Homemade malt beer can rightfully be called a “classic of the genre.” Moreover, for its brewing, not only traditional barley malt is used, but also rye, wheat, corn and even oatmeal. To make the process easier, you can brew beer from ready-made malt extract - such a drink will turn out no worse, and you will spend much less time on its preparation.

How to brew beer from rye malt: home recipes

Homemade Russian beer

Beer has been brewed in Rus' since time immemorial, and it enjoyed well-deserved popularity among the Eastern Slavic tribes. It was prepared according to different recipes, many of which have sunk into eternity, while some have survived to this day. One such recipe is offered below.

Ingredients:

• 12 liters of water,
• 6 glasses of crushed rye malt,
• 200g hops,
• 1 cup flour,
• 25 g yeast.

Preparation:

Grind the hops, mix with malt, pour into a saucepan with water, put on fire, boil and cool the resulting wort. Make a dough using flour and liquid yeast (dilute dry yeast with warm water) and let it rise. Introduce the risen dough into the cooled wort and place in a warm place for fermentation for 6 hours. While the dough is rising, prepare the barrel. After the specified time has passed, pour the fermented wort into a barrel, seal it and leave it in a cool place for 3 days. After this, pour the beer into bottles, close the lids tightly and refrigerate for 1.5-2 weeks. The time regime must be strictly adhered to and under no circumstances should you start tasting the drink before the due date. This is the case when you should not rush; it is better to let the rye malt beer prepared according to this recipe stand for at least 10 days.

Homemade malt beer

Ingredients:

• 1.2 kg rye malt,
• 1.2 kg barley malt,
• 2.4 kg rye flour,
• 800g buckwheat flour,
• 200g fresh dry yeast,
• water - as much as needed.

Preparation:

To prepare homemade beer, scald both types of malt and rye flour with three liters of boiling water, mix everything well, kneading a thick dough, like dumplings, put it in molds, put it in a hot oven and keep it there until the dough turns golden. (approximately 12 hours). Then put everything in a scalded and dried 25-liter barrel, dilute it with cold water, filling the container to the brim, and leave it alone for a while. Meanwhile, knead a thick dough from buckwheat flour, yeast and water and leave it in a warm place for 2 hours until it rises well. Grind the risen dough, pour it into another clean barrel, strain the malt solution through a sieve (to the brim), put it in a warm place and let it ferment for 4-6 hours. As soon as foam from the yeast appears on the surface of the wort, shake the contents of the barrel, seal tightly, take it to the cellar and bury it in the sand. The malt beer prepared according to this recipe is cool and sparkling, like champagne. It may persist for several weeks.

Rye beer

Ingredients:

• 11 liters of water,
• 1.5 l (with top) rye malt,
• 100 g hops,
• 2 glasses of honey,
• 0.5 cups of brewer's liquid yeast.

Preparation:

To make homemade beer, mix crushed malt with hops and place it in a canvas bag, then open it and secure it over a large vessel. Through this bag, gradually pass the entire volume of boiling water in a small stream, which, passing through the malt with hops, will drain into the vessel, after which put honey into the vessel with the hot liquid and dissolve it. Once all the liquid has been drained, cool it to room temperature, pour in the dissolved yeast, stir and leave for several days in a warm place to ferment. When all the yeast has settled to the bottom, drain the beer from the sediment, pour into bottles, seal and store in a cool place. Beer prepared according to this recipe from rye malt and hops must be aged for at least a week.

Recipes for brewing beer from barley malt at home

Homemade grain beer

Ingredients:

• 27 liters of water,
• 45 g hops,
• 3 kg barley malt,
• 25 g yeast (preferably beer yeast),
• sugar (8g per 1l).

Preparation:

Before brewing malt beer, pour 25 liters of water into an enamel pan with a capacity of 30 liters, put on fire and heat to 80 °C.

