A hangover is a terrible condition caused by the intoxication of the body with fusel oils. Isoamyl, propyl and isobutyl alcohols are hidden under this name. They are the reason for the unpleasant smell of moonshine and poisoning of the body. Reducing the concentration of these harmful substances is a task that can be solved at home.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with potassium permanganate

• Prepare a solution of 2 g of potassium permanganate per 50 ml of water.
• Add 1 part solution to 20 parts moonshine.
• Leave the resulting mixture for 10 hours.
• Filter.
• Distill the moonshine again.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with coal

This method is very popular among amateurs. moonshine... You need activated charcoal or charcoal for cleaning.

• Add 50 grams of charcoal per liter of moonshine.
• Shake the mixture daily for three weeks.
• Then leave to settle for a week.
• Strain through cotton wool.

Biological purification of moonshine from fusel oils

Coagulation is the scientific name for this type of purification of moonshine, or simply coagulation, as it is called in the common people.

• Pour whipped egg white, milk or kefir into the moonshine.
• Mix thoroughly.
• Wait for the precipitate to fall.
• Filter.
• Do a second distillation.
• Dilute to 40 degrees.
• Add 100 grams of rye bread to 1 liter of drink.
• Let stand 5 hours.
• Strain.

Freezing fusel oils

At low temperatures, fusel oils freeze.

• Place the container of moonshine in the freezer of the refrigerator.
• Wait until harmful impurities freeze.
• Gently pour the clean moonshine into another bowl.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with Karluk glue

Quite an expensive cleaning method. Used glue "karluk", made from the swimming bladders of fish of the sturgeon family. By sticking fusel oils to itself, it gradually settles to the bottom.

• Dilute the glue to a gel consistency.
• Add it to your moonshine bottle.
• Wait for the sediment to settle completely.
• Filter the drink through cotton wool.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with soda

• Dissolve 5-10 grams of baking soda in 10 ml of water (this proportion is calculated for 1 liter of moonshine).
• Pour the resulting solution into the moonshine.
• Stir thoroughly and store in a dark place for 12 hours.
• Filter through a charcoal filter or cotton wool.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with tannin

Using this method, you will not only clear the moonshine from fusel oils. The drink will acquire the color of a noble cognac and will taste like it.

• For 1 liter of drink, take 10 grams of tannin powder or oak shavings.
• Place the container in a dark place for 10 days.
• Strain.

All of these methods for removing fusel oils are effective and very popular. By trial, you will find a more suitable one and you will be able to achieve a crystal drink without impurities. Just remember that excessive consumption of high-quality alcohol is harmful to your health.

A hangover is nothing more than an intoxication of the body with fusel oils. This name hides propyl, isoamyl and isobutyl alcohols. They not only negatively affect the body as a whole, but also cause the unpleasant smell of the drink. And if purification of purchased products from these harmful substances lies on the shoulders of the manufacturer, then purification of moonshine is a task that needs to be solved by you and me. There are several ways to clean moonshine from fusel oils, and today we will talk about each of them in detail.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with potassium permanganate

Prepare a solution of potassium permanganate at the rate of 2 grams of potassium permanganate per 50 ml of boiled water. This solution should be added to the moonshine in a ratio of 1 to 20. After 10 hours, the drink must be filtered through a piece of flannel cloth or through cotton wool.

The moonshine purified in this way should be distilled again, and then use one of the following cleaning methods.

How to clean moonshine with charcoal

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils, and, consequently, from an unpleasant odor, coal is considered the most popular, since this method is simple and affordable.

For cleaning, both activated charcoal, which can be bought at any nearest pharmacy, and charcoal are suitable, you can buy it in a supermarket or make it yourself. For this purpose, it is necessary to heat the wood of birch, pine, linden or spruce, without access to air, until it burns out completely, and then grind the cooled coals into powder.

Add 50 grams of coal to the moonshine for every liter of drink. Shake this mixture daily for 2-3 weeks. Then leave it completely alone for a week. After the specified time, strain through cotton wool. Moonshine is ready for use.

