Recipe for home brew from apple pulp. Moonshine from apple or grape pomace (pomace) Making moonshine from pomace

Until now, the glory of brandy has not subsided. According to the technology, the distillate is infused in oak barrels, which gives a completely unique taste and aroma. By the way, according to international law, Calvados is the name given to apple liqueur prepared in Normandy and aged for at least 2 years in medium-roasted oak barrels. All other varieties are called brandy.

A simple tincture recipe

Homemade Calvados can be prepared in two ways - make a liqueur, for which use moonshine in any mash (mostly fruit, but wheat and sugar will do) or make an apple distillate and infuse it with oak chips.

We deliberately begin our article with simple recipe making Calvados at home to “get into the swing of things.” In the future, you can try the original version, which will be described below.

Ingredients:

moonshine strength 42-45° - 3 liters;
apples – 6 kg;
sugar – 600 gr.;
water – 450 ml;
vanilla sugar – 30 gr.

Cooking method:

Wash ripe apples without wormholes, remove the core and seeds and cut into cubes with an edge of 1.5-2 cm.
Place the mixture in a glass container, add vanilla sugar and stir.
Pour in moonshine, seal tightly, shake vigorously and store in a dark, cool place for 2-3 weeks, shaking the jar daily.
Strain the drink through cheesecloth, squeeze out the juice and pour in syrup.
To prepare the syrup, pour water into a saucepan with high sides, add sand and place on fire. After boiling, cook for 5-7 minutes, stirring so as not to burn. Cool and pour into the tincture. Leave for 6-7 days to activate glucose.
Pour into glass bottles, preferably dark glass, and seal tightly.

The drink can be stored for 3 years away from sunlight. Strength 34-35°.

VIDEO: How to make moonshine from apples

Original brandy

Using this technology, the production of Calvados from cut apples is practiced in France, the birthplace of the drink. Only apples are used as a base, from which, after fermentation, a distillate is obtained. Fruits should not be washed - they are present in large quantities on the peel. wild yeast, which are needed for further fermentation. The variety – sweet, juicy, which one – is not of fundamental importance. Choose ripe ones, without traces of rot, wormholes or dents.

Recipe:

First, we prepare the cider by passing the apples through a juicer. This is the simplest and quick way obtain juice with minimal inclusion of pulp.
Without shaking, leave the juice for a day, after which the foam is removed with a slotted spoon, and the juice itself is carefully drained, without filtering, from the sediment and poured into a glass container, covered with a water seal or glove and left in a warm, dark place for fermentation. The optimal temperature is 23-27°C.

Holes are made on the fingers of the gloves with a needle to allow carbon dioxide to pass through.

After 30-35 days, the cider will stop fermenting, as evidenced by a deflated glove, no gurgling at the water seal, clearing of the liquid and a burning match over the container.
Filter the mash through gauze (3-4 layers) so that sediment does not get inside. If slurry gets into alembic, when boiled, it will burn and ruin the taste of the brandy.
Distillation - during the first distillation they do not divide the moonshine into fractions, but stop distilling as soon as the strength drops to 30°.
Without purifying or passing the distillate through filters, it is diluted with water to 20°, after which it is sent for re-distillation.
At the second distillation, separation into fractions is already underway, for which heads are taken - 12-14% of the total volume, as evidenced by the pungent smell of methyl and acetone. Next, the body is collected - 80%, as soon as the strength drops to 40°, distillation is stopped. This is called the tail-cutting stage.
The strength of the distillate will be 65-70°. It is passed through a coal column to remove the remaining fusel and diluted with water to 40-42°.
Now comes the stage of infusing moonshine on oak chips. You can read more about how to prepare oak chips or wood chips in the article “”. Let us briefly note that lumps from an oak trunk are first soaked in water for a day, then infused with a soda solution, boiled in ordinary water for an hour and a half, and then the dried ones are baked in the oven to a certain degree of roasting.
We put oak chocks into a container at the rate of 50 grams. for each liter and fill with distillate. The minimum aging time is 6 months, it is better if it is a year. All this time, the containers are stored in a dark, cool place, and it is not recommended to touch them (twist, shake, etc.).
After aging, the tincture is filtered through a gauze and cotton-carbon filter and bottled in pre-prepared bottles. You can start tasting. Alcohol can be stored for at least 2 years, tightly closed.

