We make moonshine from apricots according to Balkan recipes. Apricot mash - how to make it correctly

Excellent alcohol with a pleasant aroma of fruit without yeast or granulated sugar - this is quite possible. And proof of this is moonshine made from apricots. The most important thing in obtaining a distillate is to work not only on its quantity, but also on its quality. The preparation time of the drink also plays a role.

Selecting raw materials

Apricots of any variety are suitable - this will not affect the taste and aroma of the drink in any way. They can be either first ripe or completely overripe. Crumpled fruits will also work. The most important thing is that there are no signs of mold or rot on the apricots.

Sugar and yeast – to add or not

Apricots contain varying amounts of fructose. This indicator depends on where the fruit is grown, as well as on its variety. The approximate fructose content is 11%. You can calculate that without adding granulated sugar, 10 kg of raw materials will yield approximately 1.2 liters of apricot moonshine. When adding sugar according to the recipe, the yield increases to 7 liters. However, the organoleptic properties of alcohol will undoubtedly become worse.
It is best not to add any yeast or granulated sugar. But then your apricots should be very sweet. When distilling such brew, you will not get ordinary moonshine, but real German schnapps. But if the raw materials are sour, then you won’t be able to do without granulated sugar, since the product yield will be extremely small.

On fresh apricots wild yeast is already there by default. They can perfectly ferment the wort on their own, but they will need a lot of time - a little more than a month. If you add yeast to the recipe, the mash will be ready in 5-10 days. However, this will negatively affect the taste and smell of the drink in the future. If you have the time and desire to really get quality product, make mash from apricots without adding yeast.

His Majesty - the recipe!

We will need:

10 kg of raw materials:
from 8 to 15 liters of water;
5 kg of sugar – optional;
20 g of dry or 100 g of compressed yeast - optional ingredient.

Preparing the mash

Raw materials should never be washed, otherwise you will get rid of wild yeast spores. Remove all the seeds, as they will give the alcohol a bitter taste.
Now the apricots should be turned into a kind of mush. A blender or meat grinder will help you with this. You can also simply mash the fruit with your hands. Homogeneous mass place in a fermentation container.
Add water, granulated sugar and yeast (pre-diluted according to the instructions) to it. Stir the substance. If you make mash without sugar, then take 8-10 liters of water. If you add sand, then increase the water “dose” by 5 liters.
A rubber glove with a hole is put on the vessel or installed. Take the container to a warm and dark place. If you choose wild yeast for fermentation, the first signs of fermentation will appear in about 2 days. In the case of adding yeast - after 2 hours. You will observe hissing and the appearance of a foam cap. A little later, the water seal will begin to bubble, and the glove will inflate.
After 10-40 days (depending on the chosen fermentation method), your apricot mash will be ready at home. You will see this by the following signs: the water seal will stop bubbling the water (the glove will fall), the mash will become lighter, its taste is bitter, and there is sediment at the bottom of the vessel. It's time to proceed to the next stage - distillation.

Making moonshine from apricots

Carefully strain your mash using gauze. This is necessary, since pieces of pulp will most likely burn during the distillation process. This will make the taste of the drink much worse, and may even deteriorate. As they say, a fly in the ointment...
Distillation can be carried out in a moonshine still of absolutely any design. Once the ABV drops below 30%, stop distilling. But experts do not recommend purifying this drink. After all, almost all the apricot flavor will definitely be lost. To improve quality, be sure to re-distill.
Dilute the resulting alcohol with water to a strength of 18-20%, then send it to secondary distillation.
We select head fraction– the first 50-100 ml, if no sugar was added (otherwise – 200-250 ml). This liquid is not suitable for consumption. Next, we continue distillation until the alcohol strength drops below 40 degrees.
Now dilute the drink to the strength you like. Usually it is 40-45 degrees. Before enjoying apricot moonshine, keep it in a dark and cool place a few days. This will improve the organoleptic properties of the drink.

The most delicious drinks are obtained by distilling mash from apricot, as it has a pleasant, delicate aroma, which is very well imparted to moonshine. Personally, I like to make apricot moonshine, the recipe for which is given below, because it is simple and affordable. From just three fruit trees middle-aged fish can collect up to 30 or even 40 kilograms of carrion after a thunderstorm has passed. Of course, some can be used to make jam, eat fresh, but there will always be an excess.

