Recipes of sweet cherry mash with artificial and wild yeast. Properties, features and recipes for making cherry mash

In modern France and Germany, Kirschwasser is a favorite alcoholic drink. This is "cherry water" or cherry moonshine. Its fortress usually makes 38–43 °. The drink belongs to the well-known class of brandy. Moonshine is made from cherries at home. The distillate for it is fermented pitted cherries. You can easily make cherry moonshine with your own hands at home. Consider a few popular recipes.

How to make brew for moonshine

To prepare cherry moonshine at home, you need to stock up on a sufficient amount of cherries. For a Kirschwasser, it must be ripe or even overripe. The variety of berries does not matter. It may not even be a cherry, but a sweet cherry. Sweeter fruits increase the amount of moonshine. They are used with or without bones. The pits give the drink an almond flavor. If you don't like it, the bones should be removed.

The classic cherry moonshine recipe does not contain any yeast or sugar. The berries themselves contain sugar. Its content is 8–12%. The percentage depends on the type of plant. 10 liters of berries can yield 1.7 liters of Kirschwasser, which is 40% ABV. To begin with, a brew is made. For her, you need to prepare:

1. berries of any kind of cherry - 15 kg;
2. clean water - 5 liters.

The manufacturing process consists of several stages:

• Unwashed berries must be cleaned of the stalks and leaves remaining on them. It is not necessary to wash the berries due to the fact that whole colonies of wild yeast live on their surface. Thanks to them, fermentation occurs.
• Each berry must be crushed. All the berries should make a slurry. The bones can be removed.
• Transfer the gruel to a container, tie the neck with gauze, leave the mixture in the dark at room temperature. Stir every day with a wooden stick. The appearance of foam will indicate the beginning of fermentation.
• After about 3-4 days, foam and a sour smell appear. A slight hiss is heard. This means that the wort needs to be poured and water added to it, moved again and a good water seal installed. Put the container in a dark place with room temperature. How much to insist? Until the mixture brightens and the taste of the mash becomes bitter. Sediment forms at the bottom of the tank, the water seal will stop gurgling. These signs are a sign to the beginning of distillation.
• It remains to strain the infusion, pour it into a moonshine still and make moonshine.

In this way, the production of moonshine on cherries with or without pits takes a very long time. The whole process will take 20-45 days. But its preparation is possible according to a different recipe. Making moonshine from cherries: recipe number 2.

• For this method you need sugar, you can add yeast.
• Sugar increases yield finished product, and yeast accelerates fermentation several times.
• The disadvantages of this method include the loss of part of the cherry flavor.
• The more sugar you put in, the less cherry taste and smell will remain.

To make mash, you need to prepare:

1. 10 kg of cherries;
2. 1.5 kg of sugar;
3. 100 g pressed or 20 g dry yeast;
4. 3 liters of water + 4 liters for every kilogram of sugar.

Cherries in moonshine should be used with a bone

The manufacturing process is as follows:

• Mash the berries without damaging their bones. Put the mass in a container, put sugar, pour in water.
• Dilute the yeast according to the instructions and add it to the wort.
• Stir the mixture in a container, close it with a water seal and put everything in a warm place.
• After 5-14 days, fermentation should end. Evidence of this will be: the cessation of the appearance of bubbles in the water seal, the brightening of the mash, the precipitation at the bottom of the container, the sour taste.

The made composition on the bones must be filtered through cheesecloth and begin to distill.

How to get moonshine from mash

There is a universal method of distillation. It retains the aroma and taste of cherries and their pits. You should act like this:

• First, the mash is distilled at a fairly high speed. The distillate should be withdrawn to a jet strength below 30°. In this case, the passage may become cloudy. You shouldn't be afraid of it.
• The collected mixture is stirred and its strength is measured. Bring it up to 20%. To do this, add water. Charcoal is not required.
• Distill the mixture again. Grams 300 from the beginning of the output must be collected separately from the rest of the mass. Drinking them is dangerous, but can be used for other purposes.
• Collect the rest of the distillate until the strength of the jet is below 45%. Collect the rest in another bowl.

In the finished Kirschwasser, measure the fortress and bring it to 38–45% by adding water. Ready moonshine to insist 3-8 days and you can try it.