Due to the absence of yeast and sugar, the distiller receives pure apple spirit, and long aging on oak provides a characteristic taste and bitterness.

Normandy apple vodka

The only difference between this homemade apple Calvados recipe and the one indicated is the variety of apples. Several are used here – sour, sweet, wild. It doesn’t matter which variety will be chosen, the main thing is that correct proportions the taste was selected.

The only ingredient is apples. To make cider, take 4 parts sweet apples, 2 sour apples, 2 game apples. Then the technology is as follows.

Do not wash apples first so as not to remove wild yeast from the peel. The fruits are passed through a juicer, poured into a container with a wide neck, covered with a cotton cloth and put in a warm place for 2-3 days for fermentation.
Carefully remove the top layer of foam, without taking too much, and pour it into another container, trying not to touch the sediment. Cover with a glove or a lid with a water seal and transfer to a warm room for fermentation. The temperature of the mash should be in the range of 23-27°C for the yeast to actively reproduce.
After a month, the mash will stop fermenting, as evidenced by a deflated glove, absence of gurgling at the water seal, clearing of the liquid and a burning match over the container.
Pass the mash through several layers of gauze and pour it into the distillation cube.
Double distillation is required. At the first stage, they do not divide into fractions, but stop driving as soon as the strength drops to 30°.
Next, the pervak is diluted with water to 20°, after which it is sent for re-distillation.
At the second distillation, division into fractions is already underway, for which heads are selected - 12-14% of the total volume. Next, the body is collected - 80%, as soon as the strength drops to 40°, distillation is stopped. This is called the tail-cutting stage.
Raw alcohol is diluted with water to 45° and sent to infuse in an oak barrel or on oak chips.

The aging time is 6-12 months. In Normandy it is 4 years old - earlier blends are not valued as much as the classic drink.
After aging, the tincture is filtered through a gauze and cotton-charcoal filter and bottled into pre-prepared containers.

Homemade apple wine

This drink can very loosely be called apple brandy and is definitely not Calvados, although it appears online under that name. Overall, this is a pleasant-tasting fortified wine obtained through the distillation process.

The classic recipe does not allow the use of additional yeast - the entire process occurs due to the activation of the wild strain. But for homemade You can use additional wine yeast - especially for white wine

Ingredients:

apples – 10 kg;
sugar – 2 kg;
water – 8 liters;
dry wine yeast brand E1118 – 8 gr.

Cooking method:

The apples are washed, cored and pitted, and cut into pieces.
Use a blender to make porridge and transfer it to a container for fermentation. Add sugar, stir until dissolved and add water.
Yeast is diluted in half a glass of warm water, covered with a scarf and left for 15-20 minutes, after which it is poured into a container with apple pulp.
Mix the entire composition, cover with a glove or a lid with a water seal and put it in a warm, dark place for fermentation. The optimal temperature is 26-28°, for which the bottle is placed either near the battery or an aquarium thermometer is placed inside.
After 14-15 days, the mash will be ready, as evidenced by its color, lack of carbon dioxide (deflated glove) and bitter taste.
The liquid is filtered through 3 layers of gauze to prevent sediment and solid fragments from getting in, and poured into a distillation cube.
During the first distillation, they are not divided into fractions. Stop at 45° jet strength.
Dilute with water to 20° and distill again, dividing into heads, body and tails (see above).
The result is a distillate with a strength of 55-60°, which is sent to infuse on oak chips or in a barrel for 2 months.
After this time, the raw material is poured, diluted with water to 42° and kept in a closed bottle for another month. Then you can start tasting. If you start cooking in the fall, you can get an excellent digestif or aperitif for the New Year, depending on the strength.

VIDEO: Step by step recipe homemade apple cider

Calvados (apple cognac) is a drink that came to us from Normandy, which is also called apple brandy. For a long time, Calvados was considered the drink of the poor, because it is made from ordinary apples. But after the great Remarque mentioned it in his works, this drink became very popular among high society. Of course, making real Calvados with your own hands is very problematic, since its peculiarity is that it must be aged in oak barrels.

But nevertheless, it can be done at home using classic recipe. You can also prepare this drink from apples (or rather, its imitation) yourself by infusing apples with strong alcohol at home. As alcohol base Both vodka and moonshine will do. An important role is also played by which apples you plan to make Calvados from. You can combine different varieties - bitter, sour, sweet and sour-sweet - the main thing is that the fruits are small and aromatic. Pears will also work if they are sweet and sour.