So, unlike the same apple, apricot is a large fruit with very delicate pulp, so you can peel it and mash it into puree with your hands very quickly and easily. Its sugar content is quite high - 12-14%, while sucrose breaks down better into alcohols and secondary products during the fermentation process than artificial sugar.

Apricot mash recipe for moonshine

The proportions of the ingredients are as follows:

1 part apricot pulp
1 part water
1 kg of sugar per 10 liters of the resulting mixture
50 grams of yeast per 1 kg of sugar

It’s simple - we mix pitted apricot puree one to one with water, that is, for 10 kilograms of pulp we take 10 liters of water. Mix well, add sugar and yeast dissolved in water, and then traditionally send it to bask in the sun.

Important ! You don't always need to add sugar to apricot mash. If you want to get good, aromatic chacha, then adding sugar to the mash is strictly prohibited! Yes, the yield will be lower, but the quality of the product will be much higher.

And here it is important to take into account one more point. If you do not add sugar to the apricot mash, then do not add yeast. The fermentation process must proceed naturally, so it will take more time. If with yeast the raw material is ready for distillation after 7-8 days, then with natural fermentation it will take twice as long - about 15, or even 20 days.

Apricot moonshine - recipe and subtleties of distillation

If you decide to get really high-quality chacha, then give up sugar and yeast, and adjust the recipe as follows:

3 parts apricot puree
2 parts water
1 part peach puree(in the presence of)

Peach will add contrast to the drink and make the taste more pronounced. But in its absence, you can get by with just apricots and water. It is important to place the container in the sun so that the mash warms up well in the open air and begins to ferment in natural conditions. It is not necessary to put it indoors if the nights are warm - during the day the sun will work as a fermentation catalyst. We install the water seal a day after it starts.

When the mash is ready, it must be distilled without filtration or clarification. The main subtlety here is not to make the fire too high. And the point here is not only that the mash can burn - no, this happens extremely rarely if a good one is used alembic, but that the drink should slowly and systematically break down into fractions. Today, many are accustomed to chasing speed, not paying attention to quality, and then they are surprised how a grandfather in his village on an old machine gets a drink of better quality than they do at home on super modern ones. distillation columns. Details, my friends, are what matter!

So, moonshine using apricot mash is distilled very slowly. There are no “slowly running streams” - just a monotonously dripping drink. We only do two runs! Otherwise the aroma will be lost. At the same time, on the second stage we traditionally fill the steamer with fruit pulp, but without lemon zest so that she doesn't interrupt delicate aroma apricot Intermediate purification of raw alcohol can be skipped, but the final product must be passed through carbon filters. This way you will get a high-quality product that will surprise even experienced moonshiners.

If you are preparing mash and apricots with sugar, then you can distill it using the usual method, filtering, making the fire stronger, allowing the moonshine to flow in a thin stream to save time.

What apricots should I use to make mash?

The variety doesn't matter, the only thing that matters is the degree of maturity. Sometimes a strong wind knocks unripe, “crispy” fruits off the tree. They are not suitable for making mash. It is very easy to check the pulp for maturity - its color should be rich, yellow or orange, sometimes with a pink or reddish tint. In your hands it should be easily crushed, releasing a copious amount of juice. Crumpled, overripe fruits are suitable for mash. The main thing is that they are free from severe rot and mold, which can ruin the taste.

In my experience, I do not recommend mixing apricot and plum, as the latter overpowers the delicate apricot flavor. Moreover, for apricot mash, I recommend using a separate fermentation tank and a distillation cube, which will be used only for preparing apricot moonshine, so as not to interrupt its delicate aroma.

Homemade alcohol differs not only in quality, but also in taste. After apricot moonshine, you are guaranteed not to have a headache (of course, if you know when to stop). It is important to know some production nuances in order to get a tasty drink. . You will find the recipe for making apricot moonshine below.

Now let’s figure out how to make apricot mash. To begin with, it is important to know exactly whether you will add yeast. If not, then the fruit should not be washed. On their surface there is a large number of yeast cultures. As for purchased yeast, it is best to purchase pressed live yeast - it is natural, but powdered yeast contains a large number of chemical additives, no matter how the manufacturers prove otherwise.