Conclusion on the topic

Kirschwasser is the name given to cherry moonshine in France and Germany. He is popular with the people of these countries. They also prepare other drinks on moonshine there: its recipe was given above. For moonshine, mash is first made from cherries or cherries. Then the fermented mash is distilled, and a real tasty and fragrant cherry comes out, which is not ashamed to be served at the table. Some people don't like the almond smell of cherry pits. They can simply be removed from the wort.

Do not add various flavors to the mixture

The preparation technology does not provide for the infusion of the drink on oak bark or the addition of other components. It is only allowed to use this method: laid out on the floor oak chips and a container with a drink is installed on it. It is believed that it can absorb the aromas of wood chips. You can add mint and prunes, barberry and cinnamon, cloves and orange, lemon and anise.

Cherry-based drinks have exclusively pleasant taste and color. It is difficult to find a berry that would suit such a large number of of people. Today we will look at the method of preparing cherry mash for distillation into moonshine. Almost a win-win option for a feast.

There are two most famous methods: yeast-free and yeast-free. In both cases, the pits remain with the cherry. The first option is more complex, but is a classic of home brewing. The second one is noticeably simplified, but the saturation of the distillate is noticeably lower.

Any berries are suitable for mash, both unripe and overripe.

This is the most famous and oldest method of making cherry moonshine. The drink is rich and tasty. This is how it should be on a good fruit brew.

Ingredients and proportions:

• Cherry - 3 kg.
• Water - 1 liter.

Depending on the volume of your distiller, we adjust the total volumes of the components for ourselves.

The process of making mash and distilling moonshine is as follows:

When the mixture begins to foam, it must be placed in a fermentation tank and filled with water.

1. We clean the berries from the stalks, do not wash them and immediately press until homogeneous mass.
2. We cover the container with gauze and put it in a dark place for 2-3 days.
3. As soon as the mixture begins to hiss and release foam, pour it into a fermentation tank, add water, put a water seal and put it in a dark place for about 3-4 weeks.
4. When the mash brightens, stops showing signs of “life” (gurgle) and becomes bitter in taste, you can proceed to distillation. First remove from the sediment and filter the wort through gauze.
5. The first distillation is carried out quickly and continues until the fortress drops below 30%.
6. We dilute the distillate to 20% strength.
7. We carry out the second distillation with separation into fractions. We remove the first 10% of alcohol separately (“the head” does not interest us), and then we begin to separate the “body” until the degree drops to 45%.
8. We insist ready-made moonshine for several days and enjoy the excellent taste.

The process of preparing cherry mash for distillation showed Valery Fetisov on your Youtube channel. Unfortunately, the resulting output of moonshine is unknown to us, since the author was too lazy to shoot a video and upload the result, but this is quite enough for a basic experience.

Recipe with yeast and sugar (up to 10 days)

Technology "for the lazy", which accelerates fermentation and increases the yield of alcohol per kilogram of raw materials. But we pay for this with the saturation of the final product, so whether it makes sense to rush is up to you.

• Cherry - 6 kg.
• Sugar - 2 kg.
• Alcoholic yeast - 15 grams.
• Water - 11 liters.

When preparing the berry, it is important not to split the bones so that they do not give the bitterness to our mash. Therefore, the process of rubbing and squeezing should be carried out carefully and very gently.

Technology for the manufacture of cherry moonshine:

Cherry must tends to foam a lot, so keep a spare in a larger fermentation tank

1. Without washing the berries, we grind them into a thick porridge and send them to a fermentation tank.
2. Pour water into the same place, pour sugar and add activated yeast (dilute in a glass of water for 10 minutes).
3. We install a water seal on the container and put it in a dark place for 5-10 days.
4. Upon the termination of carbon dioxide emission, the appearance of sediment and clarification of the mash, we proceed to removing the sediment and filtering the mash through gauze.
5. The distillation is carried out in two stages. First, we drive the moonshine until the fortress drops to 30% and dilute it with water to 20%.
6. The second time we separate the “head” (10% of the first alcohol) and then drive the “body” until the fortress drops to 45%.

It is not necessary to wait almost a month to get cherry moonshine. If the temperature is correctly observed, then within a week with this approach, the mash will be ready. After spending a few more hours distilling, you will get a full-fledged cherry-based drink.