It is best to choose varieties harvested in September. Calvados is considered one of the most “fastidious” alcoholic drinks, regardless of what recipe is used in production. Fruits are mixed in a variety of proportions, but if it is not possible to make Calvados from several varieties of apples, then it is recommended to take only sweet and sour ones.

Recipe for real classic Calvados according to the white scheme

Fruit selection . For this drink, only fruits collected from trees are used; fruits that have fallen to the ground are no longer suitable for Calvados. Collected apples do not need to be washed with water in order to preserve wild yeast on the skin of the fruit, on which fermentation will occur.

Preparation:

Excerpt . In order to refine the resulting apple moonshine by turning it into Calvados, it must be poured into an oak barrel for infusion. If you don't have a barrel, you can use oak chips, previously prepared. Chips measuring 7 by 7 mm, 8-10 cm long, lay in three liter jar in the amount of 9-11 pieces and fill with apple moonshine. Close the jars with lids and leave for 4-8 months to mature, shaking occasionally.

Filtration. Aged homemade Calvados (apple cognac) must be filtered through a gauze filter and bottled. Let it sit for a week in glass so that the drink “arrives.” You can start tasting homemade Calvados.

In the video there is a recipe for Calvados prepared according to the red scheme with cake with added sugar and wine yeast. Using this technology, apple distillate is easier and faster to make; the distillate also comes out with the aroma of apples, but due to the addition (of sugar and yeast), such a drink cannot be called a classic.

A simplified recipe for making Calvados

Unfortunately, it is very difficult to prepare real classic Calvados at home, for the reason that few people have an oak barrel on their farm. Besides, the time to prepare traditional drink it takes a lot, so winemakers came up with an alternative, simplified recipe. To make homemade Calvados by infusion, you will need 2 kg of apples, 1 liter of vodka (can be replaced with moonshine), 200 grams of sugar, 1 bag of vanillin and 150 ml of purified water. Particular attention should be paid to the fruits: if at least one apple is rotten, then the drink can be considered irrevocably spoiled.

Wash the fruit thoroughly and cut into small slices, do not forget to discard the core.
Transfer to a three-liter glass jar and sprinkle vanilla on top.
Next, pour vodka (or moonshine) into the container and leave to ferment in a dark place.
Shake the jar thoroughly several times a day for two to three weeks.
After this, make a syrup from water and sugar and add it to the future Calvados.
Then strain the drink through cheesecloth, pour into bottles and close tightly, and leave for storage.

This recipe allows you to prepare a drink with your own hands, the taste of which is as close as possible to the original. Calvados is stored at a temperature of about +15 degrees (lower, but not higher), and can be served immediately after preparation. If desired, you can add some berries, nuts or your favorite spices along with the chopped apples - this will only add a piquant taste to the drink.

Recipe for apple and pear Calvados

Many summer residents are wondering how to prepare Calvados on their own, when a lot of apples and pears have accumulated in the bins. different varieties. There is an excellent recipe that will give you a great drink. Its alcoholic base includes moonshine (which can easily be replaced with vodka), the main thing is to do everything correctly and keep the proportions correctly.

Of the ingredients you will need 700 grams of sweet and bitter apples and 350 grams of sour apples, 300-350 grams of sweet and sour pears, 1 liter of vodka (or replace it with moonshine), half a glass of vanilla and regular sugar, a glass of water.

Wash the fruits well, remove the seeds and cut into small cubes.
Place the apples first, then the pears, into a three-liter sterilized jar.
Add vanilla sugar, then pour moonshine into the jar.
Next you need to do this: cover the container with gauze and put it in a dark place to ferment.
Then the drink made from apples and pears should stand in a cool place for two to three weeks.
Shake the jar every day to mix the ingredients.
After the required period has passed, the future Calvados should be filtered through cheesecloth.
The next step is to pour the drink into a saucepan and place it on low heat.
Now you need to make sugar syrup: dissolve sugar in a glass of water.
Pour the finished syrup into a saucepan and simmer the drink over low heat for half an hour.
Next, the almost finished Calvados needs to be cooled and bottled.

The good thing about the recipe for this drink is that the taste and aroma of Calvados is excellent regardless of the alcohol base, be it vodka or moonshine. You can drink it immediately after preparation, but before doing so it is recommended to cool it to a temperature of no more than 15 degrees. This version of Calvados is also excellent if you plan to make cocktails; your friends will appreciate the taste of this drink.

