the bottom of the bottle a, drill a few holes in the cork. Put a layer of cotton wool tightly into the cork, screw it onto the bottle. Pour BAU or KAU coal at the rate of 10-12 grams of coal per 1 liter of moonshine. Pass moonshine through the filter. In the second method, pour coal directly into raw alcohol. Grind coal beforehand, add 50 g per liter. Stir thoroughly, insist overnight. Then filter the moonshine. Coal absorbs up to 80% of fusel oil and various esters.
Purification of moonshine with sunflower oil. For cleaning, you need to take refined sunflower oil. Dilute moonshine to 15-20 degrees of strength, add 20 grams of oil per liter of raw alcohol. Stir well three times at intervals of 1-3 minutes. Leave for a day to settle, drain with a tube without touching the upper oily layer. Strain through a cotton filter. For cleaning efficiency, these two methods can be combined. First oil, then charcoal.

Fractional distillation. Pour purified, diluted moonshine from sugar up to 20 degrees into the distillation cube of the moonshine still. Proceed to the stage with the selection of fractions. Select the head fraction at low power. The heads are taken drop by drop, the selection rate is 1-2 drops per second, such a slow intake of liquid allows you to qualitatively get rid of the poisonous first fractions. The number of heads is taken 50 ml from each kilogram of sugar.

Refinement and refinement of moonshine

Sugar moonshine has a more neutral taste compared to grain and fruit distillates. Therefore, at home, it is more used for the preparation of various liqueurs to insist berries and fruits on it. Making other delicious homemade alcohol.

I will tell you in detail, in a simple way, step by step recipe mash for moonshine from sugar. You will understand the essence of cooking mash and will make it without any problems.

To prepare alcoholic drink we need to get alcohol from somewhere. We will take alcohol using yeast. The yeast will eat the sugar and release the alcohol.

Yeast is a microorganism belonging to the family of fungi. They live in water and feed on sugar, or rather glucose, which is sugar. Eating glucose, with a lack of oxygen in the water, alcohol is formed, which they release into the water. Yeast also releases carbon dioxide.

Speaking quite simply, in order to get alcohol in mash, we take a container, pour water into it and let the yeast live in it.

We feed the yeast with sugar, and they release alcohol and carbon dioxide into the mash.

Yeast can be compared to a cow that eats grass and gives us milk.

Grass > Cow > Milk

Glucose > Yeast > Alcohol

With a lack of oxygen in the water, the yeast does not completely eat glucose, bite it, alcohol is obtained. Alcohol is uneaten glucose.

The essence of getting mash. This is to feed the yeast in the water with glucose and take care of their well-being. The better the yeast feels, the faster the fermentation will be.

A sugar molecule is two glucose molecules bonded into one.

Yeast has an enzyme, invertase, that cuts a sugar molecule into exactly two glucose molecules.

How to make braga.

Tank preparation.
Calculate the proportions of sugar:water:yeast.
Pour sugar, stir.
We add yeast.
We mix everything.
Cover the container with a lid or gauze.

Tank preparation.

Since yeast lives in water, we will need a container in which we will pour it.

Barrels, canisters, water bottles are suitable for containers.

It is desirable that the container be made of food-grade plastic, the container should be marked PP, food-grade plastic, or stainless steel.

The container should be with a wide neck, it is convenient to wash it later.

Calculation of the proportions of sugar and water for mash.

How much water and sugar do you need for mash.

The ratio of sugar and water for moonshiners is called the hydromodule.

Since the alcohol released into the mash by yeast affects their well-being badly.

Yeast begins to slowly eat sugar and slowly release alcohol.

The more alcohol in the mash, the slower they eat it and eventually stop using it, the uneaten sugar will remain in the mash.

It is necessary to choose such an optimal ratio of sugar and water so that the yeast eats the sugar completely and quickly.

For baker's yeast, the optimal ratio of sugar and water is 1:5, 1 kg of sugar and 5 liters of water.

If you add more sugar to the mash, then the yeast will eat it for a long time, and if less, then the concentration of alcohol in the mash will be small, then during the distillation we will heat the excess water.

