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Calvados recipe from concentrated apple juice. Calvados from apples at home - the best recipes for quality alcohol

concentrated juice- this is an intermediate stage between straight-pressed juice and reconstituted juice (99% of all juice in the store). The concentrate is a thick and viscous liquid, which is usually sold in 5 kg cans. Estimated cost is 300 rubles per kg. It is not recommended to consume this raw material, but put a mash on it - please!

In general, it is a very interesting idea to use such rich raw materials for fermentation. It will very saturate the mash with its taste and give the aroma to the future moonshine. If you are open to experimentation, then this recipe is for you.

Concentrated juices from Barinof. The price is 1300 rubles for 5 kg.

Manufacturers of this raw material sometimes write the technology themselves, thanks to which you can make wine, chacha or cognac. The proportions are about the same everywhere, so for cooking 25 liters of mash We recommend taking the following ingredients:

Wine yeast Lalvin EC-1118 (a good option for such a mash).

Concentrated juice - 4 kg.
Sugar - 5 kg.
Water - 20 liters.
Wine yeast (25 grams) or alcohol (100 grams).

On wine distillate, it will turn out tastier, but fermentation will go longer and less efficiently.

The alcohol aroma will go away a little, but sugar will ferment quickly and few harmful impurities will be produced.

We put mash and drive moonshine

The technology is pretty simple. We withstand all the requirements for classic mash, do not forget about the temperature and everything will be fine with us.

Stir sugar in water until dissolved. You can use if you want, but it's not required. If you have high-quality yeast, then they will cope with the splitting of even ordinary granulated sugar.
Rehydrate and activate the yeast in a glass of water with a spoonful of sugar. After 10-15 minutes, they will hiss, after which they must be added to the wort.
We install a water seal on the fermentation tank and take the mash to a dark place with a temperature in the range of 23–27 degrees.
The length of fermentation will depend on the type and quality of the yeast. We recommend the best wine and spirit strains, as the concentration of sugar in Braga is quite serious. Within 7-10 days the wort should ferment.
We remove the liquid from the sediment, filter through gauze and pour into a distillation cube.
We do the first distillation quickly. We separate the moonshine until the fortress in the stream drops to 25-30 degrees.
We dilute the resulting distillate with clean water to a strength of 20 degrees and distill again.
We isolate the harmful fraction of the “head” - about 250 ml of the first alcohol, then the “body” (until the strength in the stream drops below 35–40 degrees), after which the remaining “tails” can be collected.
Let's move on to tasting the finished product and enjoy its taste 🙂 .

Double distillation is not carried out for the purpose of cleaning the drink from the juice concentrate. There are just no harmful impurities in it, but there are a lot of them in the alcohol resulting from a chemical reaction.

We spare no time and effort to separate harmful fractions. Your head will thank you the next morning!

Moonshiner Timofey took the time to write down for you an interesting review of the preparation of mash from concentrated apple juice. interesting recipe using dextrose instead of sugar. We recommend viewing to anyone who decides to make moonshine from the above ingredients.

The concentrate is made from natural apples, which allows you to save useful substances and vitamins. The composition of the concentrate is natural and does not contain impurities and sugar.

Appearance: Thick, almost transparent liquid.
Consistency: Clean, rich, viscous.
Colour: Typical orange to light brown.
Taste: natural, sweet and sour, well expressed, characteristic of this type of product.

Juice concentrate production technology

Apple concentrate is produced by freezing technology, that is, apple juice is obtained by a strong decrease in temperature (direct extraction). In contrast to the production of juice using the evaporation technology, in our case, there is no breakdown of useful substances that make up apples, so the juice retains vitamins.

Sweeteners are not added to the juice. It is excellent for making reconstituted juice, as well as for the production of homemade alcohol, such as cider, wine, calvados.

Volume: 5 liters
Packing: canister
Production: Russia

Recipes

To make reconstituted juice:

Dilute concentrated juice with water in a ratio of 1:4
Optionally add dextrose or sugar to taste
Reconstituted juice is stored in the refrigerator for no more than 1 day

Cider from concentrated apple juice:

4 l. concentrated juice
20 l. water
1 kg. dextrose (sugar)
Wine yeast - 10 gr.

