How to make delicious high-quality cognac from alcohol at home (classic, fragrant, ginger, coffee, with orange zest).

Good cognac today is a rather expensive pleasure, and not everyone wants to use cheap surrogates that adversely affect health. Therefore, connoisseurs of such a unique drink have found an excellent solution - to prepare homemade cognac on their own. And how to do it yourself?

There is an opinion among the people that making homemade alcohol is quite difficult and no less expensive than buying a finished product. However, this is not the case. With a task Anyone can do it, even a beginner. It is enough to simply follow the instructions for preparing the drink.

Why is it not recommended to drink cheap store brandy? First of all, it is unsafe, since such a drink may contain all sorts of harmful impurities, and pseudo-cognac is prepared from low-quality flavored alcohol.

A cognac drink made from alcohol or vodka, prepared at home, will help maintain health and save the family budget. And if you use only high-quality products and strictly follow the instructions for its preparation, you will get a truly unique drink, close in quality to elite brandy.

The process of making real cognac in production has a lot of technological nuances that are difficult to reproduce at home. However, there are simpler recipes, following which you can make excellent cognac from vodka or alcohol yourself.

The classic recipe for cognac at home from alcohol

Ingredients:

Cooking:

dissolve sugar in alcohol;
pour crushed tea leaves into the resulting solution, stir;
gradually add the remaining components;
place the drink in a dark cool place for 10 days (at least);
before use, strain, pour into prepared containers.

How cognac is made from oak bark

Fans of homemade alcohol consider cognac one of the best representatives of this kind of drink, which is not ashamed to be served at the table. Cognac is the most popular prepared with the addition of oak bark. This fragrant drink with a mild taste, of course, is not a real cognac, which is prepared from elite grape varieties at the factory, but it also cannot be attributed to the community of low-quality surrogates. How to make really high-quality cognac yourself?

There are many recipes for making homemade drink, some of them are given below.

How to make cognac from oak bark on vodka?

Ingredients:

high-quality vodka - 3 l;
oak bark (pharmacy) - 3 tbsp. l.;
sugar (burnt) - 2 tsp;
vanilla sachet.

Cognac from oak bark is quite simple to prepare:

The main indicator of the readiness of the drink is its color. Homemade cognac made from burnt sugar and oak bark will have a pleasant caramel hue, which becomes more intense over time.

Ready drink must be filtered, pour into beautiful bottles, cool before use.

How to make cognac from moonshine on oak bark?

Homemade cognac can also be made from moonshine.

Ingredients:

purified moonshine, diluted to 50% - 3 l;
sugar - 3 tbsp. l.;
dry oak bark - 2 tbsp. l.;
carnation - 3 inflorescences;
nutmeg - a fifth of the whole or powder on the tip of a knife;
ground coriander - 1 g or one crushed grain.

How to cook:

first place oak bark in boiling water for 15 minutes and dry well;
dissolve sugar in water (50 ml) and prepare caramel syrup;
place all prepared ingredients in a three-liter container, pour moonshine, mix well;
infuse in a dark place at room temperature for 2-4 weeks.

If the drink is placed near a heat source (for example, a heating radiator), the drink will ripen in 10 days. The finished tincture has a pronounced aroma and a rich brown tint.

Now you need to filter the drink using gauze for this. First, we get rid of large pieces of bark, with repeated filtering (already after several layers of gauze) - from small particles. And finally, we filter the drink through filter paper.

Now the cognac can be put away in a dark place for better infusion, and after a month it can be tasted.

How to make homemade cognac on oak bark from alcohol?

Another popular homemade drink. The cooking method is similar to the previous version, the only difference is in the set of components. Main Ingredients:

diluted alcohol (40-45%) - 3 l;
oak bark - 4 tbsp. l., can be replaced with oak chips - 6 pcs. (chip length 10 cm, thickness 4*4);
dried rose hips - 15 pcs.;
pepper (black) - 4 pcs.;
St. John's wort - 1 branch;
sugar - st. l.;
good large-leaf black tea - 1 tsp.

As fillers, you can use the following ingredients:

herb oregano - 15 g;
prunes - 1 pc.;
thyme - 20 g;
raisins - 1 tbsp. l.;
vanilla in a pod (3 cm) - 1 pc.

How to make cognac at home:

If at the end of this period a precipitate appears again, it is necessary to re-filter.

As you know, homemade cognac recipes on the basis of vodka and alcohol there are a lot, and all of them are very diverse and easy to perform. Drinks made from oak bark are distinguished by their aroma and unique taste, which only improves after long storage. In addition to the bark, other components that improve the taste and aroma of the drink can be used to make cognac.

Recipe for homemade cognac with coffee

We will need the following ingredients:

diluted alcohol (40%) - 1 l;
coffee - 1 tsp;
cloves - 2 pcs.;
pepper (black) - 3 peas;
sugar - 1 tsp;
Lavrushka - 1 pc.