Fermentation already noticeably slows down at 9% alcohol, at 11% it can completely stand up. Baker's yeast can ferment up to 14% alcohol in the wash, but this will take a long time.

It is better to make the first mash with baker's yeast, then you need to take a ratio of 1 kilogram of sugar and 5 liters of water for a container.

If you have special yeast, alcohol, then we use the hydromodule 1:4 or 1:3.5. On a pack of yeast, the manufacturer indicates the optimal ratio of sugar and water, if not, then you have baker's yeast, your hydromodule is 1:5.

Fill with water, half the capacity.

Why do we pour half the container with water, because the yeast at the beginning of fermentation emits abundant foam, and when it is full, it can overflow.

We pour water from the tap, there is no need to boil, anyway, the mash will be distilled later.

Water should be without bleach, if it is there, then let the water stand for several hours so that the chlorine evaporates.

Chlorine in water can kill our yeast.

It is desirable that the water is warm, the yeast will eat sugar faster.

The optimum water temperature for mash is 30-35 degrees; at 50 degrees and above, the yeast will die.

Pour sugar into a bowl and stir.

Add yeast to mash.

How much yeast is needed for mash?

If you are using baker's yeast to get alcohol, then add the classic dose. For 1 kg of sugar, you need 100 grams of pressed or 25-30 grams of dry yeast. Braga will ripen in 4-5 days.

We take yeast not for liters of mash, but for the amount of sugar in it, since yeast eats it, but simply lives in water.

For the first time it is better to use pressed baker's yeast, for example "Lux", they are in any chain store, one pack of 100 grams per 1 kilogram of sugar, or pressed yeast from other manufacturers.

Pressed yeast is stable, you will understand how the fermentation process looks like correctly.

Pressed yeast can be stored in the freezer, but should be thawed in the refrigerator to prevent bursting.

Dry yeast is ordinary pressed, just dried

Dry yeast does not spoil for a long time, but they are a little more expensive.

Good dry yeast Bekmaya.

Scatter dry yeast over the surface of the water.

By the amount of yeast, we regulate the rate of fermentation, the more sugar eaters, the faster mash mature.

The rate of fermentation is not directly proportional to the amount of yeast. If you take twice as much yeast, then the mash will not ripen twice as fast, a little longer, alcohol will interfere with the yeast.

If you have a fermentation tank of 19 liters, a bottle from a cooler, then you need 3.5 kg of sugar, which means you need pressed yeast, 3.5 times 100 we get 350 grams.

We need dry, 3.5 times 30, we get 105 grams.

For a fermentation tank of 19 liters, 350 grams of pressed or 105 grams of dry yeast are required.

We mix everything.

As soon as the dry yeast swelled and sat on the bottom, and the pressed foam formed, mix everything.

After a while, the mash will hiss in you, carbon dioxide will intensively be released. Foam may form, depending on the yeast manufacturer.

The foam can be knocked down by interfering with the wash.

If foam interferes with you, pours out of the container, you can extinguish it with crushed cookies or by adding a few drops of a drug for bloating bought at a pharmacy, such as BOBOTIK.

Braga does not need to be specially stirred during maturation, it itself is mixed due to the upward movement of carbon dioxide.

Pour the remaining water up to the level of the container.

If you have stopped foaming, then you can add the rest of the warm water so that the total temperature of the mash in the container is 30-35 degrees.

We cover the container with the mash, loosely with a lid or gauze and remove to ferment.

We remove the container with the mash for maturation in a warm place. In a cold place, the yeast will die.

Braga from sugar in the first three days it is not necessary to cover with a lid with a water seal.

Lids with a water seal are needed for making wine or mash from cereals so that lactic acid bacteria do not get there and it does not turn sour.

In the first days of Braga, strong fermentation takes place, carbon dioxide is released, which squeezes air out of the tank.

After the fermentation has subsided, you can close the container so that air does not get in there and oxidize our alcohol into aldehyde and bacteria also do not get in, again not dense

It’s good, of course, to close the barrel with mash with a lid into which the corrugation or hose is inserted, they will remove carbon dioxide into the hood or into the street so that the room does not smell of mash.

