Moonshine from corn - homemade bourbon.

- America's favorite homemade alcohol. In fact, this is moonshine from corn, since this cereal grows the most in the country. The original product of the American continent, it was from there that he came to us.

When America was just settling in, traditional European cereals such as barley, wheat, rye were in short supply, but corn fields stretched everywhere. Saving their "native" grain for food, the newly-minted Americans adapted to make bourbon - on the principle of whiskey, only from corn.

The enterprising Irish, of whom there were many on another continent, began to send bourbon to their country by ship. And then the Irish noticed that barley whiskey, infused in barrels after bourbon, acquires special notes in taste and aroma, which cannot be achieved by aging in new barrels.

Reference. And today, Irish whiskey producers buy barrels from America that were previously used to age bourbon.

Kicked out and aged according to the rules, but not in the USA, the drink is just corn moonshine. A cognac-like ban, but it won't stop us! We, too, can make bourbon and show it off to guests.

Braga is prepared in several ways:

on malt. Moreover, mainly on barley, it is possible on rye or wheat (it doesn’t matter, it almost doesn’t affect the taste). Corn is not germinated, since all attempts give a very small yield of moonshine. Use cereals or corn flour;
on artificial enzymes. This is amylosubtilin or glucavamorin, which you can buy in specialized stores for brewers and distillers.

The second method is simpler, but natural saccharification with malt will allow you to make the most natural product.

Note. In theory, 845 ml of moonshine can be obtained from 1 kg of raw corn (cereals or flour). In practice, this is difficult to achieve. 700-750 ml is considered a good indicator.

Only strict adherence to the temperature regimes indicated in the recipe guarantees the correct saccharification and breakdown of sugars to a state in which yeast can process them into alcohol. So thermometer(bimetallic with probe or electronic) – device required. The exact temperature cannot be determined by eye, but all efforts can be nullified.

Step by step bourbon making

For 7 liters of water take:

1.5 kg of flour or corn grits;
300 g of malt (hand-made or purchased);
25-30 g of pressed yeast or 5-7 g of dry.

Important. For the first sample, this amount will be enough, since it is necessary to make a mash in a water bath, otherwise the porridge may burn and spoil the taste of moonshine.

Prepare two pots. For example, 9 and 20 liters.

Pour a third of water into a large one, place a smaller one into it, into which pour 6 liters of water. Put on the fire and heat until the temperature of the water in the smaller saucepan is 50°C.
Slowly pour in the grits in a stream, stirring all the time to avoid lumps. Keep at the same temperature and stirring for 15 minutes.
Heat to 65°C, moderate the heat, trying to maintain the temperature at the same level for another 15 minutes. Stir.
Add a liter of water (it can be hot, but not boiling water). Bring the mash to 80°C. Turn off the heat, cover and keep the temperature at least 75°C for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the malt. Grind (if dry) to fine grains (not flour), skip green in a meat grinder.
Remove the smaller pot from the larger one, cool the "porridge" to 65°C by placing it in a tub or sink of cold water.
Pour in the malt and mix thoroughly so that no lumps form.
Wrap the covered pot in a blanket, jacket, etc. and leave in this form in a warm place for 7-8 hours (overnight). This time is needed for saccharification of the mash.
In the morning, add the yeast, checking the temperature of the mash. It should be in the range of 25-30°C. If higher, refrigerate, otherwise the yeast will die.
Put under a water seal (glove) in the room.
After 3-7 days, the mash is ready for distillation. Drain from the sediment with a straw, without touching the bottom.
Drive twice. The first time is direct. Second - .

From cornmeal

You can make distillate from flour in a simpler way. You will need:

1.5 kg of corn flour;
250 g green malt;
25 g raw yeast or 5 g dry;
6 liters of water.

Leaving 1 liter, heat the water to 50 ° C and fall asleep, stirring, flour. Stir all the time until the mixture becomes thick. Let stand for half an hour without heating. Heat again until the thermometer reads 70°C. Slowly warm up for an hour and a half so that the porridge becomes homogeneous and boiled.

