This method of making mash is popular in prisons and the army, where it is difficult to get yeast and sugar. The recipe contains only two main ingredients - bread (can be stale) and water, the rest is added as desired. The finished bread moonshine is not inferior in quality to sugar moonshine and is memorable with a light, pleasant aroma. The technology for producing the drink is quite original; not even all experienced moonshiners know about it.
Theory. Bread contains up to 66% starch (crusks contain 61%), but to obtain moonshine, you first need to break down this starch into sugar processed by yeast. The process is called "saccharification".
Starch molecules can be “broken” by malt, synthetic enzymes, sulfuric acid and mold. In most recipes, starch-containing raw materials are saccharified with malt - sprouted grain. Although the method for producing malt itself is not complicated, implementation requires grain capable of germinating.
Synthetic enzymes (analogous to those found in malt) must first be purchased, and, moreover, according to some moonshiners (I am among them), enzymes worsen the taste of distillates. At home, sulfuric acid is a purely theoretical method of saccharification.
It turns out that the most accessible, cheap option for processing starch into sugar is mold. You just need to create suitable conditions and wait 7-15 days for the fungi to appear and grow. Some distillers consider the use of mold unsafe, but I have not seen any clear explanation of this theory.
Attention! It is prohibited to drink the mash obtained in this way, it contains mold! The high temperature during distillation will kill pathogenic fungi, so the finished bread moonshine is not hazardous to health.
Any natural bread is suitable for making mash: white (wheat), black (rye), corn, combined (from a mixture of flour) or any other. The amount of distillate at the exit and the smell depend on the variety. The most persistent aroma of moonshine made from rye bread.
Bread mash recipe
Ingredients:
- bread – 2 kg (about 3 rolls);
- water – 2-6 liters;
- sugar (optional) – 1 kg;
- yeast (optional) – 20 grams dry or 100 grams fresh pressed.
An 800-gram loaf of bread contains up to 528 grams of starch, from which you can get up to 825 ml of moonshine with a strength of 40 degrees. The amount of pure alcohol from starch is 710 ml per 1 kg. Consequently, the approximate yield of distillate from three loaves of bread is 2.475 liters (40%). Adding 1 kg of sugar increases the yield by 1.1-1.2 liters (40%), but at the same time weakens the bready aroma of moonshine.
The amount of water depends on whether sugar is used. For every kilogram you need to additionally pour 4 liters of water into the mash. Proportions: for 1 kg of bread you need 2 liters of water, plus another 4 liters for every kilogram of sugar.
There is “wild” yeast on the surface of bread crusts. But their viability depends on many factors. Therefore, you can play it safe by adding regular dry or pressed yeast to your bread mash. Disadvantage: possible slight deterioration of aroma.
Preparation:
1. Cut the bread into 3-5 cm cubes. Chop dried rolls and crackers into small pieces.
2. Wrap cubes (pieces) in cling film or place in any plastic bag. Tie to prevent air from getting inside. Leave on the windowsill for 7-12 days until a layer of mold appears over the entire surface of the bread.
The process can be accelerated to 5-7 days (it is advisable to do this with stale loaves and breadcrumbs) by creating suitable conditions for the fungi - before putting the bread in a bag, spray the bread with sweet water (20 grams of sugar per 100 ml of water).
3. Pour moldy bread into a fermentation container. Add sugar (if using) and water. Add yeast (optional). Mix.
4. Install a water seal or glove on the neck of the fermentation tank. Transfer the container itself to a dark room with a temperature of 18-27°C and leave until the end of fermentation.
5. Depending on the yeast and temperature, after 6-18 days the water seal will stop releasing gas (the glove will deflate), the bread mash will become lighter, and a layer of sediment will appear at the bottom. This means that distillation can begin.
Getting bread moonshine
6. Drain the mash from the sediment into a distillation cube (can be further clarified).
7. Distill for the first time without dividing into fractions. Select the distillate until the strength of the output (in the stream) drops below 30 degrees. Moonshine may turn out cloudy, that's okay.
8. Measure the strength of the moonshine. Calculate the amount of absolute alcohol (percentage strength multiplied by displacement and divided by 100). For example, 6 liters of a 55% solution contains 3.3 liters of absolute alcohol. Subtract 8-15% from the calculated amount, these will be “heads”. In our example (if we take the maximum) – 0.495 ml.
9. Dilute the moonshine with water to 20% and re-distill. Collect pervach (quantity determined at the previous stage) in a separate container and use only for technical needs. This is the “head” - a harmful fraction that should not be drunk.
