Many homemade alcoholic beverages require alcohol. You can try making this product at home. Now we will figure out how to do this.

The basis will be contained in such products as wheat, potatoes and the "queen of the fields" - corn starch. From a chemical point of view, starch is a carbohydrate. But this carbohydrate is not subjected to alcoholic fermentation. You need to sugar it up. What is needed for this? You need certain enzymes that are in the malt.

And malt, in turn, can be obtained from sprouted cereal grains. Grains such as wheat, traditional barley, or rye will do.

How to make alcohol: malt

Grains of cereals are germinated in shallow containers, where they are scattered in a layer of several - no more than three - centimeters, having previously been treated with manganese-potassium solution. Processed grains placed in containers for germination should be moistened with water and placed in the sun. or just a place where there is enough light. From above, containers with moistened cereal grains are closed with a transparent material: this can be glass or plastic wrap. When water is absorbed, it must be added. That is, make sure that the germinated cereals are constantly moist.

When the sprouts that appear are about three centimeters high, this means that the malt is ready. It takes about seven to nine days to germinate to the desired size.

How to make alcohol: starch

Now you need to dissolve the starch in water. But first, this starch must be obtained from the product that you have chosen for your alcohol experiments. For example, potatoes.

By the way, to make alcohol, you can dispose of potatoes slightly spoiled by moisture. Root vegetables should be cut into not very large pieces, pour water in a ratio of 1: 1 (that is, a liter of water per kilogram of potatoes) and cook for a long time - up to two hours until a kind of glue-like composition is obtained - a paste.

If it is supposed to use corn or wheat, then their grains also need to be grinded and grinded first. The resulting mass does not have to be fine flour, it is enough just to crush the shell of the grains. In this case, more water is needed, somewhere in a 1: 2 ratio, or even more. You need to cook until we get a boiled thick, but not dense porridge.

To make alcohol, you need not just get this brew, but break down the starch it contains. First, they wait for the potato paste or boiled cereals to cool down to a temperature of about sixty degrees. And while they wait, they grind the malt. This can be done either by hand, which is quite tedious, or with the help of a conventional meat grinder or blender.

Mix the two components. Now the main task is to support the process of starch splitting, for which it is necessary to maintain the specified temperature at sixty degrees. For about an hour, put a bowl of malt and porridge (or paste) combined together in a container of hot water. You can just wrap it up in a warm blanket - like boiled potatoes. After an hour, take out the mixture and leave at room temperature for final cooling.

How to make alcohol: fermentation

When the mixture has cooled, yeast is added. I hope that the room temperature of home alcohol manufacturers does not drop below fifteen degrees, since fermentation will not occur under these conditions. The optimal temperature is twenty degrees, maybe a little higher. The higher it is in the specified range, the faster the fermentation will occur - about three days will be enough. If the ambient temperature is below eighteen degrees, then it will take a week to receive the mash.

How to make alcohol: distillation

It is clear that mash is an alcoholic liquid, but it cannot be called an alcoholic drink. So now, to make alcohol, the resulting mash should be distilled. This is done with the help of a distillation apparatus, and what the strength of the product obtained at the outlet will be depends only on the distillation itself. You just need to know that to get one liter of homemade alcohol, the strength of which will be minimal - sixty degrees - you need about one hundred grams of yeast for two and a half kilograms of cereals. If not only cereals are taken, but also potatoes or corn, then their volume is three quarters of the total mass. Yes, I almost forgot: when using wheat, it must be germinated first, just like to get malt.

How to make rubbing alcohol: cleaning

Well, we got the alcohol. True, he, as a rule, is more or less unclear and does not cause delight from his appearance. This means that the resulting liquid needs to be clarified. To do this, pour a little potassium permanganate into it and, after mixing, leave it alone for a day. Then the liquid is drained, being careful not to shake up the precipitate, and it is filtered. So that not a single drop of the resulting "fire water" is lost, the precipitate is also filtered.

Perhaps you will not like not only the degree of transparency of the resulting product, but also its smell. Then they get rid of this annoying circumstance like this: they pour activated charcoal into a vessel with alcohol and leave it for two weeks. Do not forget to shake the vessel from time to time. And then, of course, the liquid needs to be filtered again.

The quality of a homemade drink will directly depend on the purity and softness of the water. It is recommended to use bottled, for example, from the line of baby food - then the base will not have to be additionally cleaned. However, the alcohol needs to be prepared.

For cleaning, pour it into a clean glass jar and add powdered pharmacy activated carbon (15 tablets per 3 liters). Stir the contents of the container and let stand. After a day, pour the alcohol into a clean dish through ironed gauze or white flannel.

Add purified alcohol to water in small portions. To achieve the desired strength of the drink, use. If you don't have a special measuring device, stick to the common proportions: 2 parts alcohol and 3 parts water.

Vodka does not have to be 40% ABV. According to the State Standard of the Russian Federation, alcohol in this drink can be from 40 (in European countries - from 37.5%) to 56%.

To make the vodka soft, it is advisable to add sugar syrup, which must be prepared from equal parts of water and granulated sugar. Add 1 teaspoon of syrup to 1 liter of homemade vodka, tightly seal the dishes with an alcoholic drink and let stand for at least 24 hours. Chill the vodka before drinking.

Alcohol tincture

Homemade alcoholic tinctures are usually called a strength of 18% to 60%. Fruits, berries, spices, spices and other additives are often cold insisted on diluted with water (homemade strength 45-50%).

Wonderful fragrant you will get it. Grind a glass of clean berries with the same amount of granulated sugar, pour 0.5 liters of homemade vodka and leave for 2 weeks to a month. After aging, it can be diluted, if desired, with clean water to the desired strength:

30 to 60% - bitter or semi-sweet drink;
- from 18 to 25% with a sugar content of up to 30 g per half glass - sweet liqueur.

If there are 30 to 40 g of sugar in 0.5 cups of tincture, then this is already considered a liqueur; even sweeter drinks (about 50 g of sugar per half cup) are called liquor.

It remains to strain the finished drink and place in the cold.

Homemade liquor

Liqueurs are usually based on fresh fruit and berry juices, which are fortified with purified alcohol and sweetened. Alternatively, you can infuse the fruit. You can add various aromatic essences to your taste.

A very fragrant liqueur is obtained from fresh strawberries. Pour 1 kg of berries into 1 liter of vodka and keep in a warm place in a sealed container for half a month. After that, strain the drink through cheesecloth. Boil the syrup from 0.5 l of water and 1 kg of sugar, cool to room temperature. Mix the strawberry infusion and place in a dark place for a week.

Caraway, mint, rosehip, marjoram, zest and other additives give a characteristic aroma to homemade liqueurs. Essences for an alcoholic drink can be made in advance by drying the plants. Grind them into powder, fill them with high concentration alcohol (at least 75% -90%) in a ratio of 1:10 and let stand for a week. By applying various essences, spices, herbs, berries and fruits, you can create your own signature recipes.

Related article

Sources:

• homemade jam tincture
• Tinctures, liqueurs, vodkas

Homemade alcohol tinctures are used to treat many diseases, as well as for rubbing. For their preparation, they use ordinary medical alcohol, which can be bought at the pharmacy, and medicinal plants. Tinctures are used as an adjuvant in the treatment of diseases while taking medications.

Instructions

Pour 40-70% rubbing alcohol into a wide jar or bottle and add medicinal herbs. For convenience, first pour herbs, and then pour alcohol. If you are using a jar, fold the herbs into cheesecloth and tie it in a knot, then place in a container.

The tincture is prepared for 7-10 days. Shake the container periodically, if not, then upon reaching a certain concentration in the lower layers alcohol medicinal infusion, enrichment alcohol stop herbs. Store the tincture container in a dark place at room temperature with the lid tightly closed.

Sources:

• what can be made from alcohol

High-quality vodka is quite expensive in the store, however, you can independently purify the alcoholic product of which you doubt the quality. This can be done in various ways, for example, with coal. Moreover, there are several "coal" options for purifying vodka.

You will need

• Vodka, activated black carbon, gauze or paper napkins, optional charcoal water filter, raisins, tricolor violet root.

Instructions

The most charcoal way

Home use distillation column

The reputation of vodka is not the best. This traditional alcoholic beverage has become the banner of alcoholism and poverty. The successful and famous do not drink vodka, neither do the young. Whiskey is much more popular.

Bad news - poisoning is as easy as vodka. There are no less fakes. Connoisseurs know that real vodka is one of the purest alcoholic drinks. Especially if you cook it at home. We will tell you how to make vodka at home using the "Doctor Guber" distillation column.

What is vodka

Vodka is a pure sort, that is, a mixture of alcohol and water. Unlike distillates, for example, whiskey, vodka cannot have the characteristic smell of raw materials, but gets its own special vodka aroma as a result of purification. Traditionally, the strength of vodka is 40 degrees, but connoisseurs and researchers note that the human body better perceives the strength of 38 or, for example, 42. In general, GOST 12712-2013 “Vodkas and vodkas are special. General technical conditions "defines the strength of vodka from 37.5 to 56.

The quality is determined by the category of alcohol used in the process of making vodka. In total, there are four degrees of purification of alcohol, they differ in the initial raw material and the degree of purification:

• Alpha. Grains, and mixtures thereof. Methyl alcohol not more than 0.003%
• Suite. Mixtures of grain and potatoes, starch content not more than 35%. Methyl alcohol not more than 0.03%.
• Extra. Mixtures of grain and potatoes, starch content no more than 60%. Methyl alcohol not more than 0.03%.
• Highest purification. Mixtures of potatoes, beets, raw sugar. Methyl alcohol not more than 0.05%

The highest quality and purest alcohol is alcohol of the "Alpha" category. However, in home production, the raw materials for vodka do not play a key role. When working on a rectifier, you can achieve the highest purity of alcohol on almost any raw material, and any aroma completely disappears.

