There is nothing like a glass of your favourite drink after a long day. Spirits are meant to be enjoyed, whether with dinner, for celebrations, or just because you feel like relaxing. And while there are always excellent choices in liquor stores, you can easily make your favourite drink at home.
For that purpose, you can use homemade spirits recipes and test your skills. In fact, it’s super easy to do it, all it takes is following the instructions, getting your prefered recipe kit and having patience. Here’s how it’s done.
Spirit Making Basics
Once you decide to make homemade spirits, the first thing to do is buy spirit recipes kits. There are several steps you should take and it’s best to follow the instructions on the package. Usually, there are five steps in making your spirits at home.
Fermentation
The first step is fermentation. Make the alcohol by combining sugar and water and adding the recipe kit with your prefered spirit flavour. You can choose various liquors such as whiskey, rum, bourbon and so on. The rest of the kit will convert the sugar into alcohol (this process is called fermentation).
Distillation
The second step is called distillation and is done by adding the fermented mixture to a bucket where you will add a water purifier. The alcohol will boil at this point; the first part of the mixture separates before you can collect the drinkable alcohol.
Filtration
The third step is filtration of the alcohol with the help of the filter unit. This involves running the spirit through a column of a carbon mix that will remove all unwanted smells and tastes. A filter paper will prevent the carbon from going into the completed spirit.
Mixing the spirit to Right Strenght
The fourth step is mixing. Water the spirit to the wanted drinking strength by testing with a hydrometer (alcometer). You might have to do several additions that will show you how to improve or change the spirit.
Mix the Flavours
The final step after you made the base spirit is to make different drinks from it. You can put a mix of flavours and create whatever drink you prefer. Choose a flavouring craft kit of choice and make the most delicious gin, bourbon or any other drink.
Types of Spirit Recipes
Bourbon
The first association with bourbon is Kentucky. But, even though this drink comes from this American state, it can be distilled anywhere, and now you can do it in your own home. Now you don’t have to seek sellers online who sell Kentucky bourbon; instead, you can seek local brewers or make your own bourbon with the help of spirit recipes.
Bourbon is made from a mash (mix of fermentable grain) that is at least 51% corn. The other per cent is a mix of rye, wheat, and barley. Bourbon should be well aged in oak barrels. Use toast American bourbon barrel oak chips that bring an aromatic sweetness and flavoursome compounds such as vanilla, caramel, brown sugar and other notes. No one will be able to say that you made it at home.
Rum
Rum didn’t come to prominence after Captain Jack Sparrow told the world he loved it. In fact this drink is people’s favourite since the late nineteenth century. Australians love rum, so if you’re one of them and feel like creating your own rum at home, start by getting the suitable spirit recipe. This can be a nice addition to the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays. Surprise your family and friends with your very own rum, made from your hands and love. It can be a great gift for your loved ones for their big days or the holidays, but before you start giving it away, make sure you get excellent at it.
Whiskey
If you feel like warming up on the inside, it’s time for whiskey. The word whiskey is Gaelic and means “water of life”. People loved it for ages and in the past it was used for medicinal purposes as well. This distilled drink is made from fermented grain mash and many different grains like barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Most distilleries make it in a pot still and aged in wooden casks.
If you decide to make it at home, make sure the pot still is an apparatus made of copper or stainless steel with a copper lining. The copper is crucial for the distillation process (it will remove the sulphur-based compounds from the alcohol). Whiskey, however, won’t age in a bottle, so the age is determined by how much time the drink has spent in the cask. If you’re about to make this drink, you should follow the package instructions precisely unless you want to make something that won’t taste good.
Brandy
Traditional brandy is distilled from grape wine and aged in wooden barrels (but this is not a rule). This drink includes cognac, which is a double-distilled brandy made in the Cognac region of France. There is also Armagnac (distilled in column stills and come from the French region Armagnac) and pisco which is an earthy and raw brandy with origins from South America. Creating this drink at home will require careful reading of the instructions, suitable spirit recipe kit and patience. Once it’s distilled it should be aged in wood (this is how you get that whiskey-like flavour).
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