Cooking in the following way:

dissolve sugar in alcohol;
in a separate container, mix cloves, black pepper, coffee and bay leaf;
pour the mixture into a gauze bag and lower it into an alcohol liquid;
insist in the dark for 7 days;
then remove the bag with spices and pour the drink into bottles.

Making cognac at home with walnuts

Ingredients:

alcohol diluted to 40% - 3 l;
tea brew - 1 tbsp. l.;
inner walls of walnuts - 1 handful;
vanilla sugar - 1 tbsp. l.;
cloves - 5-6 pcs.;
citric acid - at the tip of a knife;
cumin - 1 tbsp. l.

Procedure:

How to make cognac with your own hands with lemon balm and red pepper?

Ingredients:

alcohol or vodka (40%) - 3 l;
sugar - 3 tbsp. l.;
tea brew - 1 tbsp. l.;
red pepper - half a pod;
a little vanillin;
lavrushka - 5 pcs.;
melissa - 1 tbsp. l.

Cooking method:

mix all dry ingredients, while the pepper must first be ground;
add alcohol;
insist in the dark for 9-10 days;
strain the drink through gauze folded in two layers, squeeze out the sediment;
filter again.

How to make cognac at home from vodka?

Cognac made from vodka has a memorable taste, pleasant aroma and rich colors. In fact, this is not even cognac, but homemade tincture, however, in terms of its qualities, it is in no way inferior to the original drink.

In order for aromatic and taste data to be as close as possible to elite alcohol, it is necessary strictly adhere to the following recommendations:

use oak bark as the main ingredient;
a little vanillin will give the tincture an exquisite, unique taste and aroma;
to complete the drink, sugar must be added to it.

If you want to give the drink a nutty, fruity, caramel or any other note, use spices and seasonings.

How to make cognac according to an old recipe?

The original recipe for home-made skate based on alcohol or vodka involves the use of oak bark from young branches.

First, the bark must be prepared, that is, dried well in a dark place, and then chopped.

Now we take 50 g of bark and fill it with alcohol (1 l.).
We insist the drink for two weeks (at least), after which we filter and dilute to the desired strength.

If there is no possibility of self-collection of oak bark, you can buy it ready-made at any pharmacy. To surprise guests with an original home-made drink, you can use the recipe below.

Ingredients:

vodka (diluted alcohol) - 3 l;
cumin, vanilla sugar and black tea - 1 tsp each;
citric acid - 1 pinch;
carnation - 7 inflorescences.

Pour all the components with vodka, while citric acid is added last. Leave the resulting solution at room temperature for three days.

The recipe for the skate at home, as a rule, it involves the use of strong alcohol: alcohol, vodka and even moonshine. The alcohol base must be of high quality, because the final result depends on it. Thanks to the variety of variations in the preparation of homemade cognac, you can choose exactly the recipe that you like.

Attention, only TODAY!

The real one is very expensive. At the same time, there is always a degree of probability even in a well-known brand store to purchase a product with an unpleasant taste or smell, or even a product that is hazardous to health. Alternative: make your own similar drink. The budget and health benefits are clear.

The most important ingredients for making a drink are water and alcohol. To obtain a quality product, sewage water is not suitable. The best option is to use spring or distilled water, or in extreme cases, store-bought bottled water.

What alcohol to take for cognac?

Alcohol is used diluted to 40-45%. To obtain such a result, 1.3-1.4 liters of water is taken per liter of 96% alcohol. If alcohol with a strength below 96% is used, then to maintain the correct proportions, you can use the Fertman table, it is easy to find on the Internet.

Alcohol dilution rules

Mandatory rules for the dilution of alcohol:

water must be pre-cooled in the refrigerator;
alcohol is poured into water (not vice versa!);
the solution in the container must be poured to the very top in order to exclude the process of oxidation and the formation of acetic acid;
the container must be kept in a dark, dry and cool place, but at a temperature not lower than five degrees;
the solution should stand for at least one week.

All containers for making homemade cognac should be wooden or glass. Using any metal utensils will oxidize the alcohol. You also need to use vanillin very carefully, its excess will make the drink cloying.

There are many recipes for making homemade cognac using various components. There are only uniform manufacturing rules. The resulting solution is poured into an oak barrel or glass bottle. Next, the remaining ingredients are added and thoroughly mixed, preferably with a wooden spoon. The vessel is tightly closed and moved to a dark, cool place. Periodically, the container can be shaken, the drink will turn out to be more saturated. The minimum holding period is one month. Before drinking, the drink must be carefully filtered.

Consider the most popular recipes for making homemade cognac from alcohol.

The traditional recipe for cognac from alcohol

diluted alcohol - 3 liters;
oak bark (sold in pharmacies) - 3 tablespoons;
caramel (burnt sugar) - 2 teaspoons;
nutmeg - 0.5 teaspoon;
cloves - 3 heads;
vanilla sugar - a pinch.