This is especially true for aromatic vodkas, for example, anise or juniper. The aroma of these herbs will still unconditionally dominate, so you can do it with ordinary sugar.

Raw materials

And so, it doesn't matter what you will make raw alcohol: the main condition is that the product must be sugar-containing, so ordinary sugar mash will do. This distinguishes the rectified alcohol from the distillate, which is valued precisely by the taste and aromatic properties of the raw material.

Equipment

To produce distillate, a regular alembic will do. But the rectification of vodka will require a more serious superstructure -. The column is designed according to the counterflow principle - in it the steam-water mixture is divided into fractions due to the difference in boiling point.

To simplify greatly, the process looks like this: the liquid in the cube heats up and begins to evaporate. The steam-water mixture enters the column and to the very top - into the reflux condenser. In the reflux condenser, the steam is condensed and can be sent for extraction. The first to evaporate are components with a low boiling point - the very fusel oils from which alcohol must be purified.

Process

Obtaining rectified alcohol takes place in two stages:

Distillation

This is where we get the raw alcohol for future cleaning. We do not select the heads and tails, because we will deal with this in the second stage. As a result of distillation, crude alcohol is obtained, with a strength of about 30-40%.

Rectification

This process begins with the dilution of the raw alcohol. We take ordinary water and dilute it to a strength of 35-40%, if the strength of raw alcohol is higher than these values. This is important for safety reasons, so don't forget. Now we turn to the actual rectification.

1. Pour liquid into a cube and proceed.
2. We select "heads", 3-5% of the volume of liquid in a cube.
3. We collect the food part, from which we will make vodka.
4. We collect the tails and the remaining bard.

Mixing

The most technologically advanced part is over, but it's too early to relax. Incorrect combination of alcohol with water can spoil the future drink. There are several nuances:

Use water with minimal mineralization. The more minerals there are in the water, the more the mixture becomes cloudy. Bottled water will do. The water must have a hardness of no more than 2 mg. eq per liter. In simple terms, this is called "softened water".

Mix rubbing alcohol with water. By and large, it makes no difference what and where to pour first. In large factories, for example, water is poured into alcohol. Water has a higher density, so natural mixing is obtained.

Ideally, mixing is fast and in one go.

It is not at all necessary to bring the mixture exactly to 40%. To get the desired fortress, use the Fertman table:

Strength of diluted alcohol (1000 volumes),%	Desired strength of diluted alcohol
	30%	35%	40%	45%	50%	55%	60%	65%	70%	75%	80%	85%	90%
35	167
40	335	144
45	505	290	127
50	674	436	255	114
55	845	583	384	229	103
60	1017	730	514	344	207	95
65	1189	878	644	460	311	190	88
70	1360	1027	774	577	417	285	175	81
75	1535	1177	906	694	523	382	264	163	76
80	1709	1327	1039	812	630	480	353	246	153	76
85	1884	1478	1172	932	738	578	443	329	231	144	68
90	2061	1630	1306	1052	847	677	535	414	310	218	138	65
95	2239	1785	1443	1174	957	779	629	501	391	295	209	133	64

* at the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines is the volume of water, which should be added to 1000 ml of alcohol to obtain the desired strength.

Note for the curious. Mendeleev did not think at all how to make homemade vodka. He studied how alcohol mixes with water, and was delighted with the fact that the volume of the mixture is less than the total volume of the components.

Cleaning

So we got sorting. This is just an intermediate product, which is too early to be called vodka. We have a cleaning phase ahead.

Question: from what to clean rectified alcohol, if pure alcohol comes out of the rectifier anyway? Yes, we mechanically cleaned the alcohol from fusel oils and manually removed the tails and heads. However, a small part of harmful impurities still gets into the liquid. And secondly, the taste of diluted alcohol is rather harsh. Cleaning just solves both problems: it binds harmful impurities and softens the taste.

Refining is a favorite vodka production process for many companies. Here manufacturers arrange a traditional competition in ingenuity: someone cleans with silver, and someone even with gold. But at home, the easiest way is to use the activated one.

We have about coal cleaning, in short it looks like this:

1. Add charcoal to liquid, 3 tablespoons per liter.
2. Insist for at least an hour, stir occasionally.
3. Filter the liquid through a thick cotton filter.

Well, homemade vodka is ready. Everything is not so difficult, the whole process of making vodka fits into five steps:

1. Preparing mash on any sugar-containing product
2. Distillation of raw alcohol
3. Rectification and production of ethanol alcohol
4. Dilution of alcohol to the desired strength
5. Coal sorting cleaning

But there is no limit to perfection, since you can make vodka at home more aromatic. The most striking examples are anise and juniper vodkas. Also, vodka can be used as a base for liqueurs.

Drinking (wine, ethyl) alcohol is widely used in households: it is a part of spirits and wines, is used as a preservative in homemade fruits, berries and juices. Especially noteworthy are the healing properties of drinking alcohol, the main component of medicinal and healing infusions, stimulating blood circulation, due to which it is used for compresses and rubbing (as an effective external agent).

Drinking alcohol is a colorless transparent liquid with a characteristic odor and taste, readily soluble in water in any quantity. Alcohol is lighter than water and therefore unevenly distributed in the volume of the aqueous mixture, more concentrated in the upper layers of the aqueous solution and in the mash. The specific gravity of alcohol is 0.791 g / cm3, the boiling point is 78.3 ° C. Alcohol is hygroscopic and at high concentrations - 96-98 ° - actively absorbs water from the air, so it should be stored in a tightly closed container.

Alcohol solutions with a high concentration of alcohol are flammable, require careful handling and adherence to fire safety rules.

Avoid using an open flame to heat the alcohol, preferably with steam.

For food purposes, only rectified alcohol is used, obtained from sugar and starch-containing raw materials. It is a drinking alcohol that is used to prepare strong and medicinal drinks. The state standard limits the content of alcohol impurities: aldehydes, ethers, fusel oils and free acids. For home making, these standards must be respected.

Alcohol preparation is a complex technological process of interaction of many components, requiring compliance with the temperature regime at separate stages. The following main stages of this process can be distinguished:
1) selection and preparation of raw materials,
2) fermentation,
3) distillation,
4) purification of alcohol,
5) aromatization, i.e. imparting certain taste, aroma and color qualities to alcohol.

Selection and preparation of raw materials

Life experience has shown that the main criterion for choosing raw materials is its availability, that is, minimizing the cost of purchasing it. Sugar is most often used as a raw material, but it should be remembered that sugar is not only valuable, but often a deficient nutritious product, while depending on the geographical location of the region, other types of raw materials may be more accessible: starch, various grains, sugar beets, potatoes, etc. For comparison, when choosing a raw material, a table of the yield of alcohol and vodka from various types of raw materials is given.

The choice of the type of raw material determines in many respects the quality of the finished product. So, for example, alcohol from sugar beet and pomace is not suitable for making thin dishes.

Low-quality sorts of alcohol, but it is better than many others suitable for simple, spicy and sharp drinks, characterized by a relatively low cost. Alcohol from potatoes turns out to be of slightly better quality, but requires improvement (double distillation, additional purification). With appropriate processing, the alcohol from fruits and berries approaches the high-quality category and is applicable to quality drinks. For the preparation of high quality spirits, we recommend using alcohol obtained from raw starch (wheat or other grain).

In addition to starch and sugar-containing products, yeast, water, mineral and aromatic substances are needed for the preparation of drinking alcohol.

* Vodka is understood as a 40% alcohol solution. The main value of this type of raw material lies in its high starch content (15-70% and even more), as well as sugars (2-6%). The starch content of crops is shown in the table below.

Flour and grain contain the same chemicals, but the starch and sugar content in flour is higher, which determines its greater value as a raw material for the preparation of alcohol.

Starch - the main carbohydrate of potatoes and cereal flour, has the ability to swell, gelatinize and are converted by enzymes into simple sugars, which, during fermentation, pass into wine alcohol. To convert into sugar, starch is saccharified. This operation is carried out in a liquid medium at elevated temperature and in the presence of a special substance (enzyme) - diastase, which is contained in malt.

Starch can be stored for a long time, is easily saccharified, has a high alcohol production value and occupies the smallest volume during storage, which makes it the most profitable raw material for alcohol production.

Theoretically, from 1 kg of starch you can get 716.8 ml of anhydrous alcohol. In practice, this indicator is lower and largely depends on the quality of raw materials and strict adherence to the conditions of all operations of the alcohol preparation process.

Potatoes are ranked first in the ease of extracting starch and converting it into sugar. The temperature of gelatinization of potato starch, i.e. transition to a soluble state, is 55 ° C. To increase the alcohol yield, it is better to use potato varieties with a high starch content (20-25%). Determining the starch content in potatoes is not difficult. First you need to weigh, for example, 5 kg of potatoes in the air in a light bag or net, and then re-weigh these potatoes by placing them in and without removing them from the water. The weight of the potatoes will be much less. Depending on the weight of the potatoes placed in water, the starch content is determined from the table below and the alcohol yield from the amount of raw materials used is calculated.

Rye contains starch, which gelatinizes at a relatively low temperature and is easily saccharified. Rye flour contains soluble proteins - organic nitrogenous substances, but does not contain gluten, which makes the mash thinner, and therefore more suitable for fermentation.

Soluble proteins of rye flour constitute the main type of nitrogenous nutrition for yeast during fermentation, which makes it possible not to use additional mineral nutrition.

Wheat contains starch, which is more difficult to extract and gelatinous at a higher temperature of 65 ° C. In addition, wheat flour contains insoluble proteins, which, when swollen, form gluten, which makes the mash too thick and viscous.

Since thick mash ferments less intensively than liquid mash, it is advisable to separate the gluten from the starch by washing the dough.

To do this, first, the flour is kneaded with water in a 1: 1 ratio and kept for 20 minutes, then the dough is washed with cold water, the volume of which is 3 liters per 1 kg of flour.