Pour the crushed malt into a fabric bag (preferably several bags), sewn from 3-4 layers of gauze, immerse it in hot water, close the pan with a lid and cook for 1.5 hours, maintaining the temperature within 61-72 ° C. Mashing malt at a temperature of 61 -63 ° C promotes the active release of sugars, thereby increasing the strength of beer. When the temperature rises to 68-72 °C, the density of the wort noticeably increases. And although the alcohol content in the drink will be slightly lower, the taste will be enriched and richer. Therefore, it is better to adhere to a temperature regime of 65-72 ° C, which will result in a tasty, dense beer with a strength of 4 °. After boiling the malt for an hour and a half, you should test for iodine to be sure that there is no starch left in the wort. To do this, pour a little wort (5-10 mg) onto a clean saucer and mix with a few drops of iodine. If the solution turns dark blue, cook the contents of the pan for another 15 minutes. If the color of the wort does not change, then this is a clear indicator that there is no starch in the wort. Then you need to sharply increase the temperature to 78-80 ° C and cook the wort for 5 minutes, thereby stopping the fermentation.

Then remove the bag with the remaining malt from the container and rinse with 2 liters of boiled water at a temperature of 78 ° C, washing out the remaining extractive substances. Add the rinsing water to the wort.

After this, bring the contents of the pan to a boil and add the first portion of hops (15 g) to the wort. After 30 minutes of intense boiling, add another 15 g of hops, and after 40 minutes, add the remaining 15 g of hops and cook for 20 minutes. In total, boiling the wort with hops takes 1.5 hours. It is important to maintain intense heat so that the contents of the pan gurgle all the time.

The cooked wort must be cooled quickly (within 15-30 minutes) to 24-26 °C. The faster this process takes place, the less likely there will be contamination of beer with pathogenic microorganisms. Cooling can be done with a special immersion cooler or by placing the container in an ice water bath. Pour the cooled wort through a gauze cloth into a fermentation container.

To saturate it with the necessary oxygen, which is almost gone after boiling, the transfusion operation should be done 3 times. Then add liquid yeast (pre-dilute dry yeast with warm water) and mix well. Brewer's yeast, as already mentioned, comes in two types - top-fermenting, which operates at a temperature of 18-22 °C, and bottom-fermenting, operating at 15-16 °C. They make different types of beer.

For brewing beer from malt according to home recipes, grassroots yeast is preferable. After introducing the yeast, move the fermentation container to a dark place with a temperature of 24-25 ° C, install a water seal and leave for 7-10 days. Literally in 6-12 hours, vigorous fermentation will begin, which usually lasts 2-3 days. Then the frequency of carbon dioxide release slowly begins to decrease. By the end of fermentation, the young beer should become light in color. Its readiness can be determined by the water seal: the absence of bubbles for 18-24 hours indicates the end of fermentation. The next stage of brewing beer from malt at home is carbonation. This is the artificial saturation of beer with carbon dioxide, which improves the taste and the appearance of thick foam.

This is done like this: add sugar to bottles intended for storing beer (preferably dark ones) at the rate of 8 g per 1 liter, which will cause secondary fermentation, due to which the drink will be saturated with carbon dioxide. Fill the prepared bottles with beer, draining it from the sediment through a silicone tube. This must be done carefully: lower one end of the tube to the middle of the container with beer, and the other to the very bottom of the bottle, which will help minimize contact of the drink with air (this is extremely undesirable). Care must be taken not to touch the yeast, which, regardless of the type, can be at the bottom (bottom) or accumulate on the surface (top). Close the bottles tightly without adding 2 cm to the neck. The easiest way is to use plastic containers with tightly screwed caps, otherwise you will need yoke caps or a special device for sealing regular beer caps. Transfer the bottles filled with beer to a dark place again and keep them at a temperature of 20-25 ° C for 15-20 days. During this period they are needed once every 7 days

Homemade beer is ready to use and can be drunk, but if you let it sit for another 30 days, the taste of the drink will improve significantly. Beer made from malt according to home recipes can be stored in the refrigerator, sealed, for 6-8 months, and in an open bottle - 2-3 days.

Barley beer

Ingredients:

• 20 liters of water,
• 5l barley malt,
• 1.25 l hops,
• 200g sugar,
• 1 tsp. salt,
• 100 g brewer's yeast.