Making Calvados at home is an unattainable thing. Like cognac, armagnac or tequila, this drink has strict geographical and raw material restrictions, fixed at the legislative level.

Therefore, Shake It Up will tell you how to prepare apple or apple-pear brandy at home, the production technology of which will be as close as possible to its Norman counterparts.

Next, keep in mind that preparing Calvados according to the red scheme is completely unacceptable. That is, apple mash for Calvados (as well as apple and pear mash) should under no circumstances be prepared with cultivated yeast, or with the addition of sugar.

As you understand, this circumstance will also not allow you to prepare Calvados from apple pulp(by the way, practical Normans deal with waste cake in a very original way: they dry it and sell it to manufacturers of cosmetics).

If, based on the speed and higher productivity of the red scheme, you decide to ignore our advice, you will end up with an ordinary, although not devoid of pleasant, moonshine from apples.

Calvados is produced exclusively from apple juice, fermented according to the white scheme, i.e., with natural wild yeast.

And finally, given the drink’s unofficial nickname – apple cognac – Calvados must be aged in oak barrels for at least two years. Otherwise, at the end you will get the same apple brandy of the moonshine class, albeit of a higher quality than the distillate from the cake.

Homemade Apple Calvados Recipe

This simple recipe will allow you to create drinks reminiscent of Calvados varieties such as the famous Calvados Pays d'Auge and the slightly less prestigious AOC calvados.

The wort for Calvados is prepared from pure juice without any third-party additives. In fact, we are talking about still cider.

At the same time, when estimating the desired amount of the future drink, keep in mind the following ratio: to produce a liter of forty-degree Calvados, you need to distill 14 liters of cider made from 20 kilograms of apples.

When selecting suitable varieties of apples for Calvados, follow the classic Norman formula: bitter-sweet varieties with a slight addition of sweet ones - 70%, sour varieties - 20%, bitter varieties - 10%.

It is very desirable that the apples are small and have a noticeable aroma. At the same time, the fruits must be picked from the tree, i.e., remain slightly unripe.

Having selected the desired combination of different varieties of apples, leave the fruits in a warm place for a couple of days for final ripening.

Then, without washing the fruit under any circumstances (otherwise you will destroy the wild yeast on the peel), chop them and put them under the press; if the amount of work to be done is not particularly large-scale, you can use a regular juicer.

Leave the resulting juice in a container covered with gauze, and keep the cake in warm water for a day.

After this, squeeze out the apple mass and pour the resulting liquid into the juice; it is important that it does not exceed 20% of the total volume.

When the wort begins to ferment, remove the foam from it and place it in a dry, dark place, where it should be under a water seal at a temperature of 22-25°C.

After 3-6 months, when the cider has finally calmed down, carefully remove it from the sediment and send it for distillation.

Calvados pear

To be precise, we will talk about preparing an apple-pear drink, since pure pear Calvados simply does not exist in nature.

In general, its production technology is virtually no different from the classical one. However, there are several nuances that we are going to tell you about.

Firstly: Apple and pear brandy can only be prepared within the AOC calvados and Calvados Domfrontais standards, but both use single distillation in column stills. Accordingly, if you resort to double distillation, you will move somewhat away from the canon.

Secondly: pears used to prepare the drink are equivalent to sour apples, so they must have a noticeable sourness. Thus, when selecting fruits for making apple and pear cider, you can replace 20% sour apples a similar number of pears, which is acceptable under the AOC calvados standard, or proceed a la the Calvados Domfrontais standard, replacing the sour and part of the bittersweet apple fruits with pears, which will account for 30 to 50% of the total fruit.

And thirdly: if you really want to do everything according to science, prepare separate apple and pear ciders, distill them and mix the resulting alcohols in the proportions you desire.

The recipe at home, and not only that, implies two possibilities. The first is, as in the case of the AOC calvados standard, to carry out a continuous single distillation using a vertical column still.

The second possibility, which is more acceptable to us, is double distillation, carried out in an ordinary moonshine unit (although, ideally, for double distillation of drinks in the Calvados Pays d’Auge category, copper “cognac” alambics of the Charente type are used).

As a result of primary distillation, a 25-30 degree raw alcohol is obtained, which is entirely used for re-processing.

Secondary distillation of Calvados involves dividing the resulting alcohol into fractions.