When washing, the dough is placed in a sieve, immersed in a bowl of water and washed. The gluten remains on the sieve and is removed, while the starch is washed with water in a basin and used to make the mash. Other agricultural crops, including wild ones, containing sufficient starch, as well as cereal and grain kitchen waste, can also be used to obtain alcohol. This type of raw material includes different crops containing different types of sugars. Such crops include, for example, sugar beets, apples and other fruits and berries are also used (see table).

Most of these crops contain less than 10% sugars, which does not allow obtaining alcoholic solutions with a high alcohol content (more than 12%).

It should be borne in mind that the juice obtained from fruits and berries contains many acids that inhibit the activity of yeast. Therefore, in order to increase the concentration of sugars and reduce the acidity of the mash, juices are subjected to a special treatment: neutralization and boiling.

Sugar beet contains a complex sugar, sucrose, which is not fermented directly by yeast, but is decomposed by the enzymes of the yeast into simple sugars, and these sugars are then fermented. Therefore, the fermentation period for beet sugar is longer than for starch or fruit sugar.

Apples rank second in the production of alcohol and wine after starchy raw materials. They contain a simple sugar - levulose, which is directly fermented by yeast.

Sugar of grapes and fruits - glucose, as well as sugar of berries - fructose are fermented quite easily. In addition to cultivated plants, sugar and starch are found in wild plants. These plants can be found in the forest, in the meadow, on the outskirts of fields and marshes, in shallow bays of rivers and lakes (see table).

Acorns are of particular interest because they are easy to find and collect. They contain about 57% starch and up to 10% sugars. Tannins give acorns an astringent, bitter taste and inhibit yeast development. If these substances are removed, then a good starch-containing product is obtained from the acorns, suitable for the production of alcohol. Tannins are easily removed by soaking. Pulp is made from acorns to prepare alcohol. To do this, the acorns collected mature at the end of September are peeled, cut each into several parts and filled with water for two days. Then the water is drained and the acorns are again poured with clean water (in a ratio of 1: 2), heated to a boil, cooled and drained, and the acorns are passed through a meat grinder. The resulting mass is dried. Dried acorns are pounded or ground into flour, which is used to make alcohol in the same way as rye, wheat, or other crops.

Horse chestnut contains a large amount of starch, so it can be used for alcohol in the same way as acorns. Horse chestnut fruits contain tannins that must be removed by soaking. Chestnut fruits are processed in the same way as acorns, getting flour.

Icelandic lichen contains up to 44% soluble starch (lichenin) and up to 3% sugar. Lichen grows in pine forests on sandy soil in the form of curly bushes with brownish ribbon-like blades with a white lining. Icelandic lichen is harvested throughout the year. First of all, bitter substances are removed from the lichen, for which it is soaked in water with soda for two days (5 g of soda per 1 liter of water), then washed with clean water, again soaked in clean water for a day, then dried and ground into flour. To soak 1 kg of lichens, 16 liters of soda solution are needed. The crushed lichen is used to prepare alcohol.

The rhizomes of cattail, reed and other plants growing in swamps, along the banks of rivers and lakes, contain a significant amount of starch. Flour is prepared from the rhizomes, which is used to prepare alcohol.

Cattail is a plant with a high stem, straight long leaves, with a black ear-shaped inflorescence at the top, is widespread and well known. Dry rhizome of cattail contains up to 46% starch and 11% sugars. Cattail rhizomes are cleaned of small roots and dirt, washed and cut into slices 0.5-1 cm thick. Dry in an oven until they break with dry crackling. Then the rhizomes are crushed to flour.

Common reed (trust) is one of the most common bog plants. Dry cane rhizome contains up to 50% starch and up to 5% cane sugar. Reed rhizomes are harvested in spring or late autumn, when they accumulate the most large quantity starch and sugar. To obtain flour, the rhizomes are dried, crushed and ground.

The common arrowhead is an aquatic plant that can often be found in shallow bodies of water. It has characteristic arrow-shaped leaves and, during flowering, emits a long floral arrow with white three-petalled flowers. Arrowhead is a starchy plant. In the underwater part of the plant, at the ends of the rhizomes, small tubers weighing up to 14 g are formed. 12-15 tubers are harvested from one plant. Arrowhead tubers contain a lot of starch: dry - up to 55%, raw - 35%; Sugars up to 7%. The tubers are boiled, cut into small circles and dried. Flour is obtained from dry tubers, which is used as starch.

Umbelliferous susak is a tall (up to 1.5 m) plant that is found everywhere on the shallow coast of rivers and lakes, along the edges of swamps. The plant has a straight stem with a bunch of erect leaves, at the top of the stem is an umbrella-shaped inflorescence with beautiful white-pink flowers. Susak rhizomes in a dry state contain up to 60% starch. Rhizomes are cleaned, washed, cut into pieces and dried, after which they are crushed and get flour.

Lake reed is a perennial plant with high cylindrical stems, almost devoid of leaves. Reed is widespread; it grows in the thickets of the coastal strip of shallow water bodies. The rhizomes of reeds contain a significant amount of starch (up to 43%) and sugars. From dry rhizomes of reeds, flour is made, which is used to prepare alcohol.

Burdock is a widespread plant in many regions. Burdock roots contain up to 45% of a special starch (inulin) that can be converted into sugar. To do this, the roots are boiled for 2 hours in a small amount of water with the addition of acetic acid (20-30 ml of vinegar essence per 1 liter of water). After cooking in an acidic medium, inulin turns into sugar. Excess acid is removed by adding honey, crushed marble or baking soda, and alcohol is prepared from the resulting sweet mass.

Juniper is a branched coniferous shrub that grows in pine forests at the edges and in old clearings. Juniper fruits - cones, contain up to 42% of sugars. Wine and alcohol are made from them. To do this, first, sweet syrup is obtained, which is then fermented and distilled: the juniper fruits are crushed, poured with hot water and infused for half an hour. Then the fruits are taken out of the water and the juice is squeezed out, which is boiled in a water bath to obtain the required sugar concentration.

The fermentation process of the main raw material cannot do without yeast.

Yeasts are unicellular organisms belonging to the simplest fungi, cultivated races of yeast are used for the preparation of alcoholic beverages and alcohol. The role of yeast is mainly determined by its ability to ferment carbohydrates, that is, to break down sugars into wine alcohol and carbon dioxide. For the preparation of alcohol (distillation), wine yeast is used, which is also used in baking bread.

Yeast is distributed in a liquid medium in the form of a suspension, constantly rising upward with a current of carbon dioxide, intensively interact with the sugars of the solution (wort) and are able to form a large amount of alcohol in a short time, and in addition, they are acid-resistant, which is necessary, since fermentation always occurs in acidic environment. Yeast reproduces well under normal conditions in a liquid nutrient medium, which contains nitrogenous and phosphorous substances and acids.

For the preparation of alcohol at home, pressed yeast is used (10-15% of the mass of the raw material) in order to immediately ensure their dominant position in the mash wort and neutralize the influence of "wild" yeast. Pressed yeast is sold in the form of bars weighing 100-1000 g, but you can grow yeast yourself in the required amount.

Conventional yeast in alcohol production can be replaced with other products, such as tomato paste. Depending on the concentration, it is taken 2-3 times more than yeast. Hop decoction is also used for these purposes. Before adding to the starter culture, yeast is grown in a separate vessel on a sterile nutrient medium for 15-19 hours. The most suitable material for nutrient media are: green barley malt, rye flour, sugar production waste.

To feed yeast, there is usually not enough organic nitrogen, which is part of the protein compounds of raw materials. The absence of nitrogenous and phosphorous compounds, as well as oxygen, in the leaven leads to a decrease in the activity of yeast, which delays the process of fermentation of sugars, therefore, mineral substances in the form of ammonium salts and phosphorus-containing compounds are additionally added to the leaven: ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, superphosphate or diammonium phosphoric acid. All these substances are well known to gardeners and farmers.

Alcohol is a waste product of yeast, but when the strength of the mash reaches 15 °, most types of yeast die, regardless of the presence of unfermented sugar in the leaven.

One of the main components of the yeast and basic starter culture is water. Water is also used to wash raw materials and equipment.

The water used for the preparation of alcohol must meet the hygienic requirements for drinking water. It should be transparent, colorless, odorless and odorless, and in addition, soft, with a low content of magnesium and calcium salts.

Boiled water should not be used to prepare the starter culture, because it practically does not contain the dissolved air required by the yeast.

Natural water does not always meet the listed requirements, therefore it is purified by settling and filtering through special carbon filters.

Minerals in the form of small additives are used to maintain the activity of the yeast during the fermentation of the starter culture. Use nitrogenous and phosphorus-containing compounds, as well as acids.

Charcoal, caustic (washing) soda, aromas and traditional spices are used to eliminate unpleasant odors from alcohol and beverages.

After choosing the raw material, the next step is to prepare it.

The simplest, most economical and technological way of preparing raw materials for making alcohol at home, especially in a city apartment, is to use sugar, yeast and steamed peas as raw materials. They are taken in a ratio of 1.0: 0.1: 0.2 and 3.0 parts of water. Peas are steamed in boiling water for 12-24 hours, poured into a container, sugar and yeast diluted in warm water are poured into it and closed with a water seal. After 7-10 days, the starter is ready for distillation. If milk is added to this mixture in a proportion of 0.2, then this process is accelerated up to 3-4 days.

And although starch containing raw materials can be cheaper than sugar, but in a city apartment, the technology for preparing it is very laborious and creates many inconveniences, which makes it difficult to use it.

Another thing is in the countryside and in the country. There are more favorable conditions for the use of this raw material. Preparation of starch-containing raw materials consists in preparation of malt and malt milk, processing of starch-containing products and preparation of yeast culture.

For the preparation of malt and malt milk, it is necessary to germinate the cereal grains. The germination periods for different crops are as follows: 7-8 days for wheat, 5-6 days for rye, 9-10 days for barley, 8-9 days for oats and 4-5 days for millet. During germination, active enzymes are formed in the grain, which significantly accelerate the saccharification of starch. If necessary, the malt should be dried; however, after drying, the enzyme activity decreases by 20% and, accordingly, the germination time increases.