Another video on the topic can be offered from the author Sergey Kh. For the fermentation process, Sergey used Polish wine yeast, resulting in an interesting effect. More details in the Youtube video below.

What I personally do quite rarely is cherry mash, the vast majority of which, in our case, is rolled into own juice and goes to compotes. The rest of the berries I often use to make cherries - the most delicate dessert drink, which is always popular not only among ladies. But with an excess of berries, it is quite possible to put them on moonshine, although there are a lot of nuances here.

So, cherry is a rather sour berry, so it is important to choose the right variety. But the most important thing is not even this, but the degree of its maturity, which changes from year to year in accordance with weather conditions. The same tree in different years will bear fruits with different levels of sugar content, and it is sometimes very difficult to determine this percentage even by taste, so I do not recommend doing it. cherry mash sugarless. This is permissible only if sweet cherries of late varieties are added to it.

Cooking cherry mash at home

Braga from cherries at home is prepared as follows:

• Berries are harvested, pitted - this is perhaps the most difficult, most tedious stage that I traditionally put on the shoulders of household members, although I still have to participate in picking berries
• The resulting pulp is kneaded by hand or passed through a meat grinder.
• For 10 kg of pulp, take 5 kg of water, that is, 2 parts of cherries and 1 part of liquid
• For 10 liters of the resulting mixture, add 1.5 kg of sugar and 75 grams of yeast

Above, I said that the most difficult thing is to collect and peel cherries, but - no, whoever has done this at least once knows well what the place for processing this type of crop looks like - this is practically a stage on which the cannibal Lector had a good time. In general, washing yourself, dishes and everything around is very difficult, so it’s better to cover everything around with polyethylene and work in rubber gloves and in clothes that you don’t mind throwing away.

There is another recipe for cherry mash, according to which you can get good moonshine, but for more time. Ingredients and proportions:

• Cherry - 2 parts
• Sweet, late cherry - 1 part
• Water - 2 parts

That is, for 10 kg of cherries we take 5 kg of cherries and 10 liters of water. Sugar and yeast are not added, but fermentation lasts about 20 days. From 10 liters of such mash, we expect to get 1 liter of vodka, and we get 800-850 grams, as usual.

For cherry mash, it is very important to provide good conditions fermentation. The first two days you can keep it under gauze in the sun, and when fermentation is in full swing, you need to put a water seal and take the container to a room with a more or less even temperature at a level of +20 C o to +25 C o without access to light. Under such conditions, sugar-based mash should ferment for 8-10 days, and pure mash should take twice as long. Both types of mash are filtered through gauze before distillation, but there is no need to clarify it.

The subtleties of the distillation of cherry mash

The distillation of mash from cherries is carried out according to traditional technology in two stages. We remove the first raw alcohol along with the tails, but without the heads, the volume of which is calculated using the methods I have given in other materials, and the second distillation is precisely divided into fractions. During the second stage, we fill the steamer with mint and lemon balm leaves - they will give the drink freshness. Before laying, you need to knead them a little so that they give off aromatic substances better. We dilute the finished product to the 40 percent we need, pass it through charcoal filters, let it “rest” for 3-5 days. And then we use it for its intended purpose.

Cherry moonshine as the basis of cherry

I said above that I always use part of the cherry to make cherry, but I cook it according to my own special recipe. It turns out quickly, and its strength is much higher than that of ordinary cherries obtained by natural fermentation. So we need:

• Gather berries and peel them from the seeds
• Put them in glass bottles, filling them approximately ¾
• Pour sugar on top so that it wakes up between the berries and slightly covers them

Now you need to close the containers with gauze and put them in the sun. After a day or two, the cherry will release juice, which will become more and more. You can shake the jars slightly so that the sugar dissolves better. For 3 kg of cherries, 700-800 grams of sugar is enough. Around the third day, the drink will ferment, and this is where my "chip" begins. I let it ferment for only two or three days, and then I drain all the juice into a separate container. Its fortress is still very small, and the fermentation process continues. To stop it and increase the fortress, we need alcohol, and what would be better if not cherry moonshine?

