Strong homemade alcohol can be prepared from almost any raw material. However, moonshine made from sugar mash was and remains the most popular among the people. This is explained not only by the fact that the recipe for classic mash with sugar is simply simple. And not even the fact that there are more than 20 variations of the basic recipe. The fact is that if the conditions and rules of the technological process are strictly observed, the taste of homemade moonshine is better than that of factory-made vodka.

There are many nuances to properly preparing sugar mash. The first rule concerns sanitary standards. The fermentation container must be crystal clear so that during the fermentation process the sugar solution does not acquire an extraneous taste or smell. Therefore, before placing the mash, all utensils involved in the process must be thoroughly washed, dried, and wiped from the inside with a clean towel.

Calculation of proportions

The amount of ingredients for a classic sugar mash is calculated based on the volume of distillate required to be obtained at the output. In theory, from 1 kg of raw material (sugar) you can distill 1-1.2 liters of moonshine with a strength of 40 degrees.

In practice, for a number of reasons, the yield is somewhat smaller. The quantity and quality of the finished moonshine is influenced by factors such as the type of sugar, the type of yeast, and the temperature maintained during fermentation of the wort and during distillation. In this regard, the proportions of all ingredients indicated in the recipe must be increased by 10-15%.

On average, for 1 kg of sugar you will need 3 liters of water, 100 g of pressed or 20 g of dry baker's yeast. If the recipe says that the sugar must be inverted, that is, boiled into syrup, the volume of water is increased: 0.5 liters for each kilogram of raw materials.

For example, to get 5 liters of high-quality distillate with a strength of 40 degrees, you will need:

• Sugar? 6 kg.
• Water? 18 liters.
• Yeast? 600 g pressed or 120 g dry.

If inversion is performed, additionally measure out 3 liters of water and take 20-25 g of citric acid, which will give the syrup a more pleasant taste.

At the stage of calculating proportions, it is important not to overdo it with the amount of sugar. If the sugar content of the wort is too high, fermentation will be sluggish or not begin at all, since sugar is a preservative and its excess will not allow yeast to multiply normally.

On the other hand, if the wort is sluggish but still ferments, the yeast may not have time to process all the sugar. Some of it, as expected, will turn into alcohol, while some will remain unprocessed. In addition, if the alcohol content of the wort exceeds 12%, the yeast will die and fermentation will stop.

You can check the sugar content and initial density of the mash using a saccharometer (hydrometer). When using baker's yeast, the average indicators of the device should be 20%. If the recipe uses special alcohol-resistant yeast, the density of the solution can vary from 20% to 30%.

Inverting sugar

The complex term refers to the preparation of syrup from sugar, water, and citric acid. Why is it necessary to include this stage in the mash preparation process? Sugar may contain bacteria, the activation of which during the fermentation process can negatively affect the quality of the product. Long-term heat treatment of raw materials allows you to destroy these microorganisms, which will help reduce the risk of poor quality, souring of the mash, and mold formation.

In practice, the inversion process looks quite simple:

1. Pour 3 liters of water into a large saucepan.
2. Heat on fire to 80 degrees.
3. Pour 6 kg of granulated sugar into the hot liquid and stir until the crystals are completely dissolved.
4. Bring the syrup to a boil.
5. Reduce heat and boil the container with syrup for 10 minutes.
6. Add 20-25 g of citric acid and stir.
7. Cover the pan with a lid and continue to heat the sugar syrup over low heat for another hour.
8. Before mixing with the remaining components of the mash, the resulting syrup is cooled slightly.

You can skip this step by making syrup by dissolving sugar in warm water. But with inverted raw materials, the mash ferments much faster. And the distillate obtained after distillation has a milder taste.

Water preparation

Good water? one of the conditions for obtaining high-quality moonshine. The liquid must be exceptionally clean, transparent, and there should be no taste or smell present in it. This rule applies not only to the preparation of sugar mash, but also to other recipes in which mash is prepared without sugar.

Ideally, you should use clean spring water. But since not everyone has this opportunity, they usually take water from the tap. Before pouring into the fermentation tank, it is filtered or settled.

