Malt moonshine. Aromatic moonshine from malt at home Moonshine with green malt and sugar

Moonshine made from wheat, rye or barley malt is considered, along with fruit distillates, one of the highest quality; elite alcohol is made from it. The recipe for malt alcoholic drinks consists of several main stages - preparation of raw materials, making mash and obtaining a distillate. Making moonshine at home from malt will require more diligence and attention from the distiller, as well as time investment compared to making simple sugar moonshine. But the reward will be aromatic, tasty alcohol of high quality.

Depending on the raw material: barley, rye or wheat malt, the resulting drink will have a smell similar to the taste of the raw material with bread notes. Many people, having tried malt distillate, stop using sugar distillate.

Preparing malt for moonshine

Buying malt is not a problem nowadays, but you can make it yourself at home. To prepare green malt, any grain is used - barley, rye, wheat, buckwheat, oats. Germination of grain is a rather lengthy and labor-intensive process, which can be divided into several points: preparation, germination, drying.

  1. Soak the grains in cool water at a temperature of 15-20°C in a suitable container, stir the mixture while soaking;
  2. Remove debris and floating seeds from the surface of the water using a sieve; such grain is not suitable for malt;
  3. Drain part of the water so that the other part covers a layer of grain by 1-2 cm. Leave for a day;
  4. Spread the soaked raw materials in a thin layer of 1-4 cm onto pallets and leave at a temperature of 15°C. Stir the seeds every 8-10 hours. Germination lasts from a week to two. As a result, sprouts the length of a grain should sprout; the grains taste sweet. You have got green malt, it can already be used in moonshine, or dried;
  5. Drying occurs in the summer in the open air or in a well-ventilated area at a temperature of 25-40°C. For drying, you can use an electric dryer.

Moonshine using green wheat malt makes the drink sweetish and soft. Rye malt imparts harshness to the alcohol, while barley malt is reminiscent of whiskey. You can add malts to each other in the recipe, experimenting with flavors; with experience, you will select the necessary proportions to suit your taste.

Classic malt mash recipe

Ingredients:


As mentioned above, malt for moonshine is suitable for any barley, rye, or green malt. It is better to take water from spring or purified with a household carbon filter. Instead of dry yeast, you can use compressed yeast in the recipe.

Preparation:

  1. Grind the malt in a grain crusher, the finer the grind, the better the saccharification, so grind the malt to flour. Green malt can be processed in a regular meat grinder or crushed in a blender.
  2. Pour warm water at 50° into a 50-liter mash tank and add malt, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. It is convenient to use a drill with an attachment for stirring the putty for this purpose. Stir the mash until smooth.
  3. Raise the mash temperature to 65°, cover the tank with a warm blanket and leave to saccharify for an hour. If the temperature drops below 61°, then raise it to 63-65°. After an hour, do an iodine test.
  4. Hot sweet wort must be cooled quickly to avoid contamination. You can cool the wort with a special chiller device; at home, you can use an ice bath for cooling, or you can place plastic bottles with frozen water in the wort. Remember sterility!!!
  5. Pour the cooled wort into a fermentation container, set it in advance. Stir the contents, close the lid, install a water seal.
  6. Fermentation should take place in a warm place at a temperature of 25-28°C. Fermentation duration is 3-7 days. The readiness of the malt mash is determined by taste; it should taste bitter, the release of carbon dioxide also stops, and the liquid partially clarifies.

Video recipe for malt mash.

Making malt moonshine

Strain the finished mash through a gauze filter and pour it into the distillation cube of the moonshine still, otherwise the malt particles may burn during distillation and the taste of the moonshine will deteriorate. If the first distillation is planned to be done on a steam-water boiler or using a steam generator, then there is no need to filter the mash.

Making moonshine from malt is somewhat more difficult than making moonshine from sugar, but the result is worth the effort. Depending on the grain chosen (barley, oats, rye or wheat), the finished distillate will have unique flavor notes and a unique smell. Masters call this the “soul” of the drink. Next we will look at the nuances of malt mash preparation technology and proper distillation.

Ingredients:

  • malt (any) – 6 kg;
  • water – 25 liters;
  • dry yeast - 50 grams (or 300 grams pressed).