10. Select the main product (“body”) until the stream strength drops below 45%.
11. Dilute the finished moonshine from bread with water to the desired strength. Before tasting, leave for 2-3 days in a cool, dark place in a hermetically sealed glass container to stabilize the taste.
Fermentation, including the final product in the form of ethyl alcohol, can be carried out not only by fungi, but also by bacteria. Therefore, it is possible to obtain moonshine without yeast, you just need to follow the production technology. This is how real grain or corn whiskey is made, and this is how - without the use of yeast - our ancestors made delicious country moonshine from rye, wheat, fruits and even acorns.
Process theory
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There are several options for producing alcohol-containing mash without using yeast. The technology will differ depending on the composition of the raw materials:
- With starch. Before making moonshine without yeast from grain, corn, or potatoes, you will first have to simplify the breakdown of starch. To do this, the raw materials are pre-cooked. Gelatinization occurs at different temperatures for different crops. Then saccharification is carried out, that is, decomposition into simple sugars, which are processed into alcohol by enzymes and/or wild yeast. Most often, saccharification is carried out using malt.
Important: if you overheat starch wort, you can destroy the natural enzymes necessary for the decomposition of starch, then subsequently fermentation will proceed much more slowly.
- No starch. Processing fruits and berries into mash is much easier and faster, because the sugars in them are already in a state where they are suitable for decomposition by enzymes and wild fungi. For mash it is better to use fruits with a high sugar content.
Enzymatic fermentation is a relatively long process. But if wild fungi get into the wort from the skin of a fruit or berry, things will go faster, so washing them before fermentation is not recommended.
Recipe No. 2, simple from grain
Our ancestors prepared moonshine using this recipe. It does not require the use of yeast or even malt. Required:
- wheat grain (rye, barley can be used) - 4 liters;
- sugar - 6 kg;
- prepared water - 11 liters.
- We grind the washed grain in water at a temperature of +55°C, and then the dried grain into flour.
- Add 1 kg of sugar and 3 liters of warm (+30°C) water to the flour - we make a starter.
- After 5 days the starter will be ready.
- Add the remaining sugar and water, close the container with a rubber glove or water seal. Let it ferment until the process is complete. This can be determined by the taste of the mash, by the cessation of seething.
- We filter out the precipitate, distill the mash twice, being sure to cut off the “heads” and “tails”.
Experienced moonshiners know that wheat is an excellent raw material for mash. When properly prepared, you get an easy-to-drink moonshine that contains a minimum of harmful substances. I present to your attention a proven recipe for wheat mash that our ancestors used. Its distinctive feature is the absence of dry or pressed yeast.
We will replace artificial yeast with wild yeast, which gives almost no unpleasant odor. Malt enzymes break down starch into sugar, which turns into alcohol during fermentation. Wheat mash requires high-quality raw materials. I advise you to take only clean, dried grain, stored for no more than one year; it should not be rotten or damaged.
Ingredients:
- wheat – 4 kg;
- sugar – 4 kg;
- water – 30 liters.
Sugar increases the yield of the finished product, while the characteristic grain aroma remains.
Wheat mash recipe without yeast
1. Pour 1 kg of grain into a plastic or metal container and spread it into an even layer at the bottom. Add water; it should cover the layer of wheat by 1-2 cm. Cover with a lid and place in a cool, dark place. After 1-2 days the grains will germinate.
2. After the sprouts appear, add 500 grams of sugar to the container and mix with your hands. If the mass is too thick, you can add a little water. Tie the neck of the container with gauze and place in a warm place for 10 days. This time is enough to create a starter that replaces yeast.
3. Pour the starter into a glass bottle, add 3.5 kg of sugar and 3 kg of wheat. Pour the resulting mixture with warm water (up to 30 °C).
4. Place a rubber glove with a hole in the finger (pictured) or a water seal on the neck of the container. Place the bottle in a room with a temperature of 18-24°C. Depending on the activity of the yeast, fermentation will last 7-20 days. 
5. The spent mash tastes bitter; you need to check this when the glove is deflated (the water seal stops blowing bubbles).
6. Drain the finished mash from the sediment, filter through cheesecloth and distill in a moonshine still of any design. To improve the quality, I advise you to do a second distillation, separating the “heads” and “tails”, after diluting the moonshine with water to 20 degrees.
From the wheat remaining at the bottom, you can make two or three more servings of mash, each time pouring 4 kg of sugar into the container and filling everything with water. The second and third mash turn out to be the best, then the quality deteriorates noticeably.
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