Purification of moonshine by rectification at home. How to remove the smell and fusel oils from moonshine on your own

Brewing moonshine at home has become a popular pastime. But how to clean the drink from fusel impurities, achieve odor elimination and give softness? You can use several methods, but, unfortunately, not all of them are safe.

Preparation and Precautions

Reducing the concentration of harmful substances will help to achieve:

Use of natural ingredients: sugar, wheat or rye.
Maintaining the fermentation mode.
Ensuring optimum temperature during heating during distillation.

When boiling, the amount of secretions of fusel oils increases, after which they settle in the tube and come out. It is important that the temperature does not exceed 90 °C.

Effective cleaning methods for fusel oils and odors

Available folk remedies will help clean moonshine from impurities:

potassium permanganate;
soda;
coal;
wood coals;
milk;
chicken egg;
fruits;
bread;
vegetable oil.

These products can be added to the drink, after which they react with fusel oils and form strong chemical compounds. Next, filtration is performed - the separation of harmful components from homemade vodka.

Activated and charcoal

The action of substances is the same, despite the external difference. Fusel components of moonshine stick to them. But the usage methods are different:

To filter, put cotton wool on the neck of the container, and coal on it.
Activated carbon is crushed into powder, 50 grams per liter are added to a container with a drink. Leave for a month, not forgetting to shake every day. After the time has passed, strain the moonshine through several layers of gauze.
Using charcoal, cleaning is the same as in the previous case. It is enough to withstand 3 days.

Charcoal cleaning is considered the most effective.

Video tips

Potassium permanganate

To clean moonshine with potassium permanganate, do the following:

Prepare a solution of potassium permanganate at the rate of 1 gram per 1 liter of drink. Follow the dosage.
Mix everything and leave for a day.
When flakes appear, strain through cheesecloth. You can add activated charcoal.

Milk

Excellent cleansing is possible with the help of milk. It is carried out using the following technology:

Pour milk into moonshine at the rate of 1 liter per 5 liters of product. Distill several times until transparent. If you use a carbon filter at the same time, the purification effect will increase.
If the moonshine is already distilled, add 2 liters of milk per 10 liters of raw materials.
Keep the mixture for 7 days. Shake regularly. Protein should curl up, taking harmful substances into itself.
Then filter in the usual way. After cleansing, you can overtake again.

Egg white

Cleansing with egg white is the same as with milk. Prepare two eggs per 1 liter of distilled mash, separate the whites from the yolks and beat a little. Add to moonshine and stir. When the protein settles to the bottom, filter.

The main thing to remember is that the eggs must be fresh. It is easy to check this by dropping it into water. If they don't sink, they can't be used. You can get poisoned.

Freeze

Purification by this method is carried out in several stages:

Dilute the moonshine with distilled water to 40 degrees.
Pour into a plastic container.
Put in the freezer, while the temperature should be around -20-22 0C.
During the day, the distillation crystallizes. Ice crystals will contain harmful substances. After thawing, filter.

Keeping the process under control is an important part of the cycle.

Fruits

Fruit cleansing is done as follows:

Remove the core from a carrot or apple.
Cut fruit into small pieces.
Place chopped carrots or apples in a 25-degree drink.
Leave the moonshine until the fruits are split into fibers.
Strain the resulting product through cheesecloth.

Soda

To neutralize the acetic acid in the drink, it is recommended to clean with baking soda. For a liter of moonshine, prepare 1 gram of soda. Soda acts for 10 minutes, then filter in the usual way - through several layers of gauze.

Video plot

Vegetable oil

Purification technology:

The oil should be odorless.
Dilute moonshine with water to 20 degrees.
20 ml of oil will purify a liter of product.
Shake the container with the drink for 1 minute. Then let stand for 3 minutes.
Place the container for 24 hours in a cool place. Don't freeze.
After a day, the oil will be on the surface, carefully remove it.
Filter the distillation through gauze with activated carbon powder.
Set to distill a second time.

Bread

Bread made from high-grade flour is used, without the addition of flavorings. Cut the loaf finely, put it in a container with moonshine. You can also add yeast here. Leave for a week, shake every day. Strain after 7 days.

Household filters

Household water purification filters are also successfully used to filter alcoholic beverages.

You will need:

Choose a carbon filter without additives.
Do not use a plastic container.
Repeat cleaning three times.

How to filter moonshine

Filtration of moonshine must be carried out thoroughly so that no harmful impurities remain. To do this, it is recommended to use gauze folded in several layers or a dense fabric. So the likelihood of getting fusel oils will decrease.