Grind green malt with a blender (meat grinder), stir in a liter of warm water (25-29 ° C) with yeast. Let stand warm to start fermentation. Cool the mass cooked from flour so that its temperature is 28-30 ° C, and mix with the malt-yeast mixture. Let it roam. It is possible - without a water seal, but under a lid. Then distill twice.

From corn grits

In this option, prepare the ingredients:

corn grits - 4 kg;
wheat flour - 0.5 kg;
water - 15 l;
barley malt - 3.5 kg;
yeast - 50 g raw (10 g dry).

In a large bowl, combine water, cornmeal and wheat flour. Heat to a boil and cook for at least four hours, stirring occasionally. Then remove and wrap well. You can - at night, or for 7 hours. Unroll and measure the temperature. At 40°C add ground malt and at 30°C add yeast. After the end of fermentation in a warm place, distill twice.

From corn kernels without yeast

For this recipe, prepare corn malt, and add sugar to increase the yield of moonshine. Take:

5 kg of corn in grain (preferably sugar);
5.6 kg of sugar;
17 liters of water.

Important. First, check the germination of the grains. Fill with water, put a handful of grains in heat for 3 days. If germination is not observed, you need to purchase other grains.

In a fermentation tank, fill the grains with two liters of heated, but not hot, water. Add sugar - 8 cups. Mix, leave at room conditions for germination.

When noticeable sprouts appear, pour in 15 liters of water, pour in the sugar remaining according to the recipe, mix. Place under water seal. After about 2 weeks, fermentation will be completed. Drive twice.

From corn with sugar

You need a coarse grind of corn. a meat grinder will help with this. Replace yeast with peas.

Ingredients:

corn - 4 kg;
peas - 1 kg;
sugar - 8 kg;
water - 13 liters.

Put the corn passed through a meat grinder into a saucepan, add dry peas, leave it at room conditions for 10 days. You will see how impurities (husks) collect on the surface. Now add sugar and add 10 liters of water. After that, fermentation will intensify, but it should end in a week. Strain the Braga and make a double distillation.

Moonshine from corn on enzymes without malt

The recipe is quite simple, the result is bourbon-flavored moonshine. All you need is enzymes, which you can buy online. Need to:

3 kg of corn grits (flour);
2 kg of rye flour;
20 liters of water;
15 g of amylosubtilin and glucavamorin;
25 g dry (120 g raw) yeast.

Boil the water and in a thin stream, stirring all the time, pour in one and the other flour. Clumping must not be allowed.

Wrap the container for 2 hours. After the time has elapsed, the mass should cool down to 80°C.
Add amylosubtilin first, stirring constantly.
When the mass has cooled to 67°C, add glucavamorin, mixing the mass again.
Wrap the pot for 2 hours. During this time, under the influence of enzymes, the starch from the grain will turn into glucose.
Open the pan and let the mass cool down to 25-28°C. Pour in the yeast.
Leave for fermentation.
Distill the ripened mash twice.

To bring the resulting moonshine to the title of bourbon, dilute it to a fortress of 40 ° and keep it on oak chips, bark. If there is a barrel, use it.

How do you drink bourbon?

Although American snobs consider drinking bourbon a special art that not everyone knows, you can also learn it in a matter of minutes.

not divorced

Bourbon has a strength of 40 °, so it is considered a drink for real men. Drink it from a small glass, widened at the top, with a thick bottom, following these rules:

First, look at eye level - evaluate the color.
Slightly warm the drink in your hands through the glass.
Smell. With a certain fantasy, you will feel the aromas of vanilla, wood, cigars, chocolate, etc.
Take a little bourbon in your mouth, hold to feel and appreciate its taste. Take a sip and immediately exhale through your mouth.

Meat, vegetables, fruits, cheese are used as snacks. In general, everything is the same as in the case of whiskey. And some Americans believe that bourbon should be paired exclusively with a cigar.

In the drinking culture of many peoples there is moonshine and drinks prepared on its basis. Moonshine from corn in America is used in the recipe for the preparation of bourbon whiskey. Learn how to make moonshine from corn at home from this article.