First, 5-8% of the “head” containing highly toxic fusel oils is discarded.

Then the “body” is selected, which will become the future Calvados.

The starting point for the tail fraction should be a drop in the strength of the output product below 40 degrees.

The middle fraction should be diluted with distilled water to the desired strength (from forty revolutions and above), after which the resulting alcohol should be carefully aged.

Aging the drink and subsequent purification of Calvados at home

The preliminary stage of finishing your apple brandy is preparing a barrel for Calvados (needless to remind you that the barrel must certainly be oak).

If you are dealing with new containers, it must be steamed and soaked cold water, then rinse with a 20-degree alcohol solution and steam again.

This way you will increase the water resistance of the barrel, disinfect it and rid the wood of excess tannins.

Then, following the example of the Norman distillers, you should burn the container from the inside, but, frankly speaking, this is not for everyone.

Error or something to add?

Moonshine made from apple pulp is gaining popularity, since the raw materials are used almost 100% without waste. When apples are processed into juice, pomace remains, from which you can prepare mash for good apple moonshine.

Natural apple chacha alcoholic drink, harmful impurities are kept to a minimum. Alcohol does not need to be purified if all technologies are followed and it is distilled two or more times.

Due to the small amount of fructose in the pomace, it is necessary to add sugar; moonshine from the remaining apple pomace will retain the taste and smell of apples.

Tip: to prepare mash with apple pulp, do not squeeze the apples dry. A small amount of juice increases the fructose concentration, improving the taste and aroma of the alcohol.

Recipe

It’s easy to prepare mash for moonshine at home, adhering to the minimum requirements. Unused pulp after making juice, cider or Calvados is an excellent raw material that does not have to be thrown away.

Ingredients:

Apple pulp – 10 kg
Granulated sugar – 5 kg
Water – 35 l
Yeast – 350 g pressed or 100 g dry

Making mash

Place the apple pulp in a container prepared in advance where the mash will ferment. Design the container to be of such a volume that there is free space for the foam released during the fermentation process, for given recipes you need a container with a volume of 60-65 liters for yourself, recalculate depending on the amount of ingredients
Fill the cake with water at a temperature of 30 degrees
Add sugar, but preferably already diluted in the form sugar syrup, so the sugar will dissolve faster and better. Mix well.
Dissolve yeast in water in advance, add to wort and stir
Close the container tightly and install a water seal or medical glove; make a hole in the fingers in advance
Place the mash in a dark, warm place, the temperature should be at least 18, but not more than 28 degrees
For the first five days, stir the mash, settling the rising cake cap; after the cake stops floating, you don’t have to stir it.
The duration of fermentation is from 6 to 10 days. It depends on the fermentation conditions. The end of fermentation can be determined by the deflation of the glove or the cessation of the release of gas bubbles by the water seal, as well as the bitter taste of the mash
When the mash is finished, filter it from the cake through several layers of gauze

Getting moonshine

Distill the mash for the first time almost dry to strength in a stream of 5-7% alcohol
Measure the strength of the resulting raw alcohol and calculate the amount of absolute alcohol
Dilute with water to 30% and distill again
Collect the head fractions of the first 10% of absolute alcohol and pour
Collect the drinking fraction, the so-called “body” of moonshine, select it until the temperature in the cube is 92 degrees
Collect the rest of the “tails” separately for further processing.
Apple moonshine will be ready after it is diluted to 40 degrees pure drinking water and let it sit for at least 7 days in a glass container

The amount of ingredients in the recipe gives about 5 liters of high-quality, tasty and aromatic apple moonshine with a strength of 40 degrees.

Calvados is the hallmark of the region of the same name in the province of Basse-Normandie. This brandy is made by distilling apple or pear cider.

The drink dates back to the 15th century, and is now protected by the “Rules of Authenticity of Origin” (AOC in French). This means that only distillate that is produced in several departments of Lower Normandy can be called Calvados.

The origin of the drink is also allowed from Orne, Manche, Eure, Loire, Sarthe and Mayenne. And the highest quality brandy is produced only in the eastern part of the Calvados department. This drink is not cheap - from five to eight thousand rubles per bottle. Even if you follow the original manufacturing technology to the smallest detail, the resulting drink cannot bear the proud name “Calvados”. It can only be called “apple brandy.” Calvados, like cognac and armagnac, undergoes long aging in barrels. But this does not mean that it cannot be prepared at home.

