Quick Recipes for Pouring Moonshine over Oak Chips

How to make moonshine with oak chips? A step-by-step guide

At first glance, it may seem that making moonshine with oak chips is not difficult – just mix the ingredients and leave for a few weeks. But if you approach it too simply, you will get the so-called “stripe” – a heavy, wooden drink with an unpleasant taste and smell.

Quick recipes for moonshine made from oak chips

To get a truly aromatic and tasty tincture on oak chips at home, you must strictly adhere to the technology. Below you will find proven methods and proportions.

📌 Table of Contents:

1. Preparation of shavings and moonshine

2. Classic recipe

3. Recipe for Latgalian cognac
   

1. Preparation of oak chips and moonshine

Before you begin the maceration process, you must properly prepare both the shavings and the moonshine.

Leaching the chips gets rid of excess tannins. In small amounts, they add character, but in large amounts, they can ruin the taste of the drink.

Oak chips vary in degree of burntness:

• Medium roast – gives a milder aroma and a more delicate taste.

• Strongly roasted – they give a more intense colour and a more pronounced flavour.

Soak the chips in cold water for 24 hours, changing the water four times at equal intervals.
For the fourth rinse, pour boiling water with baking soda (0.5 teaspoon per 40 g of shavings) over them. When the water cools down, pour it out, rinse the shavings and dry them (in the sun, in the oven or on a pan). Ready!

Moonshine also needs to be prepared properly:

• Clean, without unpleasant impurities

• The raw material matters:

  • made of sugar – a cognac-style drink,

  • from fruit - it resembles calvados,

  • grain - like whiskey,

  • from corn – bourbon flavor.

2. Classic recipe for homemade cognac from moonshine

You won't get real cognac or bourbon, but the taste and color can be very close. Here's a simple recipe.

You need:

• Glass bottle with tight cork

• Moonshine 45–50%

• Soaked oak shavings

Proportions: 5–10 g of shavings per 1 liter of moonshine.

Pour moonshine over the shavings in a bottle, seal tightly and set aside in a dark place. The maceration time depends on your preferences – from a few weeks to 3 months. Check the taste regularly.

✅ The shavings give the cognac its color and soften its taste and aroma.

3. Recipe for Latgalian (Latvian) Cognac

You can enrich the flavor with spices and sugar – then you will get the "Latgalian cognac" known in Latvia, which, according to its creators, perfectly imitates real cognac.

Ingredients:

• Moonshine 50% – 3 liters

• Oak chips – 2 tablespoons

• Cloves – 3–4 pieces

• Nutmeg – 0.5 g

• Coriander – a pinch (on the tip of a knife)

• Sugar – 3 tablespoons

Dissolve sugar in 100 ml of moonshine – this will create a syrup. Pour into the rest of the alcohol, add spices and shavings. Close the container tightly and set aside in a dark place for 1–4 weeks. You will judge readiness by taste.