At what stage to clean

To prepare a drink that is safe to drink, you need to learn how to properly filter it. Moonshine should be cleaned from harmful impurities after the first distillation of the mash.

Do not distill and filter the moonshine into plastic containers. They tend to dissolve in alcohol.
Cleaning products must be fresh.
To get high-quality moonshine, you need to distill at least 2 times.

Moonshine is much cheaper than purchased cognac or vodka, everyone knows about this. In addition, in stores you can pay a lot of money to buy a low-quality product. Alcoholic drink, obtained at home, will not cause harm if it is done correctly. You can even give it a unique taste, and this will be appreciated not only by the owner, but also by guests.

The taste and aroma of moonshine, as well as its safety for health, largely depends on third-party impurities that enter the distillate from raw materials, as a result of the vital activity of yeast or during its distillation. Modern equipment and compliance with the rules of fractional distillation solves almost 100% of the problems associated with these impurities, but often the conditions are far from ideal and the moonshine has to be cleaned of smell, unpleasant tastes and harmful compounds. In this article, we tried to systematize and analyze all the methods of cleaning moonshine at home and draw certain conclusions for each of them.

Almost all components of moonshine, except for water, are harmful to our body and are, in fact, poison. Not all of them are equally dangerous (ethanol, for obvious reasons, we immediately exclude), and some of them endow the drink with the very “bouquet” of tastes and aromas for which we are engaged in distillation (and then we will only talk about it). But these components are dangerous and their quantity must be minimized, which is what this material is dedicated to. So, from what we will clean:

methanol(methyl alcohol) - the simplest monohydric alcohol that has the smell of ethanol. Its boiling point is only 64.7 ° C, that is, logically, it should go headlong with fractional distillation, but in practice everything is much more complicated. Fortunately, the content of matanol in sugar and grain moonshine is insignificant (for example, for sugar - no more than 0.01 mg / l), so it can be immediately ignored. It is not recommended to clean fruit distillates according to the methods described below, since organoleptics (a combination of tastes and aromas) suffer greatly.
Acetaldehyde (acetic aldehyde) - an organic compound, aldehyde of ethanol and acetic acid. Formed during the oxidation of ethanol. Moonshine can contain quite large quantities (up to 400 mg / l and more), which can be very dangerous to health. In small concentrations, it is easily "digested" by the body to harmless acetic acid and gives the distillate a certain, familiar taste.
Fusel oil - a mixture of higher monohydric aliphatic alcohols, ethers and other compounds. When it comes to cleaning moonshine from the smell, in most cases they mean the nauseating smell of fusel oil. The most dangerous component of sivukha is isoamyl alcohol. However, it should be understood that the taste profile of moonshine, especially grain, depends very much on the presence of certain components of fusel oil in it.

Canadian Crystal Head vodka is filtered three times through quartz crystals known as Herkimer diamonds.

I would like to note right away that when discussing cleaning methods, we are primarily talking about partially grain (for example, you can clean it) - it is not recommended to clean fruit and most grain distillates, as this can greatly worsen their organoleptic. Moreover, we are talking exclusively about the distillation of drinks, and not their rectification (haters-rectifiers do not need to read the article). Well, before you start: the most effective and expedient way to obtain a pure distillate with a pleasant organoleptic effect is the second fractional distillation with an accurate cut-off of "heads" and "tails". If you use good equipment and follow all the rules of fractional distillation, then you do not need to clean the moonshine. Strive for this first! But if the equipment or knowledge does not yet allow you to get a good product after the second distillation, then purification will be appropriate. So, how can you clean moonshine from fusel oil and other impurities? Read on!

A good start is half the battle. Properly prepared mash in compliance with the technology will provide a cleaner moonshine with a pleasant organoleptic. This has long been confirmed not only by practice, but also by scientific methods. So, laboratory analyzes show that when using a smaller amount of dry yeast in the wash, raw alcohol (hereinafter SS) is obtained with a significantly lower content of fusel oil, isoamylol, isobutanol and others like it. There is also evidence that when the mash is fermented at a higher temperature (30 ° C), a smaller amount of fusel oil is observed in the SS, but also less esters, from which we can conclude that a higher temperature is preferable for sugar mash, but for fruit mash - vice versa. As for the clarification of mash, a lot is written about this in the recipe for sugar moonshine, and the process itself, I think, is mandatory.