In summer, a barrel of mash can be put in a greenhouse, carbon dioxide will increase the yield.

The smell of mash can be dealt with with a water seal. Insert the tube into the lid and lower it into a jar of water. Add flavoring or citrus peels to the water.

Citrus peels can also be added to the mash itself.

How to know that the mash is ready.

At first, the mash will sizzle, after 4 days single bubbles will come out.

The easiest and most efficient way to determine the readiness of mash is to taste it.

We have sensors in our mouths, receptors that tell us how much sugar we have. If it doesn't taste sweet, then it's ready.

It is impossible to find out the strength of the mash with an alcohol meter, since it measures the proportion of alcohol in pure water, without impurities and yeast.

Is it possible to store fermented mash.

If you do not have time to overtake the mash from sugar, then nothing will happen to it. Close it more tightly so that air does not enter the container and does not oxidize our alcohol, there will be small losses.

It is advisable not to wait, if the mash is ripe, then immediately drive, there will be less impurities, heads and tails.

Do I need to clarify the mash before distillation.

Braga is clarified to remove yeast.

This is done if you drink it or you have poor quality alcohol mashine which leaks odor vapors or moonshine smells like yeast.

If this does not bother you, then you don’t need to specially lighten the mash, it’s a waste of time.

Braga is clarified with bentonite clay, which is bought in special distillery stores or taken from cat litter.

The filler should be without flavorings, in the composition, everything should be indicated on the label.

Fillers, Pi-Pi-Bent, KatSun, WC Closet Cat, Katty.

In a glass with warm water add a tablespoon of bentonite, this is for 10 liters of mash, stir and pour everything into ready mash and mix again.

The yeast sticks to the clay and settles to the bottom. Add more clay to the mash, everything will settle faster.

The yeast sticks to the clay and settles to the bottom. Add more clay to the mash, everything will settle faster. Do not pour bentonite with yeast down the drain. Wet clay, like cement, will clog pipes, pour it into a bag and then into the trash.

You can lighten the mash in the winter by taking it out into the cold.

The settled yeast can be reused by adding it to the new mash.

Is it possible to drink mash.

It is not advisable to drink Braga, it is better to overtake it, since it contains a lot of harmful impurities.

Wine and beer are the same mash, but their producers use special yeast and fermentation modes, which reduce the amount of harmful impurities.

What to do if the mash does not roam.

If your mash does not sizzle after an hour or two as you put it in, then most likely you have little yeast or they are old. Add more yeast

The second option is that your water is too cold.

If there was fermentation, but then everything stood up and a week has passed since the start of kneading, and the mash is not ready yet, then most likely it is cold in your room or the mash is too sour.

The ratio of sugar and water should be 1:5, for baker's yeast.

If the room is cold, then use an aquarium heater.

If the mash tastes sour, then you need to neutralize it with soda, a teaspoon per 5-10 liters. Add soda in parts, there will be abundant foam.

Braga acidifies itself during the fermentation process, yeast tolerates acidity up to 3.5 Ph, if it is lower, then fermentation rises.

With the usual sugar kneading, the mash does not have time to sour much.

Cooking mash is not difficult and usually does not cause difficulties. You just need to follow some recommendations and keep clean. Particular attention should be paid to yeast.

Yeasts are living organisms, they do not like to be treated carelessly. First of all, this concerns temperature regime. If a low temperatures they tolerate well, then when it rises to +35 degrees, they can die. This must always be remembered.
Braga can be prepared from various raw materials. Several simple recipes there is .

In the vast majority of cases, for the preparation of mash is used sugar, yeast and water. Let's consider this option.

To make mash from sugar and yeast, you will need:

Sugar
Raw pressed or dry yeast
Several raw potatoes

Yeast for mash raw and dry.
To begin with, you need to decide necessary quantity final product. To obtain 10 liters of moonshine with a strength of 40-45 degrees, you will need 8 kg of sugar, 700-800 grams of raw pressed yeast, about 25 liters of water and 2-3 medium-sized raw potatoes.

