How the history of moonshine begins and who first came up with the idea to cook the fermented mass, probably no one knows. On this occasion, there are a large number of legends among various peoples of the world.
Since time immemorial, man has been preparing the gifts of nature in order to subsequently eat them. Juices were made from berries and fruits, which were stored for quite a long time. Sometimes infusions based on berries or fruits began to ferment, and at first it was believed that such food was unsuitable for consumption. However, soon people realized the whole "value" of the spoiled drink, and began to deliberately subject it to fermentation.
Wine in Russia has long been valued - they loved to drink it, but not everyone could afford it. Therefore, the majority was engaged in the brewing of honey and beer. Mankind has long been looking for a way to increase the strength of wine and the ability to keep it longer. On this basis, distilling arose, it came to us from the southern regions, in which winemaking and viticulture flourished. Distillers did not spare either raw materials or time, and therefore a unique drink was once obtained, which had an incomparably higher strength, while strikingly different from "overseas" wines.
The history of home brewing in our country, as well as around the world, has many centuries. The term "moonshine" is used differently in many languages of Eastern Europe and Russia, and for some time it began to mean - home-made alcohol of great strength.
Many centuries ago, when the first alcohol monopoly in Russia in 1474 had not yet been introduced, moonshine was brewed only by wealthy and respected people, and moonshine was intended only for their own use and for receiving guests. Many noble houses had their own signature recipes that were passed down from generation to generation. Ordinary people, who could not afford such a costly and lengthy process, were mainly engaged in brewing and preparing mead - “smoking wine” was very expensive for them, and there was more than enough trouble with this activity.
A little later, on the territory of Ancient Russia, the term "feeding" appeared, which denoted the process of making alcoholic beverages at home. Moreover, this definition was introduced after the entire production of strong alcoholic beverages was under the introduction of the state or the nobility close to the top of power. If alcoholic drinks were intended for sale in a drinking establishment, then in this case the term “shinkarit” was used, which meant being the owner of a tavern.
Gradually, in the field of alcohol production, they became much stricter - however, fines and confiscations were intended only for those cases where alcohol-containing liquids were produced for sale. The development of home-made alcoholic beverages for personal consumption was quite common, and besides, the authorities did not prohibit this business. It should be borne in mind that in those days it was almost impossible to find and punish a tavern keeper on the territory of vast and rugged Russia.
Toward the beginning of the eighteenth century, the term "shinkarstvo" begins to take on the meaning of the illegal sale of alcohol, and the concept of "feeding" is applied to the prohibited production of moonshine. These phenomena (illegal production and illegal sale of alcohol) have become widespread throughout Russia. The authorities took a variety of measures to eradicate these phenomena, but at that time it was extremely difficult to achieve results in these areas.
At the turn of the XIX - XX centuries, the state wine monopoly gives good results - distillation in most of Russia practically disappears. The only exception is Siberia, because due to the great distance from the places of legal sale of vodka in Russia, moonshine did not stop flourishing.
The ban on the sale of alcohol at the beginning of the First World War allowed taverns and taverns again to become very popular: almost every family was engaged in forcing home-made vodkas. And this can be fully explained: for a long time there was an unwritten rule to pay for the work of employees not in cash, but in alcohol - it was this custom that the government of Russia tried to eradicate since the 17th century.
After February 1917, when the revolution took place, moonshining became a very common phenomenon, and even specially formed detachments that were called upon to fight moonshiners could not correct the situation - as soon as the soldiers left the settlement, the process of distilling various kosorylovoks, first-timers and self-dancers began with renewed vigor . There were also more "humane" ways to influence moonshiners - entire committees were created to combat moonshine, but this also did not give the expected result, since the ranks of these committees often consisted of those who traded in this.
After the civil war died down, the newly-minted Soviet government began to fiercely fight moonshiners, and the methods chosen were by no means the mildest - in those dashing years, the manufacture and sale of moonshine could be equated with counter-revolutionary activities, and for this often threatened with execution. A few years later, the authorities commuted the sentence, and instead of the highest degree of punishment, they gave 10 years in prison with deprivation of property.
Some time after the end of the Second World War, Soviet citizens again actively engaged in the development of strong home-made drinks, and the CPSU had to invent more and more new ways to deal with them - a criminal article appeared for the process of production and trade in moonshine. During the period of the so-called “thaw”, people continued to make moonshine, although not on such a large scale, and the government carried out regular raids for “preventive” purposes.
During the reign of L.I. Brezhnev, there was an article that provided for imprisonment for a period of 1 to 2 years for making moonshine for personal consumption. The term of imprisonment could increase significantly if the fact of trade in a surrogate was discovered. Naturally, this could not stop those who were engaged in home-brewing on a large scale - many drove not only for themselves, but also as a protest against the current regime.