Home brew

For mash we need:

Corn grits (can be replaced with cornmeal).
Yeast - 25 grams pressed or 5 grams dry.
Green malt (barley) - 200 grams.
Water 5 liters.

The choice between corn grits and flour is not fundamental, since this absolutely does not affect the taste of the finished drink.

Advice! It is important to observe the correct temperature regime. Therefore, you will have to stock up on a thermometer.

First you need to prepare the mash - porridge, which will be the basis for the mash. Heat the water to 50 ° C, slowly pour in the cereal, without stopping stirring. It is important that there are no lumps in the mash.

When all the cereals are covered, the heating temperature increases to 65 ° C and the mash is boiled with constant stirring for another 15 minutes. Next, cook for another 20 minutes while maintaining a temperature of 75-80 ° C. Cover the mash with a lid and let stand.

In the meantime, grind green malt (sprouted grains) in a meat grinder. If dry malt is used, it must be crushed.

Malt is added to the mash when its temperature drops to 65°C. Everything is mixed, the container is wrapped in a warm blanket, and the mash is sent to a warm place for 7 hours. The composition will saccharify and the wort will acquire a sweetish aftertaste, the color will darken significantly, and the consistency will become thinner.

The temperature of the mash should be reduced to 25 ° C and diluted yeast should be added. The wort is poured into a fermentation tank, on which a water seal is installed. For fermentation, mash needs a dark place with room temperature.

After 6 days, the fermentation process will end, the mash will become light. This is a signal that you can already do the distillation.

Distillation

Before starting the mash distillation process, it must be filtered through gauze. Large particles that can burn during the distillation process contribute to the deterioration of the taste of the finished product.

The first distillation is carried out without dividing the yield into fractions. It should turn out about one and a half liters of raw alcohol, the strength of which should be 30 °.

Ready corn distillate is diluted with water by about 20%, and you can proceed to the second distillation. If desired, before this, you can clean the distillate through a charcoal filter. When re-distilling, the moonshine at the outlet is already divided into fractions, the first and last 100 ml are selected. The result should be 700-800 ml of strong moonshine (40-45 °).

We breed the finished product, clean it from fusel oils through a charcoal filter and leave it for two days. After that, the moonshine is ready for use. Corn moonshine has a sweet aftertaste and a subtle corn smell. The color of the drink is slightly yellowish.

Corn moonshine without yeast

It is believed that moonshine without yeast is of better quality than its yeast counterpart. The technology for making such moonshine is somewhat more complicated, but if you want to get a good result, then you can try.

We will need:

Corn kernels - 5 kg.
Sugar - 6.5 kg.
Water - 17 liters.

First you need to germinate the corn kernels. To do this, corn is poured with 2 liters of water, here we add 8 cups of sugar and leave it for germination. Corn is tedious to take sweet and tender, the better the feedstock, the more harmonious the drink will turn out.

Advice! Before putting corn to germinate, first test it. To do this, place a few grains in water and leave for 3 days. If the sprouts do not hatch, then corn is not suitable for making moonshine.

When the sprouts are clearly visible, the remaining sugar and water are added to the raw material, everything is mixed well. After that, the mash is sent for fermentation under a water seal. Such a braga will stand for about 2 weeks. The fact that the fermentation process has ended will be indicated by the absence of bubbles and the brightened wort. Distillation of corn moonshine without yeast is carried out in the manner described above.

Making homemade bourbon

Corn moonshine can be significantly improved by making homemade bourbon from it. It is known that real whiskey is infused in oak barrels. But at home, oak chips can be used as an alternative. You need to insist at least three months. Such a drink will not be ashamed to serve guests.

Important! If it is planned to prepare homemade bourbon from corn moonshine, then only green malt must be included in the composition of the raw materials.

The dominance of counterfeit alcohol on the shelves is forcing more and more people to engage in moonshine and winemaking. Take note of the preparation of corn moonshine, and you can always enjoy the taste of good homemade bourbon.

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The art of boredom lies in the desire to tell everything. (WITH)

Bourbon appeared at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century in the city of Paris (Bourbon County, Kentucky, USA). More precisely, 1821 dates back to the first surviving advertisement for a new drink with that name. The recipe itself was known before.