Preparation:

To make beer from malt at home according to this recipe, it is better to use a large wooden keg. First, you need to pour malt into it, and then, stirring, gradually add cold water and leave for a day. Pour the wort prepared in this way into a large enamel pan, add salt, put on fire, bring to a boil and boil for about 2 hours, then add hops, mix well and continue boiling for another 25 minutes. After the specified time has passed, remove the pan with the wort from the heat, cool slightly, strain through cheesecloth and pour into a barrel. Then, after cooling to room temperature, add yeast, sugar, stir and leave for a day. Pour the finished beer into bottles, but do not close it immediately, but after letting it sit for a day, seal it tightly and put it in a cool place for storage. The longer the malt beer is aged using this recipe, the higher its quality will become.

How to brew beer from oat malt and hops

Ingredients:

• 19 liters of water,
• 1.6 kg of oats for malt,
• 100 g hops,
• 3 kg sugar,
• 1 cup diluted yeast.

Preparation:

To brew such beer from malt and hops, you need to dry the oats in a dry frying pan until golden brown, crush the grain, pour it into a large enamel tank, pour in 7 liters of hot (65 ° C) water, leave for about three hours and drain the liquid. Pour a new portion of hotter water in the amount of 7 liters into the grain, leave for 2 hours and drain the liquid again. For the third time, pour the remaining cold water (5 l) over the grain, leave for 1.5 hours and drain. After this, combine all the drained liquids, add sugar and hops, put on fire, bring to a boil, cook with constant stirring for a while, remove from heat and let stand for 2-2.5 hours. Meanwhile, pour a glass of diluted yeast into a slightly warm liquid and leave to ferment at room temperature. After active fermentation has stopped, pour the homemade beer from hops and malt prepared according to this recipe into bottles, seal and put in a cool place for 2 weeks.

How to Brew Malt Beer from Corn

Corn beer, the same Latin American “chicha,” is prepared from ripe sprouted grains. It was first prepared in Mexico, but recently the popularity of the drink has spread far beyond the borders of South America, and today it can be found in almost every country in the world. How to brew beer from corn malt?

Ingredients:

• 10 liters of water,
• 4 kg malt,
• 1 tbsp. l. hops,
• 100 g sugar,
• 50 g yeast.

For malt:

• 1 part corn,
• 1 part wheat.

Preparation:

The process of brewing corn beer includes several stages: preparing the malt and wort, straining, filtering and boiling. Each of these steps is very important, and they must be performed accurately and carefully, otherwise you will not have the opportunity to try real Latin American “chicha” (as it is prepared, for example, in Mexico or Peru). To prepare this drink, beer malt is prepared from sprouted corn grains. Moreover, it is better to use several varieties of it; this will make the beer have a richer taste and more refined aroma. If desired, you can add a little barley or other grains to the malt; this will also give the drink a more refined taste. For cooking, only selected corn grains should be used. First of all, they need to be collected from the cob, sorted well and soaked in warm water for 24 hours. During this time, the grain will soften properly and be saturated with water, after which it should be transferred to a baking sheet or flat tray and left to germinate. To make corn germinate better, you can build a small greenhouse by covering the container with grain with glass or a plastic bag. After the sprouts appear, place the baking sheet in the oven, dry and grind the grain into flour, using a meat grinder or coffee grinder.

The next stage of brewing beer from corn malt at home- preparation of wort. Pour water into a saucepan or cauldron and heat it to 29-30 °C. Then carefully pour in the resulting corn flour, mix thoroughly so that no lumps form, and gradually heat to 65-70 °C. After this, transfer the mixture to a water bath or keep the pan over low heat so that the temperature does not rise. After an hour, bring everything to a boil and remove from the stove. Carefully strain the resulting mixture, pour it into a convenient container in which the beer will be brewed, put it on the fire and cook for 60-70 minutes. Then add hop cones and continue cooking for another 60 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat, cool to 20 ° C, add yeast and sugar starter, place the container with the wort for fermentation in a warm place for two days and strain through a fine sieve or through several layers of gauze. During the fermentation process, foam will appear on the surface, which must be removed and stored in a glass jar (it can later be used as a starter for a new portion of the drink). After 2-3 days, strain the beer again (it will be almost ready), pour into bottles and cool to 7-10 ° C in the refrigerator. It is better to drink the finished aromatic beer not very cold in order to appreciate its excellent taste.