In the mid-eighties of the last century, the Decree “On strengthening the fight against drunkenness and alcoholism” appeared - an unprecedented anti-alcohol campaign began on the territory of the Soviet Union. Purchasing alcohol became a big problem, liquor stores were open for only a few hours a day, and the cost of alcohol itself rose significantly. As a result of the Prohibition, even teetotalers took up distillation, and the history of moonshine brewing received a new round of its development.
The democratic transformations of the 1990s, or the so-called "perestroika," had a painful effect on the lives of ordinary citizens, and of the entire country as a whole. The once great country disappeared, along with it the economy, production, agriculture collapsed ... A huge amount of fake low-quality alcohol poured into the market - even in remote corners they began to sell alcohol, which turned out to be much cheaper than moonshine.
Those who did not drink in the early 90s began to drive again - by 1992, the production of home-made vodka increased many times in all the republics of the former USSR, without exception. However, this phenomenon no longer took the form of "social protest" - many people simply survived by making and selling moonshine, which they drove at home. In some countries, such as Ukraine, the development of homemade vodka has become a completely legal occupation.
The latest history of moonshine
The main problem of the low quality of moonshine of modern distillers is that all the distilled liquid is collected, including the so-called "heads", as well as low-grade "tails". But it is the first and last fractions that endow the product with a not very pleasant smell, and the taste of such pervach becomes several orders of magnitude lower. But, this is exactly what we want to talk about in subsequent articles.
In addition, the distillation process should not go very fast - the slower the distillation procedure, the higher the quality of the final product. Although, I would like to note, no matter what the product is prepared and made with your own hands and for yourself, it will always be many times superior to alcohol obtained by hydrolysis, which is then used to produce counterfeit vodka.
When making moonshine for yourself, you know exactly the components that you use when infusing mash, while in the production of alcohol, various acids and chemical compounds are used, which ultimately does not have the best effect on human health.
Today moonshine is known all over the world. It is used as the basis for many classic drinks (cognac, tequila, etc.), medicinal tinctures, and also consumed in its pure form. But, who was the first to start making moonshine, and when did the first moonshine still appear? More on this later in the article.
The ancient world and the first moonshine still
Recently, archaeologists have discovered earthenware vessels with metal pipes. It is believed that these devices could be the first moonshine stills. According to scientists, the ancient Romans, Greeks and Egyptians used these vessels to produce distilled water and essential oils.
The Arabs improved the design and were the first to make the moonshine still made of metal. To do this, they used copper, since this metal could heat up evenly and absorb unwanted impurities in liquids. But the Arabs did not guess to make moonshine. In the 9th century, the scientist Avicenna significantly lengthened the pipe, and also folded it into a serpentine!
The appearance of moonshine still in Europe
In the Middle Ages in Europe there was a real flowering of alchemy. Everyone was looking for the philosopher's stone and dreamed of creating an elixir of immortality. It was monks and alchemists who achieved significant success in distillation. The monk Valentius was the first to distill wine through the apparatus, as a result of which he received a liquid, which he called - aquavita or "water of life". It was believed that this progenitor of moonshine had healing properties!
In the 15th century, Basil Valentin significantly improved the installation by placing pipes with fumes from a container of cold water. Naturally, the condensation in such cases increased significantly. In the 16th century moonshine flourished not only in Europe, but also in Russia.
Moonshine stills in Russia
The first moonshine stills were received hostilely in Russia. This is not surprising, because earlier intoxicating drinks were brewed, not distilled. And even then, it was possible to try mead or mash only on big holidays. The rest of the time, our ancestors led a sober lifestyle.
Moonshine became popular under Ivan the Terrible, who opened the first tavern in Russia in the Kremlin. Moonshine was poured in it for free, but only to guardsmen, in modern terms, the "bodyguards" of the king. Already under Boris Godunov, there were more taverns, and all of them were state-owned. The income from them replenished the treasury, so everyone was interested in popularizing moonshine.
Only nobles and owners of taverns could afford to have moonshine at home. After the abolition of serfdom, the production of moonshine became expensive, so it was replaced with "sivukha" - a cheaper analogue. It was almost impossible to drink it, so the peasants began to have home-made analogues of moonshine stills.
Moonshine brewing flourished in Russia in the 19th century, methods and methods of preparation were improved, and the first drink with a strength of 96% was obtained!