Both store-bought (beer) and homemade malt are suitable. In the second case, you can not dry the sprouted grain, but immediately make mash from green malt. Good results are obtained by mixing different types of malt. For example, 50% barley, 25% wheat and 25% rye. Or 50% wheat, 40% barley and 10% oats.

The proportions may be different; experienced moonshiners select the proportions at their discretion, based on taste. For beginners, I advise you to first work with one type and only after several successful distillations start mixing. Wheat and green malt produce soft moonshine with a slight sweet aftertaste, rye and oats add notes of hardness, barley adds beer tones and the aroma of whiskey.

It is advisable to make real malt moonshine without sugar. But if there is a desire to increase the yield, sugar can be added at the 5th stage of preparation, and for each kilogram added, an additional 4 liters of water should be poured in; without this, the mash will not ferment at all or the fermentation will be very weak. The theoretically possible yield of distillate from malt and other starch-containing raw materials is shown in the table. In practice, losses are usually 10-15%.

Raw materialsAlcohol, ml/kg
Wheat 430
Barley350
Rye360
Corn450
Oats280
Peas240
Millet380
Rice530
Beans390
Potato140
Starch710
Sugar640


Green malt for moonshine

It is very important to adhere to the temperature ranges specified in the recipe, otherwise the yield of moonshine will be extremely low, since the starch in the malt will not saccharify.

Malt mash recipe

1. Grind white (dried) malt to coarse flour. This can be done with a grain crusher or roller mill. Store-bought malt is often sold ground, which saves a lot of time. Grind green malt with a meat grinder, blender or grinder with a special attachment.

2. Pour the granulated malt into a large saucepan and add hot water (50-55°C). While adding water, stir the wort with a wooden spatula so that the flour does not clump and stick to the bottom of the container. Stir until the mixture becomes homogeneous.

3. Heat the wort to 63°C, mix well again, and close the container with a lid. Maintain the temperature at 55-62°C for 60-80 minutes, stirring the contents of the pan every 15 minutes. When the top part of the wort becomes clear and the porridge settles at the bottom, proceed to the next stage.

4. Cool the wort to 24-27°C as quickly as possible (especially if green malt was used) to prevent it from souring. You have 30-40 minutes at your disposal. You cannot wait for the temperature to drop on its own; artificial cooling is required. For example, lower the container into a bath of cold water.

5. Pour the cooled wort into a fermentation container, add yeast diluted according to instructions, mix well.

6. Transfer the container with the mash to a dark place with a temperature of 18-25°C, install a water seal on the neck.



The simplest water seal

7. Depending on the sugar content of the malt, temperature and yeast activity, fermentation lasts 3-7 days. Once a day, remove the water seal and mix the mash with your hand or a wooden stick. The mash is considered ready when it has become light, has a bitter-sour taste without sweetness, and gas does not emit from the tube for 12-16 hours.



Braga is ready

Making malt moonshine

8. If for distillation you do not use a steam generator, but a regular moonshine still, first the mash must be filtered by pouring it into the distillation cube through a colander and a strainer so that small particles of grain do not burn under high heat.

9. Distill the malt mash for the first time. Select the distillate until the strength in the stream drops below 30%. The moonshine may turn out cloudy, this is normal.

10. Measure the total strength. Determine the amount of absolute alcohol (multiply the volume by the percentage of strength and divide by 100).

11. Dilute the distillate with water to 20%, you can clean it with charcoal and re-distill it. Collect the first 12-15% of the yield from the amount of pure alcohol in a separate container. This harmful fraction is called “head” and contains hazardous substances, therefore it is used only for technical purposes.

12. Collect the main product (“body”) until the strength in the stream drops below 45%. After this, finish the distillation or take the “tail” into a separate container.

13. Dilute the resulting malt moonshine (“body”) with water to 40-45%, pour into a glass container and seal tightly.

14. Leave for at least 3-4 days to stabilize the taste.

Preparing such a drink is more difficult, you need to follow all the preparation standards, but the end result will bring satisfaction and a reward for the efforts spent.

Malt is the basis of the entire process, it is obtained from sprouted grain crops, which are then dried and ground. When grains germinate, biological and chemical reactions occur - the active substance diastase, which is responsible for fermentation, is obtained.