Fragrant cognac recipe from alcohol

diluted alcohol - 3 liters;
oak bark - 1 tablespoon;
black tea - 1 tablespoon;
sugar - 3 tablespoons;
rose hips - a handful;
hawthorn berries - a handful;
dried St. John's wort - 3 tablespoons;
cloves - 10 heads.

You can add 5-6 black peppercorns, 2-3 bay leaves, a spoonful of lemon balm.

Alcohol cognac coffee recipe

diluted alcohol - 3 liters;
sugar - 3 tablespoons;
instant coffee - 3 tablespoons;
ground cinnamon - 1 teaspoon;
vanilla sugar - 15 grams;
cloves - 10 heads.

Ginger cognac recipe from alcohol

diluted alcohol - 0.5 liters;
ginger root grated on a coarse grater - 50 grams;
sugar - 200 grams;
vanillin - 5 grams;
the most chopped walnuts - 5-6 pieces.

Since people have different tastes, after the first experiments, you can experiment with the proportions of ingredients and the addition (exclusion) of various components. Feel free (but not in excess) you can add lemon juice or zest, various medicinal aromatic herbs, black pepper, nuts, dried berries or dried fruits.

This post is dedicated to true connoisseurs who want to know how to make cognac from alcohol on their own. All manipulations are easy to carry out at home, most importantly, be patient and some skill. We present to your court the best recipes for French cognac!

Cognac from alcohol: "a classic of the genre"

alcohol (wine or ethyl) - 1.5 liters.
filtered water - 1.5 l.
oak bark (sold in a pharmacy, chopped) - 110-120 gr.
sugar (melted) - 40 gr.
clove buds - 3 pcs.
nutmeg (spice) - 6 gr.
ground cinnamon, vanillin - 2 pinches each
laurel - 0.5 pcs.

First of all, take care of special dishes. You can buy a wooden barrel or use the one you already have from store bought wine. In the second case, there is no need to wash the container in order to improve the taste of the drink. Alternatively, you can take a glass container, it will not be worse from this.

1. So, let's start. In the selected container, combine water with alcohol, make sure that the fortress is at around 40-43 degrees. Otherwise, cognac will not work.

2. Sugar must be melted by placing it in a spoon and holding it over an open fire. Enter the resulting liquid mass into the original alcohol composition, mix.

3. Grind the oak bark in advance, pour it here. Enter vanillin, powdered cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and a piece of parsley. Mix and seal container.

4. That's it, now you need to insist the future cognac. The minimum holding period is 1 month. But if time permits, wait 1.5-2 months. After a specified period, pass the cognac through a water filter or folded gauze with a layer of cotton wool.

Now you know how to make a rich and fragrant cognac from alcohol. Agree, everything is quite simple to implement at home!

Homemade cognac from alcohol: a quick recipe

alcohol (wine / ethyl) - 1.5 l.
filtered water - 1.5 l.
soda - 7 gr.
potassium permanganate crystals - 2 pcs.
black leaf tea - 3 gr.
instant coffee - 12 gr.
laurel - 2 pcs.
peppercorns - 3 pcs.
vanillin - 2 pinches
granulated sugar - 0.1 kg.

Since the components are heated during the preparation of homemade cognac, it is necessary to choose heat-resistant dishes that are not afraid of heat. An enamel pot, an aluminum basin or a glass vessel will do.

1. Rinse the dishes thoroughly with soda, dry. Pour alcohol into it, then water. Be sure to make sure that the strength of this mixture does not fall below 40 degrees.

2. Immediately supply the composition with all the spices according to the recipe. Add potassium permanganate crystals, which are required to purify the final drink. Put the container with the components on the stove and set the average power.

3. Warm up and stir for 3 minutes. Then cover the container with a lid and wait for the start of seething. As soon as the first bubbles appear on the surface, immediately remove the cognac from the heat.

4. Leave the container in a cold place to let the drink cool down. After cooling, filter, bottle and let it brew. You see, making cognac from alcohol is not difficult quickly!

"Lady's" cognac

purified water - 1.5 l.
ethyl or wine alcohol - 1.5 liters.
ground oak bark - 40 gr.
lemon - 1 pc.
instant coffee - 12g.
melted sugar - 10 ml.

Before you make "Lady's" cognac from alcohol, it is worth noting that the aging period at home is only 10 days.

1. Wash the citrus and chop as finely as possible along with the zest. For convenience, use a blender. Send the lemon gruel to a suitable cup. Pour in alcohol and leave for 3 days.

2. Strain and dilute with water. Enter all other ingredients. Mix the composition and leave to infuse for 1 week in a dark place.