From the point of view of the technological process, moonshine is a product of artisanal distillation of mash. Modern vodka is not a distillate, as it is made from alcohol obtained by rectification in a column, in contrast to the drink made from the 16th to the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century in distillation cubes and called in those days bread wine, simple wine, three-trial wine, hot wine, foam, polugar.
The word moonshine
Before the revolution of 1917, illegally produced drinks were called "tavern". For the first time, the word "moonshine" in the meaning of home-made distillate appeared in written sources in 1917. Back in the middle of the 19th century, the word "moonshine" meant the pursuit of an animal by chasing, chasing the hunter himself, the forester, on his feet or on skis (not with dogs, not on horseback). After the revolution, there was a substitution of concepts and the "tavern" began to be called "moonshine". Therefore, the word "moonshine" in the modern sense is quite young.
The fight against home-brewing began under Stalin, but reached its climax under the reign of Khrushchev. At that time, people who brewed moonshine at home were publicly punished, and the profession of “moonshiner” itself became synonymous with curses. According to the authorities, this was due to the problem of total drunkenness, but in fact the state wanted to become a monopoly in the production of moonshine and vodka.
It cannot be said that home-brewing has completely disappeared, people simply began to hide it and improve moonshine stills: make them smaller, more productive, etc.
Moonshine today
Today, at the legislative level, it is allowed to drive moonshine at home, but only for personal purposes, and not for sale. Moonshine was excluded from the number of administrative offenses in 2002. Moreover, moonshine stills are produced for the needs of the population on an industrial scale and are on legal sale.
The manufacture of alcoholic beverages for sale, including moonshine, is subject to licensing in accordance with the Law “On State Regulation of the Production and Turnover of Ethyl Alcohol, Alcoholic and Alcohol-Containing Products”. Therefore, the sale of moonshine without a license is a violation of the second part of Article 14.1 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation of December 30, 2001 "Carrying out business activities without a special permit (license), if such a permit (such a license) is required."
Useful qualities of moonshine
Any alcohol is only doubtfully useful for a person. If we talk about moonshine, which is a surrogate type of alcohol, its benefits can be quite arbitrary.
Moonshine can be useful only if one condition is met: filtration and comprehensive cleaning. Ethyl alcohol itself is not safe, but still in purified moonshine there will be an order of magnitude less harmful substances. If everything is done correctly, then it can be even better than store-bought vodka.
Most often, craftsmen do not engage in expensive multi-stage distillation and filtration, but simply throw a couple of tablets of activated carbon into the container. Such faith is worthy of respect, but there is very little benefit from such a method.
In fact, moonshine has no medicinal properties. If it helps people, for example, to recover from a cold, then this is due only to the effect of self-hypnosis.
From a medical point of view, moonshine is useful if it is used only as a local anesthetic and warming agent. Alcohol tinctures are also useful, but you can buy cheap similar products in pharmacies.
One can unequivocally say about the dangers and benefits of moonshine, only one thing: this is an individual opinion and decision of everyone. For one, moonshine can become a medicine, and for others, poison. It all depends on the quality of the moonshine drink, as well as on the mood of the person taking it. When using a high-quality moonshine drink in reasonable doses, there will be no harm from it, but it will also not be possible to achieve too much benefit. It is important to simply take into account its properties and not abuse it.
Harm moonshine
Moonshine, in comparison with other homemade wines and even more technologically produced alcoholic beverages, has the maximum harm to the drinker's body. Only alcohol-containing liquids for technical purposes can be worse, which, as you know, like perfumes and hygiene products, are not intended for ingestion.
The negative effect of moonshine on the human body is determined not only by the initially high strength. The harmful effects directly associated with this drink are determined mainly by other chemically unsafe substances.
These compounds are always present in any moonshine due to limitations and imperfection, both the very principle of moonshine production, and the shortcomings of raw materials and equipment quality. Thus, the harmfulness of moonshine on the body is the cumulative damage to all systems and organs, both from ethyl alcohol and the many impurities that are contained in this home product.
The general collective name for the totality of these compounds, which have already been learned to get rid of in the production of various wine and vodka products in factory conditions, but it’s impossible to do it completely at home, is fusel oils.
General cooking technology
To obtain a quality drink, you should adhere to a special technology, which consists of several main stages:
- Preparation of raw materials. For high-quality moonshine, you need good malt. Cereals must be germinated and the germination period for each crop varies from 5 to 10 days. This process is essential for the formation of active enzymes that are involved in the process of starch saccharification. The grain is poured with water in a ratio of 1: 2 and left. So that the water does not start to rot and ferment, it should be changed every 6-8 hours. After the appearance of the first sprouts, the water is drained, and the grain is laid out on a deck in a dark place with a constant temperature of no more than 17 ° C. When the sprouts have become 5-6 mm long, and the roots are 12-14 mm long, the germination process is completed. Sprouted grains are used to create malted milk.