In a sterile fermentation container mix water, juice, dextrose or sugar (pre-make syrup), check the temperature before introducing the yeast.
Introduce wine yeast, hermetically close the container, install a water seal. Leave to ferment. At the end - pour into sterile bottles with the addition of sugar or dextrose to each bottle at the rate of 1 tsp. (4-5 gr) per 1 liter of cider. Close tightly, leave at room temperature for 2-3 weeks. Before use, cool in the refrigerator at a temperature of 2-4 degrees for 2-5 days. You can store cider bottled in sterile bottles at room temperature for up to 4 months (if bottled in plastic), up to 1 year (if bottled in glass).

Calvados from concentrated apple juice:

4 l. concentrated juice
20 l. water
5 kg. Sahara
Wine yeast - 60 gr.

In a fermentation container, mix water, juice, sugar. Introduce wine yeast, hermetically close the container, install a water seal. Leave to ferment. At the end, let stand for 2-3 days for the yeast to settle. Distill with the selection of heads and tails, insist on oak chips for 3-4 weeks or in an oak barrel (aging time depending on the age of the barrel), pour into a glass bottle (preferably cork stopper), leave in a dark place for at least 1-2 weeks .

Cider is a low-alcohol drink that is obtained by fermenting juice from apples, pears and various berries such as raspberries, currants and cherries. It is a delicious, well-refreshing aperitif that is equally enjoyable chilled in summer or warmed up with spices in winter. But the time when lovers of homemade drinks can take up winemaking is very limited. Apples and pears can only be processed into cider from September to December. Berries are available to the winemaker and even less. In the West, concentrated juices have long come into use, from which you can prepare delicious fermented drinks all year round, bypassing the painful stage. In Russia, few people still know about the existence of such concentrates, but today you can already at any time, regardless of the season, make cider and fruit brandy based on it. We'll show you how!

Concentrated cider recipe

Ingredients (for about 25 liters of finished cider):

5 kg concentrated juice
20-25 liters of pure water
1 sachet of yeast

Optional:

(for carbonization)
(according to instructions)
(for wort sterilization)
malic acid (to lower pH)

Equipment:

(Brix 0-25%)
filling and capping equipment for beer or…

Notes on Ingredients

Concentrated juices

Concentrated juice is obtained by evaporating or freezing water from natural direct-pressed juice. Due to the high sugar content (up to 70%) and short-term pasteurization, concentrated juice can be stored in aseptic packaging for up to 24 months at room temperature. Such a product does not need additional sterilizing agents, which means that it is fermented by yeast without problems. In the assortment of our online store there are concentrated juices from apples (with an acidity of 1.5% and 2.5%), pears, raspberries and cherries. All of them are equally suitable for making high-quality cider. To obtain reconstituted juice for its further fermentation, the concentrate must be diluted with water in a ratio of 1 to 5 by weight. No other procedures are required.

Cider made from pear juice is called perry. This drink is very popular in England, where it is made completely dry and often without carbonation. In France, fermented pear juice is called poire ("poiré") - it is much sweeter than its English counterpart and is usually carbonated using champagne technology directly in bottles.

Yeast for cider

Various strains of pure yeast cultures (PKD) can be used to make cider. A better solution would be specially cultured cider yeasts such as New Zealand's Mangrove Jack's and French manufacturer Fermentis. These strains provide a stable, clean fermentation under difficult conditions, have good flocculation (quickly settle to the bottom of the fermenter), and during the fermentation process, they contribute to the release of esters, which reveal the full potential of fruit juices. Cider yeast can ferment at low temperatures (up to 12°C), which is preferable for this type of raw material. Also, various strains of yeast for champagne, white wines and mead have shown themselves well for fermenting cider. Interesting results are shown by various ale yeasts, which are best used to make semi-sweet cider without additional sweeteners. All strains of CKD can be used without rehydration.

