Long gone are the days when you could be punished for making a strong home-made drink, and public censure - that’s for sure (with the subsequent confiscation of home equipment). Now brewing moonshine is a favorite pastime of many Russian citizens. Probably everyone, even novice moonshiners today know that for mash, this main component in the production of the drink, a variety of components are used (even Ostap Bender offered at least 200 methods of preparation). But, probably, the most “correct” mash is on wheat without yeast. It is considered a kind of "flagship of home brewing" among fans of a strong home-made drink. We will talk about how to cook it according to all the rules in our article.
Characteristics of grain moonshine
And many people like this moonshine because it has a soft and delicate taste, a slightly sweetish flavor with the aroma of wheat and bread. And this elite drink is drunk easily, even having a strength of over 45%. All this gives moonshine its main component - mash on wheat without yeast.
Feed quality
An important condition for a good distillation of moonshine and making mash for it is wheat grain of the best quality. It should be taken dry and clean. In no case should you take pre or moldy! Usually, it is peeled off before use, carefully sorted, and everything extraneous is removed. Moreover, in order to get the right mash on wheat without yeast, just collected grain will not work. It should be properly aged after harvest (at least a couple of months). By the way, you need to be extremely careful even when buying the most selected grain: it is no secret that some of its producers are actively using chemicals and fertilizers, and good raw materials for moonshine should be as environmentally friendly as possible!
What is the use of sprouted grain
In order to get the right mash from wheat without yeast for moonshine, you need to use germinated grains and forget about culinary yeast forever. It is such a raw material that contains many useful substances: vitamins, amino acids, minerals, cellular substances. The malt produced in wheat germ has enzymes that break down starch, converting it into sugar. And already directly from it alcohol is obtained. Therefore, the mash - on wheat, without yeast - wanders and spirits perfectly. Accordingly, nothing extra is required to be added.
How to germinate wheat for mash
Mash from wheat without yeast for moonshine is produced using germination of grain. At home, this procedure is extremely simple: no need to be scared, there is nothing high-tech, and this process has been used in distillation for centuries!
- We pour the grains into a suitable container so that they do not lie on a hill, but are placed on it evenly.
- We cover raw materials with gauze folded several times.
- Fill the surface with water so that it reaches the top row.
- We put it in a warm place where the sun's rays fall.
- When the first sprouts appear, remove the cheesecloth and add a little water. This must be done constantly to prevent drying out. However, it should be remembered that in too much fluid, the seeds can rot. So everything is good in moderation!
- It is necessary to stop germination when the sprouts themselves are 5, maximum 7 mm. The approximate time that the process takes is a week or 10 days. And our malt, which can be used to get the right wheat mash without yeast for moonshine, is ready! It can be used as intended.
Recipe for wheat mash without yeast
Now it's time to cook the mash itself. We take wheat in grains based on the assumption that 900 grams of a drink is usually obtained from a kilogram of a product. Further, the entire amount (for example, 10 kilograms of grain) is divided into 10 parts. One part is sprouted in the indicated manner to obtain the base. When the sprouts are at least 5 mm in size, add one pound of sugar (in the same container) per kilogram of germinated wheat grain and mix gently with your hands. If it is too dry, pour in a little water. How to make wheat mash without yeast? We close the container with the product with gauze and leave it in a dark warm place for 10 days. During this time, fermentation processes are started, and malt completely replaces the yeast, their use is no longer necessary.
Making Wheat Mash without Yeast: Final Stage
The leaven obtained after 10 days is used as the basis. It is necessary to pour it into the final container of a large volume, add not already sprouted wheat and sugar, add 2/3 of the water. Place a water seal on the neck of the container to prevent air from entering the mass. At a temperature of 18 to 24 degrees mash should wander from a week to two. When the process is complete, you can go directly to the distillation.
Benefits
Of course, in order to get grain mash on wheat without yeast, you need to tinker with it, and for many this process will not seem too practical. But the result justifies these additional tricks. Even the best vodka can not be compared with such moonshine in quality, taste and aroma.
Another significant advantage is that several (up to four) distillations can be made from one portion of wheat. Just add sugar and water to the sourdough, leave it warm where it roams, and distill again. Subject to the rules and technology, your moonshine will turn out to be of quite decent quality. And the key to success is wheat and sugar mash without yeast!
With addition
And finally, a recipe for moonshine from wheat with a certain amount of yeast - for those who are used to a simpler way to organize the fermentation of mash. First, you need to produce malt milk from the grain you sprouted. First of all, we wash and dry the malt. The drying process can be carried out in an open oven. The heating temperature is not higher than 40 degrees.
- Grind the malt dried in this way. For example, you can use a home coffee grinder for this.
- To the resulting mass, add heated water (50-60 degrees). Mix thoroughly (you can use, for example, a mixer). The liquid obtained at the outlet should be cloudy and opaque, whitish, reminiscent of milk.
- After a couple of hours, add more water to the mixture so that 1 liter of milk comes out for 150-200 grams of ground malt.
Mash Recipe
We make milk from the first part of the grain (see recipe above). And the remaining nine are used for flour congestion. How to cook flour congestion? Nine pieces ground in flour. Add one and a half liters of water per kilo of flour, mixing and avoiding the formation of lumps. The water should be taken natural - well or purified (in extreme cases, you can use tap water, but then it must be carefully boiled and cooled to the desired temperature). Next, the mash of wheat and sugar without yeast is prepared as follows.
- In the resulting mixture of flour and water, add malt milk.
- Gradually heat the mash to a temperature of about 50 degrees. Take a pause for 15-20 minutes.
- Again we heat the flour congestion (60 degrees), again a pause.
- We repeat the process already at 70 degrees, warming up, we wait until all the starch turns into sugar.
- It should be remembered that the temperature must not be allowed above! When the saccharification process is completed, the color, taste and smell of the wort will change. It will smell like fresh bread, the liquid will darken slightly, and the taste will become sweet.
- We dilute the resulting mash with water (in the same amount as the first time), cool and set aside for 3 days. Then add the yeast (per 1 kg of flour - 50 grams). We set aside the jam for fermentation and get mash (usually the process can take from 7 to 10 days), which we then use to distill the strong drink - home-brew.