- Fermentation. Yeast is used to start the fermentation process. They are soaked and placed in the prepared wort. In order for the yeast to fully fulfill its function (turn sugar into alcohol), it is necessary to maintain a constant temperature of the mash (no more than 20 ° C). Too low a temperature will slow down the fermentation process, too high will kill the yeast and undigested sugar may remain. Fermentation continues as long as carbon dioxide is released. Therefore, a gas outlet pipe is removed from the container with mash into a bottle of water.
- The distillation of mash is carried out to isolate alcohols. For this, home-made distillation apparatuses and rectifiers are used. The distillation process has a special sequence and the need to comply with temperature conditions. First, there is an intensive heating of the mash to 68 ° C, as a result of which toxic fumes are released. Condensing vapors at the outlet form a "pervak". Such moonshine contains a large amount of toxic substances and is not even used for the preparation of lotions and compresses. Further, heating is performed less intensively to prevent the ejection of the mash. To obtain high-quality moonshine, the optimum temperature is 78-82 ° C. Exceeding the temperature leads to an increase in the release of fusel oils.
- Cleaning. At the output, moonshine, in addition to alcohol and water, also contains harmful impurities. For filtration, potassium permanganate, charcoal or activated carbon are most often used. These substances are added directly to moonshine and left until they completely settle to the bottom, then the drink is filtered through cotton wool.
- "Ennoblement". To get rid of the characteristic smell of mash and give the drink color, artificial or vegetable flavors and dyes are added to the finished drink. As flavorings, cinnamon, anise, mustard, cumin, cardamom, vanilla, nutmeg, chili pepper, black tea, saffron, parsnip, ginger, golden root, horseradish and others can be used. To sweeten moonshine, sugar syrup or liquid honey is used.
Mistakes in the manufacture of moonshine
Usually moonshine is produced in any conditions from the most diverse raw materials available. This already contributes to the appearance of harmful impurities in the form of fusel oils and other toxins in the final product. At home, ethanol expelled from the mash will be more polluted. It, like in a factory, cannot be cleaned; for one simple reason, these technologies are not available at home.
In addition, even with a slight violation of the distillation process of moonshine, there is a high risk. Involuntarily, conditions are created for the chemical formation of harmful and toxic compounds. And when a gross violation of the technological process is observed in the manufacture of an alcohol-containing product, besides, low-quality raw materials are taken or chemicals are added for various reasons, then the harmful effect increases many times over. Such moonshine will most likely not only be extremely harmful, but can be deadly.
Moonshine recipes at home
sugar moonshine recipe
6 kg of sugar, 200 g of yeast, pour 30 liters of warm water and mix well, add a bunch of dry dill and currant leaves for smell. Insist in a warm place for 6-7 days, then overtake. Output - 6 l.
Homemade bread moonshine
- Recipe 1. Take 1.2 kg of dry bread crusts of Borodino (caraway) bread, 40 g of cinnamon, 30 pieces of cloves, pour 10 liters of moonshine and leave for 4-5 days. Then add 5L of water and overtake to obtain 10 liters of moonshine.
- Recipe 2. Sprout 10 kg of wheat, grind, add 0.5 kg of yeast, pour 30 liters of water. Infuse in a warm place until fermented, then overtake 2 times.
- Recipe 3. Sprout 6 kg of rye, wheat or barley, and then grind. Soak in 10 liters of water 8 Loaves of black bread. Boil 10 kg of potatoes and mash them. Mix potatoes with grains and bread, add 1 kg of yeast, 20 liters of water and infuse in a warm place for 7-8 days. Overtake 2 times.
Homemade moonshine from potatoes
To make homemade moonshine from potatoes, you need to take 10 kg of potatoes, wash them as clean as possible and grate them together with the peel. Mash 4 kg of young malt in a small amount of hot boiling water and mix as well as possible. Put the mashed potatoes into this solution, mix again, let the mash stand for a while, cool to the warmth of fresh milk, pour 30 liters of water and start the yeast. At the end of fermentation, pour the mash into a cube and overtake in the usual way.
Moonshine from corn
Bread moonshine is the highest quality: strong with a mild taste. Sprout corn or peas. To do this, soak in warm water, spread a thin (up to two centimeters) layer (make sure that the grain does not sour).
Dry the sprouted grain, grind into flour. Boil water and, while boiling, stirring constantly, add the resulting flour. Stir until the consistency of liquid jelly. Cover, let stand 10-12 hours. Then add yeast (for 12 buckets of sourdough - 0.5 kg of yeast). Let it ferment for 5-6 days. Distill on a steam apparatus. Of all the types of moonshine, this one is the best.