Instructions for making cider from concentrated juice

Disinfect all equipment you plan to use with chlorine (Star San, Sani Clean, Melkko, etc.).
Pour the contents of the concentrated juice canister into the primary fermenter. You can rinse the canister with a small amount of warm water to wash away the remnants of a fairly viscous juice.
Add 2-3 liters of warm water to the fermenter and mix thoroughly. Bring the total volume of wort to 25-30 liters by adding clean, settled water. If you have a hydrometer, measure its density - for cider, the specific gravity (SG) should be at least 1.045-1.050, which corresponds to 11.18-12.37% Brix (for a hydrometer). This density is sufficient to obtain a completely dry drink with a strength of 5.8-6.5%. To increase the density in the reconstituted juice, you can dissolve the required amount of dextrose. You also need to measure the pH level of the wort, which, after diluting the concentrate with water, may be higher than the required level (3.9-4 pH or 0.6% acidity). To lower the pH, you can use malic acid or a special acid blend for winemaking. Sour wort ferments better and is less prone to bacterial contamination.
Add 1 crushed Campden tablet (optional, can be substituted by maintaining complete sterility) to the fermenter for every 4-5 liters of wort, mix. Cover the fermenter with a lid and let it rest for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, add yeast to the wort, close the fermenter tightly and install a water seal. For a more stable and predictable fermentation, yeast nutrition can be added before adding yeast to the wort. Move the fermenter to a dark place with an ambient temperature of 18-24 ° C until the end of vigorous fermentation. Active vigorous fermentation will last 6-9 days, depending on the density of the must, ambient temperature and other factors. When fermenting fruit and berry juices in world practice, it is often customary to maintain more low temperature(12-15 o C) - this increases the fermentation time, but has a positive effect on the taste and aromatic qualities of the drink.
An indicator of the end of fermentation will be the absence of carbon dioxide bubbles in the water seal, while the specific gravity of the wort will decrease to about 1.005 SG (1.5-2% hydrometer). At the end of vigorous fermentation, drain the young cider using a siphon into a secondary fermenter (preferably made of glass), install a water seal and place it for secondary fermentation in a dark place with a temperature of 12-15 ° C.
Secondary fermentation should last at least 30 days, even if there are no signs of it. But in order for the cider to achieve ideal transparency and a harmonious taste, the terms should be increased to 2-3 months, while once a month the cider should be drained from the resulting sediment.
When the secondary fermentation is complete (specific gravity drops to 1.000-0.995 SG or 0% hydrometer), the cider, which tastes like a young, dry, weak wine, can be bottled. At this stage, it can be sweetened to taste, as well as carbonated.

Homemade cider carbonation

For natural carbonation of cider, dextrose is most often used:

Before bottling cider clarified after secondary fermentation, ½ tsp must be added to each bottle of 0.5-0.7 liters. dextrose for moderate carbonation and 1 tsp. dextrose - for strong.
Close the bottles tightly and leave for 3-4 days at room temperature. During this time, the yeast, which has received a new portion of food, is activated and begins to process dextrose with the production of carbon dioxide.
After that, bottles with already carbonated cider should be moved to the refrigerator for 10 days, where re-fermentation will be stopped. Sparkling cider is ready!

You can also use a “primer” for carbonation: store 1-2 liters of reconstituted juice in the freezer, and then add it, after defrosting, to the secondary fermenter immediately before bottling the finished cider into bottles. But the dextrose method is more reliable and predictable. Bottled cider before tasting is recommended to keep in a dark cool place for another 2-3 weeks. Before serving, the drink is recommended to be cooled to 12-14 ° C.

Distillation of cider into calvados and other brandies

In world history, fruit brandies have always occupied an important place in the culture of different countries. Surely, many people know Normandy only for the landing of allied troops on its shores during the Second World War and for the local cider brandy, Calvados. Calvados is made from apple cider, sometimes with pear juice added to the must. Some manufacturers use only pear cider to produce Calvados. Another famous French distillate is the fruit brandy framboise (“Eau-de-vie de framboises”), made from fermented raspberry juice. You can also make kirschwasser, German cherry brandy, from the concentrated juices in our range. Using the technology below, by preparing cider according to the instructions in the first part of this material, you can get high-quality fruit brandy from any fruit juice!

Due to the higher price of raspberry and cherry juice concentrates, in order to increase the yield of distillate, a little dextrose can be added to the must at the fermentation stage (after about 5-7 days, when the violent fermentation subsides), no more than 1-2 kg per 10 liters. Ordinary sugar is highly discouraged - the organoleptics are greatly deteriorating. For apple and pear cider, this is best avoided.