Each recipe for making moonshine from malt is quite unique. The variety of flavors of the distillate depends on many reasons. First of all, from the grain that is taken during the preparation of mash. Moonshine made from malt and barley grains can serve as the basis for homemade whiskey. Grains such as corn and rye will add a harsher “character” to the drink, while wheat moonshine is softer. You can experiment, mix components, this will give the product a special taste and aroma.

For a person who has mastered the basics of making strong drinks at home, understanding how to make grain moonshine from malt will not cause any difficulties. You can buy the corresponding brochure, find a detailed description, look at the comments on the forums. Sometimes in correspondence you manage to find your own “zest”, which will become the basis of your favorite recipe. For novice distillers, it is useful to watch a video on how to make moonshine from malt.

Detailed video can be found here:

If, following the recipe, you make your own moonshine from malt without sugar.

The recipe is, of course, complicated, but the result will please you and will more than repay the effort:

  1. Before you start preparing moonshine from rye malt, the grains need to be sprouted, dried and ground into flour.
  2. Carefully, in a convenient way, finely chop the sprouted grains.
  3. Pour the powder mixture into a suitable container. Stirring thoroughly, pour in hot water. Make sure that the mass is homogeneous, without compactions.
  4. Heat the contents of the container to 65˚C. Warm up the substance for no longer than 60 minutes. It is important to carefully protect the hot mixture from burning.
  5. When the wort acquires a lighter shade, quickly cool it to 25˚C. Do not leave it hot on the stove, otherwise the wort may turn sour.
  6. Add yeast, stir thoroughly.
  7. Do not keep it in the light; the air in the room in which the mash is ripening must be cool. Mix the mash thoroughly twice a day.

Fermentation sometimes takes about a week; when ready, the mash will begin to lighten.

How to distill moonshine from ready-made barley malt without yeast

Before you thoughtfully study recipes on how to distill moonshine from barley malt yourself, you need to decide whether to go to the store for the main component of the mash. Moonshine from ready-made malt is no worse than distillate, which is prepared using homemade malt.

To prepare you will need:

  • water – 23 l;
  • sugar – 4 kg;
  • barley - 2.5 kg.

Recipe:

  1. Pour water over the seeds and wait until the first shoots appear. Then dry and grind into flour.
  2. Pour the grain sprouts into a special large container and fill them with water. Pour in water slowly, stirring the barley mass well. The formation of hard lumps is highly undesirable.
  3. Bring to 70˚C and maintain this temperature. If sediment appears, cool quickly.
  4. Combine sugar and wort and mix well.
  5. Leave the mash to mature in a cool room.

The approximate fermentation time until ready is seven days.

Attention! This moonshine is made from malt without yeast, but it is in no way inferior to a yeast drink.

Homemade moonshine made from wheat flour, malt and dry yeast

It is quite easy to prepare moonshine from wheat flour and malt.

Ingredients:

  • 3 kg barley flour;
  • 800 g sugar;
  • 60 g dry yeast.

Attention! Green rye malt, in the amount of 450 g - prepared in advance.

Recipe:

  1. Take a container of suitable size, pour 15 liters of water into it, heat it to 50˚C.
  2. Add flour, stirring thoroughly, leave on fire for 15 minutes.
  3. We continue heating to 60˚C for a quarter of an hour.
  4. Increase the heat. When the oil begins to boil, set aside for 30 minutes. You need to mix very thoroughly, with short breaks. Do not allow the wort to stick to the bottom of the container.
  5. Cool the brew very quickly.
  6. Combine the crushed malt with water, then add it to the vat where the wort was brewed. Mix the resulting “porridge” well. Let stand for 5 hours.
  7. Add water, prepared yeast and granulated sugar to the mash. Place the future moonshine in a specially designated place.

In a week the mash will be ready. You can start distilling moonshine.

Recipe for homemade moonshine from dry crushed wheat malt without sugar

It’s worth trying to make homemade, very pleasant-tasting moonshine from dry crushed wheat malt. The recipe is quite complicated, but if you try, the result will exceed all expectations.

The basis for preparing a strong drink will be grain. Malt is usually prepared “in reserve.” It is stored in an airtight, tight bag.

Let's take a step-by-step look at the process of preparing a strong drink.