Biological purification of moonshine

This type of purification of moonshine has the scientific name coagulation. For its implementation, it is necessary to prepare milk, kefir or whipped egg white. Add the selected product to the moonshine of the first distillation. Wait a bit. After the sediment falls to the bottom of the container, the drink must be filtered and distilled again.

After the second distillation, the moonshine must be diluted to a strength of 40 degrees (use a hydrometer) and cleaned with fresh rye bread.

Put 100 grams of rye bread broken into small pieces for each liter of liquid. Leave for 5 hours and strain.

Purification of moonshine with soda

Prepare a baking soda solution (10 grams of soda per 10 grams of water) and pour it into a liter of moonshine (if there is more drink, then the amount of soda solution should be increased in direct proportion). Cap tightly and shake well. Leave for half an hour, then mix the contents of the jar again and remove it for 12 hours in a dark place. After the specified time, the moonshine must be filtered through cotton wool.

Purification of moonshine from fusel oils with tannin

As you know, tannin is part of oak wood. It is he who allows not only to improve the taste of moonshine, but also to remove harmful components from it, to which fusel oils are ranked. There are several ways to clean an alcoholic beverage with tannin.

Method number 1

Add 10 grams of tannin or oak shavings powder to the moonshine for every liter of liquid. Leave it on for 10 days. After the specified time, the drink should be filtered. It's ready to eat.

Method number 2

Form oak wood into cubes of 2 to 3 centimeters. Fill with spring water, change the water after a couple of hours. Repeat the procedure several times. Then fill the oak cubes with a solution of soda, prepared at the rate of a tablespoon per 5 liters of water. Rinse, fill with boiling water. After the water has cooled, remove the cubes and dry them thoroughly, and then send them to fry them for 3 hours in an oven heated to 160 degrees.

Put the cubes in a container with moonshine at the rate of 2 pieces for each liter. Insist for at least a week, but if the cubes languish in the moonshine longer, it will be even better.

Cleansing moonshine by freezing

Fusel oils are unstable to low temperatures, as a rule, at sub-zero temperatures they simply freeze. It remains only to pour high-quality moonshine and filter it again in one of the ways you like.

The above methods for purifying moonshine from fusel oils are the most common and effective. Perhaps those visitors to our portal who have experience in making this alcoholic drink at home know other options for how to cleanse moonshine from fusel oils, we will be grateful if they share them in the comments to this article.

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Any alcoholic drink, even if it is made from environmentally friendly, natural ingredients, will always contain harmful impurities and fusel oils. It is they who spoil the taste, appearance, cause a hangover.... Therefore, experienced moonshiners consider such a stage as cleaning moonshine to be a prerequisite for making high-quality homemade vodka.

The ways

Cleaning moonshine at home can be done in different ways.

All of them are equally affordable and effective: the cleaning technology is simple, using the tools available in any home.

All methods of filtration of moonshine have general recommendations for the purification procedure:

1. Use of an unrefined product, the strength of which is not more than 35 degrees. This concentration ensures the maximum separation of fusel oils from the water-alcohol mixture;
2. Moonshine must first settle for 2 days;
3. Start cleansing only a chilled drink, the temperature of which is not higher than room temperature.

Here is a list of the most common methods used to clean moonshine at home:

Using charcoal to cleanse homemade vodka

Charcoal cleaning can be done in 2 ways:

1. active. In this case, the moonshine is poured into a jar through a funnel, where several layers of cotton wool or gauze are previously placed. The crushed coal powder is inside the cotton wool. It is necessary to perform at least 5 overflows, with constant replacement of coal.
2. Passive. The crushed coal is poured into the container, after which the jar is removed for 1-2 weeks. Shake the container periodically. The last step is to filter the moonshine through cheesecloth.

To clean moonshine to be effective, you need to take 50 g of coal per 1 liter of unrefined product.

Purification of moonshine with potassium permanganate

The technology is simple:

1. add potassium permanganate to the drink. For each liter, no more than 1 g of manganese powder is taken.
2. Stir the liquid thoroughly, ensuring complete dissolution of the crystals.
3. Place the container in a dark place for a day to settle. The appearance of sediment, flakes at the bottom of the can, the liquid becoming transparent indicates the completion of the cleaning process.
4. Filter the drink through cheesecloth, you can additionally use charcoal.