Various forums offer other ratios original products. For example, the ratio of water and sugar is not 3:1 like mine, but 4:1, i.e. for 8 kg of sugar - 32 liters of water.

I have nothing against it, I even tried to increase the amount of water myself. In my opinion, mash does not get better or worse from this. Only an extra volume is added and such an amount of mash becomes impossible for a one-time distillation in a cube with a volume of 38-40 liters.

A little more about yeast. In the absence of raw pressed yeast in packs of 1 kg, dry yeast (for example, Saf-Levure), which are sold in packs of 100 g, can be used to make mash.
There are people who prefer dry yeast. They have a much longer shelf life and a small volume.

This always raises the question of the ratio between dry and raw yeast. This ratio should be within 1:5 - 1:6, that is, for 8 kg of sugar, you need to take 1.5 packets of dry yeast. It is impossible to take into account all the moments, the proportions are very approximate, because. a lot depends on the quality of the yeast itself, its freshness, etc.

Before use, dry yeast is poured into a separate bowl with 0.3 - 0.5 liters of warm water (30 degrees, no more!), Allow to stand for a while and stir a little until completely dissolved. After that, add it to a container with a sugar solution.

Braga with dry yeast is no worse in quality than with raw yeast. But in the first few hours, she can behave unpredictably. Sometimes the fermentation process goes quite smoothly. But violent foaming is also possible. Foam, as they say, "rushes from all cracks", and it is almost impossible to keep it.

It is strictly forbidden to hermetically close the lid during the start of fermentation. Her in best case vomit, and in the worst case, it can break the entire container. Just in case, you should always keep a little vegetable oil on hand, and if foam is abundant, splash 1-2 tablespoons into the mash. And you may have to do it more than once.

For the preparation of mash, you can use not only sugar. The table below shows the amount of alcohol that can be obtained from a kilogram of various raw materials.

Container for mash
The volume of the fermentation tank depends only on your needs. But in any case, the mash should not occupy more than 75-80% of this volume, so that in critical cases, and they sometimes happen, it is not thrown out.

Now on sale there are plastic barrels of any size and shape. I prefer rectangular containers because if there are two or more of them, they take up less space, and in the cold season they can be moved closer to the heat source.
Please make sure the container you choose is suitable for food storage before purchasing.

If you will be constantly distilling the mash, then it makes sense to think about matching the fermentation tank and the distillation tank.

For example, a 40-liter aluminum flask is used as an alembic. In this case, the amount of mash in the distillation cube should not exceed 30-32 liters (3/4 of the volume). Therefore, the most suitable option for a fermentation tank is 80-90 liters; 60-65 liters of mash can be prepared in it (for two hauls). That is, in this case, you should not fill the fermentation tank to the brim, but have some reserve in volume.

In the case when it is planned to cook more than 50 liters of mash in one container, its weight should be taken into account, since in the future it will be inconvenient to move and even more so to lift such a weight.
Yes, this is not required if, from the very beginning, you put the fermentation tank on a stand about 50 cm high. This will improve the thermal regime of fermentation and make it easier to drain the mash. The finished mash is poured into the distillation cube using a rubber or silicone hose.
When 10-20 liters remain in the tank, it can be raised higher for better and complete draining. If you act carefully and do not shake the barrel, then using a hose you can drain the contents almost completely.

Example: It is necessary to prepare 60 liters of mash.
Pour 40-45 liters of water heated to 30-35 degrees into a container. Use clean water from a spring or well. AT last resort you can use tap water, letting it settle well. And you don't have to boil it! When water boils, it loses some of the oxygen necessary for the life of the yeast.
Pour in 16 kg of sugar and straightaway stir until completely dissolved, otherwise the sugar will crystallize and then you will be tormented to stir. The volume of the solution will increase to about 50 liters and the temperature will drop. You can dilute sugar in cold water and then add warm. One thing is important: before adding yeast, the temperature of the solution should be 20-24 degrees. Take 1.5 kg of raw yeast, throw it into a barrel and stir completely. Next, grind 4-6 raw potatoes not very finely on a grater and also add to the barrel. This will speed up the fermentation process. Potatoes can be added before yeast. In extreme cases, you can do without it.
Stir again the contents of the barrel. Lightly put on the lid.
Actually, that's all. Now we have to wait.