The amount of moonshine added depends on the strength and taste preferences, but, as a rule, the strength of the final product is about 17-20%, like a good one. homemade liquor. Rich taste, fast results! Drink well and don't overdo it.

The ripening period of sweet cherries is a crucial time when you need to have time to make as much distillate as possible from this berry. For those who are just getting started with fruit mash, I advise you to familiarize yourself with the technology of making moonshine from cherries. I will talk about two best recipes.

For mash, you can use any variety of cherries, but best results obtained from sweet juicy berries. The higher the sugar content of the fruit, the greater the yield of moonshine. Therefore, it is better to make wild cherry mash only according to the second recipe, adding sugar. At the same time, the characteristic aroma will be preserved.

Cherry moonshine without yeast and sugar

It turns out natural product no third party additives. To preserve natural yeast, cherries are harvested in dry, sunny weather and are not washed.

The disadvantage of this recipe is the low yield of the finished product due to the low sugar content of the fruit. Depending on the variety, sweet cherries contain 9-28% sugar, which means that the maximum yield from 1 kg of the sweetest raw material is 330 ml (40%), excluding 8-15% losses during fermentation and distillation.

Ingredients:

• sweet cherry - 6 kg;
• water - 2 liters.

1. Clean the collected unwashed cherries from the stalks and leaves.

2. Crush the berries until a homogeneous liquid is obtained. It is very important to crush each berry, but not damage the bones.

3. Bandage the neck of the container with gauze and leave for 2-3 days in a warm place. Stir every 12 hours.

4. After the start of fermentation (foam will appear on the surface and a hiss will be heard), pour the liquid into the fermentation tank, add water and mix well.

5. Install a water seal on the neck, and transfer the container itself to a dark, warm place (optimum temperature is 24-30 ° C). After 14-30 days, the cherry mash will be ready for distillation - it will stop fermenting, brighten and become unsweetened in taste.

6. Strain the spent mash through gauze to separate the bones and pulp from the liquid part, which can burn during distillation.

7. Overtake on any moonshine still. Do not peel to leave a fruity smell.

Yeast and Sugar Free Option

It turns out a drink with an original woody-fruity aroma and a light almond aftertaste, which gives the bones. If you don’t like the almond flavor, then at the second stage you need to remove the bones from the mash.

Sweet cherry mash with yeast

A drink reminiscent of the taste of Kirschwasser - German cherry vodka. Adding 1 kg of sugar increases the yield by 1-1.2 liters (40%), but slightly neutralizes the cherry flavor and aroma. Without yeast (wild) the smell is better, but fermentation lasts 3-5 times longer.

Ingredients:

• sweet cherry - 10 kg;
• sugar - 2.5 kg;
• water - 10 liters;
• yeast - 60 grams dry or 300 grams pressed (optional).

1. Mash the berries without damaging the seeds. The resulting mass is placed in a container for fermentation.

2. Dilute the yeast according to package instructions.

3. Add water, sugar and diluted yeast to the crushed cherries.

4. Mix well, install a water seal, put the container in a dark place with a temperature of 20-30°C.

5. After 5-12 days (on baker's or alcohol yeast), when the fermentation is over (the water seal stops emitting gas, the glove deflates, the mash brightens, sweetness disappears), overtake the mash.

Cherry sugar moonshine

As in the first recipe, to remove the almond flavor, you need to make pitted mash. The process is laborious, but there is no other way out.

Improving the quality of moonshine from cherries

The only acceptable method that preserves the organoleptic properties of the distillate is re-distillation. Cleaning with coal and other methods is contraindicated.

Technology:

1. Measure the strength of cherry moonshine. Determine the amount of pure alcohol (volume divided by 100 and multiplied by the fortress).

2. Dilute the distillate with water up to 20%. Overtake again. Collect the first 12-15% of pure alcohol separately. This is a harmful fraction that can only be used for technical purposes.

3. Select the main product before the strength in the jet falls below 40%.

4. Dilute the finished cherry moonshine with water to a strength of 40-45%, pour into glass containers and seal tightly. Before tasting, leave for 2-3 days to stabilize the taste.