Local output: for the preparation of sugar mash, we use half the amount of yeast and observe a higher temperature regime. This is not a paradigm, but a certain turn in distillation, which should be taken into account and, at a minimum, be tested empirically on a small amount of distillate. Clarification of mash is a prerequisite for obtaining high-quality moonshine.

Methods for cleaning moonshine before the second distillation

After receiving the clarified mash, it must be distilled as quickly as possible, without separating the head and tail fractions, if it is a grain or fruit distillate, or with crushing, if it is sugar moonshine (not a paradigm - a recommendation). Before the obligatory second distillation, it is recommended that the obtained SS be cleaned of fusel oil and other impurities, which should have a positive effect on the finished product. For this, chemical cleaning, coagulant cleaning, physical oil cleaning and carbonization are used. Let's talk about each method in more detail and draw the appropriate conclusions.

Chemical purification of raw alcohol

Chemical purification refers to the treatment of SS with various chemical compounds in order to neutralize some of the impurities present in the distillate after the first distillation. This technology came to us directly from distilleries. The technique is based on the saponification of an alcohol solution with alkali (soda ash or caustic soda), which reacts with acids, neutralizing them, and the subsequent neutralization of the alkaline medium with potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate). The result: an insoluble flake residue containing a certain proportion of the "stinky" and "harmful" impurities from the SS.

On practice! The technique was developed on the basis of the information presented in the book "Production of alcoholic beverages", Dorosh A.K., Lysenko V.S. For 1 liter of absolute alcohol in SS, you need to take 4 g of soda ash, 0.4 g of potassium permanganate and 2 g of caustic soda (from the forum: for 10 liters of 40% distillate, you need to take 2 tsp of soda ash, 1 / 3-1 / 2 tsp potassium permanganate, 1-1.5 tsp caustic soda). Cleaning method: soda ash (sodium carbonate, Na 2 CO 3) is dissolved in 200 ml of boiled water and poured with stirring into the SS, potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate, KMnO 4), also dissolved in water, is immediately poured, and after 15-20 minutes - caustic soda dissolved in a glass of water (sodium hydroxide, caustic soda, NaOH). After 15-20 hours of settling, the SS is drained from the formed precipitate and! Be sure to undergo a second fractional distillation).

Chemical cleaning from Western colleagues: for 1 liter of 50% SS, add 1 g of caustic soda dissolved in a glass of water. Wait 2 to 12 hours with occasional stirring. Do a pH test to make sure the medium is very alkaline (8-14pH). If everything is in order, add as much potassium permanganate by weight as sodium hydroxide was added (we will first dissolve potassium permanganate in water). After that, wait 15-20 hours until precipitation occurs. Then remove the SS from the sediment and distill. As an oxidizing agent, potassium permanganate can be replaced with 30% hydrogen peroxide (do not ask for proportions, I did not find an adequate manual).

Local output: chemical cleaning, of course, is an effective means of improving moonshine, and the Dorosh-Lysenko method described above has been tested by hundreds of experienced moonshiners. But recently, especially with the development of the distiller's technical equipment, more and more practitioners refuse it - it is difficult to calculate the required amount of chemicals for a particular SS without preliminary laboratory analysis. There is only one conclusion that can be drawn here: if you are looking for a ready-made recipe for the chemical purification of moonshine, then this cannot exist in nature, and blindly following the instructions is more likely to worsen the quality of the distillate than improve it and, in the end, can harm the health of drinkers.

Coagulant purification of raw alcohol

Speaking in human terms, there is a certain group of substances, coagulants, which, when they enter the solution, “stick together” various compounds, forming larger fractions that can be filtered. In this case, various compounds mean fusel oil, esters, as well as a suspension that could somehow get into the distillate. The principle of cleaning moonshine with coagulants is based on the content of proteins (casein and albumin) in some products, which coagulate in an alcohol solution of a certain strength, along the way “capturing” “stinky” impurities into the sediment, as they have adsorbing properties. Egg white and milk are usually used as such products.

Cleaning moonshine with egg white: for 1 liter of SS, take 1-2 fresh chicken eggs, carefully separate the proteins, beat, add a glass of water, beat again and add to the SS. Wait until the protein coagulates and precipitates, filter, send for distillation. The difficulty of this method lies in the fact that the protein is reluctant to fold in a weak solution of alcohol - for fast folding, the distillate strength should be more than 40%, better than 50%. After the first distillation on a simple apparatus, it usually has a much lower strength. In addition, after the second distillation of protein-purified SS, a hydrogen sulfide smell or a boiled egg smell can be traced in the final product.