The preparation of malt consists of a number of essential operations, which include sorting the grain, soaking, sprouting, sprouting, and drying. Let us analyze these operations using the example of barley.

The grain is sieved through a coarse and fine sieve, then it is washed 2-3 times in hot water at a temperature of 50-55 ° C. The grain is soaked in a clean wooden or enamel bowl, half filled with water. Floated grains and debris are removed. It is better to pour the grain into the water little by little - this will make it easier to remove the accumulated debris. The water should be changed every 7-8 hours. When it is found that the husk is easily separated from the pulp, the skin of the grain is cracked and a sprout is indicated, and the grain itself does not burst when bent, the soaking must be completed and proceed to the germination of malt.

To do this, in a dark room on a baking sheet, sprinkle the grains with a layer of up to 3 cm and cover them with a damp cloth. The room should be kept at a temperature not higher than 17.5 ° C and humidity not lower than 40%. For the first 5 days, the grain is ventilated every 6 hours, turned over, and the fabric is moistened. Then, in order to reduce the loss of starch, the flow of air into the room is limited, and an increase in temperature in it in the days remaining until the end of the process is tried to be prevented by mixing and cooling the grains.

The main signs of cessation of growth: the length of the shoots has reached 5-6 mm, and the roots are 12-14 mm, the grains lose their flour taste and, when bitten, crunch and smell with a pleasant cucumber smell, and the roots adhere to each other.

After that, the malt is sprinkled in a warm, dry room and dried. Then the malt is dried in a kiln until its moisture content is 3-3.5%. Drying temperature should not exceed 40 ° C. When the malt is ready, it is dry to the touch, smaller than it was before drying, and the roots are easily separated by rubbing in your hands. Grind the malt with your hands, separate the sprouts and sift on a sieve. Store the malt in a closed container in a dry place.

The stage of preparing a solution from sprouted raw materials is also called the preparation of malt milk. For this process, it is preferable to use a mixture of malts: barley, rye and millet in a ratio of 2: 1: 1. The mixture of malts is poured with water at a temperature of 60-65 ° C, kept for 10 minutes and the water is drained. Then the mixture is finely ground in a coffee grinder or in a mortar, and then poured with a new portion of water at a temperature of 50-55 ° C, mix thoroughly (for this it is better to take a mixer) until a homogeneous white liquid is obtained. At first, you can fill in water not all, but 1/3 or 1/2 of the volume.

Consumption rates of mixed malt for various raw materials can be seen from the following table.

The processing of starch-containing raw materials involves the release of starch from the cells and transferring it to a soluble state. This is achieved by heat treating the starch with water. When the temperature rises, starch grains absorb a large amount of water, gelatinize, increase in volume and pass into a soluble state. As a result, starch easily undergoes saccharification (enzymatic hydrolysis). Potato processing consists of washing, grinding tubers, boiling and preparing the starter culture.

Potatoes are washed in warm water, while for better cleaning the potatoes are kept in warm water for 1-1.5 hours. The tubers are washed, changing the water several times, the last water should be clear, without turbidity. With a small amount of potatoes (up to 10 kg), you can use conventional washing devices (brushes, washcloths, etc.) for washing.

Crush the potatoes using whatever grating tools are on hand. After crushing, the slurry should not contain more than 3 mm particles. To facilitate this operation, the potatoes can be boiled first, and then kneaded and, adding water, passed through a sieve (colander).

Boil the potato mass in a water or sand bath for 1.5-2 hours. Then the mass is cooled to 65 ° C and the starch is saccharified.

The processing of flour of cereals includes the operations of mixing with water, gelatinization and boiling. The flour mass is boiled in the same way as the potato mass, while a little sulfuric acid (0.5-0.8%) can be added to the mash. For cooking, you can use pressure cookers, which reduce the duration of the process to 70 minutes.

Getting starch. When starch is obtained from potatoes, it is thoroughly washed with a brush and, without peeling, rubbed on a fine grater to obtain potato pulp. The pulp is placed in a canvas bag, tied up and placed in a basin of cold water. After that, the bag is crumpled with hands or with a wooden pestle until a milky liquid begins to flow out of it; the water in the basin is changed and, if the water remains clear, the pulp spinning is stopped. The milk liquid must be allowed to stand for three hours. When a white dense sediment forms at the bottom of the basin, the water from above is carefully drained and poured into a clean basin. The starch is once again mixed with water, allowed to settle and the water is again drained. The resulting washed sediment is potato starch. From 1 kg of potatoes get 150-200 g of dry starch.

In the same way, you can get starch from wheat flour by first preparing a tough dough, and then washing it in a linen bag. However, it is more convenient and cheaper to obtain starch from grain crops not from flour, but from grain. Due to the presence of gluten in the grain, it is not possible to extract the starch by simple washing away, therefore, a fermentation method is used for the preliminary decomposition of gluten. To do this, the grains are first soaked in water until they are easily crushed with your fingers. Then they are crushed in a mortar or passed through a meat grinder, placed in a fermentation vat and poured with warm water. To speed up the fermentation, add a little sourdough left over from the previous shutter to the vat. Natural fermentation soon begins and gas bubbles appear on the surface.

As a result of fermentation, organic acids are formed that dissolve gluten, but do not destroy starch. By the end of fermentation (on the 6-7th day), the release of gas bubbles decreases and the surface of the liquid is covered with a continuous coating of fungi. The sour water must be drained, and the crushed grain mass must be washed through a sieve or linen bag. Then the water is defended and starch is obtained in the sediment. From 1 kg of grain, 400-500 g of dry starch are obtained.

In the same way, you can get starch from unripe apples, pears and other plants, including wild ones. Starch obtained from various types of raw materials is saccharified to obtain a sweet wort.

The processing of sugar-containing raw materials involves obtaining sweet sourdough from sugar beets, apples and other fruits and berries.

Sugar beets contain sugar, which is part of the cell sap and can be extracted as a solution by rinsing the beet chips with hot water. Preparation of this type of raw material includes: cleaning beets, grinding root crops into small shavings, processing the shavings with hot water, extracting juice, neutralizing and boiling the juice until the wort of the desired sugar concentration (15-18%) is obtained. To do this, beet chips must be kept in a water bath at a temperature of 60-70 ° C, since juice is not extracted from raw beets.

After heat treatment, the beet mass is squeezed out, obtaining a juice containing up to 15% sugar. To increase the sugar concentration to 18-20%, the juice is boiled down, and to neutralize the acids transferred from the beets, water or chalk is added to it in an amount of 20-30 g / l of juice. The juice is filtered and used to make the wort.

Fruit and berry raw materials contain sugar, which is directly fermented by yeast, and therefore the preparation of raw materials is less laborious. Raw materials of this type are washed, crushed and squeezed out of juice, which is then boiled and neutralized. After cooling, the juice is filtered and fermented.

The optimization of the use of various types of fruit and berry raw materials comes down to the choice of one or another type according to the ratio of sugar content and acidity, presented in the following table.

Obtaining a yeast starter culture consists in the preparation of a sweet wort and the subsequent introduction of uterine yeast into it. Sweet wort can be prepared by saccharification of raw starch or using raw sugar. The wort is prepared two days before the main mash is prepared as follows. Take barley malt in the required amount, depending on the weight of the supply and the volume of the future sourdough (for 2 kg of flour supply of the main mash, take 7-8 liters of water and 1.5-1.6 liters of the finished yeast mash).

1.5 L of water is poured into a yeast vat (3-liter saucepan) and heated to 35 ° C. Then rye flour (120 g) is slowly poured into the water and mixed thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained. This flour mash is slowly heated in a sand bath, brought to a boil and boiled for 1-1.5 hours. The mash is cooled to 60 ° C, crushed malt is poured into it and mixed for 5 minutes, then the vat is covered with a lid and the mass is left for saccharification, maintaining the temperature within 50-55 ° C. At this temperature, the mash is kept for 2-2.5 hours.

And they check the taste: it becomes sweet, Then the mass is heated to 60-63 ° C and kept for another 2 hours. After that, the wort is filtered through a sieve, the thick is separated, sterilized at 85 ° C for 20-30 minutes, cooled to 50 ° C and mineral nutrition is added: ammonium chloride 0.3 g / l, superphosphate 0.5 g / l, preliminary dissolved in hot water. Then the wort is acidified with sulfuric acid to an acidity of 1% (100 g of 10% acid per 1 liter of wort).

Sweet wort based on raw sugar is prepared as follows. For 1.5-1.6 liters of water, take 250 g of sugar, dissolve and heat to a boil. Then it is cooled, mineral nutrition is added, acidified in the previously indicated way and used for growing yeast.

Then the seed (uterine) yeast is sown. Compressed or dry yeast in an amount of 60-80 g is dissolved in 200 ml of chilled wort, stirred thoroughly and poured into a yeast vat at 30 ° C. Then the wort is cooled to a temperature of 15-16 ° C, covered with a lid and left to ripen the yeast.

After adding yeast, fermentation of wort begins and its temperature rises to 27-29 ° C. When the temperature rises above 30 ° C, the wort is forcibly cooled. To ensure the respiration of the yeast, the wort is shaken twice an hour for 1-2 minutes. After 6 hours, check the wort concentration (by taste or with a sugar meter). The sensation of sweetness should decrease, and at a concentration of 6-7% (according to the sugar meter 1.020-1.025), yeast growth ends. Mature yeast is used to ferment the sourdough. Aging takes 18-20 hours.

In the absence of ready-made yeast, use homemade yeast. At home, yeast for wort fermentation is easy to obtain.