In Germany and France, moonshine made from cherries is called Kirschwasser, in literal translation - “cherry water”. This drink with a strength of 38-43% belongs to the brandy class. Feature- distillate is obtained from fermented berries with seeds. With enough cherries, it's easy to make homemade kirsch. We will look at two proven mash recipes and a distillation technology that preserves organoleptic properties.

Only fresh ripe cherries of any variety are suitable. It is desirable that the berries are as sweet as possible, this will increase the amount of the finished product. If the cherries are very sour, I advise you to use the second recipe, otherwise the output will disappoint.

You can make cherry moonshine, both with and without seeds. The pits give the distillate a slight almond flavor, but not everyone likes these notes.

Classic cherry brew

Real brandy without yeast and sugar, made according to traditional technology. Depending on the variety, cherries contain 8-12% sugar. This means that theoretically, from 10 kg of the sweetest raw material, you can get up to 1.7 liters of ready-made kirsch with a strength of 40%. In practice, losses are 10-15%, and the normal yield from sour varieties is 1-1.2 liters (40%).

Ingredients:

• cherry berries - 15 kg;
• water - 5 liters.

1. Peel unwashed cherries from leaves and stalks. Wild yeast lives on the surface of the berries, thanks to which the must will ferment.

2. Pass the berries until a homogeneous mass. Remove bones (optional).

Attention! The main thing is not to crush the bones, otherwise the drink will be bitter.

3. Bandage the neck of the container with pulp with gauze and place in a dark place at room temperature. Stir once a day with your hand or a clean wooden stick.

Foam - evidence of a successful start of fermentation

4. After 2-4 days, foam and a sour smell will appear on the surface, a hiss will be heard. It's time to pour the wort into the fermentation tank, add water, mix and install a water seal. Leave the vessel in a dark room at a temperature of 18-25°C. After 20-45 days, the cherry mash will brighten, become bitter in taste without sweetness, sediment will appear at the bottom, the water seal will stop gurgling. This means that it is time to start the distillation.

5. Strain the mash through cheesecloth, then pour into alembic moonshine still. The distillation technology is described at the end of the article.

Cherry mash with sugar and yeast

Simplified cooking technology. The addition of sugar increases the yield (1 kg per 1.1 liters 40%), and artificial yeast reduces the fermentation period by 3-4 times. The disadvantage is that part of the aroma and taste of the cherry is lost. The more sugar, the weaker the smell. If possible, it is better to completely abandon the yeast.

Ingredients:

• cherry berries - 10 kg;
• sugar - 1-5 kg;
• pressed yeast - 100 grams (or 20 grams of dry);
• water - 3 liters and another 4 liters for each kilogram of sugar.

1. Pass the cherry with your hands, kneading each berry, but without damaging the bones. Pour the resulting mass into a fermentation container (with or without seeds). Add water and sugar.

2. Dilute the yeast according to the instructions on the label and add to the wort.

3. Stir, install a water seal (of any design) on the tank, then transfer the fermentation tank to a dark place with a temperature of 20-28°C.

4. After 5-14 days, the fermentation on baker's or alcohol yeast will stop (the water lock will stop bubbling, the mash will brighten, become sour, sediment will appear at the bottom).

5. Before distillation, filter the mash through cheesecloth so that the pulp does not burn when heated.

Getting cherry moonshine

Universal fractional distillation technique suitable for two types of mash. It preserves the taste and aroma of the original raw materials to the maximum.

Subsequence:

1. Overtake the wash for the first time at high speed. Select distillate before the drop of the fortress in the jet below 30%. The product may become cloudy, this is normal.

2. Measure the fortress. Determine the amount of pure alcohol (multiply the volume by the fortress and divide by 100). Dilute the resulting cherry moonshine with water up to 20%. To preserve the aroma, do not clean with charcoal or other means.

3. Make a second distillation. The first 12-15% of the yield from a certain amount of pure alcohol is collected separately and poured out, or used for technical purposes. This is the "head" - a harmful fraction with an unpleasant odor, which is dangerous to drink.

4. Select the “body” (the desired cherry distillate) until the strength in the stream drops below 45%, then finish the distillation or collect the “tails” in another container.

5. Dilute the finished kirschwasser with water up to 38-45%, pour over the glass container and close it hermetically. Before use, leave for 3-8 days to stabilize.

After double distillation