The main difference between bourbon and European whiskey is that bourbon is made from corn, not barley.

Most whiskey made in the US is bourbon and is officially the national drink of the US.

This is my fault too, I admit.

Therefore, these 77 pages were sent to the "marquee line", where everyone can freely study and develop them.

And in the near future I will try to fill the founding theme with the "framework" of making bourbon from natural raw materials. Everything important and interesting from the 77 archive pages will be transferred here.

If you don’t take the industrial production of our days as a guideline (don’t take it, don’t - it’s a very bad guideline), then it’s easy to remember that bourbon is just rustic moonshine made from corn and nothing more.

In this case, it is quite appropriate to call your drinks made from corn corn moonshine, corn whiskey, corn American whiskey and, finally, corn bread wine aged in an oak barrel.

If you are interested in Scottish, Irish, English whiskey, then you should read this article.

The main raw material for the manufacture of bourbon is corn, or more precisely, [unmalted] corn grain. Composition of corn grain.

Regarding the practical side of the issue, I can recommend city residents to buy delicious corn grits in the store. In most cases, whole grain corn or, even worse, crushed corn from "cattle markets" and compound feed outlets produces a much less tasty raw bourbon, requiring a subsequent long maturation in a barrel. And the result is a mediocre bourbon. Bourbon made from tasty corn is perfectly drunk without any barrel aging, it tastes soft and sweet.

As you may have read on many sites carefully written for you by PR managers, in order for a drink to be called bourbon, in addition to the place of manufacture, the amount of corn in the feedstock is important. Corn must be at least 51%. If you put from 40 to 75 percent of corn, you still get a pronounced corn moonshine, which, after barrel aging, you can brazenly call bourbon.

Malt in this case should be taken the most "light", in professional terms - with the least color. The color of malts is marked from 0 to 1500 color units. Malts with a designation of 2-15 color units are perfect for making bourbon mash.

Usually the cheapest brewing malts are Russian, they can be called: light barley malt, light wheat malt, light rye malt. Imported malts most suitable for use in this process may have the following names: Pilsen, Munich, Vienna, Pale ale.

For a quick and efficient process of making mash from unmalted grains, it is required to take 25-30 percent of dry malt from the total mass of the grist.

There is a particularly "strong" malt called diafarin. Now it is also increasingly appearing on sale. It can be used in smaller quantities, 15-20% by weight of the grist.

The places where malt is sold are a little discussed on the forum and you can find even more on the Internet by search engines.

Green malt is the strongest and requires the least amount. It is usually enough to take from the total mass of the grist 15% of dry grain for green malt.

The final recipe is always up to you. The main thing is to understand the essence of the recipe.

But in itself, pure ethyl alcohol is a straightforward thing, its taste and smell are simple to disgrace, and intoxication from it differs significantly from intoxication caused by a good distillate.

It is the accompanying substances that bring everything interesting to alcohol - both taste and aroma, and that very other intoxication. It is a mixture of various grains (corn + rye, wheat, barley, oats, etc.) and some kind of malt (or a mixture of malts) that will allow you to make your bourbon shine with facets of taste and aroma.

Even a simple combination of corn and one type of malt makes it possible to make a delicious distillate that turns into bourbon after aging in a barrel. I repeat, if only bourbon produced according to the “place of origin condition” can cause aesthetic pleasure in you, make corn moonshine and enjoy it. Enjoy before barrel aging, during barrel aging and after barrel aging.

Just in case, for beginners and guests, I will give specific examples of recipes, knowing from many years of experience that it is “finally clearer” this way:

2. Corn 85%; grain for green malt 15%. Grain for green malt can be in the form of wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc. If you read this topic, you will find out that it is still easier to germinate wheat or rye on your own.

3. Corn 80%; diafarin 20%.

4. Corn 51%; rye 24% (in the form of cereals or flour, better than wallpaper); brewing barley or wheat malt with color up to 15 units. col. - 25%.