To get malt you need:

  1. Clean the grain, rinse with a slightly pink solution of manganese. Leave in the same solution for an hour.
  2. Rinse thoroughly again.
  3. Spread the grain on a horizontal surface in a layer of 25 mm, smooth the surface well and cover with damp gauze folded in four.
  4. Wheat will germinate in about 4 days.
  5. Periodically lightly moisten the gauze and spray the grains to remove the mucous substance from them.
  6. After two days, carefully mix the grain mass.
  7. The sprouts need to reach a length of 1 cm.
  8. Dry the sprouted grains in the way that is most comfortable for you.
  9. Crush the grain mass.

Immediately before use, dilute the malt in water.

Wort:

  1. Prepare the wort in advance. Ingredients: 300 g of malt from any type of grain (you can experiment), 8 liters of clean water, 1.7 kg of crushed wheat mass.
  2. Take 900 grams of finely ground grain and add 4 liters of filtered water.
  3. Keep on very low heat for 3 hours.
  4. Combine the wort prepared in advance with the contents of the pan. Stir.

It is important that the water used for preparation does not smell of chlorine.

Receiving mash:

  1. Take 35 g of yeast, add sweet water and mix thoroughly.
  2. Leave the mash to ripen using a glove or a water seal.
  3. It is very easy to determine the finished mash. It changes shade, becoming lighter. In addition, the release of carbon dioxide stops.

Distill the resulting mash until you obtain clean and clear vodka.

Preparation of vodka:

  1. To obtain a particularly soft finished product, dilute the resulting alcohol with purified water to the desired strength.
  2. In order for vodka to have a rich bready aroma, you need to make an extract.
  3. Lightly brown small pieces of bread in a frying pan. Fill an ordinary half-liter jar completely with breadcrumbs. Pour in vodka and store the mixture in the refrigerator.
  4. Add extract to vodka: take 30 ml of extract per 1 liter.

This is the end of the process, you have prepared a clean and delicious homemade drink.

How to make moonshine from malted corn

Moonshine from malted corn can be prepared in such a way that no yeast is needed.

Ingredients:

  • 6.5 kg of sugar;
  • 17 liters of purified water;
  • 5 kg of grains.

Recipe:

  1. For germination you need to make a “syrup”. Dilute 8 cups of sugar in two liters of water. Stir everything very thoroughly.
  2. Pour the corn kernels into a large vat, then pour in the resulting syrup and leave to germinate.
  3. Add water to the same pan, add the remaining granulated sugar.
  4. Keep the grain mass at room temperature.
  5. The mash will ripen in 15 days.

It is better to distill corn moonshine twice.

Peculiarities.

In order for the vodka to come out high-quality and pure, the corn grains must first be checked for germination; you should not choose hard, coarse varieties. The sweet taste of corn will add a special aftertaste to moonshine.

The first distillation allows you to distill moonshine with a strength of up to 35˚C. When they are distilled a second time, they select the “head” (the strongest alcohol) and the “tail” (the weakest part in terms of strength).

The finished vodka is purified using conventional methods.

How to make moonshine from green wheat grain malt

From green wheat malt, moonshine is quite soft; it is in no way inferior to store-bought vodka in terms of taste. Let's take a closer look at how to make moonshine from wheat malt without sugar. The step-by-step recipe just seems complicated.

Flushing:

  • pour wheat grains (10 kg) into a large metal vat;
  • rinse thoroughly, all debris must be carefully removed.

Repeat the procedure until the grain mass is completely cleansed.

Soak the grains:

  • Pour the cleaned grains completely with cold water;
  • too warm water leads to negative consequences, such as contamination of the grain mass with putrefactive bacteria;
  • water must be changed at intervals of 3 hours;
  • soaking lasts no more than 12 hours.

To simplify the washing process, you need to choose containers with a mesh bottom. Water the wheat from the shower after 3 hours. Do not soak the grain for a long time, strictly adhere to the specified period.

Disinfection:

  • dilute manganese: 1 g per 10 liters of water;
  • Pour the resulting solution over the wheat and leave for up to 25 minutes. The brown color of manganese indicates the end of disinfection.

Sprouting wheat grains:

  • rinse the remaining manganese with water, spread the grain on a flat surface;
  • cover the entire grain mass with a clean, damp cloth;
  • The lower layers of the grain mass must be lifted up every 6 hours, the covering material must always remain moist.

When the shoots grow to 5 mm, rotation is stopped.