Homemade beer made from wheat malt

Ingredients:

• 20 liters of water,
• 4 kg Waizenmalz malt,
• 2 kg Pilsner malt,
• 1 packet of dry yeast,
• 35 g hops.

Preparation:

To brew such homemade beer, both types of malt need to be mixed, crushed using a coffee grinder or hand mill, poured into a large container with hot (65 ° C) water and gradually increase the temperature of the mash with the following pauses: 45 ° C - 15 min, 55 ° C - 30 min, 67 °C - 45 min, 72 °C - 15 min, 78 °C - 5 min. Then test for iodine (if it has changed color, then you need to heat the wort further, and if it remains unchanged, start filtering and washing the wort). The mash should be washed with 10 liters of water. Boil the filtered wort and after 30 minutes add hops. After an hour, cool the wort to 20-22 ° C, pour into another large container (vat, tank, pan), sprinkle dry yeast on the surface of the wort, close tightly, install a water seal and leave for 7-8 days in a cool place (18-22 ° C) place. After this time, pour beer from wheat malt into bottles, having previously poured glucose into them, leave to ferment for another 7-10 days at a temperature of 20-22 ° C and then put in the refrigerator.

Recipe for making beer from malt extract

Ingredients:

• 9 liters of boiling water,
• 1 kg malt extract,
• 90 g hops,
• 900 g sugar,
• 50 g brewer's yeast.

Preparation:

To prepare this beer, malt extract, sugar and hops need to be placed in a large saucepan, pour boiling water and cook for 1 hour, then add water to the initial volume (9 l), add yeast, cover with a lid and leave for 3 days in a sealed container. at a temperature of 18-20 °C. Then strain the future beer, pour it into bottles, cap tightly, secure the caps with wire and store in a cool place for at least a week.

There are many technologies for making beer without malt, or even without hops, and they are most suitable for home brewing. Some recipes use honey instead of sugar. In this case, it is recommended to dissolve it in water, mix with hops, boil for an hour, let it ferment and keep it warm. Beetroot beer is very original, where finely chopped beets are first boiled in water with salt, and then, adding hop cones and juniper berries, they are fermented for two weeks. Beer made with molasses has a rich taste, which is prepared using the same technology as classic beer, only the malt is replaced with molasses. You can make beer from pea pods, hops and sage, and serve ginger beer or beer from wine, orange juice and zest on the holiday table. Beer can be oatmeal, barley, rye, wheat, buckwheat, as well as pumpkin, corn, carrot, smoked, chocolate, fruit and even milk. In a word, beer making is a creative process in which any experiments are appropriate.

How you want to enjoy a sip of fresh, cold kvass on a hot summer day! But the list of chemicals on the label of store-bought products can stop even a very thirsty person. Anyone who does not want to poison their body with swill with preservatives can purchase kvass wort. What it is is worth finding out more closely.

Kvass wort: composition

The composition of kvass wort concentrates sold in stores ( KKS ) includes the following ingredients:

• Rye flour;
• Rye malt with the addition of catalysts of biological origin;
• Corn flour;
• Barley malt.

In rare cases, sugar and citric acid are added. Carbohydrates make up 65% of the mass fraction of the product. The content of proteins and organic acids is minimal and fluctuates around 2-3%.

Natural KKS from well-known manufacturers are a viscous liquid with high density. The taste has noticeable sweet and sour notes, occasionally with hints of bitterness. The smell of the fresh substance is pleasant, “bready”.

The scope of wort application in most cases is limited to the preparation of homemade kvass drink. But the range of options for using it is much wider. So, the concentrate will not be superfluous when preparing homemade buns and pies.

Beer made from kvass wort at home

The algorithm for preparing homemade beer based on store-bought KKS is as follows:

1. Place a large enamel container filled to capacity with water on the gas;
2. When the water boils, reduce the heat. Add wort, hops and sugar to the pan;
3. As soon as the mixture boils, turn off the fire and leave the container to cool;
4. After the temperature of the liquid reaches room temperature, add yeast;
5. Cover the pan with a lid and leave the drink to ferment for 72 hours. If you wait less time, the degree of beer will be quite low;
6. After the specified time, the finished beer must be separated from the precipitated yeast. Ordinary gauze will also work as a filter;
7. Pour the resulting liquid into glass jars and close them tightly with a lid;
8. Place the jars in a cool place (2-4 degrees Celsius) for half a month.