After half an hour or an hour, the yeast will begin to show signs of life. Some movement will appear in the barrel, foam will form on the surface. Fermentation begins, the temperature of the mash gradually rises. This process can be very violent and last up to a day, sometimes foam can even come out.

Never try to bring down the foam by stirring the mash. This will only make the situation worse!

If there is a lot of foam, you need to add a glass to the barrel fresh milk, you can splash quite a bit sunflower oil Or toss a piece of cookie. Foaming will stop. All these methods have been tried, give results and in the future do not affect the quality of moonshine.

During this period, do not close the lid very tightly. Otherwise, the carbon dioxide formed during fermentation can easily disrupt it. With all the ensuing consequences. Try a different yeast next time. Maybe they'll be more relaxed.

On the third or fourth day, the mash calms down, foaming and gas evolution stops. You can add water to the barrel, bringing the volume to the desired level (60-65 liters), close the lid more tightly and, if necessary, put the container in a warm place or turn on the heating.

About the thermostat for heating the mash and its installation Cover the container with some kind of blanket to keep warm better.

Why is it desirable to add water after some time, and not immediately pour as much as needed? It's all about yeast. If you have little experience, or if you bought a yeast that you have not used before, you cannot know how it will behave at that particular moment. If the start of fermentation is not too violent, you can add water immediately, so as not to forget later. Well, in the case of strong foaming, the mash is easier to keep if the container is not filled to the brim ...

The optimum fermentation temperature is 28-30 degrees. At this temperature, the yeast is most active. But in practice it is not always possible to maintain such a temperature constant during the week. Yes, this is not necessary. It is quite normal if it is within 20-25 degrees. This will slightly increase the maturation time of the mash. Much worse if it overheats to 35 degrees and above, because. in this case, the yeast may die.

During this period, it is sometimes recommended to stop the access of oxygen to the fermentation tank. To do this, make a water lock. The lid is closed hermetically, and the remaining carbon dioxide is removed through a tube into a jar of water. To be honest, I never bothered with such things. Try it. Maybe it will have some significant effect.

After about a week, the mash will begin to lighten. This is the first sign of her readiness. But it is best to determine readiness by taste. Braga should taste bitter. If sweetness is felt, you can mix the contents and let stand for a couple more days.
Everything. Now you can overtake.
Read on the page how to overtake the mash correctly.

It can be sugar, fruit grain, etc., but you need to know the rules for setting.

Along with water and sugar (including sugars that need to be converted into simple shapes), in moonshine important role mash yeast is playing, the choice of which determines both the duration of fermentation and the choice of hydromodule (proportions between water and sugar).

How is alcohol produced? Microscopic yeast fungi absorb sugar, replacing them with alcohol and carbon dioxide. That is, without the work of yeast, there will be no alcohol.

Crystalline sugar, which is most often used by distillers in their practice, is first broken down by yeast into glucose and fructose, and only then processed into alcohol. Help them with this, speed up the maturation of mash and reduce the amount fusel oils(by-products of fermentation) can, before adding to the wort.

There are over a thousand species (races) of yeast fungi, but not all of them are suitable for setting mash for moonshine. Mainly due to the fact that they have weak resistance in an alcoholic environment and die.

Wild, living on fruits and berries, someone uses for staging fruit mash. However, it is desirable to add to them at least a little fermented ( industrial production), since it is impossible to predict how wild races will behave.

Consider strains suitable for home brewing.

bakery

In the old days, our grandmothers used them. Able to ferment the wort to a fortress no higher than 12 °. They die at higher concentrations of alcohol. On the current market are:

Pressed (raw). Convenient in that they can be added directly to the mash without pre-training. But they require a large hydraulic module. For a guaranteed result, take 1 to 5 (1 kg of sugar and 5 liters of water). This is inconvenient because it requires a large fermentation tank and there is not always a distillation cube to distill the entire mash at one time. In addition, moonshine on baker's raw yeast often has bad smell and taste.
Dry. Good from the point of view of organoleptics: the distillate will not have a pronounced yeasty taste and smell. The disadvantages are the same as for raw ones.
Instant(high-speed dry) have an increased lifting force. Fermentation will be violent and fast. The term also includes the ability to ferment sucrose. Many species can be stored for up to two years in a sealed bag.