For the mash you will need the following Ingredients:

10 kg of fruits, preferably slightly overripe
10 to 15 liters of water
About five kilogram packets of sugar
Natural pressed yeast - about 100 grams.

Apricot mash with sugar does not require careful cleaning of the fruit - just cut them in half and remove the pit. The fruits need to be sorted out, rotten areas cut off, but soft and slightly spoiled ones can be left.

Then fill the fruit with water. It must be clean - spring or filtered. Do not take boiled water under any circumstances! If you prepare mash without sugar, then you need about 10 liters, and if with it, then about 15 liters.

Now pour the mixture into suitable dishes, a large dark bottle is best. Let's do water seal. To do this, you need to take a regular latex glove and pull it over the neck of the filled container. Now the apricot mash for moonshine is placed in a dark and warm place for the fermentation process. How to understand that it has stopped? The glove falls off and the sediment settles to the bottom. Such signs clearly indicate that the time has come for the first distillation of the future drink. To do this, strain the mash through clean gauze. At the same time, the so-called “heads” - the first 500 ml - are discarded. Apricot moonshine is tender, easy to drink and does not cause any headaches (with a good snack and moderate consumption). If you want to enhance the fruity aroma, we recommend adding a couple of fresh fruits to the bottle and letting the drink infuse.

In the Balkan countries, such a drink as rakija. Since the climate of the countries of the Balkan Peninsula is very favorable, a large amount of harvest allows the preparation of such alcoholic drinks .

How is the drink made correctly? The rakia recipe includes the following components:

Apricots - 25 kilograms of ripe fruits. It is better to choose sweet varieties so as not to add large amounts of sugar and yeast.
Clean water - 75 liters. As mentioned above, it is better to take spring water or from a filter.
Sugar - about twenty kilograms.
Natural pressed yeast - 200g.

Let's start cooking:

The fruit is not washed; the pit is removed and chopped using a food processor.
Immediately place the fruit in the desired container and fill it with water. It should not be cold - hold it at room temperature an hour. Add sugar and stir well until it dissolves.
Pour yeast warm water, add a pinch of sugar and wait for the foam to begin to form. After this, pour the mixture into our mash. Another option is to prepare a so-called “starter”, which speeds up the fermentation process. To do this, prepare the mixture two days in advance. We dilute the yeast with warm water, add about a liter of fruit puree. A pinch of sugar completes the simple recipe for apricot moonshine at home. Leave the dishes in a warm place. This mixture allows you to start the fermentation process as quickly as possible.
Place the container with apricot mash in a warm place, not forgetting about the glove. As soon as it falls and the sediment sinks to the bottom, the process is complete. Genuine brandy is not filtered; containers with thick bottoms are used for the distillation process. Distillation takes place at low heat or a water bath.
The first and last half liter must be removed. The drink is further purified using a special carbon filter.

Apricot moonshine according to Balkan recipes is ready! The walkie-talkie is served with cheese or delicious cuts from meat.

Another recipe for apricot mash that will not leave you indifferent:

Peel 20 kilograms of fruit and squeeze out the juice. It’s convenient to do it this way: first make a puree, and then squeeze out the liquid using gauze. This technique will allow you to avoid adding large amounts of sugar and yeast.
We make syrup from one and a half kilograms of sugar and 0.7 liters of pure water. To do this, pour some water over the sugar and set it on slow fire. Cook for about 10 minutes after the sugar has completely dissolved.
We dilute yeast (100 grams) with warm water. Pour the syrup, cooled to a warm state, into our mash. We also send thoroughly mixed yeast and water there.
We remove the container to a warm place in order to speed up the fermentation process. As usual, we use a glove. The approximate completion date is from 10 to 14 days.
Using a distiller, we distill the drink using a single fractional distillation.

The first distillation of apricot moonshine

Doing first distillation of apricot mash You should purchase a distillation unit that works as a regular distiller. This procedure is carried out at maximum temperature with maximum water supply - the basic rule applied in the cooking process homemade apricot moonshine. In this case, the tank is filled no more than two-thirds. Usually the result is apricot mash volume 7l. After this, the pervak is left to brew in a dark place for several days.