Important points for distilling cider:

To obtain the most aromatic distillate, cider is recommended to be fermented at the lowest possible temperature for as long as possible. Here, special cider yeasts, which work without problems in such conditions, are the best fit. In the homeland of Calvados, in Normandy, it is customary to ferment cider for 6 months to produce it.
Any sulfur compounds present in your cider will concentrate during distillation and impart not-so-pleasant aromas bordering on rotten eggs to the drink. Therefore, potassium metabisulphite and other forms of sulfur that are used to sterilize wort will have to be abandoned. It is better to focus on sanitation. The small amount of sulfur compounds that are part of the fermentation by-products are easily removed by the copper parts of your moonshine.
The distillation of cider is recommended to be carried out in apparatuses where alcohol vapors will come into contact with copper. First, copper "binds" sulfur compounds, leaving them on its surface in the form of dark oxides. Secondly, studies of domestic and foreign scientists have shown that during the first distillation of fruit brews, copper contributes to the production of more enanth esters and other compounds that have a positive effect on the organoleptic distillates.
Cider distillation can be carried out on moonshine stills of any type, but it is important to understand that our goal is to obtain a flavored drink. That is why you should abandon the modules that are involved in the strengthening of alcohol (reflux condensers, drawers with on-load tap-changers, etc.). You should also abandon the dryer. Traditionally, Calvados and many other fruit distillates are distilled in copper alambicas.
During the aging of fruit distillates in a barrel (including due to the membrane properties of the barrel - oak stave allows a small amount of oxygen to pass through, but retains liquids), complex biochemical processes occur, as a result of which many components of the head and tail fractions are transformed into complex aromatic esters. Therefore, for drinks that you plan to age in a barrel, it makes sense to cut off the “heads” and “tails” in a more gentle mode during the second fractional distillation. For drinking distillates in their pure form and aging them on oak chips, the crushing of the product must be carried out as fully as possible.

Distillation of cider into fruit brandy

Be sure to use double fractional distillation. The first distillation should be carried out as quickly as possible up to 10% alcohol by volume in the jet (98-99 ° C in the steam zone) - it makes no sense to drive further, since very little alcohol remains in the stillage, and a lot of resources are spent on its extraction. During the first distillation, in order to reduce the amount of isoamyl alcohol in the distillate (it does not have the most pleasant smell and is very toxic), it is recommended to select a small amount of head fractions, literally up to the stage of a stable stream of distillate at the outlet. The resulting raw alcohol (CC) should have a total strength of about 30%.

During the second distillation, the “heads” should first be selected: 5% of absolute alcohol in the SS or 1-1.5% of the SS volume in the cube. Head fractions should be selected very carefully, as they make a significant contribution to the organoleptics of the drink (floral and other undertones). Drinking distillate should be taken up to 55-60% alcohol in the jet (90-91 o C in the steam zone). Tailings, sometimes referred to as "second alcohol", should be sampled up to 10% alcohol in the stream and added to the next second run. The remaining “tails” can be pressed to zero if desired and added to the next first distillation or ringed. The result of your labors will be a distillate with a strength of around 70% with a very expressive, pleasant aroma of the feedstock. It can be diluted to a drinking strength, stand for a couple of weeks and start tasting. But it is better to ennoble it with oak.

Refinement of cider distillate with oak chips

Traditionally Calvados and many other fruit brandies are aged for a minimum of 2-3 years in oak barrels. It is not recommended to age Kirschwasser and Framboise in a barrel or on oak chips, as they have a rather delicate taste and aroma. If you are a happy owner of oak cooperage, the resulting distillate should be poured into a barrel without dilution - a strength of 65-70% is optimal. For a faster and more convenient refining of the drink to the level of apple brandy VS and VSOP, we recommend using a medium or strong roast. For 1 liter of the resulting distillate, which should be pre-diluted to 45-55%, it is enough to add 4 g of wood chips in any form and keep the drink on it for at least 2 weeks. You can learn more about the principles of refining drinks with oak chips in this material.

For a long time, Calvados was considered the alcohol of commoners, since the drink is made from ordinary apples. But after this alcohol began to appear in the works of the writer Remarque, the situation changed. The elite became interested in apple moonshine infused in barrels and it quickly became fashionable. We will look at how to make calvados at home by classic recipe and in the form of tincture-imitation.

