How to cook homemade cognac? Recipes of a refined drink

It is known that the main economic index for Russians is the "degree-ruble" ratio. This is what keeps the profitability of brewery production in Russia at a consistently high level. And the coverage of a more mass consumer requires the expansion of the assortment. The author had to deal with such exotic things as homemade rum, gin, calvados and even tequila. But, undoubtedly, the second most popular, after a pure product, is home-made cognac.

To give some advice on how to prepare homemade cognac (recipes are not the main thing here, but technologies are important), it would not be entirely correct, because in this process it is impossible to give any exact quantities of raw materials and the processing time is impossible. All methods of making home brandy are reduced to three:

• Relatively large-scale production with the maximum price reduction;
• Small-scale production for constant and close clientele - here already the "price-quality" ratio seriously takes into account the latter;
• Exclusive "for yourself": making a drink that can be proud and amazed connoisseurs.

The first way is, in principle, the way of corporations. If you follow the big companies that make drinks, homemade cognac, recipes, rather, should look like this: buy a flavor additive "Cognac", add to the previously expelled alcohol, let it brew.

In small villages where everyone, if not relatives, then people who are very familiar to each other, home cognac, whose recipes are passed by word of mouth, is especially appreciated. Many make their adjustments to the process:

- Sugar moonshine is expelled and thoroughly cleaned (to destroy the smell). Just in case, I recall: the basic sugar-yeast-water ratio is 3: 0.1: 10

- to get the right color of cognac, a noble smell and taste (according to the grandmothers-manufacturers), the product insists on a mixture of oak bark and walnut partitions. Moreover, for technological process, a small amount of concentrate is produced, which is then added to fresh moonshine: the criterion is the color of the asleep tea. It is this product in the market of moonshine is called cognac.

Well, how to make cognac at home to those who still necessarily want to get something very similar to the prototype. This recipe is the result of long-term experiments and comparative tastings. So - the first and, in fact, the main thing:

- moonshine (by no means alcohol) is necessarily expelled from grape raw materials without the addition of sugar or yeast (raisins can be used, in a ratio of 1: 6 filled with softened water) and distilled twice to a fortress of 70 - 72% of the volume. This is the raw material. Before pouring, dilute with soft water to 45 - 46% of the volume.

And here's what to do next:

- Take an oak (important) stump of a sufficiently large diameter, from which the middle is extracted, to make a vessel with a bottom and walls. It is fired (from the inside) by a blowtorch and processed by sandpaper so that smooth walls of dark brown color form, a lid is separately made, also burned from the side, which will face the infused raw material;

- Insane in the darkness and coolness in such a capacity, a raisin home-brew (this is, by the way, an independent drink called "peysahovka") has a noble color and taste, which can seriously argue with the absolute majority of cognac brands sold in stores.

For the lucky ones who have an oak barrel in the farm, it will only be relevant to roast its inner surface. According to the experience of knowledgeable people who recommend the time of insisting - it's about two to three months, but if patience and finances allow you to wait a year or two, the result will make understanding people cheerful with delight.

As you can see, there is nothing difficult to prepare homemade cognac, recipes can be passed from generation to generation. The main thing is that you have enough patience to withstand this drink, in order to get a unique taste.