And in this article we will describe all phases of the artisanal process. Believe me: the resulting drink will be only slightly inferior to the branded Calvados.

Original technological process

In Lower Normandy, only 48 varieties of fruit are used for Calvados apples. As a rule, only small but ripe fruits are selected.

Manufacturers carefully observe proportions. A good brandy should consist of 70 percent bittersweet apples, 20% sour apples and another 10% bitter. That is, dessert varieties are not suitable for the drink. Apples should have a rich aroma and increased tannin, which results in a somewhat bitter taste. After pressing the juice, it is turned into cider. Then, once the wort has gone through the fermentation process, it is double distilled. But this is not Calvados yet.

The spirits are skillfully mixed and placed in oak barrels, where they mature for at least two years. During this time, the distillate acquires an amber color, the aroma of smoke and wood, and notes of dried fruits, caramel and spices appear in the taste.

Brandy preparation phases

There are not so many recipes for apple Calvados. And so that we don’t end up with a Slavic tincture or German schnapps, we must strive to adhere to the original technology.

The whole process can be divided into phases:

Selecting apples and obtaining juice.
Cider making - low alcohol drink.
Straining.
Distillation. Obtaining distillate.
Excerpt.
Filtration.

Of course, it is difficult to fully comply with the manufacturer's technology. For example, oak barrels can be replaced glass jars with wood chips. But if you want the drink to be aromatic, strong and tasty, you should apply effort and patience.

Homemade apple calvados recipe. Step one

We carefully select apples. Often, not very good fruits are taken for juice: broken, with spots of spoilage. But in this case you need to be a perfectionist and strive for the ideal. We respect the proportions. Seventy percent of apples should be moderately sweet and very juicy.

To begin the process of preparing Calvados, select autumn (September-October). Then the apples reach their full ripeness.

Don't forget to add another 20 percent sour varieties and 10 percent bitter ones. This does not mean that you can take unripe apples that have not gained sugars. Unripe fruits have no aroma, but it plays a primary role in the drink. Never wash apples. After all, we need to preserve the wild yeast that lives on the peel. We simply cut out the core with seeds from the apples and squeeze the juice.

Any methods will do, including modern ones. A juicer will allow you to get almost pulp-free product in just a few minutes. If the liquid is too cloudy, filter it.

Step two. Making cider

Pour the juice into a glass container. We put it in a dark place, but not in the cellar. Need room temperature. After a day - and even earlier - abundant foam will appear on the surface of the liquid. As the Calvados recipe prescribes, it must be removed from apple juice. This can be done in two ways. The first way is with a spoon. The foam is quite dense, and at first the work progresses easily. But the remaining foam is difficult to remove. Therefore, the second method is preferable - through a tube. This way you will get rid of not only the foam, but also the sediment that the pulp has formed.

Pour the liquid into another container and leave it under the water seal. If you don't have a professional installation (glass crimped bulb), you can get out of the situation in one of two ways. Seal the jar of juice with an airtight lid. We make a small hole in it and insert a rubber tube into it. Its edge should not touch the juice. But we lower the second end of the tube into a vessel with water. Thus, air is not able to enter the fermentation tank, but the resulting gases can leave the tank.

There is an easier way. Simply pull a medical glove over the neck of the jar, piercing the rubber on one of your fingers with a needle. We leave the juice to ferment in a dark place, but at room temperature.

Step three. Straining Apple Wine

After some time, you will see how the fermentation process has begun in the jar of juice. As winemakers point out, it's important that you don't end up with apple cider vinegar.

But you don’t need to add any sugars, much less yeast, to the wort. Also, you should not resort to vodka and alcohol if you want to make real homemade Calvados from apple juice at home.

Wild yeast on the skins of sour fruits should do its job and start the process of wine fermentation. The rapid release of bubbles (or a glove inflated like a balloon) will be replaced by another phase in a month. It will be a quiet ripening. How do you know when the cider is ready? Winemakers advise taking a closer look at the jar under the water seal. If bubbles do not appear for several days, and the liquid has brightened and sediment has formed, then the cider is ready. If you have a glove instead of a water seal, it should fall off completely. Open the container and carefully strain the cider. Experts say that if this is not done, the solid parts will burn during distillation and spoil the taste of the drink. It is enough to pass the cider through several layers of gauze.