The first way. 1/2 cup wheat flour is poured over 3/4 cup warm water. A tablespoon of warm water is added to this mixture daily for three days. On the fourth day, the mass is boiled, stirring, over low heat, after which it must be cooled and add another tablespoon of flour. This operation is repeated 2 times in the next two days. The prepared mass is kept in a dish covered with a towel at room temperature (20-22 ° C). By the end of the week, the yeast will be ready. They are stored in a tightly closed glass jar in the refrigerator, without freezing, for 8-10 days and used in the same way as compressed yeast.

Second way. Two tablespoons of hops (dried female fruit) are poured with two glasses of boiling water and boiled for 5-10 minutes. The broth is filtered through a sieve and brought to a boil again. Then a glass of wheat flour is poured into a clean enamel bowl and the hot broth is gradually poured and thoroughly mixed. Cover the container with a clean towel, keep it in a warm place for 1.5-2 days, after which the yeast is ready. Place a glass of yeast on 5 glasses of mash. The remaining yeast is stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days, if you pour a glass of flour into it and let it stand warm for 4 hours. With further use, the yeast is first diluted in a glass with warm water and placed in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours.

The process of preparing raw materials ends with mashing (preparation) of the sourdough, which consists in mixing the supplies, saccharifying them and adding mature yeast.

Pour 0.5 liters of malt milk and the same amount of cold water into a large 10-liter saucepan. The mixture is stirred with a wooden stirrer (paddle), slowly adding the boiled starch mass, and make sure that the temperature does not exceed 58 ° C. At a higher temperature, the starter mass is cooled by washing the surface of the vat with cold water or passing the water through a coil placed inside the mash vat. At the same time, the contents of the vat continue to vigorously stir. After mixing malt milk and starch mass, the temperature should not exceed 62 ° C. Then add the rest of the malt milk (0.5 L) and mix the starter culture for 5 minutes.

The consumption rates of malt and water per 1 kg of supplies are shown in the following table.

The mixture of malted milk and starch mass is kept in a water bath for 2 hours at 65 ° C, stirred and kept for another 2 hours.

The saccharification process of starch starter usually lasts 3-3.5 hours, but with old malt or deviations from the requirements of the technological process, saccharification can take up to 12-18 hours. At the same time, the temperature is maintained at 55-65 ° C. In rural areas, the leaven can be placed in a cooled oven (50-60 ° C) in the evening and left until morning. After saccharification, the taste of the wort should be sweet enough.

The starch is diluted with water, stirred to obtain starch milk. Starch milk is poured into boiling water and stirred, preventing the formation of a paste. Boiling should be maintained at all times and starch milk should be added gradually. Then quickly cool the solution to a temperature of 60-65 ° C. Add malt milk to the starch solution and mix. The paste solution immediately begins to liquefy and after 3 minutes an almost clear liquid is obtained. This solution is left at a temperature of 60-65 ° C for 3 hours, during which the saccharification of the starch ends. After saccharification, the wort is filtered through a sieve to separate husks and malt grains, cooled and tested.

If sugar or sugar-containing raw materials are used, then to prepare the wort, take a little sugar (no more than 160-180 g / l of water), the sugar is previously dissolved in a small amount of water and heated to a boil, cooled and poured into a fermentation tank.

The sourdough wort is cooled to 30 ° C, mineral nutrition (ammonium chloride 0.3 g / l) and mature yeast (yeast starter culture) from the yeast vat are added, stirred and cooled to 15 ° C, then the wort is poured into the fermentation vat (20 l) and leave to ferment in a dark place.

The fermentation tank (pot, flask) is left at a temperature of 15 ° C and is not sealed, but only covered with a thick cloth. During fermentation, periodically, every 6-8 hours, the contents of the fermentation tank are stirred to provide air access and respiration of the yeast.

Fermentation can be of different types: wavy, overflow, mixed and cover. All these types of fermentation are normal. However, the coverslip is considered normal for barley, oat and wheat starter cultures, but if the potato starter culture has a cover fermentation, this means that the yeast has weakened and young strong yeast must be added. Foamy fermentation is undesirable, as it often leads to wort splashing and loss of raw materials.

To eliminate this drawback, a thick yeast dough is prepared, which is strongly fermented; use only pure malt; restrict the nutrition or respiration of yeast in the leaven; oat or millet malt is used; use antifoaming agents: vegetable oil and ghee.

Fermentation is the main stage in the technological process of preparing alcohol. The yield of the finished product and its quality depend on how the fermentation takes place. Fermentation is a complex chemical reaction that requires a strict temperature regime and a certain concentration of components. This reaction can be schematically represented as follows:

sugar -\u003e ethyl alcohol + water + carbon dioxide
C12H22O11-\u003e C2H5OH + H2O + CO2

One of the important factors in the efficiency of fermentation is to maintain the optimum temperature (not less than 18 ° C and not higher than 24 ° C). So, a sharp cold snap in the initial period of fermentation can completely stop it, despite the fact that not all the sugar has fermented yet. At low temperatures, the yeast stays alive but cannot work. In this case, it is necessary to increase the temperature; the yeast will be able to continue working and bring the fermentation to the end, but for this it is first necessary to "disturb" them by stirring. A high fermentation temperature is much more dangerous, since it can weaken the vital activity of the yeast so much that it will not be possible to resume its work. In this case, we recommend removing the wort from the yeast with a rubber tube, adding fresh ones and placing the container in a room with a temperature not exceeding 20 ° C. The rate of the fermentation reaction under normal conditions is proportional to the concentration of sugar in the sourdough, but it should be borne in mind that the fermentation reaction stops when the concentration of the formed alcohol reaches more than 10 volume percent. It follows from this that with an insufficient amount of sugar, fermentation will proceed slowly, and excess sugar will simply not participate in the alcohol formation reaction, which will lead to additional losses.

Fermentation has three stages: initial fermentation - agitation, main fermentation and post-fermentation. At the initial stage, the sourdough is saturated with carbon dioxide, the temperature rises by 2-3 ° C, the taste of the sourdough is first sweet, then the sweetness weakens and becomes imperceptible. The initial stage lasts 25-30 hours.

During the main fermentation, the entire surface of the leaven is covered with large and small bubbles, which form a foam. The temperature rises to 30 ° C, and with a larger increase, forced cooling is required. The alcohol concentration increases rapidly and the sourdough taste becomes bitter-sour. At the end of the main fermentation, the concentration of sugars in the leaven drops to 1.5-3%. The duration of this stage is 15 to 24 hours.

When fermenting, the level of sourdough decreases, the foam settles, the temperature decreases to 25-26 ° C. The taste becomes bitter-sour from the presence of alcohol. The concentration of sugars decreases to 1%, the acidity of the sourdough increases. The purpose of post-fermentation is to ferment the residual products of starch transformation - dextrins. To do this, it is necessary to keep the diastasis in it in an active state, which can be achieved by observing the temperature regime during saccharification.

Post-fermentation of potato mash lasts 15-25 hours, but when using beet sugar, fermentation lasts 90-120 hours.

The finally fermented leaven acquires a specific, slightly bitter taste; the formation of foam and the evolution of gas in it practically stops, although when the container is shaken, gas bubbles from the bottom still rise. The smell also changes noticeably and from sharp it becomes sweet and sour.

The ability to correctly determine the moment when the sourdough ripens is very important for obtaining a good alcohol. When distilling an overripe starter culture, its quality parameters are reduced, and the use of an unripe starter culture significantly reduces the yield of the final product. However, the real ability to catch the moment when the leaven is ripe comes with experience, since each type of raw material has its own special characteristics.

Obtaining drinking alcohol

Distillation of the fermented starter culture makes it possible to obtain an alcoholic solution of increased concentration. It contains from 8.5 to 14.5% alcohol, which corresponds to the hydrometer readings 0.987-0.990. When the leaven boils, vapors are formed, containing several times (3-8) more alcohol than in the solution, which can be traced from the table below.

For the distillation of the starter culture, it is necessary to mount a distillation cube, connect cooling, check the tightness of the connection of pipes and seals. Distillation can be carried out using various heating devices, including gas burners with an open flame, but it is preferable to use closed heating devices (TEN). During distillation, the sourdough is poured into the distillation cube, filling no more than two-thirds of the cube volume, closed with a sealed lid and heated. First, heating is carried out at a high rate (up to 5 ° C / min), then when the temperature reaches 70 ° C, the heating rate is reduced to 1 ° C / min. The temperature is measured with a 0-100 ° C thermometer.

The sourdough begins to boil at a temperature of 90-93 ° C, depending on the alcohol concentration. When the first distillation appears, it is necessary to reduce the heating rate, set the distillation flow rate to 120-150 drops per minute and measure its temperature. When the distillation temperature is above 30 ° C, the cooling and water circulation in the refrigerator should be increased. Then it is necessary to stabilize the distillation flow rate and bring it to the maximum possible, but not to allow the release of the starter culture into the pipeline of the device. During distillation, its temperature in the steamer of the device will slowly rise, and when it reaches 98.7 ° C, the distillation should be completed, since the alcohol content in the starter culture is less than 1%, and, moreover, at this temperature, there is an intensive accumulation of fusel oils in alcohol.

In order to overtake all the alcohol contained in the initial volume of the leaven, it is necessary to overtake no more than one third of its volume.

A single distillation gives a distillation 3 times more concentrated. To obtain crude, i.e., unrefined, alcohol with a concentration of 80 °, distillation is carried out several times, the number of distillations depends on the device of the distillation device. Some designs of distillation stills make it possible to obtain an alcohol concentration of 72-80 ° after the second distillation. During distillation, the temperature of the solution is controlled with a thermometer, and if it rises to 98.7 ° C, the distillation should be stopped.

The spirit distillation after the first distillation is neutralized by adding caustic soda or ash of birch wood (10 g of soda per 1 liter of distillate). For re-distillation, the alcohol distillation is poured into a distillation still, filling no more than 3/4 of its volume. First, it is heated intensively, and when the temperature reaches 70 ° C, the heating intensity is reduced. The boiling point of the distillate is in the range of 85-87 ° C, to this temperature, heating is carried out slowly. When a secondary distillation appears, the heating rate must be increased and the maximum distillation flow should be stabilized.