Milk is an effective way to cleanse homemade vodka

The substances found in milk protein casein and albumin actively bind molecules of harmful impurities and fusel oils.

The result of this reaction is their complete removal from the purified product. The whole process is accompanied by the formation of white flakes, precipitation.

Milk cleansing involves 2 options for cleansing:

1. without further distillation. Add 150 g of low-fat milk to 10 liters of moonshine, mix the components well and seal the container tightly. Place the jar in a dark place for several days, shaking it occasionally. Finish cleaning the product by carefully draining the liquid from the sediment and passing it through several layers of cotton wool.
2. with additional distillation of moonshine. Milk is poured into the drink, any fat content, at the rate of 100 ml of milk per 1 liter of moonshine. The liquid is stirred, closed with a lid and left for 5 days. During this period, stir the contents of the jar with a spoon once a day. At the end of the process, the drink is carefully drained, without sediment, diluted with water 1: 1 and sent for distillation.

Soda cleaning

Soda perfectly removes a pungent, unpleasant odor, as well as substances harmful to the body.

To clean an alcoholic product, you will need 10 g of soda per 1 liter of moonshine. Soda is introduced into the drink, stirred, after which the liquid must be settled for at least 12 hours... To remove the undrinkable top layer, about 3 cm, and also to prevent sediment from entering the finished product, the moonshine should be filtered through a layer of cotton wool.

Purification of moonshine by freezing method

This method is based on the physical properties of liquids, or rather the difference in freezing temperatures. So, pure alcohol freezes at -115 °, vodka at -25 °, water at 0 °.

The moonshine is poured into a sturdy container, such as an aluminum pan, and placed in the freezer. When the water freezes, drain the alcohol and discard the remaining ice.

The essence of purification is that when freezing, water and harmful substances freeze, crystallize, turning into ice on the walls of the dishes. Alcohol does not have time to freeze, remaining in a liquid state.

The result of such cleaning will be a vigorous drink of the highest quality. The strength of the moonshine will be higher than it was before the purification procedure.

As you can see, there are many ways to purify moonshine. In this case, you can use several techniques at once, successfully combining them... At the exit - an environmentally friendly product, pleasant in taste and appearance. These are the ways.

Moonshine is one of the favorite drinks of village (and not only) residents. Almost every village has long kept the secrets of making this strong intoxicating drink, passed from generation to generation "zest" invented by ancestors and time-tested. Among them, for example, is the following secret: how to cleanse moonshine from fusel oils. This is what concerns the criterion of benefits and harms of "first" for human health. But first, let's talk about how to remove the smell from moonshine.

Unpleasant "on the nose"

It should be noted that almost any neophyte of the moonshine business is faced with the problem of an unpleasant smell, even thoroughly, with the soul of a kicked out drink. It is caused by fusel oils formed during primary distillation. You can't get away from this and you shouldn't, believe me, get very upset because of this! After all, our craftsmen have long come up with several simple and quite effective methods to help clean the moonshine at home. We will consider only the most popular, but in fact there is a great variety of them, for every taste, as they say.

How to clean moonshine with potassium permanganate?

To implement this method, we take three liters of a ready-made, just expelled drink (but, as already mentioned, with an unpleasant smell). Add up to three grams of manganese powder (sold in pharmacies) to the moonshine. We are waiting for the precipitate to fall. This usually happens quickly enough. To speed up the process, close the jar of moonshine with a lid and shake it several times. You can also put the dishes themselves with a cloudy liquid - not yet purified - in a water bath with a low temperature (fifteen minutes will be enough). After all the procedures, we filter the moonshine through cheesecloth. We pour it into bottles. Consume in moderation!

How to clean homemade moonshine with soda?

This is another popular method. Because it's simple and cheap! So, add ten grams of regular soda (sold in any grocery store) to one liter of the drink, mix, insist for half an hour. After that, mix again and insist in a dark place for ten to twelve hours. Our cloudy substance has stratified during this time. Now carefully merge the top layer. We also carefully remove the sediment formed at the bottom of the dishes. We bottle the middle part and drink. I must say that soda will perfectly remove the fusel oils themselves, which cause unpleasant odors.