3. After that, strain the tincture again through cheesecloth or charcoal filter several times. Pour cognac into glass bottles and seal with lids. The drink can be stored for several years.

Aromatic cognac with herbs

filtered water - 1.5 l.
orange peel - 40 gr.
alcohol - 1.5 l.
walnut partitions - 17 pcs.
ground oak bark - 50 gr.
lemon balm, St. John's wort, tarragon - 3 gr.
laurel leaves - 2 pcs.
black long leaf tea - 2 gr.
allspice peas - 4 pcs.

Before you make cognac from alcohol, stock up on a collection of medicinal herbs at home.

Cognac belongs to the elite alcohol. It is made from grape wine by double distillation and aged for a long time in oak barrels. Thanks to this, it acquires a unique color, taste and bouquet, in which a variety of notes are intricately intertwined: chocolate, dried fruits, spices and other products that are not actually included in the composition. Such a noble drink cannot be cheap, but not everyone allows themselves to spend huge sums on alcohol, even if it is very good. Homemade alcohol cognac cannot compete with real French or Armenian cognacs, but it is quite capable of surpassing the budget options for cognac drinks from the nearest supermarket in taste and aroma. If you are not indifferent to cognac, but cannot afford elite alcohol, you should learn the technology of making cognac based on alcohol at home.

Cooking features

The classic technology for making cognac is complex and time-consuming. Not every gourmet will have the patience to infuse a drink in an oak barrel for at least two years. And not every house has such containers. Making cognac from alcohol in the home kitchen is a simplified process. In order to make a drink resembling noble cognac from ordinary alcohol and in a short time, you need to know a few subtleties.

Instead of long-term infusion of the drink in oak barrels, you can insist it on oak bark, crushed to the state of chips. They quickly give alcohol their flavor, slightly change its color.
To give the drink a characteristic cognac color, sugar is most often used. It is poured into a spoon and held over a fire until the sugar in it melts to a liquid state. Caramel sugar gives the drink not only a pleasant shade, but also a special flavor characteristic of natural cognac.
Tea, coffee, spices, walnut membranes and some other ingredients allow you to tint the drink and make its bouquet richer.
Alcohol for making homemade cognac is not used pure, but diluted with filtered water up to 40 degrees.
The longer you insist the alcohol base on aromatic raw materials, the richer the bouquet of the finished drink will be and the more it will resemble cognac.
Before serving, homemade cognac must be filtered through cheesecloth or cotton pad folded in several layers. It is unacceptable that it looks cloudy.

You need to drink homemade cognac almost the same as real one, but you shouldn’t warm it in your hands too much, because of this the smell of alcohol may become too pronounced, which will distort the bouquet.

A simple recipe for cognac from alcohol

diluted alcohol (40%) - 1 l;
sugar - 5 g;
black tea (brewing) - 5 g;
black peppercorns - 2 pcs.;
bay leaf - 1 pc.;
vanillin - a pinch;
zest of an orange or lemon - from 1/4 fruit.

Cooking method:

Pour the tea leaves at the bottom of the bottle.
Put spices and grated zest to it.
Scoop the sugar into a spoon and hold it over the fire until it melts.
Add vanilla to sugar.
Pour the melted sugar into a container with alcohol, shake.
Pour alcohol into a container with tea and spices.
Close the bottle tightly and put it in a cool place (not necessarily in the refrigerator).
Shake the contents of the bottle once or twice a day.
After 10 days, filter the alcohol, pour it into a beautiful bottle and put it in the bar.

This recipe for making cognac from alcohol is considered a classic. It is so simple that many housewives prefer to cook cognac using it. But this is not the only popular homemade cognac recipe that can claim to be traditional.

Cognac from alcohol on oak bark with spices

alcohol diluted with boiled water up to 40 degrees - 1 liter;
oak bark - 20 g;
carnation - 1 pc.;
cinnamon - 1 cm;
nutmeg - on the tip of a knife;
vanillin - a pinch;
sugar - 10 g.

Cooking method:

Dilute alcohol with water to the desired concentration. You can take equally pure 96 percent alcohol and boiled water. Then the cognac will turn out a little stronger than 40 degrees, but this is acceptable.
Melt the sugar by holding the spoon with it over the fire.
Add to diluted alcohol, mix.
Place a clove and chopped oak bark in the bottom of a suitably sized container. It can be prepared independently or purchased at a pharmacy. As a container, you can use a wooden wine barrel or a glass jar.
Break off a small piece from the cinnamon stick and add to other ingredients.
Add vanilla and nutmeg.
Pour the oak bark and spices with alcohol in which you diluted the sugar.
Close the container with a lid, put in a dark place.
Steep alcohol on oak bark and spices for at least 4 weeks.
Filter the drink through cheesecloth folded in several layers.
Pour into a bottle of real cognac, cork.

You will enjoy the noble taste and aroma of cognac drink prepared according to this recipe.