5. Corn 51%; rye 12%; barley 12%; brewing wheat malt 25%

6. Corn 51%; wheat 24%; brewing rye malt 25%.

7. Corn 51%; barley 24%; brewing wheat malt 25%

In the matter of preparing grain distillates, it is impossible to separate the equipment and the preparation process, they are tightly tied to each other.

In corn, other grains and malt, starch constitutes the largest amount of all substances, from which, in the course of a certain process, we obtain ethyl alcohol with related substances.

Each "ball" in the figure is a molecule of glucose, a type of sugar. Yeast, which produces alcohol for us from sugars, is not able to process starch directly. We must prepare it for them. This is done with the help of malt enzymes, which “cut” the starch molecule into edible sugars for yeast.

However, in the grain, starch is securely "hidden" inside the cell and enzymes cannot easily get to it. In addition, in dry form, starch and malt enzymes cannot interact - this is only possible in an aqueous solution. To ensure the access of enzymes to starch, grain is crushed and then boiled. During brewing, the cells are destroyed and starch becomes available for the action of malt enzymes.

Speaking in Russian, a liter of mash should contain as much malt and grain as the yeast can process quickly and efficiently.

If we put a little grain and malt, we will use the containers irrationally and will needlessly heat a large amount of mash with a low alcohol content for a long time.

If too much grain and malt is added, fermentation will be slow and stop before all the fermentable sugars have been completely processed - yeast cannot ferment well in solutions that are too thick. A significant part of what we put in excess of the norm will simply not be recycled and, at the end of the process, will simply be thrown away.

From a practical point of view, the minimum ratio (hydraulic ratio) of 1 part grain/malt to 4 parts water is sufficient for the yeast to work comfortably.

Above this ratio is determined by the equipment that the distiller uses to put the mash on the grain mash and then distill the mash.

1) Direct heating of the cube and mash inside the cube - by fire; tenami; induction hob

2) Heating the mash with a "jacket" cube (jacket with superheated steam; water bath)

3) Heating the mash with live steam - in this case, the steam is supplied directly to the mash.

1. Corn (in the form of groats or crushed grains) must be boiled to ensure the release of starch from the cells and its availability for malt enzymes.

2. Boiled corn "porridge" should be cooled down a little and ground malt should be added, bringing the total temperature of the mixture to 63 degrees, +/- 2 degrees.

3. The resulting mixture must be kept at this temperature for at least 2 hours, or more.

Very accurate, down to a degree, temperature compliance is optional. It is desirable to remain in the range of 60-65 degrees, a decrease slightly below 60 is acceptable, but an increase in excess of 65 for a period of more than 10 minutes is unacceptable. At temperatures below 60 degrees, the work of the malt enzyme, which produces fermentable sugars from starch, is slower than when it is in the range of 60-65. But it happens.

And an increase in temperature above 65 degrees leads to the destruction of the enzyme. Destruction does not occur instantly, so if you, when mixing boiled corn porridge with malt, get the temperature of the mixture above 65 - it's okay, the main thing is to lower the temperature within a few minutes.

4. After 2 hours, the saccharification of starch in its bulk passes and you can cool the mixture to the temperature of the yeast, and then set the yeast. Even if some of the starch is not saccharified, this will be completed during fermentation, since the enzyme will continue to work further during fermentation. At low temperatures, the enzyme also works, but it happens more slowly.

Let me express my personal opinion - the importance of yeast in the matter of obtaining bourbon (as well as any grains) is on. eleventh place. Therefore, I can safely advise beginners to use any baker's yeast from a rural stall. If you want to have fun, you are always welcome, the Internet is full of offers of "special" yeast.

5. Upon completion of fermentation, which in the case of good grain mash can last only 2-3 days, the resulting mash will need to be distilled, obtaining raw bourbon. But if you don’t succeed in distilling right away - it’s okay - close the lid more tightly, even in the apartment the mash will calmly stand for a month.

I’ll clarify a small detail, if suddenly you were previously engaged in the distillation of sugar mash: when distilling from grain, not filtered mash, you need to drive it almost “dry”, up to 3-4% alcohol meter readings. Braga is very reluctant to "part" with alcohol content. It is also impossible to separate the head and tail parts - because the thick porridge is already boiling from above, and remains cold from below.