During the second distillation, the concentration of alcohol in the receiver is controlled by means of an alcohol meter (hydrometer). When the concentration of the secondary distillation reaches 55-60 °, the resulting alcohol must be poured into another container and continue the distillation of the second fraction until the boiling point rises to 98.5 ° C.

The resulting alcohol distillation of the second fraction with a low alcohol concentration (30 °) must be distilled again. To do this, measure the volume of the distillate, as well as the volume of the alcohol obtained. The total volume of the alcohol of the two fractions obtained as a result of the second distillation is not more than 1/2 of the initial volume of the alcohol distillate.

The concentration of alcohol can be roughly determined by the combustion method. For this, a small sample (20 ml) of alcohol is placed in a tablespoon and a lighted match is brought; the concentration of alcohol is determined approximately as follows: no ignition occurs - the concentration is less than 30 °; intermittent ignition with a blinking flame - concentration 35-38 °; even stable combustion with a high flame, the water residue is less than half of the initial volume - the alcohol concentration is more than 50 °.

The alcohol yield depends on the type of raw materials and the quality of all operations. This indicator characterizes the efficiency of the use of raw materials and the qualifications of the manufacturer.

Preparation of cognac alcohol

For the manufacture of cognac spirit, first a wine material is obtained by fermenting grape juice. Wort is prepared from grape juice, which is fermented for 3-4 weeks in closed containers under a water seal. This wine material is a fermented wort, it is subjected to repeated distillation, as a result of which cognac alcohol is obtained.

Distillation of the wine material allows you to obtain an alcoholic solution of increased concentration. Fermented wort contains between 8.5 and 12.5% \u200b\u200balcohol. Distillation is based on the ability of alcohol to concentrate in vapors to a greater extent than in aqueous solutions. For distillation, the wine material is placed in a distillation cube and heated to a boiling point, which, depending on the alcohol content, can be 83-93 ° C. When the wort boils, vapors are formed, which contain several times more alcohol than the solution (3-8 times). The process of the first distillation of cognac wine materials is carried out similarly to the process of obtaining drinking alcohol.

A single distillation gives a distillation 3 times more concentrated. To obtain raw, that is, unrefined, alcohol, different distillation devices are used. Some designs of distillation stills allow to obtain an alcohol concentration of 72-80 ° after the second distillation.

As a result of the first distillation, a distillation is obtained by volume of not more than half of the initial volume of the wine material used in the distillation (3 liters of distillation are obtained from 6 liters of wine material).

Raw grape alcohol is subjected to repeated distillation with division into fractions: head, middle (first grade cognac alcohol) and tail. Waste liquid remains in the cube.

The second distillation of raw alcohol with separation of fractions is a very important process, since the quality of cognac alcohol largely depends on the correct selection of fractions and compliance with the required distillation rate. The second distillation is carried out in apparatus with water heating.

During the second distillation, the head fraction with a strength of 82-84% of the volume is first isolated, containing a significant amount of aldehydes, ethers and higher alcohols, which has a pungent odor and an unpleasant taste. This fraction is selected within 20-40 minutes in the amount of 1-3% of the volume of raw alcohol.

When the distillate reaches a fortress of 74-77% of the volume, the pungent smell weakens, and from that moment the middle fraction (cognac alcohol) is taken away. The yield of this fraction is 30-35% of the initial volume of raw alcohol. When selected, the strength of the distillate gradually decreases and averages 60-70% of the volume.

With a decrease in the strength of the distillate to 50-40% of the volume, they switch to the selection of the tail fraction. The volume of the tail fraction is 17-23% of the volume of the crude alcohol. The waste liquid remaining in the cube is 37-52% of the volume of taken raw alcohol.

The separated middle fraction is cognac spirit, which is immediately (without rectification) put into oak barrels for long aging.

Fresh cognac spirit is colorless, has a pungent taste and is not aromatic enough. When aged in oak barrels, significant changes take place in it.

The barrel is filled with alcohol at a temperature of 18-20 ° C, leaving a free space (1-2% of its volume) for possible expansion of the alcohol when the temperature changes. Filled oak barrels are filled with tongue-and-groove piles and placed in storage. Store cognac alcohol at an air temperature of 18-20 ± 3 ° C and a humidity of 75-85%. It is important to keep the storage temperature constant. The tongues are waxed to prevent alcohol loss. During storage, alcohol is added annually to the barrels, tasting is carried out: the color, alcohol content and acidity are checked. They also check the condition of the barrels, which should not have even minor leaks and smudges.

The duration of the exposure is determined by the purpose of the alcohol and the composition of the future cognacs. The longer the exposure, the better the quality of the cognac spirits.

For aging cognac, oak barrels made of oak at the age of 70-100 years are used. Barrel plates are pricked from sawn bars. The knots destroy the properties of the wood, so wood with knots is not used for the preparation of barrels. The volume of barrels is usually 30-50 liters. Old cognac barrels are of great value and cannot be used to store other liquids and wines. Cognac spirit can be kept in metal tanks loaded with oak plates 60 cm long, 1.8 cm thick and 6 cm wide at the rate of 100 cm2 of surface per 1 liter of cognac spirit.

Before laying, the oak plates are washed, treated with a solution of caustic alkali (0.5%) at a temperature of 15 ° C for two days. Then washed and dried. The plates are loaded into the tank, fixed with oak wedges so that they do not float, and filled with alcohol. During aging, oxygen is introduced into the alcohol 1-2 times a year, pouring it from the container. The plates are used 3-4 times, then the top layer (2-3 mm) is removed and reused. Alcohols last 3-5 years. After aging, cognac is prepared from cognac alcohol.

The fractions (head and tail) obtained after repeated distillation are mixed, treated with potassium permanganate and caustic soda, allowed to settle for two hours, and then fractional distillation is carried out. The middle fraction is used for the preparation of alcoholic beverages.

Drinking alcohol purification and aromatization

The resulting initial distillation of alcohol must be cleaned of harmful impurities and the characteristic unpleasant odor, which is carried by fusel oils, must be eliminated.

Alcohol solution obtained from the starter culture, in addition to ethyl alcohol, contains a number of substances that must be removed, since they are harmful and reduce the quality of drinks. Purification methods include chemical purification using various substances that neutralize impurities, as well as the separation of impurities by repeated evaporation and condensation of vapors, which allows the composition to be separated into separate fractions and to increase their concentration. The composition and boiling point of the impurities are shown in the table below.

During purification, acids are removed by neutralization with alkalis or salts (soda), which easily decompose when heated or precipitate. Fusel mas

La are saponified and transferred to a non-volatile state also when treated with alkali, the rest of the impurities are oxidized by potassium permanganate.

Then these impurities are removed by distillation.

First, the alcohol distillation is subjected to chemical treatment, and then fractional distillation is carried out, in which there is a sequential separation of the constituent parts of the alcohol distillation. Low-boiling impurities - head - are released at the initial stage of distillation, then fairly pure alcohol is distilled off and, finally, heavy-boiling impurities - tail.

To remove harmful impurities (head and tail products) during distillation, a number of grades - fractions - are sequentially selected.

This process can be thought of as a simplified rectification at home, where high-boiling and low-boiling alcohols are removed.

The volume of the first fraction is 3-8% of the total volume of alcohol in the solution. This alcohol is unsuitable for food purposes, it can only be used for technical needs. The volume of the second fraction, containing fairly pure alcohol, is 75-85%. This alcohol is suitable for food purposes. The last fraction (volume 2-6%) contains a significant amount of fusel oils. This part is collected and re-distilled under all necessary conditions.

Purification by distillation can be carried out using the same apparatus as for simple distillation. However, special apparatuses are used to increase the concentration and degree of purification. Crude alcohol purification includes: first chemical purification, second distillation and second chemical purification.

First, the alcohol content and acidity of the alcohol distillate (crude alcohol) are checked. In the presence of an acidic reaction, alkali or soda is added to alcohol to neutralize acidity (1-2 g of alkali KOH or 5-8 g of soda per 1 liter). Then the alcohol is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate, which is diluted in a small amount of distilled water. For 1 liter of crude alcohol, take 2 g of potassium permanganate, previously dissolved in 50 ml of distilled water. Alcohol and potassium permanganate solution are thoroughly mixed and left for 15-20 minutes to complete the chemical reaction. After that, add alkali or soda in the same amount again, mix and leave for clarification for 8-12 hours. Then the alcohol is filtered through a linen cloth and a second rectification operation is carried out - fractional distillation.

There are experts who believe that potassium permanganate gives alcohol an unpleasant taste. (But this usually happens if there is no second distillation.) As an alternative to the use of potassium permanganate, the following two options are proposed.

Option number 1. In a three-liter bottle with alcohol of the first distillation is placed a bunch of black currant twigs, peeled from the bark, about 15-20 pieces, and remains in the jar for about two weeks until the contents turn black.

Option No. 2. A filter is assembled, in which the role of a filtering element is played by potatoes cut into cubes about 0.5-1 cm in size. They fill a plastic can of carbonated water by about 3/4, and the first distillation alcohol is driven through this filter.

According to these experts, these methods completely replace the use of potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate).

To purify alcohol by a second distillation, it is necessary to assemble a second device, which can be used as a distillation cube with a drop catcher.

Crude alcohol for distillation is diluted with soft water to a concentration of 45-50 °. The required amount of water is poured into a container with raw alcohol and the concentration is measured with an alcohol meter (hydrometer). The diluted alcohol is placed in an apparatus (cube) and quickly heated to 60 ° C, then the heating rate is reduced and slowly heated to the boiling point, which is in the range of 83.5-84.5 ° C.

The first fraction of alcohol obtained in the initial stage of distillation is poured into a separate container and subsequently used only for technical purposes. The volume of this fraction is 3-8% of the volume of alcohol in a solution of diluted crude alcohol (40 ml per 1 liter of alcohol).