If there is no yeast, add a kilogram of dry peas, but then the fermentation process will be extended to 10 days.
Wheat moonshine
If there is not enough bread (8 loaves), cook cast iron potatoes. Knead, mix with grain and bread. Leave to ferment in a warm place for a week.
- Recipe 1. Sprout wheat, grind in a meat grinder or coffee grinder (can be crushed). Add water, yeast and put in a warm place.
- Recipe 2. Grind 4 kg of wheat, add 1 kg of sugar, pour three liters of water and insist in a warm place for 5 days. Then add 5 kg of sugar and 18 liters of water, leave for another 7-8 days. When the mash becomes bitter, strain and overtake 2 times. Do not throw away waste, but add 5 kg of sugar, 8 liters of warm water to it and leave for 8-10 days. Then strain and overtake this mash 2 times.
- Recipe 3. Sprout 6 kg of rye, wheat or barley, and then grind, Soak 8 loaves of black bread in 10 liters of water and grind too. Boil 10 kg of potatoes and mash them. Mix potatoes with grains and bread, add 1 kg of yeast and infuse in a warm place for 7-8 days. Overtake 2 times.
- Recipe 4. Soak the grain in tubs for 3 days. Dry on baking sheets for 2 days and finish drying in the oven. When the grain dries to the crunch stage when biting, grind it. Then pour 2 buckets of hot water into the tub, add 8 kg of ground grain and mix. After two hours, add 2 buckets of hot water and mix again. After an hour, add 0.5 buckets of cold water, mix and put the yeast. Insist in a warm place for 3 days, then overtake.
- Recipe 5. Sprout 10 kg of wheat, grind, add 0.5 kg of yeast, pour 30 liters of water, insist in a warm place until it ferments, then overtake 2 times.
Moonshine from apricot
Apricots are washed, pitted, the pulp is carefully crushed and the juice is squeezed out, vodka is added (250 ml of juice - 350 ml of vodka), mixed and put for 30 days in a cool place for ripening. Then filtered, bottled and corked.
Moonshine from peaches
Wash the peaches, remove the pits, carefully crush the pulp and squeeze out the juice, add vodka (250 ml of juice - 350 ml of vodka), mix and put in a cool place for 30 days to ripen. Then filtered, bottled and corked.
Moonshine cherry
Remove the pits from the cherries, mash the pulp and place in a separate container in a moderately warm place. During fermentation, close the container with a lid, and periodically mix the contents with a stirrer for two days. Crush the cherry pits and, at the end of fermentation, mix with the pulp and overtake. Ready-to-use moonshine has no color. As soon as it begins to become cloudy during the distillation process, it should be collected in a separate container. Muddy moonshine can be overtaken again. Cherry pits will give the resulting moonshine a special almond taste and smell.
Dry cherries are also suitable for making moonshine. To do this, they are first placed in hot water, and then, when they soften, they are crushed with pushers. Further, the process is carried out in the same way as described above. Fermentation in this case is slower.
Moonshine grape
Take 10 liters of grape pomace, add 5 kg of sugar, 100 g of yeast, pour 30 liters of water. Infuse for 7 days, then overtake twice.
moonshine pear
Half fill the container with wild pears and let it rot, then knead, add water, add 100 g of yeast for every 10 liters of mass and leave for 15-20 days, installing a water lock, then overtake 2 times.
Raspberry Moonshine
Take 800 g of fresh raspberries, 35 g of finely crushed violet root, pour 10 liters of moonshine, leave for 6 days, then overtake.
Moonshine lemon
Infuse moonshine for 3 weeks on lemon zest (take 5 parts of moonshine and 1 part of zest). Then add 1 part water and overtake. The volume of distilled vodka should be equal to the original volume of moonshine. Cut off the thin top layer of zest from three small lemons, put in a bottle and pour over distilled moonshine. Infuse in a warm place for 5-68 days, then filter. You can sweeten it a little (30-40 g of sugar per 1 liter).
Hangover after moonshine
Moonshine differs from vodka in a large number of impurities contained in it. They are removed from vodka during industrial production, but it is very difficult to do this with moonshine at home.
Because of these impurities, moonshine has a characteristic taste, so loved by many. During the production of spirits such as whiskey, cognac, tequila and others, grain alcohol is deliberately not purified to the very end, but is suspended at a certain stage in order to preserve the drink's smell and taste. It is because of these impurities that a hangover syndrome is largely formed. Impurities do not cause much harm, because their content is insufficient to poison an adult. But high-molecular alcohols, which are part of these impurities and form fusel oils, heavily load the liver, which is involved in the breakdown of alcohol, which is carried out in many stages.
