Grappa. Homemade grappa What is grappa made from?

Oddly enough, grappa owes its appearance to wine. The thing is that when making wine, a large amount of grape waste remains. These are the seeds, remaining pulp and skin of the berries. All this is precisely the raw material for the production of this national alcohol.

The grappa recipe is quite simple, so anyone can prepare it at home.

Grappa is a strong drink made from natural waste from wine production. Its strength can vary significantly from 40 to 56 degrees.

Many people believe that grappa is grape vodka. However, technologically this alcohol has nothing to do with vodka. The only thing that these drinks can do is strength.

How to drink grappa correctly?

Good quality grappa is expensive. Therefore, there are three simple rules, the observance of which will allow you to fully enjoy the taste of this drink.

1. The correct alcohol temperature is important. If you get your hands on grappa that has been aged for 1 to 2 years, you should drink it chilled. The suitable temperature is 5-9 degrees Celsius.

Now let's look at a case where you bought a longer aged drink. Firstly, you can be sincerely envied. Secondly, this grappa does not require refrigeration. It is drunk at room temperature.

2. Proper utensils are equally important. The ideal glass for grappa is shaped like a tulip. This feature of its geometry will better reveal its sophisticated bouquet.

However, if you are not going to become a sommelier or show off in front of your girlfriend, then you can also drink this alcohol from ordinary cognac glasses.

3. You need to drink correctly. The grappa glass should be filled three-quarters full. Bring it to your nose and enjoy the aroma. Then take a small sip. Do not swallow the drink right away. Hold it on your tongue for a while and then swallow.

If you do everything properly, you will feel a rich aftertaste. It will have closely intertwined notes of almonds, vanilla, nuts, peach and pepper.

What's the best way to snack on grappa?

Good grappa is good on its own. There is no need to snack on it. However, if we are not talking about a tasting, but about a full-fledged feast, then the table, of course, should not be empty.

In expensive restaurants and bars in Italy, grappa is enjoyed with canapés and olives. If the place is really pretentious, olives can be stuffed with dark chocolate and grapes.

Now let's turn to a simple folk tradition. Grappa is incredibly popular among ordinary Italians as well as vodka among Russians. They are used to snacking on it with pasta, risotto and a variety of meat dishes.

If we move away from the national cuisine of Italy, we will find two options according to which you can choose an appetizer. Firstly, you can enjoy this alcohol with any hearty dishes to your liking. Secondly, grappa goes well with desserts. Serve oranges, chocolate, ice cream and freshly brewed coffee.

How to make grappa at home?

To the attention of all lovers of strong homemade alcohol, I would like to offer a proven grappa recipe. Anyone can prepare this traditional Italian alcohol at home.

Some consider this drink to be a variation on the theme of grape brandy. The point of view that is closer to me is that in the case of grappa we are dealing with banal moonshine made from grapes. A sort of Apennine version of Georgian chacha. Although brandy, of course, sounds much more elegant.

By the way, this recipe will also be useful for those people who do not know what to do with waste from homemade wine production. Everything is very simple. We use them to make our Italian brandy.

Grappa recipe for home use

We will need the following ingredients:

grape pomace or marc - 4 liters;
boiled water – 12 liters;
granulated sugar – 3 kg;
wine yeast – 50 grams.

I think that grape marc should be discussed in a little more detail. First of all, let's understand what it is. Marc or pomace are the remains of the pulp, seeds, stems and peel of berries after the juice has been squeezed out of them.

In theory, grappa can also be made from whole berries. However, in practice almost no one does this. This use of grape juice is considered simply unwise.

There is a little secret that allows you to change the taste of homemade grappa. The main thing is that it doesn’t require any effort from you. By changing the amount of juice remaining in the berries after pressing, you will change the final taste of the grappa.

Correct sequence of actions

1. Collect the required amount of grape marc and place it in a fermentation container. It can be made of glass or wood. This is an unimportant point. The main thing is that it contains all our ingredients with a reserve.