Cognac from alcohol with coffee

wine or medical alcohol (ethyl) - 0.5 l;
boiled water - 0.5 l;
lemon - 1/4 pc.;
oak bark - 10 g;
sugar - 5 g;
black coffee (instant powder) - 5 g.

Cooking method:

Wash the lemon well, cut off a piece of the desired size, cut it into small pieces, put it in a jar, fill it with 96-degree alcohol. Close the bank. Leave in a cool but dark place for three days. Shake daily.
Strain alcohol, dilute with water.
Melt sugar, mix with prepared liquid.
Pour oak bark and coffee into a jar or barrel, fill with diluted alcohol.
Insist in a dark cool place for 10 days.
Pass the drink twice through a cotton pad.

Experts say that ladies especially like cognac prepared according to this recipe.

Cognac from alcohol on walnut membranes

alcohol diluted to 40 degrees - 1.5 l;
walnut membranes (from walnuts) - 10–15 g;
cumin - 5 g;
cloves - 2 pcs.;
vanilla sugar - 10 g;
black tea - 5 g;
oak bark - 5 g;
citric acid - on the tip of a knife.

Cooking method:

Pour sugar into a tablespoon, heat over fire so that it dissolves to a liquid state.
Mix sugar with alcohol previously diluted to 40 degrees.
Add citric acid, mix again.
Pour spices and spices into the bottom of a wooden barrel or jar.
Fill with alcohol.
Seal the jar and place in a cool, dark place for a month or two.
Filter the alcohol, pour into beautiful containers, cork.

Cognac, made from alcohol according to the above recipe, is not a shame to offer even gourmets who are well versed in alcohol.

Cognac from alcohol on herbs

alcohol (95–96%) - 1.5 l;
boiled water - 1.5 l;
tarragon - 5 g;
mint - 5 g;
St. John's wort - 5 g;
dried and chopped orange peel - 20 g;
chopped oak bark - 30 g;
internal partitions of walnuts - 5 g;
sugar (optional) - to taste.

Cooking method:

Mix alcohol with water.
Pour oak bark, zest, walnut partitions, herbs into a jar or other container in which you will infuse cognac. For color and taste, you can add a spoonful of melted sugar.
Pour the aromatic base with diluted alcohol, leave to infuse for a month.
Strain the drink.

Cognac made according to this recipe has an unusual taste and aroma. Healing herbs give it the power of a balm. Such a drink is good to add to tea.

Homemade cognac cannot compete with the elite brands of this type of alcohol, which are aged for more than 10 years in oak barrels, but it turns out to be tasty and fragrant enough to treat friends to them. Compared to cheap cognac drinks, homemade cognac made from alcohol with natural flavors will seem like nectar to you.

Do you want to diversify alcoholic drinks served for the New Year holiday with exclusive alcoholic products?

Make homemade cognac, which is a good alternative to vodka or dubious brandy.

At the same time, home-made cognac from vodka / alcohol and even from moonshine is almost as good as the original in its taste. It turns out to be no less fragrant and very pleasant in taste, although it is made from simple and affordable ingredients.

Homemade cognac from vodka is much cheaper than store-bought counterparts. At the same time, you can always be sure of the quality of the product made by yourself.

« Cognac (fr. Cognac) is a strong alcoholic drink produced from certain grape varieties using a special technology.. And that says almost everything.

The main thing is said - cognac is not a simple moonshine, such as whiskey or rum, cognac is a moonshine made from grape wine! Accordingly, making real cognac at home is a very, very difficult task.

Yes, and there is no particular point in producing cognac at home - there are varieties that are quite decent in taste for sale, at a price not much higher than the cost of good vodka.

It should be noted that in Russia and in the Soviet Union almost all brandy is called "cognac", although it is well known that the brandy drink got its name from the city of Cognac (fr. Cognac), in France, and that the geographical boundaries of the area in which the production of cognac is allowed, the production technology and the very name "Cognac" are strictly defined, regulated and secured by numerous legislative acts.
Moreover, international - "Cognac" is a primordially French product.
“Drinks from other countries, as well as drinks produced in France outside the Charente region, even if they are obtained by distillation of grape wines produced in the Poitou-Charente region, do not have the right to be called cognac on the international market, such drinks are usually called brandy"

But their decrees are not a decree for us, and in our country any brandy produced using a technology close to the technology for the production of real cognac is called cognac.
According to GOST R 51618-2009 “Russian cognac. General technical conditions”, cognac is called a wine-making product with an ethanol content of at least 40.0% by volume, made from cognac distillates obtained by fractionated distillation of table wine material produced from Vitis vinifera grapes and aged in contact with oak wood for at least three years.
Clearly, clearly.
But if the drink is not produced according to GOST, without aging and not from cognac spirits, etc., then such a substance is now called brandy!
It's clear?! I got stuck with this brandy - they drive it on an industrial scale.