Step four. Primary distillation

To get apple Calvados at home, you need alcohol mashine. It would also be a good idea to have an alcohol meter to determine the strength of the drink.

At this stage of preparing Calvados, the main thing is not to be greedy. According to winemakers, to prepare one liter of distillate you need 14 liters of cider (or 20 kilograms of apples). Where does so much liquid go? To obtain high-quality brandy, cider is distilled twice.

During the primary distillation process (in Lower Normandy, copper “alambics” of the Charente type are used for this), all the liquid is collected. At the output we have the so-called raw alcohol with a strength of 25-30 degrees. Unlike pleasant-tasting cider, it cannot be drunk.

Step five and most important

In most Normandy distilleries, apple Calvados is double distilled. This second distillation process is very important. Professionals claim that it consists of three factions. If we compare moonshine with a green serpent, then let’s call these parts “head”, “body” and “tail”.

First, a liquid is released from the device, which is saturated with toxic fusel oils. This is the “head” that must be mercilessly drained. The strength of this fusel is small, but it is not drinkable. The “heads” can be from 5 to 12 percent of the total mash that has passed the first stage of distillation. Next comes the “body”. This is what will become the future apple Calvados. We carefully collect alcohol with a strength of 80-90 degrees, drop by drop. The last thing to come out is the tail. The strength of the liquid drops. When it reaches below 30 degrees, cut off this “tail”. It can be collected in a separate container and saved for new cider.

Sixth step. Replacement for oak barrels

The result of our efforts was apple moonshine, devoid of color and with a rather boring bouquet. Calvados is a more noble drink that needs time to mature. It’s hard to imagine a city apartment in which brandy matures. We'll do without her. But we still need oak. And not sawdust, bark or shavings. They contain a lot of tannins, which will make the drink bitter.

We will need wood, which we will carefully divide into pegs 15 centimeters long and 1 cm in diameter. three liter jar It will be enough to cut a trunk 25-30 centimeters in diameter. Scald the pegs with boiling water. Leave for 10 minutes covered. We drain the water and pour in new water, this time cold. Soak for 20 minutes. Dry the pegs.

Excerpt

We carry out all manipulations with oak wood ahead of time, so that by the end of secondary distillation it is ready for use. We do everything like this.

1. First, dilute the resulting alcohol with distilled water to achieve a strength of 40-42 degrees.

2. Pour this liquid into a jar. Place oak pegs at the bottom. Seal the jar tightly. You can even roll it up with an iron lid.

3. Then we leave the container alone in a dark place for six months or even a year. Nothing bad will happen if you uncork your apple Calvados after a few years.

4. Before drinking the drink, you need to strain it through several layers of gauze.

A simpler recipe for Calvados (apple vodka) at home

The method of making brandy described above is complex. In addition, something can go wrong at any of the phases technological process- the juice will turn sour into vinegar, otherwise the fermentation process will not start.

It is much easier to resort to the second recipe. The result will not be quite Calvados, but also a strong apple distillate that tastes good.

1. Peel and core two kilograms of apples and cut into small cubes.

2. Place these pieces in a jar, sprinkle with a bag of vanilla sugar (10 g). Pour a liter of quality vodka.

3. Seal the jar tightly and let the liquid infuse at room temperature in a dark place for 15 days.

4. We extract the apples and live them out.

5. Filter the liquid through a cotton-gauze filter.

6. Prepare syrup from 200 grams of sugar and 150 milliliters of water. Let it cool to room temperature.

7. Pour in apple vodka. Stir and pour the tincture into bottles.

An even faster way

Traditional recipe involves preparing Calvados from apple juice. But you can simplify your task by passing 15 kilograms of fruit through a meat grinder. From the resulting puree you need to separate 300 milliliters of wort. Add two tablespoons of sugar and dry yeast there.

While the foam is forming, prepare the syrup. To do this, dissolve three kilograms of sugar in half a liter of water and bring the mixture to a boil. Let the syrup cool and add the wort and yeast. Place the entire pureed mass in a large container (up to 50 l). Fill it with mash and place it under the water seal. Let's wait until the liquid ferments, then the foam disappears and the sweetness in the taste goes away. This may take two weeks. Next, filter the liquid, removing the pulp. We send the drink, which can be called homemade Calvados, for distillation. To make it more reminiscent of noble Norman brandy, winemakers recommend infusing it with oak pegs about six months.