Raw can immediately be distilled again, separating the initial ("heads" and final ("tails") part. Discussions on the forum about the selection of heads or tails in the distillate stream in the region of "so many percent" of the alcohol meter strength are completely erroneous. Since the type of distillation apparatus , and the power supplied to it, and the temperature of the cooling water in the "moonshine vapor condensation device", and the type of such device itself, and the initial strength of the poured raw material are completely different.

A somewhat more accurate criterion can be the percentage of AS - absolute alcohol. If after the first distillation you received, for example, 10 liters of raw alcohol with a strength of 30%, then in total you got 3 liters of Absolute Alcohol.

None of us have seen this Absolute Alcohol, but we all operate with the concept of it. To obtain a tasty distillate, it is enough to select 10% of the head and 10% of the tail of the distillate. The figures, of course, are also averages, but they are guaranteed to fit any type of simple distillation apparatus.

Usually the strength of the obtained second distillate in the receiving container is from 50 to 70%.

Further, to obtain a classic bourbon, oh, sorry, corn moonshine, you need to pour the resulting distillate into an oak barrel. You can pour distillate of any strength, but if you put the barrel in a damp cellar, it is better to make a strength of 50-55%. And if the barrel with distillate will stand in the apartment, then it is better to make the fortress 45-50%.

The legend says (well, you must have read, right?) that the barrel must be charred from the inside.

Believe me, if the barrel is completely unfired, after 3-8 months of aging, no one will say what the barrel was like. But anyone will say that you poured him a bourbon.

So don't bother with a scorched barrel.

You will have to freeze on the barrel itself. Nowadays, buying a barrel is extremely simple and it is not expensive. Type in the search on the forum (or on the Internet) "oak barrels" and everything will be decided simply and happily.

It is impossible to pour distillate into a new barrel and even into a barrel soaked with water.

Why is explained here, here and here.

Therefore, after 3 months you can get a delicious young bourbon, and after 6-8 months - a very tasty bourbon.

Buying quality bourbon today is quite expensive, but making good quality homemade bourbon is not so difficult. To do this, you need to carefully study the manufacturing technology, as well as seriously approach the choice of ingredients. With due diligence, such bourbon can not only be enjoyed in the family circle, but also surprise guests with an exquisite drink.

In the article:

Preparing to make a drink at home

The bourbon recipe originated in North America during its colonization by the British. In America, this alcoholic drink is still made at home today. After all, for its manufacture does not need to create special conditions.

Bourbon is a variation of whiskey made from corn and aged in special charred oak barrels. Before the drink acquired the taste that made bourbon famous all over the world, over the course of decades, the recipe underwent various changes in the composition and ratio of ingredients, and the preparation technology also changed.

Undoubtedly, the process of preparing a quality drink with a traditional taste is not so simple, however, knowledge of certain nuances will positively affect the taste of the finished product:

To make a classic bourbon, the starch content of the corn and mash dry mix ingredients must be high. In order for its quantity to be sufficient, you can make up for the lack of flour.
Since the mash mixture is three-quarters corn and malt, one-fourth can be supplemented with ingredients of your choice. From these components, the taste of the finished bourbon can change significantly;
After completion of the distillation procedure, it is desirable to filter the semi-finished product using a carbon filter.
If the drink is infused with oak chips, then you can buy it at liquor stores that sell elite drinks, or at woodworking plants. The second option is even better. It should also be remembered that the taste of the finished drink depends on the type of burning of wood chips. For example, a light roast gives the drink fruity notes, a medium roast gives a caramel flavor, and a heavy roast gives the drink a chocolate flavor.

An important point is the fact that only purified water is suitable for diluting already prepared and aged bourbon.

Those who are seriously interested in making bourbon with their own hands should start purchasing a distiller for alcoholic beverages. Such devices may vary in volume and size, depending on individual preferences.

The second most important step is preparing the ingredients for making bourbon, which will be discussed below. Quality products largely determine the success of the production of the final product. That is why it is necessary to pay special attention to this issue.

An important role is given to the observance of temperature regimes in the process of preparing a drink. For these purposes, you can purchase a thermometer in advance, with which you can accurately determine the temperature of the product.