The second stage of distillation is carried out at an increased heating rate. Distillation should be carried out to a temperature of 96-97 ° C, after which a second fraction of alcohol is obtained, which can be further used for food purposes. The volume of alcohol of the second fraction is 80-84% of the volume of alcohol in a solution of diluted crude alcohol (420 ml per 1 liter of alcohol). The second fraction of alcohol is poured into a separate container and a second chemical purification is carried out.

At the third stage of distillation, which takes place at a temperature of 96-99 ° C, low concentration alcohol with a high content of fusel oils is obtained. This alcohol is accumulated in a special container and subjected to repeated rectification. The volume of the third fraction of alcohol is 8-10% of the volume of the second fraction (60-80 ml per 1 liter of alcohol).

When carrying out purification by the second distillation, there are several additional techniques that help to eliminate the unpleasant odor and taste that the alcohol of the first distillation has.

Firstly, this is the addition of fresh milk to the distilled alcohol in a ratio of 1: 6. A very effective and efficient cleaning method.

Secondly, adding a few tablespoons of table salt and 100-200 g of birch charcoal to the distilled alcohol.

The effect is not so pronounced, besides, the smallest particles of coal clog the coil and pipelines, which can lead to a temporary failure of the apparatus.

Thirdly, the addition of various spices to the distilled alcohol - 5-6 black peppercorns, 5-6 bay leaves, etc. The effect is also not pronounced enough. Chemical purification of the second (food) alcohol fraction is carried out by processing with charcoal. To do this, alcohol is placed in a bottle and crushed charcoal (lime, birch) is added there in the amount of 50 g per 1 liter of alcohol. Alcohol with charcoal periodically, 2 times a day, shake and insist for 3 weeks. At the end of the purification, the alcohol is filtered through a linen cloth and through filter paper.

In order to obtain alcohol of high concentration, close to 100%, it is necessary to additionally process the alcohol obtained after distillation and carry out a dehydration operation, for which special chemicals are used that are capable of attaching water and at the same time do not interact with alcohol. These substances include calcium chloride and copper sulfate, well known to all gardeners. These salts have the ability to attach and retain water in an amount several times greater than the weight of dry matter. But since copper sulfate in itself is far from a harmless substance, it is recommended to use calcium chloride. It must be calcined in a metal or porcelain dish at a temperature of 150 ° C for 20 minutes and cooled to a temperature of 30-40 ° C. Pour calcined calcium chloride into the alcohol obtained after distillation with a concentration of 70-80 °, mix and let stand for an hour. Then pour the dehydrated alcohol into a distillation cube and distill. After distillation, the alcohol concentration is 96-97 °. This alcohol is very hygroscopic and should be kept in a tightly sealed container. For 1 liter of purified alcohol with a strength of 70 °, you need to take 80 g of dry calcined calcium chloride.

To check the quality of the alcohol obtained after cleaning, a number of analyzes can be carried out at home, if the necessary equipment is available.

First, the color and transparency are determined. To do this, alcohol is poured into a glass transparent vessel and visually determine its color, shade and the presence of impurities. A cloudy, whitish shade indicates the presence of fusel oils.

The concentration of alcohol is determined using a simple device - an alcohol meter, which is easy to make at home. A general comprehensive check - a test for purity - allows you to generally assess the quality of alcohol.
The second test for oxidizability is carried out using a 1% solution of potassium permanganate, which should not change its characteristic raspberry color when mixed with alcohol within 20 minutes.

The alcohol must withstand the purity test and oxidation test.

The presence of individual impurities: aldehydes, acids, esters is determined by smell and taste, but the quantitative content of these impurities can only be determined by chemical analyzes using special chemicals. Pure alcohol should not contain impurities more than 0.02 g / l of free acids, 0.02% aldehydes, 50 mg / l ethers, 0.003% fusel oils, the presence of furfural is not allowed.

To determine the color and transparency, alcohol is poured into a clean dry cylinder with a capacity of 100-150 ml of colorless and transparent glass and the color, shade and presence of mechanical impurities are observed in the diffused light passing through the cylinder.

Determination of smell and taste. A small amount of alcohol is placed in a vessel with a well-closing stopper, diluted with 2.5-3.0 volumes of cold drinking water, and after preliminary strong stirring, the alcohol is immediately tested for smell and taste.

The alcohol strength is determined with a metal or glass alcohol meter using the data in the table below.

To carry out a test for purity, 10 ml of alcohol is poured into a narrow-necked flask with a capacity of 70 ml and quickly added in 3-4 doses with constant agitation of 10 ml of sulfuric acid (sp. V. 1.835).

The resulting mixture is immediately heated on an alcohol lamp, which gives a flame 4-5 cm high and about 1 cm wide in the lower (wide) part. During heating, the flask is rotated all the time so that the liquid mixes well and so that the fire does not touch the flask above the border of the heated liquid ... Heating of the mixture is stopped when bubbles come out to its surface, forming a foam; the heating process lasts 30-40 seconds, after which the mixture is allowed to cool. The cooled mixture in the flask should be completely colorless.

For the accuracy of the test, the contents (after cooling) of the flask are poured into a special cylinder with a ground stopper and, using a tripod, the color of the mixture is observed, comparing with alcohol, as well as with acid, taken in equal volumes and poured into separate cylinders of the same diameter and glass quality.
The test result is considered positive if the mixture is as colorless as alcohol and acid.

To test for oxidizability, a cylinder with a ground stopper and a 50 ml mark is rinsed with alcohol, filled with the same alcohol to the mark and immersed for 10 minutes in water at a temperature of 15 ° C, poured into a glass bath above the alcohol level in the cylinder. After 10 minutes, 1 ml of potassium permanganate solution (0.2 g of potassium permanganate per 1 liter of water) is added to the cylinder, the cylinder is closed with a stopper and, after mixing the liquid, it is again immersed in a bath of water. On standing, the red-violet color of the mixture gradually changes and reaches the color of a special standard solution, the appearance of which is taken as the end of the test.

To observe the color change of alcohol, a sheet of white paper is placed under the cylinder. The time during which the oxidation reaction takes place is expressed in minutes. The test result is considered positive if the color persists for 20 minutes.

The determination of the content of acids and furfural is usually carried out in laboratory conditions.

To determine the acid content, 100 ml of the tested alcohol is diluted with 100 ml of water and, after mixing, is boiled in a flask with a ball condenser for 30 minutes. After cooling to a temperature of 35-40 ° C (the bottom of the flask can be held by hand), while the upper part of the refrigerator should be closed with a tube with soda lime, the acidity is checked. Alcohol acids are neutralized with 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution in the presence of phenolphthalein until a pink color that does not disappear within 1-2 minutes appears.

The number of milligrams of acids (G) in terms of acetic acid in 1 liter of anhydrous alcohol is calculated by the formula:

Where V is the amount of 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution used to neutralize 100 ml of the tested alcohol, ml; 6 - the amount of acetic acid corresponding to 1 ml of 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution, mg; 10 - conversion factor for 1 liter of alcohol; K - conversion factor for anhydrous alcohol K \u003d 100; C is the strength of the tested alcohol,% (by volume).

To determine the content of furfural, 10 drops of pure aniline, 3 drops of hydrochloric acid (sp.c. 1,885) are poured into a cylinder with a ground-in stopper with a capacity of 10 ml using a dropper and the volume is brought to the mark with alcohol. If the solution remains colorless within 10 minutes, the alcohol is considered to have passed the test. The appearance of a red color characterizes the presence of furfural.

As a rule, alcohol purified at home using the above technology meets the necessary requirements for drinking alcohol.

An important technique that allows you to significantly improve the taste and smell of drinking alcohol prepared at home is its aromatization.

Almost all edible berries and fruits, spices and some herbs, flowers and roots can be used to obtain the aroma and give the alcohol a special taste. Usually, the plants with which drinks are flavored are harvested in advance, dried and stored in closed containers. It is more convenient to store not dry plants, but to make an infusion or decoction from them, which take up less space and are better preserved.

Fragrance substances are extracted from plant materials using solvents - alcohol or water. Before processing, the raw material must be crushed. The easiest way to extract is by infusion with alcohol. In the process of infusion, the alcohol is saturated with aromatic substances, and the taste of the drink also changes. Raw materials should be infused until all the aromatic substances from the plant are dissolved in alcohol.

When insisting, the solution is periodically decanted, and then the raw materials are again poured and shaken. Plants give off aromatic substances most effectively when the strength of the solvent is 45-50 °. If the alcohol is stronger, which is determined using a hydrometer, then the solution is diluted. Periodically changing to fresh aromatic raw materials, pouring it with the same alcohol, an infusion of a higher concentration is obtained. The same effect is achieved by boiling raw materials in a sealed container, followed by infusion or without it. The boiling time is 10-15 minutes. With the help of concentrated infusions, alcohol is sometimes improved, which has not passed the infusion stage.

The duration of the preparation of tinctures depends on the type of raw materials and temperature conditions and is usually 3-5 weeks. When the temperature rises to 50-60 ° C, the infusion time of some types of raw materials is reduced to 5-8 days. This tincture is called early maturation. If you put the bottles with the infused drink on wooden blocks placed in a pot of water and boil, you get a good tincture.

Distillation of decoctions allows you to obtain concentrated solutions with a high degree of saturation with aromatic substances, as well as essential oils. These substances hardly change the taste of the drink, but give it the desired aroma.

To give the aroma, not only decoctions are distilled, but also infusions. To do this, you need to take some spice, finely pound, pour boiling water (take 3.5 liters of water for 400 g), cork tightly and leave for a day. Then add 2.5 liters of water and distill until the spice smell persists. Then add fresh spices and distill again. You can perform this operation a third time. Such water is called triennial, and if 200 g of such water is poured into 1.2 liters of alcohol, then the taste of the resulting drink will be similar to that obtained by distillation with spices.