The finished beer has a pleasant consistency and sweet taste. The cost of its preparation is several times lower than the store price. Not to mention the fact that when making beer for oneself, a person will not fertilize it with chemicals.

Making kvass: process

Today, carbonated kvass is sold in every store and has an affordable price. But in terms of its taste characteristics, it is significantly inferior to its draft counterparts, which are sold on hot summer days on every corner.

To pamper yourself and your family with a delicious drink at any time, you need:

1. In a large three-liter saucepan, combine a jar of concentrate and a liter of filtered hot water;
2. Let the liquid stand for 2-3 hours;
3. Add a glass of sugar and instant instant yeast (sold in 11 gram bags, which is just enough for a serving);
4. Fill the vat with water to the very brim;
5. Wait about three days;
6. Check the taste of kvass from time to time. As soon as it becomes acceptable, pour the finished drink into bottles, into which you can add a few raisins;
7. Place the bottles in the refrigerator and wait about a day;
8. The first signal that the product is ready is the hardness of the closed bottles (due to the formation of gases) and the presence of foam.

Before you decide to prepare a sour drink, you need to inquire about possible contraindications.

The benefits and harms of homemade kvass

Do-it-yourself kvass from KKS is essentially a liquid medicine, which is known for such beneficial properties:

• Beneficial effects on the gastrointestinal tract;
• Preventing the division of harmful bacteria;
• Normalization of metabolism;
• Improving the functioning of the heart and blood vessels;
• Strengthening the body's defense system;
• Elimination of feelings of fatigue and apathy;
• Strengthening tooth enamel;
• Decreased pressure;
• Cleaning of blood vessels;
• Fighting flatulence;
• Help with weakened vision.

Wort concentrate is not the most counterfeited product in our country, but the risk of being deceived by sellers always remains.

In order not to lose either money or health, it is enough to use these tips:

• You should only purchase KKS in trusted stores, preferably federal retail chains;
• You should pay attention not only to the seller, but also to the manufacturer. Domestic market leaders: Groceries, Domat, Kolobok and Interkvass;
• The average price fluctuates around 50 rubles. A significantly lower price tag may indicate low quality of the product;
• The label must indicate compliance with the international quality standard ISO 9002 . This is reliable evidence of control at all stages of product production;
• Some companies sell a product called "Malt Extract", which is no different from KKS;
• Read the ingredients carefully: there should be no artificial substances or preservatives;
• The shelf life of the product is no more than a year. If the label indicates a longer period, then this is a sure sign that the manufacturer “cheated” during the manufacturing process.

DIY kvass wort

Difficulties in choosing store-bought KKS can put off many potential buyers. But this is not a problem: preparing the wort yourself will not be difficult.

The procedure is as follows:

1. Rye or wheat bread is cut into slices and poured with warm water with constant stirring;
2. After the consistency of the substance becomes relatively uniform, you need to leave the mixture for half an hour;
3. Pour boiling water over the mixture and stir;
4. After another half hour, the still hot dough needs to be poured into another, preheated container;
5. Cover the pan with a lid, wrap it in a warm cloth and let it settle;
6. After a couple of hours, the first wort should be separated from the sediment;
7. The remaining grounds are poured with boiling water and left for 25 minutes;
8. Add the first wort to the vat and boil the liquid for an hour;
9. Cool the resulting product to room temperature and let it ferment for some time.

To make homemade kvass and beer, you will definitely need kvass wort. It’s also a good idea to know that this is an important ingredient in home baking. And all this for a price of only 50-60 rubles. True, you need to read the information on the label very carefully: the danger of purchasing consumer goods is quite high.

Video: kvass from wort concentrate

In this video, technologist Boris Antipov will tell you how to prepare kvass from kvass wort concentrate:

What is kvass wort and what is it eaten with?

Kvass wort is, let’s say, an oily, thick liquid prepared on the basis of black bread, various malts, and can be prepared on the basis of various fruits and berries. The product is 100% natural, dark brown in color, sourish-sweet in taste, here is a brief description of what kvass wort is. Yes, but do not forget that this is a description of kvass wort at home and not concentrates purchased in stores from various manufacturers, anything can be there.