If the resulting liquid turns out to be cloudy, in this case you can additionally use a filter made of crushed activated carbon. However, as many who make fruit alcohol at home assure, this will negatively affect the aroma alcoholic drink.

Re-distillation of apricot brandy

Repeated cleaning before, how to make moonshine from apricots, must be carried out with cutting off the head part of the drink, which contains a lot of volatile alcohols. Before distillation, crude alcohol is diluted, if necessary, and poured into a tank, the heating of which is turned on at minimum power.

As soon as the resulting liquid stops oozing unpleasant aroma acetone - you can start selecting the “body”. What has already been obtained can be poured out or used as a disinfectant for equipment.

In the process of selecting the “body,” it would be a good idea to increase the heating a little. Selection should continue until approximately fifty degrees in the stream - until moonshine still the cloudy fraction will not start to drip from unpleasant smell. It can also be distilled almost completely and used to later prepare apricot brandy.

So, before you cook, it is important to know a few subtleties:

If the fruit is sour, it is extremely important to add sugar, otherwise the finished alcohol will be too little. Adding sugar makes it possible to increase the yield almost 2 times. If the fruit is sweet, then making mash from apricots It won’t take much time, and the result will be a great alcoholic drink.
As for yeast, the mash recipe most often includes it. You can cope without them, but in this case you will have to wait months for the desired result. Without yeast and sugar The fermentation process will slow down significantly, so it is best to add yeast if the fruit has a lot of sugar. There is an opinion that due to the acceleration of processes, the drink may turn out to be of lower quality. However, experience shows that the difference is not too great.
If apricot moonshine after the first distillation, it turns out not very fragrant, fruit notes are faintly felt in it - while the drink is infused, put a couple of fresh fruits in the container with it.
Also, in order to give the future drink pleasant notes of almonds, like, for example, liqueur, crude moonshine is infused on the stone - only three broken kernels per liter will be enough.
When re-distilling hydrocyanic acid, which is contained in them, will begin to decompose into aromatic hydrocarbons. However, you should be careful - not many people like almond flavor.
When the strength of the resulting product begins to decrease during the distillation process, it is necessary to set aside the container with the fraction and substitute another container. Next, the selection will continue in 300 ml increments - while the drink has not yet become cloudy and has a pleasant apricot aroma, it can be added to the “body”.
You can drink it after a couple of weeks of infusion in a glass container, having diluted it in advance. clean water up to forty degrees.
To turn moonshine into natural brandy, it is best to keep it in a barrel. If you do not have such a container, you can use an alternative cheap option - oak chips.

Moonshine from apricot jam

How to make mash from apricot jam? Everyone is familiar with the situation when several jars remain, but you no longer want to eat them. So let's prepare a wonderful alcoholic drink that does not cause unpleasant hangover symptoms. The recipe for apricot moonshine requires the following components:

Jam - about three liters, old will do.
Granulated sugar - three kilograms
Fifteen liters of clean water.
Pressed yeast - about 100 grams.

The preparation process is extremely simple - the jam must be diluted with warm water, add sugar and yeast, and left to ferment in a warm place. After completing the fermentation process, you need to clean and distill the moonshine using any method convenient and familiar to you.

You can make not only moonshine, but also real brandy. This drink will not leave guests indifferent. Apricot brandy is prepared as follows:

Peel one and a half kilograms of fruit and cut it in half.
The seeds themselves must be split, the inner kernels removed and soaked in a liter of vodka.
Grind the fruit halves into puree.
In fruit puree add two liters of cognac and let it brew.
Mix both liquids and add about one and a half kilograms of sugar. Let our brandy brew for about 10 days in a cool place.
Brandy apricots are ready for moonshine! It turns out very tasty, with spicy almond notes.

The main problem is the large amount of pectin in fruits. This substance binds the pulp of the fruit and prevents a sufficient amount of juice from being separated. In addition, pectin promotes the production of methyl alcohol, which we do not need at all. There are several options to solve the problem:

Heating the finished product wort for moonshine up to seventy degrees. If you are making moonshine from apricots without yeast, you cannot use this method, because the yeast cultures on the surface of the fruit will die.
After a good spin, the fruit pulp is soaked in warm water for a couple of hours, and then the liquid is filtered. This method is suitable for any type of moonshine preparation at home - both with and without yeast.