2. Cover our raw materials with prepared sugar. After this, add wine yeast there. Fill it all with water heated to a temperature of 30-35 degrees Celsius. We install a factory-made or self-made water seal and place it in a dark place. There is no need to heat the container additionally. Fermentation goes well at room temperature. Stir our future grappa thoroughly every day. This way you will knock down a cap of pulp.

3. After 1-2 weeks, fermentation will end. This moment can be determined by several signs. The mash will stop releasing gas bubbles. There is sediment forming at the bottom of our fermentation tank. The mash itself will noticeably lighten and taste bitter.

4. Carefully strain the mash. This is done so that during distillation the solid particles do not burn and spoil the taste.

5. After this, pour the mash into the distillation cube of your moonshine still and carry out the first distillation. There is no need to divide the product into fractions. At this stage we are simply collecting raw alcohol. The first distillation should be stopped when the strength of the output product drops below 30 degrees.

6. Dilute raw alcohol with water to a strength of 20 degrees. It is dangerous to re-distill a stronger liquid. Indeed, due to the increased concentration of alcohol vapors, the moonshine still may catch fire.

7. Do a second distillation, dividing into fractions. Collect the first 120-150 ml separately. These are “heads” containing harmful substances. You can't drink them. Then the “body” of the grappa is selected. Collection must be stopped when the strength of the drink drops below 44-45 degrees. These will already be “tails”, which also cannot be drunk. They can be assembled and used to attach the next batch of mash.

8. Next you have a choice. Essentially, homemade grappa is ready and you can move on to tasting. However, if you want to get a drink as close as possible to the original, then our grape moonshine needs to be infused. Ideally, it should be aged in an oak barrel.

A cherry container would also work. The minimum aging period must be 6 months. It can be increased up to several years. However, if you do not have a suitable barrel or such a reserve of patience, then you can safely try the resulting grappa.

Enjoy your tasting!

Preparation of moonshine and alcohol for personal use
absolutely legal!

After the collapse of the USSR, the new government stopped the fight against moonshine. Criminal liability and fines were abolished, and the article banning the production of alcohol-containing products at home was removed from the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. To this day, there is not a single law that prohibits you and me from engaging in our favorite hobby - preparing alcohol at home. This is evidenced by the Federal Law of July 8, 1999 No. 143-FZ “On the administrative liability of legal entities (organizations) and individual entrepreneurs for offenses in the field of production and circulation of ethyl alcohol, alcoholic and alcohol-containing products” (Collected Legislation of the Russian Federation, 1999, No. 28 , Art. 3476).

Extract from the Federal Law of the Russian Federation:

“The effect of this Federal Law does not apply to the activities of citizens (individuals) producing products containing ethyl alcohol for purposes other than sale.”

Moonshining in other countries:

In Kazakhstan in accordance with the Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan on Administrative Offenses dated January 30, 2001 N 155, the following liability is provided. Thus, according to Article 335 “Manufacture and sale of home-made alcoholic beverages”, illegal production of moonshine, chacha, mulberry vodka, mash and other alcoholic beverages for the purpose of sale, as well as the sale of these alcoholic beverages, entails a fine in the amount of thirty monthly calculation indices with confiscation of alcoholic beverages , apparatus, raw materials and equipment for their manufacture, as well as money and other valuables received from their sale. However, the law does not prohibit the preparation of alcohol for personal use.

In Ukraine and Belarus things are different. Articles No. 176 and No. 177 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses provide for the imposition of fines in the amount of three to ten tax-free minimum wages for the production and storage of moonshine without the purpose of sale, for the storage of devices* for its production without the purpose of sale.

Article 12.43 repeats this information almost word for word. “Production or acquisition of strong alcoholic beverages (moonshine), semi-finished products for their production (mash), storage of apparatus for their production” in the Code of the Republic of Belarus on Administrative Offenses. Clause No. 1 states: “The production by individuals of strong alcoholic drinks (moonshine), semi-finished products for their production (mash), as well as the storage of devices* used for their production, will entail a warning or a fine of up to five basic units with confiscation of the specified drinks, semi-finished products and devices."

*You can still purchase moonshine stills for home use, since their second purpose is to distill water and obtain components for natural cosmetics and perfumes.