Making your own kvass wort!

To prepare kvass wort at home from rye bread, we need clean enamel dishes or a glass jar, water, rye bread and a fire source.

We pour the required amount of water into the pan and set it to boil; if our bread is already dry, then we don’t need to do anything with it; if we have soft bread from the store or we just baked it, then we need to cut it into small pieces and dry it, even brown it slightly , you can brown it more, it’s not for everyone. After the water in the pan boils, you need to remove it from the heat and place it where the wort will be prepared, pour the required amount of crackers directly into the boiling water, close the pan with a lid and cover with something warm so that the temperature is maintained. In this state, we will cook the wort for as long as possible around 12-16 hours.

Kvass wort composition.

From the above, it is clear that the composition of kvass wort includes hot water and any product from which the water will extract useful substances, this can be rye bread, malt, various fruits, berries, and vegetables.

Homemade kvass wort recipe.

Here is one recipe for making kvass wort from rye bread.

What we need for this is 15 liters of water 1 kilogram of rye crackers, well toasted but not burnt, put the water on the fire, boil after boiling, add crackers, cover with something warm and leave to set for 12-15 hours.

Actually, the whole wort will be ready in 15 hours; in order to make the wort concentrated, you need to evaporate all the excess water from it, this is about 50%.

If you are preparing kvass for immediate consumption and not for long-term storage, then you do not need to do this.

Here is another recipe for making kvass wort from malt.

This is a recipe for kvass that has come down to us from ancient times.

Again, we will need water at a temperature of 70-80 degrees, 3 kilograms of rye malt, three kilograms of barley malt, 3 kilograms of wheat grain and 4 kilograms of rye grain. All this material, malt and grain, is ground to the state of flour, a thick dough is kneaded, carefully pour in hot water in a thin stream and mixed until the dough is not thick, and in this state we transfer it to a vat and leave for 3 hours. Then dilute with boiling water at the rate of 20-30 liters, then cool to a temperature of 20-25 degrees and add liquid yeast or kvass grounds of old kvass to the mixture. In this state, the kvass wort with yeast is kept until it ferments. The settled clarified kvass is drained from the sediment and bottled, after putting several raisins in the bottle.

With great pleasure and enthusiasm - especially during the hot season - they serve this drink, which perfectly quenches the thirst, to home and guests. But not everyone knows, for example, how to prepare kvass wort. What is this product, what is its benefit, how to make it yourself? This will be discussed in our article.

Wort: what is it?

In fact, this term is usually used to refer to any aqueous solution of extracted or fermented substances of plant, fruit, berry, grain (malt) origin, used in brewing, winemaking, and bakery cooking. Thus, grape must is a raw material obtained by crushing and pressing pulp and grapes. Accordingly, a completely natural product, which is made mainly for the production of kvass (and some types of baked goods), is kvass wort. type of raw material? This is a viscous, thick liquid in which the dry matter content reaches 70 percent. It has a brownish color and a sweet and sour taste and contains a lot of nutrients: amino acids, vitamins, microelements.

How to make wort at home?

To prepare the corresponding product, enterprises use fermented and non-fermented rye malt and rye baking flour. The malts are mixed with purified water and exposed to heat. During this time, the starch in the mixture is divided into sugar: fermentable and non-fermentable. And then the concentrate is evaporated until it reaches 70% dry matter.

At home, of course, such equipment is not available. But you can make quite a good wort for your future kvass. To do this, you need an infusion vat with a false bottom (in the form of a mesh raised above the main bottom) and a tap for decanting the wort.

Wort from kvass

In order to prepare kvass wort from pre-baked malt bread, rye and barley bread products (2-3 kg) are mixed with heated water into a thick mass. Let the dough stand for several hours. Then we bake it into malt bread (can be done in the oven or in a bread maker) - loaves or kvassniks. They turn out to be very aromatic, they have a sweet-sour taste and a blackish crust, which will then give the kvass its characteristic color scheme. We cool the kvass (they can also be dried and stored), break it into pieces, put it in hot water and leave it in a vat to get a thick kvass wort (we have already found out what it is). The result will be not only dense and tasty, but also a healthy product.