For 10 liters of SS, add 1 liter of skimmed (or up to 1.5% fat) milk, wait for the formation of a precipitate (can be accelerated with citric acid or lemon juice), filter, dilute and for the second distillation. The problems are the same as with egg white: the distillate often smells of hydrogen sulfide and can remain cloudy (here you need to practice long and hard in slow distillation in order to prevent burning, etc.).

Local output: cleaning moonshine with egg white and milk before the second distillation is a rather controversial technique that is more likely to worsen the organoleptics than to improve it. Similar purification methods are also used after the second distillation, when you need to soften the distillate, and this is perhaps a more sensible approach, but with its own troubles.

Cleaning raw alcohol with oil

The method is based on the ability of some components of fusel oil to dissolve in other oils, while alcohol diluted to a certain strength does not dissolve in oil. At home, it is recommended to use refined vegetable oil without odors. The method of cleaning with oil is as follows: SS at room temperature is diluted to 15-30% (this is necessary not only to prevent the dissolution of alcohol in the oil, but also for more effective cleaning), poured into a container with filling it by no more than 2/3 of the total volume , add 20 ml of oil per 1 liter of solution and mix vigorously. You need to mix three times for a minute with breaks of one to two minutes. After 12 hours, the main amount of oil should collect on the surface of the vessel (it is better to defend in a cool place) and the SS can be drained, leaving the bulk of the oil film in the container. The SS must then be thoroughly filtered through a cotton filter and/or carbon column and then distilled a second time to separate heads and tails.

Local output: cleaning moonshine with oil is an effective and, perhaps, the most harmless way to improve the quality of SS before the second distillation. The technique itself is mentioned in the work of Dorosh-Lysenko, has some scientific justification, shows a good, stable result and is always recommended as the main method of intermediate cleaning of moonshine.

Purification of raw alcohol with activated carbon

Primitive carbon filter column of flow type

A lot has been said about cleaning moonshine with activated carbon on our website, which describes in detail the “infusion” method of carbonization. To clean the SS, it is better to use carbonization in the "column" way. There are laboratory studies confirming that after cleaning the SS in this way, the concentration of fusel oil in it is significantly reduced. This technique does not need a local conclusion, since it is considered generally recognized and effective at all stages of the preparation of high-quality distillate, including after the second distillation to give the drink a vodka taste. In the near future, material will be prepared on "column" carbonization and the manufacture of an efficient coal column.

Purification of moonshine by the second fractional distillation

It does not need to be introduced, there is, where the process of fractional distillation is described in more than detail, including with “catching easy” - a method for cleaning moonshine from isoamyl alcohol. There is only one local conclusion here: repeated fractional distillation of distillate is the most effective way to clean moonshine at home. But the degree of purification is highly dependent on the equipment available and skills in distillation. In the process of mastering this skill, without having more modern moonshine stills, before the second fractional distillation of sugar moonshine and some grain distillates, an intermediate purification is desirable.

Purification of moonshine after the second distillation

In theory, after fractional distillation, the distillate does not need to be cleaned, but in practice, especially for beginners, moonshine still may not have the most pleasant smell and taste. In such cases, I personally recommend doing another distillation with a more careful separation of moonshine into fractions, but if greed jumped in you, then you can try some ways to further clean the finished product (and still lose in quantity).

Coagulant purification of distillate

The same cleaning methods are used: egg white and milk. Cleaning with egg white is carried out according to the same scheme and gives an acceptable result. Before cleaning, moonshine must be diluted to a drinking fortress, given that during the cleaning process the degree will drop by 2-3%. There are significant disadvantages: moonshine often acquires not the most pleasant egg flavor, and it is very, very difficult to filter the sediment. When cleaning the finished product with milk, which is preferable, you should reduce its amount per liter of moonshine or use powdered milk.

On practice: for 1 liter of moonshine drinking strength (42-45%, you need to take a little stronger, since cleaning with milk steals a couple of degrees) take 10 ml of fresh skimmed or low-fat milk or 0.62 g of milk powder. Powdered milk should be diluted in 10 ml (for every 0.62 g) of warm boiled water and let the flakes swell for 2-3 hours, fresh - diluted with water 1: 1. Pour the solution into the distillate, mix well and leave to stand in a cool place until a precipitate forms and the distillate is completely clarified (from 1 hour to several days, depending on the quality of the milk). If the curdling of milk has not started after 6-7 hours, you can add a little citric acid or lemon juice (lemons on the tip of a knife, repeating until the milk curdles). After complete clarification, drain from the sediment and, if necessary, filter (it is possible through a carbon column).

