All those who are engaged in moonshining must know how to soften moonshine at home in order to give it a more delicate and mild taste. This simple process can improve the performance of the finished drink. To do this, use a variety of products that can for the better affect the taste of the distillate. Glucose, sugar, nuts and spices are often preferred.
Moonshine Cleansing
A quality drink is obtained only from quality products that have not expired. It is advisable to use spring or bottled water. If you use tap water, it is recommended to defend it for at least a day, so that chlorine and unpleasant odor disappear.
Before softening the moonshine, you need to clean it from fusel oils, impurities and acids. It is desirable to carry out this event at the stage of distillation of the drink from the mash, using a reflux condenser and re-distillation of the product. To do this, you need to choose a modern moonshine equipped with all the required devices.
The finished product also requires cleaning, while its strength should be at least fifty degrees. For cleaning, you can add thirty tablets of activated carbon from birch to a powder state in a three-liter container, then put it on for three days, then filter through a cotton pad.
You can also add fresh chicken egg protein to one liter of moonshine. This contributes to the release of fusel oils, the droplets of which are absorbed by the surface of protein flakes. It is necessary to carefully separate the proteins from the yolks and beat them with a mixer with the addition of a small amount of warm water. After a day, filter the drink in small portions to separate from egg flakes.
To one liter of moonshine, you can add one hundred ml of fresh milk and mix well. Curled flakes and lumps will help clear alcohol from fatty acids. When cleaning, it is necessary to strictly observe the indicated proportions so that the alcoholic drink does not lose its strength.
Mitigation Techniques
To soften the moonshine and make it taste better without significant cost, you can:
- insist a few weeks;
- apply distillation column;
- keep in an oak barrel.
You can insist on moonshine for several weeks. This is a very good option, which allows you to get a tasty and high-quality drink with a bright and rich aroma. You can insist on various ingredients.
If the moonshine is equipped with a rectifier, then a column can be used for cleaning. It helps to get a high-quality alcoholic beverage of high strength and without impurities.
You can keep moonshine in an oak barrel. Thus, whiskey, cognac and other noble drinks are prepared. Oak barrel gives a very pleasant aroma, changes the color and taste of alcohol.
Mitigation technology
Answering the question of how to soften moonshine at home, it must be said that this process can be divided into several stages. Much depends on your own preferences and desires, as well as on the availability of free time. However, there are many different recipes with which you can fix the shortcomings of alcoholic beverages.
Initially, moonshine must undergo preliminary training, and then you can begin to change the quality and taste parameters. To do this, you can:
- overtake alcohol twice;
- clean it in any way possible;
- let the drink stand in a cool, darkened place.
If the moonshine has a sharp, unpleasant odor, then it is cleaned by double distillation, before that it is purified with chicken protein or coal. Then pour into a glass container, put in a cool place for several days.
As a result, the quality of the finished product increases, but you need to continue to work to get a drink with a pleasant taste.
As for the technology of softening moonshine, its essence is quite simple. It is only necessary to add additional components to the finished alcoholic beverage. As a result of this, you can change the taste characteristics of moonshine.
How to soften moonshine?
To achieve the best taste and aroma of the finished product, you can use various ingredients. Many are interested in how to soften moonshine at home. To do this, you can:
- increase sweetness by adding glucose, sugar, fructose, caramel;
- change the flavor with spices;
- You can remove the taste by adding bark of birch or oak.
Nuts are very popular in moonshining. They are used in various recipes.
Sugar use
During the procedure, you must strictly adhere to the instructions. Few people know how to soften moonshine with sugar, but it is worth remembering that too much or insufficient amount of sweetens worsens the taste of the drink.
Soften alcohol, following the proportion: 30 g sugar per 1 liter of alcohol. This method is considered the most affordable, but it has certain disadvantages. If you add a lot of sweetener, then moonshine will not change for the better. Achieving optimal proportions is quite simple if you taste alcohol in the process of adding sugar. If you need to soften the moonshine with sugar, you can choose the proportions yourself - the most important thing is that in the end you get a pleasant taste.
The quality of the sweetener must also be considered. The higher it is, the better for the drink. People who have been moonshining for a long time prefer the refined product. Cubes need to be crushed in a coffee grinder, dissolved in a glass of warm water, mix well, wait until the sugar has completely dissolved, and add it to alcohol.
If you use poor quality sugar, then the finished drink will become cloudy, and even repeated distillation will not help to get rid of it.
Burnt sugar or caramel will help to soften moonshine. However, it is worth remembering that this method will not help to remove fusel oils and many other harmful impurities. Burnt sugar will only mask their presence. In addition, you do not need to add too much caramel to the alcohol. For one liter of drink, it is enough to add only one teaspoon of burnt sugar. For insisting, one or two days is enough.
How to soften moonshine with glucose? The proportions must be maintained very strictly. You can purchase a solution in a pharmacy. The solution is preferred, since it has a high degree of purification, however, tablets can also be used by grinding them into powder.
What proportions are needed and how to soften moonshine with glucose, many people are interested in moonshining. For one liter of alcohol with a fortress of forty degrees, twenty-five milliliters of solution will be required. You also need to know how to soften moonshine with dextrose. This is the same glucose, only in powder. In this case, five grams of powdered or ground glucose tablets can be used to improve palatability.
You can also soften moonshine with fructose. It is sweet and often used to change the taste of the distillate cooked on fruit braga. It can be purchased at a pharmacy or specialty store. Fructose should be added to alcohol in the proportion of ½ tablespoon of dry powder per liter of moonshine with a strength of forty degrees. It is advisable to pre-dissolve the powder in water, and then gradually pour the solution into the already prepared distillate, periodically tasting it.