Violet root

Used for cleansing mainly in the countryside where this flower grows. But the fact is that the medicinal root can now be purchased in any phyto-pharmacy, so this process is significantly accelerated. So, we take one hundred grams of crushed violet root into three liters of unrefined moonshine and insist in a dark, warm place for twelve days. We filter. The drink is ready!

Freezing

This method is traditionally simple and fairly cheap because it only requires a refrigerator (rather, the freezer of this household kitchen appliance). We take metal dishes (good quality, no impurities) or glass containers. We pour our moonshine there and put it in the freezer. The effect is simple: water, along with harmful impurities, will freeze to the edges of the dishes, but the moonshine itself will not. After the water is completely frozen, the moonshine just needs to be poured into another container. By the way, in some villages, historically, quite large batches of moonshine were purified this way all year round, using specially designed underground glaciers, where ice or snow was kept until late autumn.

Carbon filter

How to purify moonshine from fusel oils using charcoal obtained from birch? To do this, grind the main ingredient into powder. We wrap the coal in several layers of gauze and pass the moonshine through this filter. And we warn you: activated pharmacy charcoal in tablets is not suitable for high-quality cleansing. It is made from animal bones, and it can only absorb large molecules of harmful oils, not completely purifying the product, leaving an unpleasant odor in it.

Double distillation technology

Repeated distillation of the first liquor significantly purifies the drink, significantly improving both quality and taste. This "pure as morning dew" product is popularly called "double". It is especially appreciated, as it is much more useful in its qualities than "single". However, it will take a little more time to prepare it, but the result is a pure crystal distillate without foreign odors and impurities. By the way, almost any moonshine can be distilled a second time, even regardless of the raw material and the age of its production. Note that it is possible to "ennoble" in this way a drink that has been expelled a long time ago. First, the moonshine must be diluted to about thirty-five degrees (measured with an alcohol meter) with plain clean cool water. If you try to distill a stronger substance, then this may end with the ignition of the moonshine itself due to the high concentration of alcohol vapors. Moreover, strong moonshine has a strong enough molecular bond with fusel oils. As a result, double distillation will not give the desired result.

Secret: it is very important to pour water into moonshine, and not, on the contrary, moonshine into water. The resulting liquid will not become cloudy. Before the actual distillation, the source must be cleaned. You can choose any of the methods listed above in the article. For example, cleaning with manganese solution, soda or charcoal. After cleaning, strain the resulting liquid through a filter made of cotton wool and gauze. The secondary distillation itself is practically indistinguishable from the initial distillation. However, it is important to separate the fractions of the resulting moonshine at the exit. "Heads", the first ten percent of the distillate, must not be drunk! They are also identified by an unpleasant, fetid odor. The next part, about eighty percent, is the "body." It is collected until the fortress drops to forty-five degrees. The remaining fraction is “tails”. It is also not recommended to drink it, but it can be used to add to the next mash in order to increase the degree. The resulting moonshine with a strength of up to seventy degrees no longer needs additional cleaning. It remains only to dilute it to 40-45 degrees in a consistency favorable for drinking the drink.

Milk cleaning method

People often ask: "How to cleanse moonshine from fusel oils with milk?" There are two ways, and if you use them correctly, you can get a drink of special purity!

First: we add milk directly to the mash until it is distilled. So, you need to mix five liters of mash and one liter of milk. Start distillation. Drive out slowly, with a special passion. During the first distillation, a cloudy precipitate is sometimes observed. Then the drink is distilled again.

Second: how to clean moonshine with milk? A glass of milk is added to one liter of ready-made moonshine. It collapses and absorbs various harmful elements. After the milk has curdled, the drink is filtered and additionally filtered with charcoal (fifty grams per liter of liquid). The process takes place within one week. Sometimes - every two to three days - the mixture must be shaken. At the end of the period, the liquid begins to brighten, and a coal sediment falls to the bottom. It is sucked off with a tube. The rest is filtered. It is also recommended to carry out additional cleaning with bread (preferably black rye or grain), after which the moonshine acquires a very pleasant bread aroma. Now you know many ways to cleanse moonshine from fusel oils.