Local output: as a way of softening and slight cleaning of the finished product takes place, but the result is highly dependent on the quality of the milk. It is not uncommon for moonshine to remain cloudy and no filtering will help here. Also, a distinct milky flavor can be traced in the final product.

Purification of distillate with activated carbon

I will not repeat myself, the principle has not changed. After carbonation, the finished product acquires a vodka taste due to the oxidation of alcohol: ethanol -> acetaldehyde -> acetic acid -> etc. If you don’t like this taste, then carbonization is not appropriate and it is not necessary to carry out it at this stage, especially if the technology is violated, the distillate concentrates acetaldehyde, and this is an unpleasant smell and a terrible hangover in the morning. In subsequent materials, we will study in more detail the methods of cleaning moonshine with coal, but for now, be content with the previously mentioned article with "infusion" charcoal.

Charcoal filter from a Chinese pump and a container for coal, as an effective system for continuous carbonation of moonshine.

Moonshine smell masking

An ineffective technique that many mistakenly confuse with cleaning moonshine. The bottom line is to mask the unpleasant odor in the drink with various products, such as the pulp of rye bread, rice, buckwheat, pearl barley, etc. I personally don't see the point in this. If you are sure that your distillate is safe for health, but the smell did not work out, then make based on it, the recipes of which on our resource are just a huge amount. Why soak the bread crumb when you can make an amazing ""? If the smell of moonshine is simply unbearable, then the technology of its production is clearly violated - such a product is not subject to consumption, only intermediate cleaning and re-distillation.

In the order of delirium - distillate freezing

Many “respectable” resources recommend freezing it out as a way to clean moonshine, saying that water, with the transition to a crystalline form, takes with it fuselage and other abominations, which is why the distillate becomes, well, just virgin purity. Wake up! Alcohol is a solvent and the greater its concentration, the better it dissolves various impurities. During freezing, the concentration of alcohol increases, along with the ability to dissolve. Freezing will help in only one thing - increasing the strength of the distillate, while increasing the concentration of all impurities present in it. By the way, for the curious, in the USA they practice the so-called sublimation distillation, when raw materials, for example, are frozen all winter, thus obtaining a stronger drink (specifically, applejack is obtained from apple raw materials). There is no mention of any cleaning here.

Everyone goes crazy in their own way. Icelandic Reyka vodka is filtered through lava rocks from Icelandic volcanoes.

Global cleanup output

There are many ways to clean moonshine from smell and harmful impurities, but not all of them are equally effective or have a lot of nuances, while others are completely crazy or dangerous to health. Some of them I decided, out of harm's way, not to mention at all. After analyzing all the data, I have long ago deduced for myself the following algorithm for obtaining high-quality moonshine (mainly sugar and in the absence of the ability to conduct a decent level of distillation): proper preparation of mash and its thorough clarification, intermediate cleaning with oil with charcoal, fractional distillation without subsequent manipulations with the finished product (I don't like the taste of vodka). I have no complaints about intermediate chemical cleaning, but without proper knowledge and skills, I do not recommend putting it into practice. The softening of distillate with milk as a technique deserves the right to life, but before its application, a series of experiments will have to be carried out in order to find a suitable raw material for this. I cannot recommend other methods of cleaning the SS and the finished product, since I see them as untenable.

P.S. I do not claim authority. What is described in the material is only my thoughts and conclusions. To trust them or not to trust is a purely personal matter. Comments are welcome, but without swearing and any vulgarity (such as "but my grandfather ...", "and my dad, doctor of science ...", etc., etc.).

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How to filter moonshine at home and why do you need to do it? All methods of cleaning, processing and refining alcohol are aimed only at improving its quality. There are several options for processing the drink, which will help to relatively quickly and easily rid it of harmful impurities, acetone, fusel, etc.

Purification of moonshine with a barrier filter

At home, it takes place using various materials, in most cases these are substances that are familiar to everyone or even food. Naturally, repeated distillation can also affect the quality of alcohol. But before pouring moonshine into the distiller again, it will still have to be filtered.