For filtration, use a standard household filter jug?Barrier?. Leave the water to stand for 2 days in clean containers, for example, glass jars, 3-5 liter bottles. Thanks to this simple treatment, water hardness is reduced and foreign impurities precipitate. After settling, the liquid must be carefully drained from the sediment through a straw.

It is not recommended to use boiled and, especially, distilled water to prepare any mash, including sugar-free mash. In such a liquid there is not only the substances necessary for the life of yeast cultures, but also oxygen, without which fermentation is impossible.

Mixing ingredients

The sequence of adding wort components to the fermentation chamber
container is an equally important stage in the process of preparing high-quality mash. According to the recipe, the first step is to pour hot sugar syrup into a container. Then add 18 liters of water heated to 20 degrees. Stir the solution intensively.

Important! The volume of the fermentation tank is calculated depending on how many liters of mash it is planned to supply. Since active foaming is observed at the first stage of fermentation, the container should be filled to no more than 75% of its volume.

For example, if the total volume of wort together with sugar syrup is 20 liters, the capacity of the fermentation tank should be 23-25 ​​liters. Otherwise, during the period of active fermentation, the solution will overflow the edges of the dish.

Pitching Yeast

If the recipe uses pressed baker's yeast, you can add it to sugar syrup diluted with water in two ways. You can simply knead the briquette with your hands and pour the crumbled yeast directly into the wort. In the second option, fermentation is performed.

1 liter of warm solution is taken from the fermentation container, the yeast is crushed and poured into sweet water. Close the lid and set aside for 10-15 minutes. During this time, the yeast will come to life, which can be judged by the formation of foam. It is important that the temperature of the solution at the time of adding yeast is about 30 degrees.

Dry yeast must be activated before adding to the wort. To do this, pour boiled water cooled to 36 degrees (0.5 liters) into a separate container and pour yeast powder into it. Cover the pan with a lid, wrap a terry towel on top and leave for 40 minutes in a room with a temperature of 23-28 degrees. When a thick foam forms on the surface of the liquid, you can add yeast to the sugar wort.

Fermentation

You must install a water seal on the container with sugar mash or put a medical glove on the neck. The container is transferred to a dark, warm room for the entire period of maturation of the mash. The air temperature should be stable, in the range of 26-30 degrees. Additionally, it is recommended to wrap the fermentation tank in a blanket, wrap it in a roll of thermal insulation material, or place a compact aquarium heater nearby.

How many days does fermentation last? If everything is done exactly according recipe, ripens in 4-5 days. If the temperature regime is not observed, fermentation can last up to 10 days.

Important! To remove excess carbon dioxide from the solution, which reduces the rate of fermentation, the mash wort from sugar must be shaken twice a day without removing the water seal from the fermentation tank.

Determining whether mash is ready for distillation

You can tell that the mash is ripe and completely ready for distillation by a number of characteristic signs:

• During the last 24 hours, no carbon dioxide has been released, the glove has settled or bubbles have stopped appearing in the water seal.
• No hissing is heard.
• The solution acquired a specific alcoholic odor.
• A lit match brought to the neck of the container continues to burn.
• The top layer of the mash became light and transparent, and the remaining yeast settled to the bottom.
• The taste of the drink is bitter and sour, not sweet at all.

What is invert sugar and why is it needed?

During their life, yeast converts monosaccharides in the form of fructose and glucose into carbon dioxide, ethyl alcohol and a small amount of other elements. But in regular sugar, the monosaccharides are linked together in the sucrose molecule. So, in order to assimilate it, yeast must break down sucrose using an enzyme (invertase), which they themselves synthesize. Yeasts spend energy synthesizing the enzyme, which in turn affects the growth of their population and the rate of sugar absorption.

To speed up and minimize the release of by-products of the fermentation process, sugar can be broken down or inverted artificially. You can invert sugar using the drug "pchelit" used in beekeeping, but this method takes about two days. There is a faster method using acid and elevated temperatures - we will use it.