It’s now easy to make homemade kvass from kvass wort. We clarify the resulting thick mixture by settling, add yeast or old starter, ferment it using standard technology and bottle it.

In the northern regions, alcohol is most often prepared from starch-containing raw materials (potatoes, sprouted grains - malt, etc.), fruits do not grow, and there is plenty of starch-containing raw materials throughout the whole year. This fact, of course, narrows the range of alcohol for preparation, but the most common drinks are made from malt, for example, vodka or whiskey. Moreover, using different types of malt, you can get different organoleptic notes in the final drink.

It is important to remember that it is not the degree that determines the tone of the final product, but the starting raw material, for example, vodka - this is not just a 40-proof drink, it is a drink prepared by rectifying grain wort and then diluting it with water to 40% vol. ethyl alcohol. A product made from “store-bought sugar” cannot in any way be called vodka, in the classical sense of the term. Just as you cannot make whiskey (malt), rum (sugar cane) or cognac (grapes or apples) from “store-bought sugar”.

Malt is a cereal grain (barley, wheat, rye), which is specially sprouted and dried during the malting process. The main raw material for the production of vodka or whiskey, as well as for beer, is malt (light, dark and special varieties).

The main varietal characteristics (taste, smell, aroma) largely depend on the quality of the malt and the ratio of its types in the recipe. Unlike the preparation of beer wort, the wort for subsequent distillation is boiled for longer with the addition of special highly fermented malt. To speed up and simplify the “saccharification” of starch from malt, you can use special additives, but you must remember that it is better to use only natural ingredients. So, for example, in Germany only a product that was made exclusively from malt, hops and water can be called beer; everything else is a beer drink (controlled at the state level). In Russia, the situation is completely different; rice and only a small amount of malt are used when making beer. To speed up the saccharification of starch, special additives are added, so beer is the same; the situation with strong alcohol is similar. Processes are artificially simplified, accelerated, cheaper, and the end consumer suffers. Remember that the quality of the final product, its organoleptic properties, directly depend on the quality of the starting raw materials and the conditions of its processing. There is no need to chase quantity at the expense of quality. The process must be authentic, as natural as possible, without chemicals. and GMO additives.

You can germinate malt yourself from grain, but it is better to take ready-made malt; in our assortment you will find about 20 different varieties from leading manufacturers (Finland, Belgium, Russia).

Types of malt

• wheat,
• barley,
• rye.

Moreover, each type is processed differently during the manufacturing process and at this stage subspecies appear:

• roasted malt,
• smoked malt,
• caramel malt, etc.

By combining different varieties at the stage of wort preparation, you can obtain different organoleptic characteristics of the final drink. There is no sugar in malt, therefore, in the technological chain of preparing wort from malt, the stage of starch saccharification appears - the transformation of starch raw materials under the influence of certain enzymes (which are formed naturally as a result of grain germination) into sugar, and then it is fermented. From 1 kg of starch, theoretically, 1.11 kg of sugar is obtained. Knowing the starch content in the raw material, you can easily determine the alcohol yield from a particular product. So, for example, if wheat contains 60% starch, then the theoretical alcohol yield from such grain will be 0.426 l/kg: 1 kg (wheat) => 0.6 kg (starch) => 0.666 kg (sugar) => 0.426 l ( alcohol).

Stages of preparing wort from malt

So, let’s break down the process of preparing wort from malt into stages:

1. Blend (we combine different types of malt).
2. Crushing (grinding) malt.
3. Mashing malt (mixing with water, boiling).
4. Filtration.
5. Cooling.
6. Fermentation.

Blend

At this stage, we mix different types of malt to obtain an original mash. In total you will need about 3.5 kg. malt per 10 liters of water:

• 30% of them are highly fermented, i.e. 1-1.2 kg;
• 50-60% base malt such as barley or wheat, 1.8-2 kg;
• 10-20% of special varieties, for example, caramel or smoked (at your discretion, you can limit yourself to only the base up to 100%), 0.3-0.5 kg.

Splitting up

In order for malt enzymes to act on its starch substances and to ensure the highest possible extract yield, the malt must be crushed (open the grain shell) to the size of cereal (do not turn it into flour!)