I had to savvy a little in this matter - in the production of a skate in general and in its taste, in particular.
It quickly became clear that cognac, as such, does not have a "cognac" taste, but always gives off something else.
Like Isabella wine, for example, it has a pure strawberry flavor (real wine, in fact), and if it doesn’t exist or the taste is very weak, then you have either a blend (mixture) or a fake in general.
So are cognacs (read brandy), depending on the area, country, etc. they have completely different tastes and smell of everything - from bedbugs to flowers. The same "Napoleon", perhaps the most famous "French" cognac to the general Russian public, smells disgusting. (By the way, Napoleon, like Extra or Grand Reserve, is not the name (brand) of cognac at all, but just a brand in cognac classification).

This state of affairs is connected with the fact that in addition to the differences in cognac spirits, due to natural differences in the feedstock and in the distillation process, the taste and aroma of the drink also changes during the first years of aging, - there is an extraction of tannins, lignin, reducing sugars extracted from wood, and, to a lesser extent, amino acids, lipids, volatile acids and oils, resins, and enzymes. Cognac alcohol acquires a golden color and is filled with woody vanilla flavors(!).
And then, over time, cognac becomes darker in color, softer and rounder. In its aroma and taste, many shades appear, among which notes of flowers, fruits and spices . (!!!)

Well, that's all ... - you can make cognac from vodka. Moreover, even if it is less than 40%, then this is quite in accordance with French laws - the strength of cognac when sold in France and abroad should not exceed 40%.

Decided - do it cognac at home.
It will not work - we will call brandy.

Naturally, I did not become the “inventor” of homemade cognac. I remember that back in the days of socialism, even in expensive restaurants, waiters "earned money" by slipping drunken visitors sweetened vodka (or moonshine) tinted with ordinary tea. So the recipe for fake cognac is more than a dozen years old, and maybe more.
A priori, it is quite clear what should be included there:
- Oak bark - for 3 years of aging, at least :).
- Tea or coffee - for color, lignin, tannin and lipids.
- Buttercups-flowers - for "fruity-floral" notes,
- and of course vanillin - for a woody-vanilla flavor.
It remains only to find a suitable recipe and it will be possible to drive "Napoleon" in buckets: o)

After rummaging through old magazines and cookbooks, looking at what “moonshine makers” recommend on the Internet (the main producers of homemade cognac are moonshine makers, this is understandable - for them, “ennobling” moonshine is a production necessity), I picked up a couple of acceptable recipes.
However, almost all of their recommendations come down to one technology - I poured all the ingredients into an alcohol-containing liquid and put it in a dark place for 3-5 weeks. An indicator that a homemade alcoholic drink can be considered ready is color.
Won't go. How long to wait to get spoiled vodka? Ah, meaning?

But, in one place I found a recipe for a quick “cooking” of cognac. In my opinion, a suitable recipe is without “exotic plants” and “foreign spices” (there are no such “notes” and aromas in ordinary cognac), and throwing out purely “moonshine” ingredients from there, intended for cleaning and softening the product along the way (such as potassium permanganate - we already have all this in our vodka), having prayed, we proceed.

Before making cognac from vodka, be sure to make sure that all the necessary ingredients are of good quality. Vodka should be bought only in a specialized store, oak bark can be purchased at a pharmacy or a special department in the market.

homemade cognac recipe:
- vodka - 3 liters;
- 1 teaspoon oak bark;
- 1 teaspoon of dry tea leaves;
- 1 teaspoon of instant coffee;
- 1 teaspoon of sugar;
- 1/2 teaspoon of soda;
- vanillin - on the tip of a knife! the main thing here is not to overdo it - just a few crystals!
- 3 pcs. peas of black pepper;
- 2 pcs. bay leaves;
- 2 pcs. cloves;
- 5 pieces. raisins;
- 1 PC. prunes;
- 0.5 gr of nutmeg;
- 4 coriander seeds (crush with a knife)

Not so everything and simply in composition. Although, you can throw out nutmeg and coriander with a clear conscience - their presence in the drink is absolutely not felt, and in fact - superfluous. The main composition ends, somewhere on black pepper.
Soda, if anyone does not know, is used to “extract” color from tea leaves - also, by the way, a recipe from long-distance trains from the times of socialism - with the help of soda, conductors from one serving of tea leaves received 3-4 full-fledged “brews” of tea for the entire car - black and okay!

Cognac making at home

Here is an approximate composition of ingredients for the production of cognac at home. In the background, the main source product is a 3-liter can of homemade vodka: o).

Sequentially pour all the ingredients into a large stainless steel saucepan. Some recommend using a glass pan for this purpose so as not to miss the moment of boiling the liquid, but I don’t have one, unfortunately - we’ll get by with a glass lid.