Recipe:

The amount of sugar for mash is taken in the same way as usual recipes, that is, for 1 kg of sugar we will add a total of about 4 liters of water. But first you need to prepare the syrup. For this:

1. Syrup is made from sugar and water in an enamel bowl. For 1 kilogram of sugar add 520 ml of water.
2. The syrup is heated to a boil and the foam (if any) is removed from it.
3. 7-8 grams of citric acid are added to the boiling syrup for each kilogram of sugar added.
4. Next, you need to keep the syrup for one and a half to two hours at temperatures of 95-100 °C.
5. Then the mash is placed according to the usual system, taking into account the fact that we have already added a certain amount of water to the syrup. Before adding yeast, you need to make sure that the temperature of the mixture does not exceed 30 ° C, otherwise it can be destroyed.

Results:

Add invert syrup to the mash
In mash, with properly prepared inverted sugar syrup, fermentation proceeds noticeably faster than usual, especially if you give the yeast a little feed in the form of bread or other nutrients. Also, according to our observations, when distilled in classic distillers, the smell and taste of the final product significantly improves. This is especially noticeable if you lighten the mash before distillation.

Opinions and features:

1. When sugar syrup is inverted, not only glucose and fructose are formed, but also the carcinogen Oxymethylfurfural. Since at home it is impossible to accurately calculate the number of milligrams obtained per liter of syrup, as well as the content of this substance in the resulting moonshine, the question of the negative consequences of preparing mash with inverted sugar at home remains open.
2. According to some recommendations, it is enough to boil the syrup for 10 minutes before adding the acid and 20-30 minutes after adding it.
3. The color of the resulting syrup depends on the specific sugar (cane or beet), as well as the degree of inversion and the amount of Oxymethylfurfural formed.
4. When using different yeasts, incomplete fermentation may occur. More precisely, the main part of the fermentation occurs quickly, but then the speed drops and fermentation proceeds less intensely.
5. Instead of citric acid, you can use formic acid or vinegar.
6. Inversion can be done using ordinary honey at a temperature of 50-55 °C. In this case, inversion will occur within 6-8 hours using invertase contained in honey.

Invert sugar is a specific culinary product whose main ingredient is standard table sugar. When exposed to fire and acid, granulated sugar is separated into glucose and fructose, which allows you to change the texture of the product, improve taste and increase shelf life.

What are the benefits of invert sugar?

1. Invert sugar is hygroscopic and absorbs moisture from the air stream. This allows you to prevent the appearance and development of harmful bacteria, increasing the shelf life of products.
2. When split, the crystals become smaller and the food takes on a smoother texture.
3. Due to the reduced degree of freezing effect, frozen dairy products do not crystallize, maintaining softness.

What foods are invert sugar good for?

Invert sugar is needed to ensure the safety of bakery and confectionery products and to create high-quality wine drinks.

As a sweetening component, it has a lot of invaluable advantages:

• baked goods take on an airy texture and are stored longer;
• confectionery products become smoother, without flaws;
• Frozen foods remain soft.

This type is useful for preparing homemade foods, as it dissolves more thoroughly.

It is popular to use invert sugar instead of standard sugar, or as a substitute for honey.

Important! Invert sugar is much sweeter than regular sugar due to fructose crystals. In this regard, when using it, you should add 25% less sugar syrup than under normal conditions.

In what proportions is it used?

Depending on the amount of invert sugar used, the volume of liquid in the recipe is reduced - from 1/5 to 1/4. This change occurs due to the fact that sugar is liquid.

When adding instead of honey, there is no need to change the proportions.

Please note: It is important to always reduce the volume of the recipe liquid by 1 tablespoon, regardless of the final result.

How to invert sugar at home?

What you need for cooking:

• small saucepan (size is determined depending on the proportions);
• spoon for stirring;
• brush for baked goods;
• measuring capacitance;
• thermometer for preparing sweet dishes;
• glass jar with a screw cap for 0.5 liters;
• plate;
• fridge.

Standard components include:

• 225 g sugar;

To dissolve quickly, you should take fine-grained sugar - microscopic crystals that help reduce crystallization.

