Braga on grapes – how to make at home from red or white varieties according to step-by-step recipes with photos

The content of the article

• What is mash on grapes
• How to do
• Grapes recipe on grapes
• From Isabella
• From cake
• With apples
• From juice
• On dry grapes without yeast
• Muscat grapes with orange zest
• Signs of readiness mash
• Useful Cooking Tips

Fragrant mash of grapes, grape juice, raisins or oilcake is an excellent basis for making homemade alcoholic beverages. The alcohol obtained from the distillation of the finished product can be easily converted into cognac, strong Balkan brandy, brandy, kizlyarka, Jewish moonshine peysahovka, chacha and real Italian grappa made from grape extracts. A delicious mash of burgundy-lilac or amber color is drained from the sediment and consumed even in its purest form. The main thing is to find a good recipe, choose high-quality raw materials and observe the specified proportions.

What is mash on grapes

Classical grape brew is a unique product that is obtained as a result of fermentation of grapes, sugar and yeast. The drink, ideal for preparing high-quality wine alcohol, has a rich, multi-faceted, slightly sweet taste, reminiscent of a young wine. The grape mash gently nibbles the tongue, like champagne, beer or apple cider. The taste of the drink is improved with the help of additional ingredients, for example, fruit, juice, orange zest.

How to do

An original homemade drink can be prepared from any available raw material – tart Isabella grapes, sweet nutmeg varieties, natural grape juice, dry grapes, squeezed. Berries treated with sulfur dioxide and other chemicals should not be used. Especially fragrant, tasteful mash is obtained by adding yeast from “wild” grape yeast. More profitable and affordable are dry, alcoholic, pressed baker’s yeast, which slightly level the taste of the drink. The process of making mash consists of the following steps:

• Grapes knead a crush. Isabella berries are pre-frozen.
• Separately prepare the sourdough. Warm water is mixed with sugar, yeast. If the mash is done on dry grapes, a little chopped raisins are added to the sourdough..
• Shredded fruits, squeezes or juice are sent to a fermentation tank.
• Add water, granulated sugar, sourdough.
• The mixture is left for several days in a dark warm place, stirred if necessary..
• Install a water seal to prevent oxygen from entering. Instead of a hydraulic lock, if necessary, use a medical rubber glove, one finger of which must be pre-punctured.
• After 7-10 days, the mash is distilled or cleaned in the refrigerator so that the drink is infused.

Grapes recipe on grapes

There are many ways to make homemade grape mash, which is used to produce a fragrant distillate or consumed without distillation. Some winemakers fundamentally refuse to add yeast and granulated sugar to the mash to preserve the natural taste of the drink. Other experts, on the contrary, advise you to definitely use sweeteners and yeast to speed up the fermentation process and increase the amount of the finished product. It all depends on the recipe, the quality of raw materials, the availability of additional ingredients and cooking technology.

From Isabella

• Time: 14 days.
• Cuisine: International.
• Difficulty: medium.

Isabella grapes with juicy dark purple berries and a touch of ripe wild strawberries are one of the most suitable varieties for making homemade mash. Leaves, stalks, unripe fruits should not get into the must, otherwise the drink will get an unpleasant bitter taste, it will become too sour, tart. The excessive astringency of the grapes is softened by placing the bunches in the freezer for 12 hours or all night. It is convenient to remove the berries from the stalks while they are frozen. If necessary, replace dry yeast with pressed yeast (approximately 200 grams of product will be required).

Ingredients:

• Isabella grapes – 5 kg;
• dry yeast – 40 g;
• sugar – 2 kg;
• water – 15 l.

Cooking method:

1. Grapes to freeze, sort out.
2. Pour into a large clean container, leave for several hours at room temperature. Fruits defrost faster if you pour them with warm water.
3. Crush berries, transfer grape pulp to a fermentation tank.
4. Pour in warm water (optimal temperature – not higher than 30 degrees).
5. Combine the yeast with a little water, add to the must.
6. Pour 1.1 kg of granulated sugar.
7. Remove for 3 days in a warm place, adding 300 g of sugar to the mixture daily.
8. After 3 days, mix the mash.
9. Install a water seal or fasten a medical glove on the neck.
10. After 10 days, the grape can be drained from the sediment to overtake.

From cake

• Time: 10 days.
• Cuisine: International.
• Difficulty: medium.

Making homemade mash is a creative, fun and virtually waste-free process. On the basis of such a drink they make alcohol of different strengths, for example, cognac, chacha, brandy, brandy, grappa, kizlyarka. Fragrant grape mash from squeezes is the best way to realize the cake that remains after making juice or wine. It is advisable not to use a cake containing fragments of bunches. Grape ridges and twigs are rich in tannins, which make the drink astringent and give it an unpleasant bitter aftertaste.

Ingredients:

• grape cake – 5 kg;
• dry yeast – 50 g;
• sugar – 2 kg;
• water – 15 l.