The most difficult way to obtain aromatic substances is based on their evaporation by processing raw materials with superheated steam. For this, a special distillation apparatus is used, in which the raw material is exposed to superheated steam, which conducts a deep thermal effect on the raw material, which contributes to a better removal of aromatic substances. In this way, concentrated solutions and essential oils are obtained.

To give the drinks the desired aroma, the resulting solutions are added in small amounts to the drinks during manufacture. The composition of the components and their dose are of particular interest and constitute the secret of the preparation of the drink.

In addition to these, a simple method of distilling alcoholic beverages pre-infused with several aromatic components is used, which makes it possible to obtain good flavored beverages at home, in particular vodka, aperitifs and balms.

If plants and spices are added to the sourdough, then the aroma is weak during distillation. To enhance it, you need the water, which is used to dilute the leaven, first insist on the selected spices. You can make a decoction of them and dilute the leaven with them.

It is more preferable to prepare the starter with flavored water, and also place the flavor in a dry stew. Such alcohol will have a stable aroma without the slightest specific smell of booze. To do this, it is advisable to make pipes between the firebox and the container, the container and the steam boiler in the form of coils and additionally heat them. You can also heat up the steam chamber itself, if it is made of metal. The essence of the process consists in processing the flavoring agent with superheated alcohol-containing steam.

Distillation of infusions allows you to obtain flavored drinks with a high alcohol content. To give the alcohol the desired taste after distillation, it is mixed with infusions of the same plants, while the alcohol itself is once again insisted. For example, alcohol infused with lemon peel, after distillation, is insisted once again on fresh lemon peel.

The use of spices for making drinks has its own characteristics. Spices can be added to drinks in their natural form and infused for some time, after which they are removed. Spices are often introduced in the form of an extract, which is preliminarily obtained by infusion in an aqueous or low-alcohol medium. Spices dissolve intensively in strong drinks, as a result of which the taste of the drink becomes bitter and sometimes pungent, therefore, for sweet wines, it is preferable to use aqueous solutions of spices. The table below shows the approximate doses of spices used to flavor alcoholic beverages when infused.

A good aromatic agent is berry alcohol, which is obtained by infusing slightly dried berries with a strong natural aroma (black currant, raspberry, wild strawberry, strawberry). To do this, the berries are dried in the sun or in an oven until they become dense, but still remain soft enough. The berries are placed in a glass bottle, filling the entire volume, and poured with strong alcohol 80-90 °, then corked and placed in a warm place. The contents of the bottle are shaken 2-3 times a day. Insist for

7-10 days until the alcohol takes on the color and aroma of the berries. After that, the alcohol is drained and used for alcoholizing berry wines with a weak natural aroma.

Alcohol is also used to prepare vanilla infusion, which is poorly soluble in water. Vanillin should not be put directly into the drink, as it imparts bitterness and impairs the taste. To prepare vanilla alcohol, take 5-6 teaspoons of vanillin, pour in alcohol (200 ml, 70 °) and infuse for several days, then filter and use it to prepare drinks. For 1 liter of liquid, take 50-100 ml of vanilla alcohol.

Essential oils and essences are widely used to flavor alcoholic beverages. They are concentrated fragrances and are used in very small quantities to flavor large volumes of

Pitkov. In some cases, two drops of an essential oil (such as rose oil) are enough to flavor several liters of the drink.

Essential oils from plant materials and spices can be obtained using a special device by distilling them with steam.

The device for obtaining oils (Fig. 1) includes a flask 1 with a volume of 1 l, a reflux condenser 2, a receiver for oils 4. For distillation, 20-50 g of spices (vegetable raw materials) are introduced into the flask and 500-800 ml of water is poured, and for uniform boiling small pieces of porcelain or shards of baked clay are placed in the flask 5. The oil receiver is suspended inside the flask using a strong thread 3 so that the lower end of the refrigerator is above the receiver funnel at a distance of 1-2 mm.

The receiver should be freely placed in the flask, without touching its walls, and be above the water level at a distance of at least 50 mm. The flask is closed with a stopper, into which a refrigerator is inserted, and heated in a sand bath. The contents of the flask are brought to a boil and maintained for several hours until the increase in the volume of essential oils in the receiver ceases. Condensate flow rate should not exceed 50-55 drops per minute. When distilling essential oils, the density of which is less than 1 g / cm3, i.e., these oils are lighter than water and are located on the surface of the condensate, a receiver with a bent elbow of the outlet tube is used. In this case, the oil is on the surface, and the excess water flows through the bent elbow of the receiver back into the flask.

When distilling oils with a density of more than 1 g / cm3, a straight receiver with a hole in the upper part is used. Oils accumulate at the bottom, and excess water flows into the flask through the hole in the receiver. The density of essential oils that are often used to flavor beverages is shown in the following table.

In addition to essential oils, essences are used. These are concentrated solutions of aromatic substances that are extracted from raw materials using solvents. Alcohol or vodka are usually used as solvents. Most often, citrus, flower and rum essences are used to flavor drinks.

For the preparation of essences, herbs and roots must be well dried and crushed. They are mixed according to special recipes chosen or invented for each type of essence. A mixture of crushed herbs and roots is poured with an alcohol solution with a strength of at least 40 ° and insisted for at least 8 days; then from this infusion by distillation are obtained essences for the preparation of drinks. The present solutions are distilled in a special distillation still, which has a cylindrical metal mesh in the middle (a metal glass with holes), in which there are crushed roots and herbs.
[email protected]

First you need to understand how the production of ethyl alcohol is carried out. The production of alcohols occurs during the rectification process. At home, this is quite feasible if you follow our recommendations!

The first thing you need to know is that alcohol (at home, at least), you can only make from raw alcohol, that is, from distilled mash. From the original material - mash (alcohol is formed precisely during fermentation) - you will not get pure ethyl alcohol at home. How to get moonshine for the preparation of ethyl alcohol, you can learn from another. Now you know what alcohol is made of!

Moonshine, as a rule, has an alcoholic content of about 60-80% by volume. It is preferable to dilute raw materials for alcohol to about 40-45% vol. Why is this done when making alcohol at home? The fact is that with such a strength of the product, a much better separation of "heads" and "tails" is obtained, which, as in the case of distillation, must be separated during the rectification of moonshine at home.

So, we realized that the production of alcohol at home begins with the manufacture of mash, and then - raw alcohol. Next, we proceed directly to the home distillation of alcohol. If you have already decided on, then you should know what kind of heating is considered effective for it. We would like to note right away that on installations with a height of less than 1.5 m, large heating will be irrational. For example, in the case of the Shanghai apparatus manufactured by Max Cuprum, the actual heating (without heat loss) should be about 350 kW, but taking into account the heat loss, the heating power can be about 700 kW. Heat losses are calculated individually for each rectification unit.

Getting ethyl alcohol begins with the fact that you have to pour the raw alcohol into the distillation cube. Experienced moonshiners would also advise you to add one teaspoon for every 10 liters of raw material. soda (food grade). It is needed for the saponification of esters, as well as the neutralization of organic acids.

First, to make alcohol at home, you need to start heating the installation complete with moonshine poured over. When the content of the distillation still reaches a temperature of about 60 grams, you should reduce the heating to the "working", which we indicated above. The product outlet will need to be shut off and the column will have to “work for itself” for about half an hour (not less). It is important that for safety reasons you have an open air connection (or there is any other connection with the atmosphere, for example, in the case of "Shanghai", this is an unsealed removable cover). If raw alcohol begins to ooze from the place of connection with the atmosphere, you need to reduce the heat, because You are faced with a common phenomenon - a flood.

It is important that to obtain high-quality alcohol, the product temperature must be high enough (well above room temperature). This is explained by the fact that the temperature difference between the steam entering the column and the reflux must be minimal for an efficient heat and mass transfer process.

For the production of edible alcohol after the installation has "worked for itself", you need to set the effective rate of selection. In the case of Shanghai, this is 350 ml / h. But it is important to take into account that the "heads" for obtaining alcohol from food raw materials should be selected as slowly as possible, at a rate of about 30-40 ml / h. They will make up about 2% of the raw alcohol poured into the distillation cube and contain impurities that significantly impair the quality of the product. Therefore, if you are thinking about how to quickly make alcohol, we have to upset you: no way.

Back to the question - how to make good alcohol at home! After the selection of the “heads” (which, by the way, smell like acetone, and their strength, if you are doing everything correctly, should be about 94-95% vol.), The selection of the next, intermediate, fraction, recycled alcohol, will begin. As a rule, it is 10-30% of the distilled raw alcohol and is not an alcohol of the "alpha" group, and this is exactly what we want to make alcohol at home.

The amount of circulating alcohol is determined thanks to the Lang test: add 200 mg of potassium permanganate to 1 liter of water, mix and hold for 2 days. After this time, the test solution is considered ready! Take 50 ml of rectified, add 1 ml of solution and time. Then you need to take the same amount of water and add the same amount of solution - this will be a sample for comparing the rate of acquisition of the same color with rectified alcohol. If the raw alcohol acquired this color in less than 10-20 minutes (everyone has different requirements for alcohol), then this is recycled alcohol. If more than this time, then this is the food fraction.

So, if you are thinking about how to make alcohol at home, you should know that you will definitely need to do the Lang test.

The food fraction, like the tail, in our case should be taken at a rate of about 350 ml / h. It usually ends when it reaches a boiling point of 85 grams. (but it may end a little earlier, for example, by 82 grams, if the organoleptic properties of the rectified product no longer satisfy). Rectification, as a rule, is continued until a cubic temperature of 98 grams is reached. Then the heating is turned off.

Both the recycled alcohol and the tail fraction will be useful to you for subsequent rectifications, because they contain a large amount of ethyl alcohol. How to get ethyl alcohol from these fractions is the same as we described above.

Now you know how to make 96 ° alcohol!