The first and last portions of moonshine are poured out - they may contain methyl hydrates that we do not need.

As you can see, you can very easily make apricot moonshine or brandy without much effort. Homemade alcoholic drinks are guaranteed not to harm your health (moderate consumption) and will give you real pleasure.

Apricot moonshine is delicious drink with a subtle fruit aroma. To prepare it you can use fresh fruits and jam from them. The quality of mash for distillation depends on additional ingredients and adherence to technology during the preparation process.

Apricots are a component of many dishes. High content sugars (12-14%) allows you to prepare an alcoholic drink - apricot moonshine, which has a delicate fruity taste and a pleasant aroma.

For fruit mash, you can use whole or broken fruits of any shape. The main requirement for raw materials is the absence of mold and rot.

For mash, the type of fruit is not important. The main selection criterion is ripeness. Unripe fruits are not suitable for the process; the pulp should be easily crushed with abundant juice.

Peach puree can be added to the fermentation liquid as a component. Adding other fruits may overwhelm the delicate flavor.

The mash recipe includes the following ingredients:

apricots - 10 kg;
water - 8-15 l;
yeast - 100 g;
sugar - 5 kg.

Adding yeast will help speed up the fermentation process. The presence of sugar will increase the yield of the final product, but will deteriorate taste qualities.

Apricot mash, fermented without yeast, will yield 1.5 liters of alcoholic beverage from 10 kg of fruit.

When choosing a recipe for making moonshine at home, you need to rely on the quality of the fruit. For apricots that taste sweet, you won’t need additional ingredients. Sugar must be added to sour fruit purees.

Yeast can reduce the process of making mash from 40-45 days to 1-1.5 weeks. A drink made from mash that is fermented operationally with the participation of yeast will be cloudy in color and have a secondary odor.

The sequence and subtleties of fermentation

The process of preparing mash for distilling apricots at home involves:

The moonshine output must be carefully separated and the temperature in the apparatus monitored, because the first distillation, which is formed at temperatures up to +89.5°C, contains toxins.

It is not recommended to use cleaning methods for moonshine made from pure fruits. Re-distillation will help preserve taste and aroma.

Cooking with apricot jam

Apricot fruit jam can also be used for moonshine. The only condition is that there should be no mold in it. To prepare the drink take:

fruit jam - 6 l;
water - 30 l;
yeast - 300 g.

From the listed components, the yield of moonshine will be 6 liters. Adding 3 kg of sugar increases the yield of the final product to 9 liters.

Braga is prepared in the usual way.
The jam is dissolved in water and yeast starter is added.
The prepared liquid is left for 5 days in a dark, warm place.
It is better to use for making sourdough alcohol yeast. This will increase the yield of the final product.

Moonshine brewing in artisanal conditions requires skills in preparing mash, distilling, and cleaning the final product.

The recipe for apricot moonshine has its own subtleties. When adding sugar to fruit purees, you must add yeast. The mash preparation process should take place naturally.

A high-quality output product can be obtained by combining 3 parts puree with 2 parts water. You can add 1 part of chopped ripe peaches to the mash, which will enhance the taste of the drink and give it contrast. In order for the mash to warm up well and begin to ferment, it must be exposed to the sun.

The finished mash can be placed on a small fire without filtering to heat it up. The liquid rarely burns when using a quality still. Slow heating is needed for the systematic fractionation of moonshine.

To preserve the aroma of apricot fruit, it is recommended to make only 2 distillations. The final product can be purified using carbon filters.

Braga prepared with the addition of yeast and sugar must be filtered before heating. It is allowed to do rapid distillation using the usual method.

Basic apricot mash - a simple, step-by-step recipe

The simplest recipe for preparing liquid for distillation is based on the use of fruit, water and sugar. Fermentation will take place using yeast located on the surface of the apricots.

If the fruits are very sweet, then you can add less sugar than indicated in the proportions. Braga made exclusively from apricot fruits produces less moonshine, and increasing the amount of sugar in the wort gives a better chance of getting moonshine rather than brandy with a delicate aroma.