You can germinate grain without laying it horizontally. You need to take a container with a holey bottom and water the grain from the shower.

Repeated disinfection:

  • prepare a solution of manganese in a familiar proportion;
  • Place the sprouted grains in the solution and wait until the color of the water changes. Brown color will indicate the end of the process;
  • rinse well and dry.

Important! There should be no water dripping from the grains, they should just be a little damp.

Crushing:

Everyone does this process in the way that suits them best. Mixers, meat grinders, and roller mills are used. The main requirement is to finely crush the grains.

Green malt can be minced through a meat grinder. To make processing easier, you can place wet malt under a fan to slightly dry it out. Some cases require constant addition of water so that the meat grinder knives can better process the raw materials. Everyone adapts in the way that is most convenient for them.

All the basic recipes listed above are universally loved by “the people.” They show how easy it is to make moonshine from grain malt. Each craftsman can supplement them with his own special “trick”, which will provide the drink with an original taste. Moonshine from malt opens up endless scope for experimentation and creating your own signature drink, which will be a pleasant addition to a home feast when the whole family is gathered.

Malt is a natural product made from sprouted cereal crops. Not everyone knows how to make mash from malt; this recipe is accessible, but the undertaking is lengthy. To make a high-quality strong drink at home, it is necessary to carry out the process of preparing green malt.

Malt production technology

To begin with, high-quality varietal grain is purchased. Of the many sourdough recipes that are used at home, it is best to choose one made from barley, rye or wheat. Malted barley is most suitable for making whiskey; rye and wheat are used to create vodka at home.

To get beer, it is best to choose hop cones for fermentation.

Consider the option of making green malt from barley. First, the grain must be cleaned of foreign impurities and debris. Then the purified product is placed in a convenient container and filled with warm drinking water. It should cover the cereal crop by 5–7 cm. After 5–8 minutes, the barley is mixed in the water, the liquid with the remaining debris is carefully drained.

Next, the container with wet grain is filled with water again, this time the liquid is not heated. After 1–1.5 hours, the water is drained again and a new portion is filled. This time the composition is left for 3 hours and again freed from water. For disinfection, 30 drops of iodine or 2 g of potassium permanganate must be added to the water.

The cleaned and washed grain is laid out on a tray, the layer should not exceed 3 cm. Cotton cloth or gauze is spread over the raw barley. The container with the semi-finished product is installed for germinating grain crops in a warm and well-ventilated room. Every day the product is mixed and moistened.

The optimal temperature for grain germination is +15ºС.

If the right conditions are created, the grain will germinate in 5 days, the green malt necessary for making whiskey at home will be ready for further use in 6 or 7 days. The readiness of cereals is determined by the size of the sprouted sprout. For example, the shoot of wheat and rye should become at the level of the grain itself, and the sprout of barley should be twice the original size of the grain. It is worth noting another sign of malt’s readiness for processing into mash: the specific aroma of the product. Green malt should smell like fresh cucumbers.

To prepare high-quality whiskey, green malt should be dried in the oven at a temperature of 80ºC. The process will take at least 30–40 minutes.

It is allowed to prepare mash without the mentioned procedure.

Recipe for making mash with malt

Before you start preparing the mash, you need to prepare the necessary products. You will need:

  • 6 kg of pre-prepared malt from any cereal crops;
  • 300 g pressed yeast;
  • 25 l. drinking water.

To begin with, the sprouted grain is crushed; it cannot be ground into flour, it should result in small grains. The finished composition is lowered into a volumetric container, filled with water, which is preheated to a temperature of +50ºС. Everything is mixed well, you need to get a homogeneous cereal mass.

The semi-finished product is heated to +65ºС over low heat and kept in this state for an hour. The composition is mixed after 10–15 minutes; the cereal should not be allowed to burn. After the porridge settles and a clarified layer of wort appears on the surface, the pan must be removed from heating and immediately lowered into a cold container to quickly cool the semi-finished product.

For further preparation of the wort, pressed yeast is activated in the usual way and added to the warm barley mass. A water seal (water seal) must be installed on the finished fermentation composition. You can buy it at the store or make it yourself. The simplest water seal can be a medical glove; it is put on a bottle with a yeast composition and left until the glove rises and then falls to its previous position. You need to pierce a hole in one of the fingers of the glove with a needle. The room where the wort will ferment should be +20–25ºС.