For these purposes, it is extremely convenient to use a special malt grinder, although you can use a regular meat grinder or food processor, however, we note that this household equipment will require significant expenses from you and may fail prematurely.

Mashing malt

The mashing stage is one of the most important; the quality of its implementation determines the completeness of the transition of malt components into solution. There are several ways to mash malt; we will focus on the simplest and most suitable for home use. To consistently convert starch into sugary substances, it is necessary to maintain several temperature conditions (temperature pauses), gradually heating the mash, stirring occasionally. The malt is mashed in a special wort kettle.

Temperature breaks (determined by recipe):

Heat the water in the tank to a temperature of 38-40 degrees and add crushed malt, stirring vigorously. When the mixture becomes homogeneous, without dry lumps, move on to the next stage (pause).

1. Protein break, duration 15-20 minutes at temp. 52-55°C.
   The protein in the malt is broken down. To maintain a constant temperature, it is recommended to insulate the tank (wrap it with thick fabric).
2. Maltose pause, duration 40-50 minutes at temp. 62-65°C.
   Maltose and glucose are formed from short chains.
3. Saccharification, duration 30–60 minutes at temp. 72-75°C.
   Long chains are split into low molecular weight dextrins and dissolved. When finished, an iodine test should be carried out to ensure that there is no starch left in the mash. To do this, place a drop of mash on a white saucer and add a drop of iodine to it: a change in color indicates the presence of starch; if the color does not change, complete saccharification has occurred. If starch remains, then it is necessary to continue this pause until it is completely saccharified. This is an important point, as it directly affects the volumetric yield of the final product.
4. Final saccharification, duration 10-20 minutes at temp. 76-78°C.
   At this temperature, enzymes become inactive and final sugary substances appear.

Filtration

After mashing is completed, the mash contains a mixture of dissolved and undissolved components; the aqueous solution of extractives is called wort, and the undissolved ones are called grain. We only need the wort, and the spent grains must be separated, but unlike in the preparation of beer, it is not necessary to completely separate the spent grains; it is enough to roughly filter out the undissolved particles.

Important:
If you have the opportunity to stir the wort during fermentation (at least 2-3 times a day, or permanently), then it is not necessary to filter the resulting wort. It can be fermented and distilled together with spent grains - the result will be a richer organoleptic taste of the final drink. If it is not possible to stir, then it is necessary to filter the spent grain, since during top fermentation the spent grain will rise to the top and it is possible that the “cap” of your wort will become sour, it will simply turn sour.

To filter, pour the mash through a sieve in a strainer and wait until it drains. Measure the density of the resulting wort with a hydrometer, which should be at the level of 18-22%. Add wash water, preheated to 75-77°C, into the sieve in order to wash out the remaining extractives. The amount of sparge water directly affects the gravity of the wort, so monitor it using a hydrometer.

Cooling

The wort needs to be cooled to a temperature of ~20°C, and the rate at which the wort is cooled seriously affects the possibility of the proliferation of harmful microorganisms - the faster you do this, the less chance bacteria have. For cooling, you can use a bath of cold water or ice, although it is more convenient to use a chiller - a coil through which cold water is passed - this will allow you to reach the required temperature within 20-30 minutes. After this stage, it is necessary to carefully observe the sterility of all processes and minimize contact of the wort with air and other objects.

Fermentation

At the same time, you can ferment the yeast so as not to waste time on this later: pour the wort into a small container (glass) (temperature no more than 30°C) and add the yeast, cover with a sterile cloth and leave for 30-40 minutes.

For more intense fermentation, it is necessary to use aeration of the wort (already cooled) - saturating it with oxygen, because it is the key to the active reproduction of yeast, for this you need to intensively mix the wort or pour it from a great height with splashing, you can also use an air compressor for aquariums (do not forget about its disinfection!), which will simplify this procedure. Our wort is ready for fermentation. Measure the initial gravity of the wort with a hydrometer so you can later know the alcohol content of the finished product, and write it down.

Now you need to pour the fermented yeast into the wort, mix it, seal the container with a lid and install a water seal, filling it with boiled water.

Good luck, colleagues!