Cooking method:

1. Dissolve granulated sugar in 2 l of warm water.
2. Add diluted yeast, cake. If necessary, high-speed dry yeast can be replaced with pressed baking yeast..
3. Heat the remaining portion of water (13 l) to 30 degrees. Pour into a container with grape cake and warm sugar syrup.
4. Install a water seal or fasten a medical glove on the neck.
5. Put in a dark, warm place.
6. Grape cake mash can be filtered and distilled after 10 days.

With apples

• Time: 10 days.
• Cuisine: International.
• Difficulty: medium.

The traditional recipe for mash of grapes and apples can be changed, depending on taste preferences and the variety of fruits. Natural fruit mash can be made only from oilcake and clean drinking water, but in this case, the fermentation process will drag on for 30-50 days. If you add a couple kilograms of sugar and a little yeast to the drink, it will be ready for distillation in 7-10 days. Any yeast can be used – alcohol, high-speed dry or pressed. Additives can slightly change the organoleptic properties of mash, but the yield of the finished drink will be much greater.

Ingredients:

• grape marc – 5 kg;
• squeezed apple – 5 kg;
• water – 23 l;
• dry yeast – 100 g;
• sugar – 2 kg.

Cooking method:

1. Mix grape and apple pomace.
2. Pour in water heated to 25-30 degrees. Mix.
3. Add granulated sugar, diluted yeast. Mix again.
4. Install a water seal or fasten a medical glove on the neck.
5. Leave the mash in a warm, dark place for 10 days..
6. Stir every 2 days.
7. When the grape mash becomes bitter, and the air bubbles disappear, it can be distilled.

From juice

• Time: 8 days.
• Cuisine: International.
• Difficulty: medium.

To prepare aromatic grape mash, it is recommended to choose a natural juice from acidic grape varieties. Store analogues contain preservatives, so they can not be used. The amount of granulated sugar can be reduced if the freshly squeezed grape juice is very sweet. If necessary, pressed baker’s yeast is replaced with dry yeast (a little more than 2 tablespoons of the product will be required). Such homemade mash on grapes is used for the preparation of alcoholic beverages, for example, chachi, or is used in pure form after settling in the refrigerator.

Ingredients:

• grape juice – 1 l;
• pressed yeast – 100 g;
• sugar – 500 g;
• water – 2 l.

Cooking method:

1. Pressed yeast diluted in 200 ml of warm water, add 50 g of granulated sugar.
2. Leave the starter culture in a warm place for 1 hour to start the fermentation process. A characteristic “cap” should appear on the surface of the mass.
3. Separately mix pure grape juice, the remaining portion of water and sugar.
4. Add pre-cooked yeast yeast.
5. Install a water seal or fasten a medical glove on the neck.
6. Grape mash will be ready for distillation in 6-8 days.

On dry grapes without yeast

• Time: 5 weeks 3 days.
• Cuisine: International.
• Difficulty: medium.

The original mash on raisins has a pleasant smell, beautiful caramel-amber color and rich taste of young wine, so it can be consumed in its purest form. On the basis of the ready-made mash, you can make vodka and a fragrant alcoholic drink that resembles Jewish raisins peysahovka to taste. The main advantage of the classic raisin mash is that it is made without the addition of yeast, but much depends on the quality of the raw materials. Dry grapes processed with preservatives do not contain natural yeast, therefore, it is not suitable for making sourdough.

Ingredients:

• raisins – 1 kg;
• water – 5 l;
• sugar – 50 g.

Cooking method:

1. Combine in a liter jar 200 ml of warm water, 100 g of raisins, a tablespoon of granulated sugar.
2. Stir the mixture to completely dissolve the sugar.
3. Cork, leave for 4 hours. Raisins should swell.
4. Remove raisins from syrup, grind to a state of homogeneous mass using a meat grinder or blender.
5. Transfer chopped fruits into a container with syrup.
6. Stir, add a few whole berries of dry grapes.
7. Cover with gauze, leave the starter for 3 days warm.
8. Mix 900 g of raisins, 1.5 l of warm water, the remaining portion of sugar.
9. Leave for 4 hours to swell the berries.
10. Extract raisins, grind with a meat grinder.
11. Combine in the fermentation tank the remaining portion of water, crushed raisins and sweet syrup, in which it was insisted.
12. Add leaven.
13. Install a water seal or fasten a medical glove on the neck.
14. Leave for 3-5 weeks.
15. Braga on raisins will be ready to be distilled or consumed when the drink brightens and air bubbles disappear.

Muscat grapes with orange zest

• Time: 10 days.
• Cuisine: International.
• Difficulty: medium.

Muscat grapes have a rich aroma and a sweet, very juicy pulp, which affects the taste of the finished mash. Fresh or dried orange peel will make the drink more refined and give a light citrus notes. The main thing is to remove from the surface of the fruit only the orange, aromatic part of the peel, without touching the white pulp, which gives bitterness. When choosing a fermentation tank, it is recommended to give preference to roomy stainless steel containers. Braga on grapes increases in size, so the prepared containers are filled only three quarters.

Ingredients:

• Muscat white grapes – 10 kg;
• sugar – 6.5 kg;
• orange zest – 7 tbsp. l .;
• water – 20 l;
• citric acid – 20 g.