High-molecular alcohols are oxidized longer in comparison with the standard, therefore the process of their splitting is much more complicated. As a result, the body will contain toxic substances for a longer time, albeit in small quantities, and a powerful hangover will also make itself felt.
That is, we can say that the cleaner the drink is, the easier it will be processed by the liver and the next morning there will be fewer consequences. Compared to vodka, moonshine will cause a much larger and stronger hangover.
Moonshine was invented by the French in order to save money. When taxes on wine began to be introduced (William raised taxes on wine, someone smart overtook the wine (it is believed that this is Chevalne de Croix), poured it into oak barrels and took it to Holland, and since the path was not close and the heavy moonshine brewed became cognac, then this idea (to withstand wine spirit, i.e., moonshine in barrels) was picked up by the Scots and whiskey appeared.In Russia, strong liquor was banned until the 17th century under Vasily II, it was brought by the Dutch as a medicine for washing wounds.Under Ivan Vasilyevich IV (the Terrible) for the appearance of a drunk on the street, they were flogged publicly with a whip, if this was repeated, they were given a "drunk medal" upon presentation of which they poured it into all taverns for free, but it was forbidden to take it off (it was chained to the neck and weighed 16 kg). taken out of the capital, and a complete ban on the sale of wine to women of all ages and classes and adolescents
Moonshine is a strong drink that was common in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. It was under him that the first tavern was created, which was located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. Only guardsmen, who were popularly called “royal dogs”, could feast in a tavern. They were proud of this right: drunk and smart - two lands in it. At that time, orders were not given, and the heroes were awarded the royal ladle. The owner of this ladle drank everywhere for free - exactly as much as he could scoop up at one time. There were many hunters who wanted to run into the "king's tavern" in order to sip on alcohol, the "drink of the guardsmen", because the forbidden fruit is always sweeter. Russian moonshine of the first half of the 19th century often surpassed English whiskey and French cognac in quality. They drove it slowly, not bringing the "mash race" to half of its original volume. For the sake of quality, up to 95% of the original raw materials were lost. From 1,200 liters of mash, which contained about 350 kilograms of grain and rye malt, about 20 kilograms of yeast, at the first distillation, only about 40 liters of “bread wine” came out. After cleaning with milk and egg white and re-distillation, approximately 20 liters of good alcohol came out. After cleaning and dilution, again, no more than 20–30 liters of moonshine vodka was obtained. Such a drink was literally more expensive than gold. Each large noble estate had its own secrets of moonshine distillation, distillation of the 18th-19th centuries was nominal and was not of a commercial nature. The history of the apparatus itself is lost in the darkness of time. The beginning was laid in those days when they learned to separate liquid substances from each other by means of evaporation, then condensation. Thus separating the more volatile from the heavy ones. This was a trivial procedure in the practice of alchemists. Do you remember those glass flasks with gurgling liquid and coils leaving them. Throughout its history, moonshine has been obtained in various ways using an incredible number of devices, ranging from huge, almost industrial sizes, to compact, miniature devices. Depending on the size and volume of the product produced, they were divided into "public" and personal.
02.05.2016
Moonshine is a native Russian alcoholic drink with a rich history and ancient origins. But contrary to the prevailing opinion of the public, this drink was considered better in quality than foreign whiskey and brandy, and it was the prerogative of only the upper strata of society to use it.
Every self-respecting nobleman was engaged in the production of moonshine, involving many peasants in this process.
No one knows how it appeared, or who invented moonshine or moonshine, but it is quite clear that the first alcoholic drink that people came up with was wine. There is even a legend that during the great drought, when even almost all the reservoirs dried up and the fruits from the trees fell to the ground, the birds pecked at each other's blood in order to somehow quench their thirst. Suddenly black clouds flew in, and it began to rain, filling the pools again, on the dried bottom of which lay rotten fruits. A lost wanderer, who was very thirsty, drank from one of these reservoirs and was very surprised by the taste of this drink. Thus, people learned how to make wine. But of course, this is just a legend. But it is not in vain that people say: "A fairy tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it, a lesson for good fellows."
The first drinking establishments in Russia appeared during the time of Tsar Ivan the Terrible, but ordinary peasants still could not use moonshine of that time.