• 1/8 dessert spoon of citrus acid;

Instead of acid, it is allowed to use potassium tartrate; the main condition is to choose only one substance from those presented.

• 3/4 cup water.

Particular attention is paid to the quality of water, since the final taste of the product depends on it. For the best effect, you should leave tap water for two days, then pour it over, getting rid of sediment.

Cooking instructions

Electric burners work more efficiently by distributing heat evenly.

1. Bring to a boil, increasing the temperature.

After boiling, stirring must be completed.

1. Using a brush, scrape the sugar crystals from the edges of the bowl into the syrup.

It is important to rinse the brush with clean water before use.

1. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking for 20 to 120 minutes.

The sugar mixture must not be stirred, otherwise the microparticles may stick together.

1. Maintain operating temperature.

Regardless of the boiling time, the temperature of the mixture should be from 114°C.

To give a natural shade, it is important to cook the sugar not for too long.

This precaution is necessary when cooking for more than 30 minutes.

1. Remove from heat, cool at room temperature.

It is important to keep the container closed to prevent dust particles from entering.

1. After complete cooling, the sugar can be used or stored.

How to ensure proper storage?

Pour the cooled mixture into jars, leaving 1.5 cm of space at the top, and seal carefully.

Important information! Containers must be tightly closed; no canning is allowed.

Finished products must be stored in the refrigerator. Shelf life: 6-12 months.

What is important to know before use:

• it is necessary to check whether there is mold on the product: if mold is present, the product should not be consumed;
• immediately before selling invert sugar, it must either be heated so that the crystallization process does not interfere with use, or the natural heating process must be ensured at room temperature;
• It is important to follow recipe instructions carefully.

Inverting sugar to make mash

Why is the inversion process necessary for mash? In terms of ease of production and taste, as well as popularity among the population, sugar moonshine surpasses all other varieties of this drink.

Compliance with technology, love for the moonshine brewing process and the desire to finish what you started guarantees not only quality, excellent taste and smell, but also the safety of drinking alcohol.

Yeast for making mash is not able to process sugar in its pure form. By inverting sugar, the quality of the drink increases.

The process of hydrolysis of sucrose can be done independently at home.

How does sugar inversion for mash chemically occur?

When the main components interact, water particles are attached to the sucrose molecules, and the inversion process, using thermal energy, stretches them in different directions and breaks them into fructose and glucose.

Useful information: to eliminate the possibility of foreign odors or unpleasant taste of moonshine, you should thoroughly wash all used containers with hot water and wipe them dry with a clean kitchen towel.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Invert Sugar

1. The taste of the drink is improved, giving off a light fruity-floral aroma, and the pungent smell of mash is eliminated.
2. The fermentation process begins faster.
3. Braga has fewer side effects from yeast fungi.
4. Safety of use ensured by the destruction of bacteria.

1. Less amount of final product volume.
2. Additional time is required to ensure high temperatures.
3. Moonshine may contain hydroxymethylfurfural, a potential carcinogen. However, with the correct temperature conditions, the manifestation of furfural can be avoided.

How to prepare sugar for mash?

To create invert sugar syrup you need sugar, water and citric acid. Correct dosage is key to successful inversion.

For 1 kg of granulated sugar you should take 400 ml of water and 4 grams. acids.

Sugar is inverted in several stages:

1. Prepare a deep non-metallic container.

When filling the container, it is important to leave a third of the space free to avoid foam overflowing over the edges during cooking.

When adding citric acid, you should strictly adhere to the minimum dosage so that the syrup does not foam.

1. At minimum temperature, bring the syrup to 80°C, cover and cook for 60 minutes.

Cooking time affects the taste, tactile characteristics and external characteristics of the finished product, so the number of minutes can be varied until the desired effect is achieved.

1. Turn off the stove and leave to cool to 30°C.

After complete cooling, the syrup can be used for mixing with water, yeast and additional ingredients.