Pour vodka into a saucepan and put on a small fire. Close the glass lid and wait until boiling.

Subtle moment! The amount of vanillin is very difficult to measure, indicate and measure at home. We take about the same amount on the tip of the knife. It’s better not to report, in my opinion, so that there is no pronounced aftertaste ...

The hole in the lid (if any), in order not to lose "degrees", we close up with bread crumb.

When the liquid approaches the boiling point, turn off the stove and leave the cognac to cool.
DO NOT BOIL this “divine” drink!!!
Actually, this is the most difficult and crucial moment in the entire recipe for making homemade cognac.
Therefore, without a photo - you simply do not have time to perpetuate this moment!

It's not scary - you will "cook" - you will immediately understand when it "begins". It's okay, even if you turn off the heat a little earlier - degrees 90 C, apparently, the drink is already enough to "get enough".

The cooled composition is filtered through a “hygienic” towel and poured into containers and bottles.

Homemade brandy is ready! It is also home-made cognac, although not from France, and we cannot export it either: o).

The taste turned out to be quite tolerable - not Armenian cognac, of course, but not Dagestan, to be frank. In terms of color, in general - an absolutely accurate hit.
It smells nice, soft fragrant drink with hints of grapes and vanilla. If we compare it with real expensive French cognacs and brandy, then, frankly, I liked my cognac more - well, I'm not an expert, actually.

Popular homemade cognac recipes

The process of making homemade alcohol is no less exciting than kitchen witchcraft. There is in it something from ancient alchemical magic. And when to "chemize", if not before the holidays? It's time to invent your own recipe for the "elixir of life".

Homemade cognac from available ingredients (vodka or alcohol)
As already mentioned, cognac is one of the most difficult alcoholic beverages to prepare. Sticking to classic technology is very difficult. This requires certain grape varieties and special distillation cubes (alambiks).
But there is a way out, then I will tell you how to make cognac at home from the available ingredients. The taste of this drink resembles the original.

Ingredients:

vodka (alcohol 45%) - 1 liter;
oak bark - 4 teaspoons;
ground nutmeg - 0.3 teaspoons;
carnation - 5 buds;
vanilla sugar - 0.3 teaspoons;
regular sugar - 2 tablespoons;
black leaf tea - 3 teaspoons.

I advise you to take good vodka or dilute high-quality ethyl alcohol to 40-45 degrees. In many ways, the taste of cognac drink depends on the alcohol base.
Oak bark can be bought at a pharmacy or prepared by yourself. In the second case, it is enough to cut off the young bark from oak branches in June and dry it. Its bark is much more aromatic than pharmacy counterparts.

Technology for making cognac at home

1. Preparation of burnt sugar. This stage is necessary in order for the caramel shade to be felt in the drink.
In addition, it is thanks to burnt sugar that the color of our drink will resemble real cognac.

Pour sugar into a thick-walled aluminum bowl and put on a slow fire. During the melting process, sugar must be constantly stirred, otherwise it will burn. When caramel forms, remove the dishes from the stove.

2. Mixing ingredients. A clean wooden barrel is best suited for infusion, but most of us don’t have one, so we’ll get by with a regular three-liter glass jar.
Add all the ingredients to the bottle or jar, the order is unimportant. Personally, I first pour in vodka, then add burnt sugar, tea, oak bark, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla.
If you do not like the smell of any of these components, feel free to exclude it from the recipe.

3. Infusion. Stir the resulting cognac mixture well with a spatula or wooden spoon, close the lid and put in a cold dark place for 3-4 weeks (many recipes indicate at least 30 days). Prolonged infusion improves the taste.

4. Filtration. This is the final stage of making cognac at home. We just have to open the container and strain the drink through a double layer of gauze and cotton wool to remove the sediment.

The advantage of this alcohol cognac recipe is that it uses cheap and affordable ingredients that are available in every store. The process itself takes a little time, which is also very important. The only drawback is the long exposure time, but you can’t do without it.

It is clear that cognac made from alcohol only remotely resembles the original, since we did not adhere to the traditional technology, but used improvised means.

ginger cognac
Cognac according to this recipe turns out to be very original in taste. Ginger cognac is found in Brazil, and for its preparation, apples are also used there, among other things.

For our own drink you will need:

50 grams of ginger root
200 grams of sugar
vanillin - one sachet (five grams)
walnuts - five - six pieces
diluted alcohol or vodka - 0.5 liter bottle

Grate the ginger root on a grater (preferably on the largest one), chop the walnuts. Put both in a jar and add sugar and vanillin, pour alcohol.
Close the jar tightly and shake well to mix all the contents. Leave to infuse in a dark place for two to three weeks, but shake daily.
Before use, ginger cognac must be filtered.

Cognac from moonshine at home

Real cognac is made from grape spirit, but this has never stopped craftsmen moonshine. They know how to make cognac from moonshine at minimal cost. We will look at four of the best recipes that have received popular recognition.