Use of honey
It is very important to know how to soften moonshine with honey in order to get a quality drink. To do this, you must follow certain rules. Adding honey to an alcoholic drink leads to a violent reaction, as a result of which the drink changes its color, becomes brown, foam forms. To avoid this, it is recommended:
- pour a little moonshine;
- pre-melt honey if it is viscous;
- mix all the components and mix;
- inject the mixture into alcohol.
For one liter of moonshine, you need to take half a tablespoon of honey. It is important to remember that beekeeping products provoke an allergy, so you need to use them very carefully, and before starting use it is better to conduct a test.
Use of soda
You can effectively soften moonshine with soda, as it helps get rid of fusel oils and acetic aldehyde. For this, sodium bicarbonate in pure form must be used.
Soda can form by-products that precipitate. They are very harmful to health, which is why the alcoholic beverage must be carefully filtered and re-distilled. For cleaning, you need to dilute soda with water in a ratio of 1: 1. Add it to moonshine in the proportion of ten grams per liter of drink. Pour the solution gradually. Alcohol should not be more than forty degrees strong.
Mix everything thoroughly and put for ten to eleven hours in a darkened place. Re-mix after one hour from the beginning of sedimentation. Filter the finished drink through cotton or activated carbon. Re-distill.
Use of additives
Moonshine can be softened with the help of various components, which also give the finished alcohol a unique taste. Many distilleries prefer to use oranges or lemons. The biologically active substances contained in citrus fruits can neutralize the remains of fusel oils, which could not be removed from moonshine during purification and distillation.
The exact proportions in this case do not exist. However, it is advisable to adhere to the fact that one and a half liters of alcohol you need to add half an orange or lemon. Initially, you need to wash the fruit with water and wipe it with a dry clean cloth, then cut into slices, put in a container with moonshine, close it tightly and put it on for a week.
You can also use zest of lime, lemon, mandarin, orange. It helps soften the taste of moonshine. Citrus fruits need to be thoroughly washed and wiped dry, cut off the top of the zest. It is worthwhile to ensure that there is no white pulp, as it will give bitterness. To soften the moonshine, it is enough to add the zest of one lemon (orange) or two limes (tangerines) by one and a half liters of alcohol. Put infuse for seven to fourteen days.
Nutmeg is widely used in cooking. When combined with moonshine, it will make alcohol much milder and help give a characteristic pleasant aftertaste. However, you need to accurately calculate the proportions. For one liter of moonshine, it is enough to put one pinch of ground nutmeg. Put insist on two to three weeks.
Pine nuts not only soften moonshine, but also give it useful properties. You can put peeled and unpeeled nuts in a container with a finished drink. The result will be achieved in any case, but the taste is slightly different.
If unpeeled nuts are used, they must be washed in boiling water. Hot water will help to flush all unnecessary resins from the shell. To clean the moonshine, it is enough to take twenty-five grams of pine nuts.
To clean strong alcohol, you can use oak bark. To do this, add a tablespoon of bark to one and a half liters of distillate. It is worth remembering that the longer alcohol is infused, the softer its taste will be. Insist at least fourteen to fifteen days.
Glycerol use
Glycerin is a dietary supplement that resembles syrup in consistency. It must be used very carefully, since exceeding the dosage, as well as not observing the proportion, can lead to a deterioration in the taste of the finished drink.
It is recommended to take no more than five milliliters of glycerin per liter of a liquor with a strength of forty-forty-five degrees. The substance is introduced gradually so as not to spoil the taste of the finished drink. If you add a lot of glycerin, then moonshine will become cloying.
Other means
Not everyone knows how to soften moonshine and how to do it correctly. You can use a walnut for this: you need to take partitions that well soften the taste of alcohol. To obtain the desired result, it is necessary to strictly observe the proportions. To do this, take half a liter of moonshine ten to twelve partitions and insist for a month.
Black pepper peas go well with alcohol and give it a mild, pleasant taste. For half a liter of moonshine, you need to add three to five peas. Insist for two to four weeks.
For three liters of distillate, take three grams of potassium permanganate, previously diluted with warm water. Pour the solution into moonshine, and after fifteen minutes, filter it through cheesecloth.
Coffee or tea will help to color the alcoholic drink in the color of cognac or whiskey, it all depends on the concentration of the drink. For three liters of moonshine, it is enough to take one and a half tablespoons of tea. Instant coffee will require two teaspoons.
When prunes are added, moonshine acquires a sweet-smoked flavor, as well as the color of cognac. It is enough to add ten to fifteen prunes per liter of alcohol.
Tips & Tricks
Using the advice of experienced distillers, mitigation should begin with a small amount of alcohol. It is necessary to select the concentration of flavors, focusing on your own tastes and preferences. Thus, you can create your own perfect alcoholic drink.
Before making additives, it is necessary to dilute the moonshine to the desired fortress, adding another two to three degrees. Then pour 200-250 ml of the drink into a separate container and gradually add the softener. After achieving the perfect taste, you need to calculate the required amount of additives and carry out a softening procedure.
Before connecting the components, part of the distillate must be left in stock. If during the softening process an excess of additives has occurred, then pure alcohol must be added. After making the softeners, close the container with moonshine tightly and put it in a darkened room with a temperature of no higher than five degrees. With the most unsuccessful attempts to improve the taste, distillation can save alcohol.
Getting high-quality homemade alcohol is very simple, the most important thing is to strictly adhere to the recommendations.