Moonshine is a strong alcoholic drink that is made by distillation through moonshine mash stills. Braga is obtained by fermenting sugar beets, sugar syrup, potatoes, grains, fruits and other products.

The popular name “moonshine” covers all products of self-distillation of alcohol-containing fermentation products. Moonshines are:

Cognacs.
Whiskey.
Chacha.
Brandy.
Rakia.
Slivovitz.
Grappa.
Gin.
And many other alcoholic drinks that are prepared at home.

Of the above drinks, grape moonshine is:

Preparing grapes for homemade moonshine

Mostly “Isabella” grapes are used to make chacha. This variety is high-yielding and unpretentious to climatic conditions. To prepare moonshine from grape juice without adding yeast to the wort, “Isabella” is collected in dry weather. There is natural yeast on the surface of the grapes. Therefore, rain and also washing washes away this yeast. To prevent grape moonshine from losing its aroma, you cannot use baker's yeast.

The bunches of grapes, cleared of leaves, are crushed with a mechanical crusher, a press, or feet. You can make the press yourself. The scallops of grape bunches add an original taste to chacha and reduce acidity. Therefore, the folk recipe requires not to separate the scallops from the berries. As a result of pressing, raw materials for grape moonshine are obtained.

Folk recipe for making chacha

To produce chacha, only spring or well water is taken. It is necessary to adhere to the order of the procedure, which is recommended by a recipe proven over centuries:

Making chacha from grape marc

When making homemade wine, after squeezing the juice, the pomace remains. They are another raw material for making chacha. The recipe for mash from grape marc is as follows:

To speed up the fermentation process, in some areas the water is heated to sixty degrees.

Italian grappa recipe

The names grappa and chacha mean the same alcoholic drink. This is a simple moonshine made from grapes. Connoisseurs of this homemade product will not confuse the taste of this clear, strong and aromatic drink with anything else.

To produce grappa at home you must have:

Well or spring water 24 liters.
Wine yeast 100 grams.
Grape pomace 5 kilograms.
Sugar 8 kilograms.

The process of preparing grappa in Italian

Italian grappa- This is essentially brandy. The process of preparing grape mash and distillation at the initial stage does not differ from classic Russian sugar moonshine or Georgian chacha. Only the finished mash is kept during fermentation, tightly sealed with a water seal. An exclusive condition for the production of Italian grappa is that grape marc with a high juice content is used to form the mash. This affects the special aroma and taste of the planned home-made drink.

After fermentation stops, the mash is distilled through a regular moonshine still, which can be made at home. The resulting raw alcohol is purified by any method and infused with crushed cherry branches. Grappa infused with cherry is aged for at least six months before consumption. During the aging process, sugar syrup is added to it, which gives the grappa a sweetish taste.

Conclusion

How to make moonshine from grapes is already clear. Making moonshine from grapes at home only in countries with warm climates. Where the grapes grow. And it is prepared from the waste obtained after squeezing the juice from grapes.

Attention, TODAY only!

Preparation of moonshine and alcohol for personal use
absolutely legal!

Extract from the Federal Law of the Russian Federation:

“The effect of this Federal Law does not apply to the activities of citizens (individuals) producing products containing ethyl alcohol for purposes other than sale.”

Moonshining in other countries:

*You can still purchase moonshine stills for home use, since their second purpose is to distill water and obtain components for natural cosmetics and perfumes.

Grappa is a fairly well-known and popular alcoholic drink in Italian cuisine and is prepared from grape marc. Quite often, when preparing grappa, various fruit sweeteners are also used, as a result of which the drink gets a more pleasant, rich taste. In addition, various herbs, fruits and spices are also often used in cooking. The strength of the prepared grappa according to the technology ranges from 40 to 55%; the finished drink is traditionally served chilled. Currently, grappa successfully competes around the world with similar drinks, including brandy and chacha.

grappa step by step

In the “grappa” section you will find a lot of original and very nutritious homemade recipes with step-by-step photo preparation, which can be prepared for both a festive and everyday table. The answer to the question: how to prepare “grappa” at home, you will find in the list of our recipes below.