It is important to know

What does moonshine actually consist of? In addition to water and ethyl alcohol, it contains a variety of impurities, which in the production of, for example, good vodka are removed from it by various industrial methods. And in the manufacture of whiskey, cognac, tequila, on the contrary, they are cultivated to give the drink originality, style, sound. For this, there are industrial methods of artificially interrupting the purification process.

But in fact, these same impurities also form the hangover syndrome in a person who has slightly "gone over". Tequila, for example, contains high-molecular alcohols that are part of these impurities (up to two hundred), which form fusel oils. When drinking, they heavily load the liver, which is, as it were, "distracted" by additional information, which prolongs the intoxication and aggravates the hangover at times. So those who have at least minor liver problems are not recommended to drink unrefined drinks, including moonshine.

Making homemade alcohol in itself is a rather time-consuming process. The mash alone costs at least 3-4 days. And even if you happen to (we recommend choosing an apparatus with a distillation column of the brand or with a dry steam generator of the brand) with good performance, the distillation of the mash, and then the raw alcohol, still takes several hours.

Sometimes it happens that flaws were made during the distillation of the mash. Cloudy moonshine is always annoying, and most importantly, it again takes time to clean it. But over the years of practice, craftsmen have found ways to quickly clear the moonshine from fusel oils and odor.

Most often, such cleaning is required by beginners, since they have not yet debugged all the mechanisms for observing the distillation technology. However, if you correctly approach the question “”, then you can purchase a distiller that is most convenient and easy to use.

We recommend quick cleaning of moonshine only if a second distillation is planned. After all, it is the re-distillation that is the key to a high-quality drink that is as safe as possible (in terms of impurities) for health. Even craftsmen, who happen to have a jewelry calculation, most often distill moonshine twice. Thus, in almost 100% of cases, a quick method of purifying moonshine is necessary after the first distillation to simplify the purification in the second distillation.

So, 4 methods for quickly cleaning moonshine:

1. You can quickly clear moonshine with regular baking soda. It will take 10 grams per liter of distillate and about 12 hours. Soda is poured into the moonshine, the container is shaken well and left for half an hour. Then shake the container again and leave it for 10 hours (ideally overnight). However, baking soda binds a small amount of "fusel oils" and neutralizes acids. This neutralizes some of the turbidity and unpleasant odor. After the formation of a precipitate, the pure distillate is carefully drained from it. For better purification, the distillate should be re-distilled.

2. Potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) is a powerful oxidizing agent. It removes harmful aldehydes from the drink. Potassium permanganate powder is taken at the rate of 1 gram per liter of distillate. The container is shaken well and placed in a water bath at a temperature of 50-70 ° C for 15 minutes. After the precipitate has formed, the distillate is allowed to settle a little, and then it is carefully poured off the precipitate. It is best to use potassium permanganate in combination with soda and alkali, and re-distill the purified distillate.

3. How else to clean moonshine quickly at home without special tools? Each house has a refrigerator and a freezer in it. The freezing method is one of the most ancient. The distillate is poured into a glass or iron container, and put in the freezer overnight. Water, together with harmful impurities, freezes near the walls of the container, and the purified ethanol solution remains in the center. If the dregs and odors persist, repeat the procedure. The main thing is not to take a container with a narrow neck for these purposes.

4. The most efficient and fastest method is coal cleaning, where the moonshine is passed through a coal column. However, this requires a special activated charcoal or coconut charcoal as well as a column. But this method allows for reliable cleaning at a speed of up to 2 liters per minute.

You can talk a lot about, but over the years of practice, dubious methods have long outlived their usefulness. And if some methods may not seem “environmentally friendly” enough (for example, the use of potassium permanganate), then their harm is still much lower than the harm caused by excess impurities in the distillate. However, nowadays, you can completely freely find a distiller that will allow you to get a clean and drinkable drink after the first distillation. meeting modern quality and safety requirements? It is best to do this directly from the manufacturer after studying the market.