1. Classic

Ingredients:

moonshine - 3 liters;
potassium permanganate - several crystals;
partitions of walnuts - 1 handful;
black tea - 1 tablespoon;
carnation - 6-7 buds;
cumin - 1 tablespoon;
vanilla sugar - 1 tablespoon;
citric acid - 2-3 grams.

Cooking:

1. Add potassium permanganate to a three-liter jar of moonshine. This is done so that the fusel oils precipitate. If instead of moonshine you took vodka, then potassium permanganate is not needed.

Moonshine for cognac can be cleaned by other methods or double distilled. The main thing is to get a high-quality alcohol base.

2. Add a handful of well-dried inner walnuts, black tea and clove buds to the jar.

3. Pour in cumin and vanilla sugar.

4. Citric acid is added last to the jar at the tip of the knife.

5. Close the jar tightly with a nylon lid and infuse the cognac drink for 3-4 days at room temperature.

Keeping homemade cognac for longer than 7 days is pointless, as this does not improve its taste.

6. At the last stage, the resulting cognac must be filtered through a clean cotton cloth or cotton-gauze filter.

2. With bay leaf

There is an alternative recipe for homemade cognac from moonshine (in the video), the technology for its preparation is no different from the first method, but other ingredients are used. Imitation of color and taste is achieved by adding oak bark, bay leaf and cloves to the distillate.

There is a faster way to make cognac from moonshine.

3. Express - a recipe for cognac from moonshine

Pour a liter bottle of drink with a strength of at least 50% into a pan with an enamel coating or stainless steel
The saucepan is put on fire and the following ingredients are added to it: 1 pea of black allspice, 1 bay leaf of a small size, 0.5 teaspoon of black leaf tea, soda on the tip of a knife, about two tablespoons of granulated sugar, a pinch of vanilla
Cover the saucepan and bring the contents to a temperature of 75-77 ºС, then remove the saucepan from the heat and leave covered for five minutes
Pour the drink into a jar, close it and wait for it to cool completely. Filter the resulting “cognac”, bring its strength to 40 degrees and bottle it

Five days later, the express - the resulting drink is already quite drinkable. To make such cognac even better, you can add 1/3 teaspoon of good coffee and 1-2 potassium permanganate crystals to the components added to it (eliminates the presence of fusel oils). Moonshine made with grape juice, in which oak bark has been infused for at least a month, will be amazing. But you can speed up the process and keep within just three days.

4. Cognac recipe on oak bark

For the manufacture of this "cognac" on a glass three liters of moonshine it is worth taking

3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tables. spoons of oak bark, leaf black tea without flavorings and St. John's wort, as well as chopped rose hips.
Here we add peas of black pepper (5-6 pieces)
1/3 teaspoon of cinnamon and vanilla.

The jar must be closed and placed in a place deprived of access to the sun and light. After three days, the drink is well filtered and bottled.

In addition to the above, it is worth trying other recipes for making homemade cognac from moonshine.

Cognac with milk

We take three liters of moonshine, pour it into a larger glass dish and add 200 grams of milk to the alcohol, which will instantly curdle. There is no need to be afraid, we just do not pay attention to it for now.
At the same time, we dilute 50 grams of instant coffee with slightly warm water. Pour the coffee drink into the general mixture.

It's spice time.

1 piece of ground nutmeg (nut),
4-6 cloves
and the same number of peppercorns (you can use black or allspice),
vanillin on the tip of a coffee spoon
100 grams of sugar.

The resulting suspension is thoroughly stirred and infused for about 20 days, and in the first days the future cognac is periodically shaken.
After three weeks, we filter the “cognac” and bottle it.

Cognac "Siberian"

On a three-liter jar of moonshine, 200 grams of milk is taken, poured in, filtered from the precipitate.
Then an infusion of oak bark is poured into it (2 teaspoons of bark pour boiling water, cool, strain).
As “additives”, moonshine is supplemented with pine nuts or their shells (0.5 cups are needed).
“Cognac” is kept for a month, filtered and poured into a container for storage.

Unlike collection cognacs from well-known manufacturers, a homemade drink will have a slightly different taste and aroma. However, there is also an advantage in the home version. You can independently compose an aromatic bouquet of your favorite spices and spices that will make your homemade cognac truly exclusive.

Advice. Before you make cognac from vodka, prepare a few glasses, vodka and your favorite spices. You can independently create a unique bouquet of this drink. Pour clean vodka into small glasses and add various mixtures to it - cloves, cinnamon, vanilla, rose hips. Let the drinks stand for 1-2 days and try. Use the aroma that you like more to make homemade nonsense and it will be no worse than real French cognac.

Homemade cognac is a wonderful alcoholic drink that is ideal for family gatherings and for treating guests at the festive table.
Based on materials