The final step is the aging of the drink. According to the technology, in order to get a high-quality classic bourbon, it is necessary to withstand alcohol in an oak barrel. In this case, you can purchase an oak barrel or use a glass container, laying out its bottom with oak chips or bark, boards. Of course, a drink aged in a barrel will be of better quality, while the second option is among the less expensive.

Ingredients for a drink, or what bourbon is made of

The composition of bourbon in its classic form is as follows:

A little less than a quarter of the dry composition for making mash can be grain or flour. Flour should have a high starch content - this is a product made from soft wheat varieties. In the event that it is decided to use grain, barley, wheat, rye or oats are suitable for these purposes.

It is these components that are needed for a traditional bourbon, prepared on its own.

How to make homemade bourbon

There are a huge number of variations in the preparation of bourbon. In some cases, the differences are almost imperceptible. Anyone who wants to learn how to prepare this drink on their own, from personal practical experience, can determine for themselves the most preferred method in accordance with their preferences. The traditional recipe can be found below.

The first stage involves careful selection and sorting of components. Damaged products must not be used. If any are found, they must be discarded.

At the second stage, heat treatment of corn and grain is carried out. In this case, you need to put the cereal (together with grain, flour) in a saucepan, pour water and boil. It is important to constantly stir the mixture to avoid the formation of lumps and burning. After boiling, you should cool the contents of the pan to about 50 C.

It is at this stage that the question arises of how much water is required to prepare the drink, because the success of the entire event depends on the amount of water for the mash and the consistency of the mixture. The ratio of 1 to 4 is considered optimal. Thus, 4 parts of water are taken for one part of the entire dry mixture.

At the third stage, you need to add malt to the resulting mixture. Its temperature should be at the level of 45-50 C. The contents of the pan must be mixed properly. In the next 5-7 hours, it is necessary to monitor the preservation of the temperature regime at this level. For this purpose, you can use a water bath. To do this, you need to put the container with the resulting mixture in a larger pot, into which water is poured. To maintain the required temperature, you should periodically turn on the fire.

The fourth stage involves the addition of yeast. To add this component, you need to cool the contents of the pan to 30 C. If the temperature is too high, they will steam. Too low a temperature adversely affects their swelling.

The fifth stage is the process of insisting the mash. The pot with mash should be put in a dry and warm place for 2-3 weeks. During this period, the formation of the necessary alcohols occurs.

At the sixth stage, the distillation process is carried out. The quality of the bourbon will be better if the brew is distilled twice. In this way, a milder taste of alcohol is achieved, and the duration of alcohol aging is also reduced.

How bourbon is aged

The final step is aging the drink. According to technology, the duration of this period is from two years. As stated above, bourbon aging requires the use of an oak barrel or the bark of this tree. In the event that this point in the preparation of the drink is not completed, then as a result, real bourbon will no longer work. That is why special attention should be paid to this process. Also, in no case is it recommended to use containers made of plastic materials. Even if the area of application allows them to be used for storing alcoholic beverages.

The acquisition of a barrel will be very useful if you intend to use it in the future for the preparation of both bourbon and other drinks, such as whiskey or cognac. The duration of exposure in this case depends on the size of the barrel. For home use, a small barrel (2-10 liters) is suitable. While a barrel containing from 10 to 50 liters requires an increase in the aging time of the drink.

In order to withstand alcohol, it is necessary to choose a dry and protected from light place. The preferred option is a basement or pantry. You can prepare such a place in a city apartment.

Thanks to personal experience in preparing this drink, unusual for our country, you can determine the optimal recipe and bring the technology of making bourbon to perfection, and then the result will not be inferior to the best varieties.

Moonshine from corn was invented by American farmers who massively drove out this inexpensive and strong drink at the dawn of the formation of the United States. During the years of the Great Depression, the production of alcohol was prohibited by dry law, but clandestine moonshining saved many farms from ruin. Corn moonshine was sold several times more expensive than its production cost, demand was constant, and no prohibitions could stop a profitable business. American moonshine made from corn, aged in oak barrels, is called bourbon. We will tell you how to make this drink with an overseas name at home.