There are also references to moonshine as mead, aniseed vodka, tavern, etc. in the literary works of Pushkin, Gogol, Bulgakov. Everyone knows that many foreigners associate Russia with vodka, but few people know that this vodka is of rather high quality. Not for nothing that even the Russian Empress Catherine the Great sent a bottle of alcoholic drink, so valued in Europe at that time, as a gift to European rulers. This continued until the very coming to power of the communist regime (after the overthrow of Tsar Nicholas II). Prohibitions began on the production and sale of alcoholic beverages, and continued for almost the entire period of the communist regime. In the era of the Soviet Union, home-brewing (which was prosecuted at that time by law and involved criminal liability with confiscation of property) was the most widespread. Moonshine became available to ordinary people. It was during this period of time that the most unusual and diverse were invented (but easy to use and made from practically improvised materials)
Moonshine is a strong drink that was common in Russia during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. It was under him that the first tavern was created, which was located on the territory of the Moscow Kremlin. Only guardsmen, who were popularly called “royal dogs”, could feast in a tavern. They were proud of this right: drunk and smart - two lands in it. At that time, orders were not given, and the heroes were awarded the royal ladle. The owner of this bucket drank everywhere for free - exactly as much as he could scoop up at one time. There were many hunters who wanted to run into the "king's tavern" in order to sip on alcohol, the "drink of the guardsmen", because the forbidden fruit is always sweeter.
Russian moonshine of the first half of the 19th century often surpassed English whiskey and French cognac in quality. They drove it slowly, not bringing the "mash race" to half of its original volume. For the sake of quality, up to 95% of the original raw materials were lost. From 1,200 liters of mash, which contained about 350 kilograms of grain and rye malt, about 20 kilograms of yeast, at the first distillation, only about 40 liters of “bread wine” came out.
After cleaning with milk and egg white and re-distillation, approximately 20 liters of good alcohol came out. After cleaning and dilution, again, no more than 20-30 liters of moonshine vodka was obtained. Such a drink was literally more expensive than gold. Each large noble estate had its own secrets of moonshine brewing, distillation of the 18th-19th centuries was nominal and was not of a commercial nature.
The history of the apparatus itself is lost in the darkness of time. The beginning was laid in those days when they learned to separate liquid substances from each other by means of evaporation, then condensation. Thus separating the more volatile from the heavy ones. This was a trivial procedure in the practice of alchemists. Do you remember those glass flasks with gurgling liquid and coils leaving them.
Throughout its history, moonshine has been obtained in various ways using an incredible number of devices, ranging from huge, almost industrial sizes, to compact, miniature devices. Depending on the size and volume of the product produced, they were divided into "public" and personal. If the unit was large and capable of producing moonshine in large quantities in a short period of time, then most often it was used by all the inhabitants of the small point where it was located, in turn.
Obtaining moonshine is based on evaporation, and then condensation and withdrawal into a separate dish of the lightest fraction in the fermented mash - alcohol.
And the basic design looks like this:
* vessel with mash;
* coil;
* device for cooling the coil.
From the old "recipes": "From 1 pound of flour and 1/2 yeast (you can also take hops) you get about 1 bucket of moonshine sivuha with a strength of approximately 25 degrees.
The first portions of the alcoholic liquid distilled from the fermented bread wort give the strongest alcohol - "pervach" or "flammable" (burns), the second portion - "vtoryak" - is weaker and the third - "tretyak" - even weaker, so that the total mixture is an alcoholic drink a strength of 25 degrees.
In the city, it was simply unthinkable to use overall units in apartment conditions, which led to the modernization of this device and a decrease in its size. Immediately they received a division according to the method of heating, into electric and open fire.
But it is also possible to exclude the coil, which makes it possible to simplify the design of the moonshine still to the point of impossibility, but at the same time, the manufacturing technology will become slightly more complicated, requiring a little more attention to its process.
Despite the huge number of varieties of moonshine stills, the most widespread are units created on the basis of a simple milk can. This happened due to the fact that this vessel is already equipped with all the necessary hermetic properties.
The vodka of the Sheremetevs, Yusupovs, Kurakins, Razumovskys was far superior in quality to Scotch whiskey and French cognac. It was this moonshine that Catherine II sent as a gift to Gustav III, Frederick the Great, Voltaire and Carl Linnaeus.
Why did the quality of vodka deteriorate sharply by the end of the 19th century? This was not due to "diversity", "poverty" and "ignorance", as one of the heroes of Venya Erofeev claims, but, on the contrary, with the abolition of serfdom and the improvement of the well-being of some of it. It was until 1861 that vodka was driven slowly, spending a huge amount of raw materials. After all, the grain was free, the labor of the peasant distillers was unpaid, firewood was free.
Moonshine vodka had an extremely high status. It was this vodka that became a thing of the past with the abolition of serfdom. Under the new conditions, its value would exceed 100 times the cost of the most expensive Scotch whiskey.