Cooking method:

1. Sort the muscatel grapes, knead.
2. Pour granulated sugar, citric acid.
3. Add the zest of 2-3 medium oranges.
4. Transfer the mixture to a large fermentation tank.
5. Pour in warm water, mix well.
6. Install a water seal or fasten a medical glove on the neck.
7. To sustain 10 days in the warm place protected from drafts. Stir occasionally for the first 3-5 days.
8. Grape mash will be ready for distillation if the drink acquires a characteristic bitterness. There should be no gas bubbles.
9. If the active fermentation process does not begin after 7 days, 200 g of alcoholic yeast will need to be added to the mixture. To do this, 3 liters of mash are heated to 30 degrees, mixed with yeast, returned to the container for fermentation.

Signs of readiness mash

One of the key points in preparing homemade grape mash is the ability to determine the degree of its readiness in time. If the drink stays in the fermentation tank longer than required, the taste will be spoiled due to intense vinegar fermentation. Mash, made in accordance with all the rules of quality products, but forgotten for a long time in the heat, will become unpleasant, sour, like vinegar. The organoleptic properties of the drink, the fermentation of which was interrupted before the due date, will also not be up to par. The readiness of the mash is accurately determined, focusing on the following signs:

• If the mash is not ready for distillation or consumption, the match, lit over the neck of an open container, will go out. If the fermentation process has already stopped, the match will burn.
• The drink should not emit a characteristic “hiss” that is heard when carbon dioxide bubbles are released.
• The taste of the drink will change. Yeast must process all sugar and turn it into alcohol. Even a sweet mash made from grapes with a high glucose content or with the addition of granulated sugar will become bitter.
• The aroma will remain saturated, but will acquire a characteristic alcoholic notes..
• Carbon dioxide will cease to be released from the hydraulic lock. A medical rubber glove fixed on the neck of a container instead of a water seal will deflate.
• The drink will brighten and become more transparent. Cake, the remains of the yeast will settle to the bottom, foam will not form on the surface.
• The readiness of the drink can be checked with a special device – a hydrometer. To do this, 200 ml of mash is filtered or filtered through a dense tissue. A hydrometer is immersed in the purified liquid. Distillation can begin at values ​​below 1.002.

Useful Cooking Tips

Homemade grape brew will be fragrant and transparent, as in the photo, if you choose quality products and carefully follow the instructions. Everything matters – temperature and lighting in the room, water, type and proportions of raw materials, the presence of additional ingredients. It is equally important to use the right containers, make a good leaven, accurately calculate the required amount of sugar and yeast. A few general tips and advice from professionals will help you prepare a truly delicious drink at home:

• It is important to create the right conditions for the fermentation of grape must. The room should be dark, the optimum temperature is 20-25 ° C. Overloading of containers should not be allowed, as heat is dangerous and fatal for yeast mushrooms. If the room is too cold, fermentation will stop or will develop too slowly. The temperature must be stable, sudden changes are unacceptable.
• A drink made from sugar grapes grown in sunny southern regions is made without the addition of granulated sugar. It is recommended to cook sour berry mash not with yeast, but with grape sourdough.
• For the preparation of grape mash use clean drinking water of medium hardness without impurities. The ideal option is well, artesian or spring water from a proven source located as far as possible from the roadway. The chlorinated tap water must be filtered. It is strongly discouraged to use boiled or distilled water – distillation and boiling destroy microorganisms and leave the liquid without oxygen necessary for the productive work of yeast fungi.
• Water is enriched with oxygen using a special aquarium compressor or manually, pouring a thin stream from one tank to another. This technique improves the natural process of fermentation and helps yeast bacteria to act more actively..
• On the surface of the berries are unique “wild” yeast, so grapes and raisins do not need to be washed. The main thing is to remove the remains of twigs, ridges, unripe fruits, leaves that give a bitter taste.
• Yeast is added to speed up the process of making grape mash (7-10 days instead of 3-4 weeks). They have almost no effect on the taste of the drink..
• Suitable containers for fermentation are glass, enameled, stainless steel. A unique aroma is acquired by drinks aged in a wooden barrel, previously burnt inside. The fermentation tank is filled only two-thirds or three-quarters, because the liquid will foam, rise.
• If necessary, the drink is clarified using a filter press or bentonite. Alternative option – short-term freezing, removal of sediment by lime, gelatin, tea leaves.
• Cake and pulp remaining after making grape juice or wine have fewer substances necessary for the fermentation reaction of the drink. Braga on such raw materials must be prepared with the addition of granulated sugar.
• After infusion, the liquid is drained from the sediment so that the seeds, cake and other solid particles remain at the bottom of the container and do not burn during distillation. The grape brew is heated to a temperature of 90 ° C, in no case bringing to a boil. The collection of distillate is stopped when the strength in the stream drops below 40-45%. Ready moonshine is subjected to purification from fusel oils, for example, using crystals of manganese or coal. If the initial cleaning of the drink did not bring results, the procedure must be repeated.