After 5–6 days, the malt composition should ferment; it is stirred every day without removing the shutter.

The finished product should have a bitter-sour taste, a bright alcohol aroma, in addition, the finished mash should become light. Further processing of the finished mash depends on what kind of final product is needed.

It’s easy to make mash using malt without using yeast. In this case, you need to prepare:

  • 4 kg wheat green malt;
  • 30 l. drinking water;
  • 4 kg granulated sugar.

Sourdough from wheat is prepared in the same way as in the case of barley. Wheat wort, granulated sugar and water are mixed in a fermentation container. Fermentation lasts for 7–10 days, then the product can be distilled.

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Making mash from malt is a more complicated process than classic mash from sugar, but the result is worth it. The resulting distillate will have high taste qualities and a pleasant aroma.. It is worth noting that you can purchase ready-made malt for making mash, but if you have the time, opportunity and desire to do everything yourself and personally control each process, then malt can be made at home without much effort.

Making mash from malt


To create a quality product you will need the following ingredients and recipe:

  1. 5 kg barley malt;
  2. 22-25 liters of purified water;
  3. 45-50 gr. yeast (it is recommended to use dry yeast).

Barley malt can be used either homemade or store-bought. If you use homemade malt as a basis, it is recommended not to dry the sprouted grain, but to use it in this form. For fans of experimentation, you can use not only barley malt, but also dilute it with wheat, oat or rye malt.

For those who are preparing mash from malt for the first time, it is best to limit yourself to one type of malt, in this case, barley.

The advantage of using barley malt is the resulting flavor of the finished product, which resembles the taste of such an elite alcoholic drink as whiskey.

Detailed recipe for mash made from malt

First of all, you need to grind the barley malt to flour. This can be done using a roller mill or a conventional grain crusher. Also at home, you can use a simple meat grinder or blender to crush malt. You can buy already ground malt in the store.

The next step is to pour the malt into a pan and fill it with hot, but not boiling water.. The water temperature should not exceed 50 degrees. To avoid the formation of lumps, stir the malt while adding water. Stir until a homogeneous mass is obtained.

On the fire, you need to heat the contents of the pan to 65 degrees and try to maintain this temperature level for one hour. The wort can be stirred from time to time with a wooden spatula.

When the wort becomes light on top and sediment begins to appear, it needs to be cooled to a temperature of 25 degrees.

It is important to do everything as quickly as possible to avoid souring the wort. Experts say that this stage should take no more than half an hour. With natural cooling, the raw material will turn sour and become unusable. To quickly reduce the temperature, you can use a bath filled with cold water.

Then the resulting wort must be poured into a specially prepared container, in which the entire fermentation process will take place. After this, dry yeast is added directly to the container and the contents are thoroughly mixed. Now all that remains is to install a water seal and leave the raw materials to ferment in a dark and cool place. The fermentation process can take from several days to one week. Be sure to stir the mash once a day.

Recipe for making moonshine from malted barley


This recipe is very simple. The recipe includes the following ingredients:

  1. 2.5 kg barley;
  2. 4 kg granulated sugar;
  3. 22 liters of purified water.

By following this recipe, you can get a finished product in a volume of 30 liters.

It is very important to maintain the correct temperature, otherwise the mash will sour due to lack of fermentation. Pre-crushed barley is poured with hot water and brought to a temperature of 70 degrees over a fire.

After precipitation appears at the bottom, the mixture must be cooled to 20 degrees, add sugar to it and mix thoroughly. Install a water seal and put it in a dark place for 5-7 days. If the mash is not ready after a week, this indicates an error was made during the preparation process.

Green malt recipe

The recipe calls for 3 kg. sugar, 300 gr. yeast and 1.5 kg. green malt per 15 liters of water. You need to pour 70% of the total volume of water into the pan and bring it to a temperature of 40 degrees. Then add a third of the sugar, and the diluted yeast and crushed malt. Place the resulting mass in a dark place for 3 hours.

Then add the rest of the sugar in the form of syrup diluted in the rest of the water, bring to 30 degrees first. Braga needs to be infused for at least 5 days at a temperature of 26-28 degrees. The recipe is simple, and the result will pleasantly surprise you. Here's the recipe.

Video recipe

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