Neutralization of acid

If the dosage of citric acid is exceeded, the fermentation process will take longer, which can lead to the development of side microflora, which is undesirable. Therefore, having a special acidity level measuring device and making sure that it is exceeded, you should achieve the permissible acid level.

How to neutralize excess acidity:

• For 1 gram of citric acid you should take 1.25 soda, diluting with a small amount of water;
• Carefully pour the soda solution into the syrup.

Attention! After adding soda, the foam will separate, after which the invert sugar is ready.

Neutralizing the acid is an optional step and simply helps speed up the fermentation process.

To summarize, inverting sugar compared to regular granulated sugar soaked in water has many advantages:

• does not contain harmful microorganisms;
• accelerates the working state of yeast;
• eliminates negative factors - pungent odor, unpleasant aftertaste.

Preparing invert sugar is a useful procedure that improves the taste of products and ensures a long shelf life.

Inverting sugar for mash is the splitting of sucrose molecules into two monosaccharides (glucose and fructose). You can do it yourself at home. Now let's figure out why invert sugar is needed and how to prepare it correctly.
The yeast used to prepare the mash is not capable of processing beet or cane sugar in its pure form. The enzyme invertase, synthesized by the yeast fungus, first breaks down the sugar molecule into fructose and glucose molecules, after which the resulting monosaccharides penetrate inside the fungus. This is where fermentation occurs. By inverting the sugar, we thus take on some of the work of the yeast.

Advantages and disadvantages

Inverting sugar has both positive and negative effects on the final product.

Advantages:

• The aroma of alcoholic drinks changes, the characteristic beer smell is absent. And this is very important when adding fruits, berries, as well as components containing starch to the mash.
• The fermentation process occurs faster, instead of the usual 5 days - 2 or 3 days
• Moonshine made from inverted sugar has fewer by-products from yeast fungi
• Mash with inverted sugar is safer. Under the influence of high temperatures, bacteria located on the surface of the sugar are destroyed.

Flaws:

• The final product is less.
• To invert, it is necessary to create a high temperature, and this requires additional time.
• Moonshine from syrup contains oxymethylfurfural, a substance classified as a possible or potential carcinogen. It is important to note that by observing the correct temperature conditions, the appearance of furfural can be avoided.

How to cook

The recipe is quite simple. To prepare invert sugar syrup, you need to prepare sugar, water and citric acid. An important point is the correctly calculated dosage of all the above ingredients. For 1 kg of sugar you need to take from 400 to 550 ml of pure water and 4-5 grams of citric acid. Already by experience, everyone will determine for himself the exact amount of necessary products.

You need to invert sugar in several stages:

1. Prepare the dishes. The container must be deep, since during the cooking process there is a large separation of foam and non-metallic, since the interaction of metal and acid is extremely undesirable. A regular enamel pan will do.
2. Heat the required volume of water to a temperature of 80 °C. To accurately measure the level of water heating, you must use a household thermometer.
3. Slowly pour in all the sugar, stirring the water constantly.
4. Boil the prepared syrup for 10 minutes until it acquires a yellowish tint and a uniform consistency.
5. Add citric acid. It is important to note that it does not participate in hydrolysis, it is a catalyst and in its presence the process of sucrose separation proceeds faster. You can dilute it in a small amount of hot water in advance. It doesn’t matter whether you add or pour in the citric acid, it is important to do it very slowly. Adding it too quickly can cause an undesirable reaction, which manifests itself in sudden foaming and splashing of the liquid from the container.
6. Over low heat, bring the temperature of the invert syrup to 80 °C, cover with a lid and cook for 1 hour. It is not necessary to adhere to the time frame exactly. For example, B. A. Ustinnikov, author of scientific works on the production of alcohol, recommends boiling sugar syrup for 30 minutes. Some specialists extend the period to 1.5–2 hours. The time during which the syrup was boiled affects its organoleptic properties (taste, color, smell). By experimenting with inversion, everyone must independently determine what they like best and choose the optimal heating time.
7. Turn off the heat and leave to cool to 30°C. Now the invert syrup is ready.