Raw materials for corn moonshine

The traditional recipe for homemade corn moonshine begins with corn flour or cereal mash with the addition of malt (rye, wheat, barley). Fermentation requires sugar, and malt promotes its release from starch. Instead of malt, special enzymes amylosubtilin and glucavamorin can be used.

For mash you will need:

800 g corn grits or flour
200 g malt
4 l. clean water
50 g pressed or 10 g dry yeast

Corn mash

The preparation of the mash is as follows:

Boil water in a saucepan.
While the water is boiling, the malt must be ground in a meat grinder, coffee grinder, etc.
Pour corn grits or flour into boiled water and mix well, cover the pan with a lid and leave to steam for 1.5 hours.
When the porridge has cooled to 70 degrees, add chopped malt and mix thoroughly. Porridge will very quickly turn from thick to liquid and cool down by about 4-5 ° C.
Cover the pan with a blanket and leave for 1-1.5 hours. During this time, enzymes form sugar from corn starch, which is needed for fermentation.
Cool the wort to 30°C and transfer to a fermentation tank
Mix yeast with a teaspoon of sugar, pour a small amount of warm water (half a glass). After 10 minutes, when the yeast dissolves and swells a little, add it to the wort and stir.
Install a water seal or put a rubber glove over the neck.
Keep the wort at 25-30°C for 5 to 10 days (depending on temperature). If the temperature is insufficient, the container must be insulated or heated with an aquarium water heater.
The first 2-3 days once a day, the container must be shaken
Fermentation is completed when carbon dioxide ceases to be released, i.e. the glove deflates or the water lock subsides.

Distillation of mash from corn

After the fermentation is completed, remove the fermented mash, if it was made from flour, to remove from the sediment, and if from cereals, then with the help of gauze, squeeze the grain thoroughly and pour it into the distillation cube. If you are using a steam boiler or steam generator these operations do not need to distill everything with everything
Pour the mash into the distillation tank (it is better to use a hose to drain)
Do the first distillation without separation into fractions and select until the strength in the stream drops to 10% or the temperature in the cube is 96-97 ° C
Dilute the resulting raw alcohol to a strength of 30% and distill a second time with separation into fractions. Collect 10% of the absolute alcohol of the heads and pour them and 70% of the drinking body the rest into the tails
Dilute the resulting product to 40% and leave in a glass container for 7 days, then you can try
If the technology is followed correctly, then the final product is clean, absolutely transparent, without an unpleasant odor. In terms of quality, corn alcohol is very similar to wheat alcohol - a pleasant taste, softness and no unpleasant consequences with moderate use.

Corn moonshine without yeast

Some lovers prefer exclusively natural moonshine, believing that the classic product is moonshine from corn without the addition of yeast.

corn grains - 2.5 kg.
sugar - 3 kg.
water - 22 l.

Take corn grains and pour 1.5 liters of water, add 1 kg of sugar and mix
After a few days, when sprouts appear, add the rest of the water, add the remaining sugar and close the container with a water seal.
Put the mash in a warm place
After about two weeks, fermentation will stop, as you will know by a silent water seal or a drooping rubber glove on the neck of the container.
We distill moonshine in the same way as in the first case

How to make bourbon

The resulting moonshine is not yet bourbon. It becomes bourbon after a couple of years of storage in a charred oak barrel. American farmers received bourbon by accident: they used oak barrels from fish to transport corn whiskey. Previously, straw was burned in such barrels to eliminate the fishy smell. For a couple of months on the way, moonshine acquired an amber color and an unusual aroma. Buyers liked the drink from Bourbon - the name of the district where whiskey was made.

At home, you can get bourbon by aging it in an oak barrel of a small volume, thus you need less time to mature, because the smaller the barrel, the faster the drink matures. But it is much easier to insist moonshine on burnt oak chips, in a glass container. It will take 4 grams of wood chips per 1 liter of 40% moonshine, pour into a bottle or jar and put in a dry, dark place for one or two weeks, no more is needed otherwise the taste will be oversaturated with tannins.