Moonshine was made from untreated river, lake or spring water of a certain taste and degree of hardness, and from frost-resistant Central Russian rye. For centuries, special collectible yeasts have been grown for sourdough. In the 18th century, birch, linden, beech or oak charcoal began to be used for cleaning. Filtration through freshly baked rye bread, purification with protein, milk was used. Sometimes - freezing in barrels. The ice that settled on the walls of the barrel took away harmful impurities. Such vodka was called Russian frostbite.
Moonshine is an exclusively Russian strong drink. This brand is still not promoted by anyone, despite the fact that moonshine has been widely known in Russia since the 15th century. Initially, moonshine vodka was not an intoxicating drink, but a medicinal infusion, in this sense it is found in the Novgorod Chronicle of 1533. Traditionally, moonshine vodka of four varieties was produced in Russia: “simple wine”, “good wine”, “boyar wine” (highest grade) and “double wine” (special strength).
Now ordinary moonshine vodka is made from starch, sugar, cereals, cereals, legumes, potatoes, grapes, sugar beets, fruits, berries by adding yeast and water, followed by fermentation and distillation, that is, the operation of extracting ethyl alcohol by heating the mash to the boiling point followed by cooling of the alcohol vapor.
Today's quality of vodka can't even come close to what rich people drank a couple of hundred years ago. All this is a consequence of a change in the "social status" of moonshine vodka. In the 20th century, it began to be perceived not as a noble drink, but as a folk one.
Moonshine vodka is generally outlawed. Factory production inevitably works in the mode of saving raw materials. Therefore, in the second half of the 19th century, vodka was replaced by muddy slurry, which the people then called "sivoldai", "silvuple", "French of the fourteenth grade", "royal Madeira", "how did I upset you", "thinner than water", "corrupt mind ”,“ Orphan’s tears ”,“ iliac ”,“ quack ”,“ miserable ”,“ stick your tongue ”,“ do not ask for purity. These most orphan tears appeared when vodka became the monopoly of the state. Monopoly vodka was sold in taverns, of which there were 87,388 in Russia in 1859, and after 1863 their number exceeded half a million. Now we live in accordance with folk wisdom: "Born in a tavern, baptized in wine."
FROM THE HISTORY
In Russia, the broad masses of the people until the 16th century were still slightly affected by alcohol; the people were sober, and they were allowed only on major holidays to brew intoxicating drinks - mash, honey. Imported grape wine, which princes, boyars and merchants drank, was completely inaccessible to the people, since it was very expensive.
But from the 16th century, cheap grain vodka, which had penetrated into Russia from abroad, began to spread among the people; at that time, Tsar Boris Godunov set up state-owned taverns of the Tsar.
In Russia, they also learned how to extract pure alcohol and prepare vodka. Since then, all Russian governments have promoted drunkenness for profit. Alcoholic beverages have become a major source of state revenue, as the people have begun to consume vodka on a large scale and unbridled.
In the 16th and 17th centuries. the government had its own taverns. The sellers appointed by the government were obliged to receive certain sums assigned to them from the sale of vodka. In support of their obligations, they took an oath by kissing objects of worship - the cross and the gospel, which is why they were called "kissers" (this name was retained by the owners of drinking establishments until very recently). If they did not earn the necessary sums, then they were put on the "right", that is, they were beaten on the legs with batogs on the square.
* The first tavern was opened in Moscow, in the area on Balchug, by Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible for his guardsmen.
* Moscow and the Moscow province drank the most.
Income from the sale of alcoholic beverages was then about 1/3 of all government revenue. In the last years before the First World War, the peoples of Russia spent more than one billion rubles on alcoholic beverages, of which about 900 million rubles were spent on vodka alone. These 900 million rubles, which were received by the state wine monopoly, and which are almost 4 times more than the modern single agricultural tax, were paid almost exclusively by workers and peasants, as if in the form of an additional tax, since they were then the main consumers of cheap vodka.
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In times of persecution of whiskey producers in Scotland and massive tax pressure, the fact of violating the law banning moonshine (that is, whiskey) brewing was the very presence of a moonshine still (in the original pot still). Just like in 1985 in the USSR.
And then one day a peasant was tried, who was found to have a whiskey machine.
The judge stands up and speaks.
- Your guilt regarding the illegal production of whiskey is proved by the presence of the apparatus. Would you like to confess to the court in any other offenses that are not known to us?
The peasant, after a moment's thought, rises and speaks.
- Probably - yes, your honor. I'm ready to confess to rape.
- AS?! Have you raped anyone else?
- Actually, not yet. But anyway, I have the device.