Neutralization of acid

The optimal pH of the wort is 4.0–4.5. If you exceed the dosage of citric acid, the pH will also increase. As a result, the mash with inverted sugar will ferment longer, which will lead to the appearance of more side microflora. This is undesirable for moonshine and other alcoholic drinks. Baking soda will help make conditions more favorable for yeast fungus to work.

Algorithm for neutralizing excess acid:

1. For 1 gram of citric acid you need to take 1.25 soda, diluting with a small amount of water
2. Slowly pour the baking soda solution into the inverted syrup.

The first time after adding soda, foam separates, after which the invert sugar is considered ready. Moonshiners often have a question about whether it is possible not to reduce the acidity level. Neutralization of the acid is an optional step. The fact is that not everyone has a pH meter, and it is impossible to determine pH by appearance, taste or smell. Then you need to be prepared for the fact that moonshine with inverted sugar at high acidity will take longer to prepare, since fermentation will take place slowly.

No strain of yeast can process beet or cane sugar in its pure form. First, yeast spends time breaking down (hydrolyzing) sugar molecules into simpler substances - saccharides, and only then decompose the resulting substances into the alcohol and carbon dioxide we need. A moonshiner can perform hydrolysis artificially, thereby obtaining a number of advantages. The technique is similar to making regular syrup.

Inverting sugar- the process of splitting one molecule of sucrose in beet or cane sugar into two molecules of fructose and glucose. At home, this is done under the influence of citric acid, which acts as a reaction catalyst, and high temperature (above 80°C). The composition of inverted syrup is close to natural honey.

Benefits of sugar inversion:

1. Fermentation proceeds faster; as a result, the mash accumulates fewer harmful impurities, which are a by-product of the work of yeast. All other things being equal, moonshine can be obtained a couple of days earlier.

2. Invert sugar does not deteriorate the organoleptic properties (taste and aroma) of grain and fruit brews as much as regular sugar. Its use in a mixture with any fruit (berry) and starch-containing raw materials is preferable.

3. High temperature kills microorganisms on the surface of the sugar, as a result, the risk of contaminating the mash with pathogenic fungi is sharply reduced.

4. When using classic distillers (moonshine stills), the quality of the finished product is slightly higher due to the initially smaller amount of impurities in the mash. For distillation columns this does not matter.

Disadvantages of invert sugar:

1. Additional time is spent preparing mash. You need to create a high temperature.

2. During the inversion, furfural appears - a toxic liquid with the smell of rye bread or almonds, which in high concentrations causes irritation of the mucous membranes and skin. But this substance is released only during the hydrolysis of hemicellulose, a polysaccharide contained in plant cells, of which there is little in pure sugar.

In any homemade jam, the furfural content is much higher than with the correct inversion technology, so the harm of inverted sugar is greatly exaggerated. Caramelizing berries and fruits is much more dangerous than making syrup.

3. The yield of moonshine with invert sugar is a couple of percent lower.

Invert Sugar Recipe

Inversion is accompanied by active foam release, so it is important to choose the right container. After mixing water and sugar, it is desirable that at least a third of the volume remains free.

Proportions: to invert 1 kg of sugar, 0.5 liters of water and 3-4 grams of citric acid are required. The amount of acid only affects the reaction speed (time to prepare the syrup) and does not affect the quality of the moonshine.

Ingredients:

• sugar – 3 kg;
• water – 1.5 liters;
• citric acid – 9-12 grams.

Cooking technology:

1. Heat water in a large saucepan to 70-80°C.

2. Slowly add sugar, stirring constantly.

3. Bring the mixture to a boil, simmer for 10 minutes, skimming off the white foam. You should get sugar syrup of a homogeneous consistency.

4. Reduce heating power to a minimum. Slowly (very important) add citric acid. Mix.

When acid is added, the syrup immediately begins to foam. If you pour in too quickly, the contents of the container will splash out!

5. Close the pan with a lid and increase the heating intensity. Boil the syrup for 60 minutes at a temperature not lower than 80°C. You can maintain boiling water, this is a guarantee of a positive result.

6. Cool the finished invert sugar to 30°C, then pour into a fermentation container.