On a note. Calvados can only be called a drink produced in Normandy (a region in northwestern France), in all other cases, apple distillate should be called brandy.

Imitation Calvados (apple tincture)

Preparation takes a minimum of time and money. The smell of the tincture is slightly similar to the original. For those wishing to cook real homemade Calvados, I advise you to immediately go to the second recipe.

Ingredients:

apples - 2 kg;
vodka - 1 liter;
sugar - 200 grams;
water - 150 ml;
vanilla sugar - 10 grams.

Technology

1. Wash the apples, remove the core and seeds, cut into cubes.

2. Put the cubes in a jar, sprinkling with vanilla sugar.

3. Add vodka, close the lid and put the jar in a dark place at room temperature for 2 weeks to infuse.

4. Remove the apples by straining the drink through cheesecloth. Squeeze out the pulp.

5. Mix water and sugar in a saucepan, bring to a boil, boil for about 5 minutes (until foam is released), removing foam from the surface. Cool the finished sugar syrup to 25-30 ° C, then pour into the apple tincture and mix.

6. Pour the finished tincture into glass bottles and seal tightly.

Store in a dark cool place. Shelf life - up to 3 years. To taste, it turns out sweetish apple vodka with a strength of 32-35 degrees.

Apple calvados recipe (real)

The proposed technology is as close as possible to the original. Of the ingredients for homemade Calvados, only apples are needed. Although in the end you will get a distillate (moonshine from fermented juice), I still advise you to take the quality of apples seriously. They must be ripe, with no signs of rot and spoilage. The variety is not of fundamental importance, but it is better to use sweet and juicy fruits.

1. Obtaining cider. Squeeze juice from apples in any way possible. The less pulp, the better. Juice to defend during the day in a dark place at room temperature. Then remove the foam from the surface and drain from the sediment through a tube into a fermentation tank. Install a water seal or a rubber glove with a small hole in one of the fingers (pierce with a needle).

Move the container to a dark place with a temperature of 18-27°C. After fermentation is complete (signs: the water seal does not blow bubbles for several days or the glove is deflated, the drink has become lighter and without signs of sweetness in taste, sediment has appeared at the bottom), pour the finished cider into the distillation cube, trying not to touch the sediment at the bottom, you can additionally filter through gauze. If this is not done, the hard part will burn during heating, spoiling the taste of Calvados.

Fermentation of wort under a water lock

2. Distillation. It's time to get the distillate out of the cider. For this you need alcohol mashine any design. During the first distillation, the yield should not be divided into fractions, taking all the product until the strength in the stream drops below 30 degrees. Measure the strength of the resulting apple moonshine and determine the amount of pure alcohol.

Dilute moonshine with water to 18-20 degrees, then overtake again, selecting "heads", "body" and "tails". The first 12% of the amount of pure alcohol is collected in a separate container and poured out (used for technical needs), these are “heads” that contain harmful impurities, spoil the taste and have a bad effect on health.

3. Exposure. In order for apple moonshine to turn into calvados, insistence on oak wood is required. Classic technology uses oak barrels. But at home, not everyone has such an opportunity, so a simpler option is suitable - aging in glass jars (bottles) with oak pegs.

We need oak wood with a trunk diameter of 25-35 cm. Bark, sawdust and shavings are not suitable, as they contain too many tannins that make Calvados bitter.

The wood must be divided into pieces 5-8 mm thick and 10-15 cm long. Pour boiling water over the resulting pegs, leave for 10 minutes, drain the broth, soak in cold water for 20 minutes, then drain the liquid and dry the wood. Fold the processed pegs into jars and pour apple alcohol diluted with pure cold water up to 45 degrees. Roll up the jars with iron lids (close tightly with corks), put for 6-12 months in a dark, cool place for ripening.

Filling bottles with apple spirit

4. Filtration. Filter the finished homemade Calvados through several layers of gauze and cotton wool, then pour into bottles for storage, tightly close with corks.

The video shows an alternative technology for making Calvados with sugar and yeast. Although the method is inherently correct and a little simpler than the one proposed, but due to the addition of other ingredients (yeast and sugar), the recipe cannot be called a classic, the aroma will be worse, and the taste will not be so soft.