Wine

Among all strains - the best. , obtained with their help, is completely devoid of the specific smell of "collective farm" alcohol. In addition, they are required 10 times less than dry bakery or alcohol. But also not without drawbacks:

high price;
long fermentation, up to a month;
not everywhere you can buy, although writing through the online store is not a problem.

beer

They are very rarely used in home brewing, as they die, bringing the mash to 4.5-5 degrees. All the sugar in the wort will not be processed, and you will not get the expected amount of moonshine.

Important. The sugar remaining in the mash negatively affects the organoleptics of the final product. That is, the taste and smell of moonshine will be unpleasant.

This is also explained by the fact that, having brought the strength of the wort to critical for itself, the yeast begins to “sick”, while releasing more toxins (), and then completely die.

Brewer's yeast is used only for grain wort, in which there are few sugars.

Turbo Yeast

This type is supplied to the market in bags with dry granules inside. More often they are intended for baking and moonshine at the same time. The resistance of the races is not the same, so see the explanation on the packaging. Advantages:

Able to ferment wort up to 14-18°, and some species - up to 20°.
For them, a hydromodule 1:4 and even 1:3 is suitable (if indicated on the package).
There are species on which the numbers 24 or 48 are indicated - this is the time for which you can get a mash ready for distillation. But this is in ideal conditions by temperature, hydromodulus, quality of ingredients. In real life, you will receive ready-made mash in 2-4 days.
Do not require, they are already in the composition.

Therefore, the advantages include saving space and speed of fermentation, since they are called Turbo for a reason - fermentation is intense and fast.

The disadvantage is the price, although it is not exorbitant.

Alcoholic

Moonshiners prefer them, because they work quickly, picking up up to 16-18 ° alcohol. They cost no more than bakery ones, and in terms of the quality of moonshine they are significantly superior to this type. Can be pressed and dry.

To buy them, just visit the nearest market, there is always a point specializing in yeast for baking and making alcoholic beverages.

Starter and desired temperature

Yeasts are at their most active at temperatures close to 30°C, so keep them warm. Although the ambient temperature in the range of 22-28 ° C is sufficient for fermentation, it is better to start the fermentation process at a higher one. That is, the temperature of the wort before the introduction of yeast cultures should be 28-30°C.

Though raw species can be applied directly to the wort (crush them and mix them thoroughly to dissolve), but they may not start immediately, but infect the brew. Practice shows that it is better to activate them first.

To do this, pour warm water into a cup or deep plate, add a pinch (spoon) of sugar to it and “knead” the yeast substance of the density of kefir. Wait for the rise, then mix with the main wort.

Note. Dry yeast (baking, alcohol, Turbo) requires mandatory activation before making. They need to be separated.

If they do not rise for 15-30 minutes, they cannot be used for mash, otherwise you will destroy the entire product.

Manufacturer rating

Saf-levure and Saf-moment. There are few who do not know them. Suitable for both baking and mash. They are inexpensive and sold everywhere. The result is excellent.

Sometimes strong foaming is observed at the first stage. Therefore, fill the container only 2/3 of the volume.

Advice. At home, it is possible to extinguish the foam by crushing 1-2 cookies on the surface of the mash.

Belarusian. Many online stores offer them. The cost is moderate. Among the assortment there are wine - an excellent choice for fruit mash.

Peculiarities. If there are usually no complaints about raw Belarusian alcoholic yeast, then many complain about dry ones. Do not rush to throw them away, because they need to be activated. Moreover, the “launch” of capacity can take up to 1.5-2 hours, sometimes they are left in warm water all night. Then fermentation goes quickly and harmoniously.