Optimal proportions apricot drink without yeast: for 2 buckets of ripe fruits, take 10-12 liters of water and 4 kg of sugar.

For fast and high-quality fermentation, sugar can be inverted.

Step by step:

Excessive turbidity can be removed using carbon filters, but it is worth considering that they absorb not only fusel oils, but also the aroma. If during distillation the distillate has lost its apricot smell, then you can add fresh fruits to the jar with the first one.

Added Value

Almond flavor is created using several kernels added to moonshine. When repeating the process, the raw material is diluted with water to 30% alcohol content.

Distillation is carried out with slow heating with minimal power. After selecting the first fraction, which contains harmful methyl alcohol and fusel oils, proceed to the main part of the distillate. The “tails” are selected for subsequent use for technical purposes; they cannot be drunk.

Each recipe and technology for preparing an alcoholic drink from apricots is different. Perfection of taste is achieved through the use of quality ingredients and distillation methods.

But it is worth remembering that alcohol in any form is harmful to health, so it should be consumed in moderation.

It’s impossible not to love apricots: this bright one orange fruit color, aroma and taste - the hottest sunny summer itself. The yield of apricot trees varies from year to year. Sometimes a capricious southerner drops its flowers in the spring and refuses to please its owners, and sometimes, even under the most unfavorable conditions, it suddenly produces such a harvest that poor gardeners don’t even know what to do with it. Jams, jams, dried apricots... Here's another great idea - from apricots. It’s rare that anyone is lucky enough to make this wonderful drink, but since we’re lucky, let’s try it!

Interesting: it is believed that apricots spread across the planet from Armenia. It’s not for nothing that in other countries this fruit was called “Armenian apples”.

Features of making homemade alcohol

If you decide at home normal conditions to prepare moonshine from this tasty fruit, it is worth knowing about it features. Taste buds We are not deceived - this fruit contains on average about 18% sugars, in wild meat (zherdelya) - about 8%, which is also not bad.

Apricots produce, although thick, juice, and not puree, like or, so you can limit the amount of water in the wort. When adding water, add sugar to bring the sugar content of the future mash to 20%. The seeds of ripe fruits are easily separated, the skin is thin, so processing apricots is not difficult.

Recipes

In the countries of the Balkan Peninsula, “Armenian apples” are used to make a delicious and very popular drink among tourists - Kaysieva rakia. It is received single or followed by. Why not make this apricot moonshine in your home distillery?

ripe apricots ( cultivar) - 25 kg;
prepared water - 75 liters;
sugar - 20 kg;
- 200 gr.

Cooking steps

The drink should be allowed to rest for several days and can be drunk cold or slightly warmed. As a snack - sliced meat and cheese.

If you first make mash from apricots, and then make mash from it, then you can hardly add yeast. The result will be fragrant and pure moonshine from apricots, which does not need to be distilled twice. 10 kg of fruit will yield about 6 liters of juice with a sugar content of about 10%–15%. Required:

apricots - 20 kg;
sugar - 1.5 kg;
- 100 gr.

Important: juice from the perch may have an undesirably high level of acidity (standard - 1%). It can be knocked down by adding soft water in a 1:1 ratio or fill with another juice with a reduced acid content - apple (from domestic varieties has an acidity of 0.2%), peach (0.4%), cherry (0.4%).

Apricot moonshine

Do not wash the apricots, remove the pits and squeeze for juice. Making saturated sugar from sugar sugar syrup(0.7 water and 1.5 sugar), cool to +30°C, pour into juice. We dilute the yeast, wait for the appearance of abundant foam and pour it into the wort. Let it ferment in a warm place (about +25°C). The approximate fermentation period is 10 days. We distill it in a single distiller and enjoy the wonderful aroma.

Heavenly drink

The taste of cool apricot moonshine is a reminder of a light seaside breeze, warm nights, and summer. Well, if you want even more warmth, then do as the Bulgarians do: add caramel or burnt sugar, A little orange peels, a couple of clove buds and a piece of cinnamon stick and heat (do not boil!) in a Turk. A cold, dank evening will instantly take on a festive feel.