"Regional" alcohol. Surely in every region there is a yeast factory that produces products for moonshine. Many people like Krasnodar intoxicated, Puriferm Moscow, Voronezh, Derbenevskiye, Mayskiye, etc.
Turbo Yeast. Among the brands that are popular with Russian distillers are English Alcotec, DoubleSnake, Bragman, Turkish Pakmaya Cristal. The yeast is excellent, but we sent it to the fourth stage due to the rather high price.
Chinese are gaining popularity, but there are a lot of questions for them: they stink strongly during fermentation, it is strictly forbidden to try mash. But they have proven themselves well on grain mashes - they work without saccharification and malt, they give a pure distillate.

Answers to frequently asked questions

- How much yeast should be taken per 1 kg of sugar when making mash?

Proportions worked out by many years of practice: for each kilogram of sugar - 100 g of raw pressed (without a difference - alcohol or bakery) or 20-25 g of dry. Wine will need only 2-5 g in terms of 10 liters of mash (not for sugar). However, do not forget to read the recommendations on the yeast you bought - although slightly, the proportions may differ.

- How to properly breed yeast for mash?

Put the required amount of yeast in suitable dishes(deep plate, mug, etc.). add a spoon / pinch of sugar, a cup of warm water (30 ° C) and wait until they come up with a foamy head. Then add to the wort with a temperature not exceeding 30 ° C and mix thoroughly.

Important. Yeast is added to last turn, after the sugar has been dissolved.

- How much yeast is needed for 40 liters of mash?

The question is posed incorrectly, since the calculation is based on the amount of not water, and sugar(see: ). Therefore, we calculate for various hydraulic seals:

1 to 3 (where 1 kg of sugar for every 3 liters of water). 40:3=13.3 kg of sugar. This means that yeast will need 1.3 kg of raw, 250-260 g of dry. Wine - up to 20 g.
1 to 4 is the golden ratio. We consider the same way: 40:4=10. respectively, 1 kg pressed, 200 g dry.
1 to 5 - for fast fermentation. 40:5= 8. So 800 g raw or 160 g dry.

- What happens if you put more yeast in the mash than the norm?

Significant bust will lead to more rapid fermentation in the initial stage. This can lead to foam overflowing over the top of the container, clogging of the water seal and its failure, rupture of the glove with further spillage of the mash on the floor.

But if the bust is moderate, then nothing special will happen, except that the sediment will be more at the end of fermentation.

Important. Strain the mash before distillation. This is a salvation from burning and the pungent smell of distillate.

- What happens if there is little yeast in the mash?

In this case, fermentation may slow down. But also based on the amount of shortfall. For example, on the forums, moonshiners using Southeast Asian or Pakmaya yeast put 80 g per 5 kg of sugar (although the norm is 100 g). And not because they like it so much, but because this yeast has such a packaging. This does not affect the amount of fermented alcohol.

But the opinion that the fusel smell is weaker if you put less yeast is wrong. Significantly affects the "aroma" technology violation, not less or large quantity yeast.

- Is it possible to reuse yeast from the mash that has won back?

Such experiments are carried out by many distillers, but they are not always successful. Work well wild yeast(sediment) from fruit and berry raw materials, grapes, honey. There is also a method:

During fermentation with imported alcohol yeast, approximately in the middle of the process (while fermentation is going on rapidly), a liter or two of wort is poured.
Add 200 grams of sugar.
Put under a water seal in a warm place.
When the fermentation becomes violent, they put a new mash on this sourdough.

According to reviews, this can be done 2-3 times. Then pathogenic fungi are “connected” to the yeast, which absorb sugar, but do not give out alcohol. As a result, fermentation was normal, and there was a large shortage of alcohol. Therefore, it is better to use new yeast every time.

What happens if you use expired yeast?

Expiration date - conditional numbers. If the yeast was stored in inappropriate conditions, then even before the end of the specified term, they will cease to be active. And in the freezer raw yeast can be stored up to 2 years. Here they seem to fall asleep, and when thawed and activated, they are reborn.

Therefore, if you want to use old yeast, try activating it as described above. If it works out, and the head of foam is persistent and growing - this yeast should not be thrown away, it will still serve the cause of creating homemade alcohol. If fermentation does not start at all or goes sluggishly, although the conditions are appropriate, throw it away and buy new ones.