Filtration of moonshine is a laborious process, but very interesting. There are several methods that help rid alcohol of harmful impurities. The following substances will help to clear the drink from fuselage:

activated or charcoal: charcoal cleaning is one of the most effective and easiest ways to rid a drink of impurities;
milk and egg white: these methods of filtering the drink are similar in scheme of conduct, allow harmful substances to interact with milk or protein and precipitate in this form;
potassium permanganate crystals: they will also help to rid the moonshine of an unpleasant smell and taste;
bread: it has a porous structure, for this reason it absorbs impurities no worse than a sponge for washing dishes;
fruits: healthy and tasty - everyone knows this, but few people know that an ordinary apple can absorb a large amount of esters and aldehydes;
soda: will help remove impurities from moonshine, make it softer and more palatable;
vegetable oil: a natural product that easily absorbs all harmful impurities, but the filtration process is associated with certain difficulties.

Cleaning, or filtration, takes place in several stages - this will help significantly, rid it of an unpleasant odor and remove an aftertaste or so-called aftertaste.

It is often necessary to pass alcohol through the filter several times, then stand it in a container, and then proceed to re-distillation.

Using household distillers, at home you can get a product of good quality. But only the alcohol that has passed through the rectifier can be considered pure. The strength of this drink is from 93 to 96 degrees. It can be considered pure thanks to the distillation column.

We clean moonshine with coal

Activated charcoal tablets will help clean home-made alcohol from harmful impurities. They can be easily found in the pharmacy, and they are inexpensive.

You can infuse the drink on charcoal by adding a few tablets to the container, and then filtering it through a cotton-gauze filter. But there are other ways to improve the quality of the drink with the help of coal.

It makes sense to crush tablets or charcoal, then cut the bottle in such a way that a funnel is obtained. A cotton pad or a piece of cotton wrapped with gauze is placed in the funnel, the smallest particles of coal are placed on it, then the structure is covered with another disk or piece of cotton. And so it continues until all even the largest pieces of tablets or charcoal are placed in the filter.

Proper cleaning of moonshine with activated carbon

From above we cover the structure with several disks of cotton wool. With the help of such a filter, it will be possible to strain several liters of moonshine (from three to five), but no more. But after a single use, you will have to dismantle the structure and create a new one. Coal has the ability to accumulate harmful substances.

You can use a filter jug to purify water. It is not difficult to filter moonshine with it, just pour “fire water” into the device and wait until it goes through cleaning. You will have to filter moonshine from 3 to 5 times, one cartridge is enough to purify 10-15 liters of alcohol. After that, the cartridge can be thrown away, it is dangerous to use it further. The throughput of the jug filter is quite high, for this reason, cleaning will not take much time.

Just filter the finished product in any of the above ways - this will help prepare the distillate for re-distillation or consumption.

Milk and egg white

A drink filtered with milk or egg white has good characteristics. But in order to finally get a product that will meet the most demanding requirements, you will have to be patient.

The alcohol processing scheme is as follows:

Ready moonshine is poured into a glass jar.
Then milk is added to alcohol.
The container with alcohol is actively shaken.
The container with the drink is placed in a dark and warm place and waited for 7 to 10 days.

To filter 1.5 liters of moonshine, you will need no more than 250 milliliters of milk. Someone advises using village milk with a high fat content, and someone says that only pasteurized product with a fat content of no more than 2% can be used.

There is no particular difference, but it should be borne in mind that during settling, the container should be in a room where the temperature does not exceed 20 degrees. The temperature regime is of particular importance, since in the process of settling the milk will interact with some components of the moonshine, attract harmful impurities to itself and precipitate with them.

Cleaning moonshine with milk

The egg white also works in the same way: it is beaten, and then placed in a distillate. The protein comes into contact with certain substances, attracting them to itself, and eventually precipitates.

When a precipitate appears in the form of flakes, the distillate is filtered by passing it several times through a filter made of cotton and gauze. The product can then be diluted and recycled.

Filtration with soda or potassium permanganate

It has long been known that potassium permanganate crystals will help cleanse the body of harmful substances. A solution of potassium permanganate is used as a remedy for intoxication, it helps to cleanse the stomach and intestines, and neutralize some toxins.

The thing is that potassium permanganate attracts poisons and toxins, which are fusel oils, aldehydes and esters. Crystals react with substances and settle to the bottom.

It is not difficult to prepare a solution from water and potassium permanganate, it is enough to dissolve 3 grams of potassium permanganate in 300 milliliters of water. The solution is poured into the moonshine and the drink is allowed to stand for a while in a dark place.

After the potassium permanganate settles to the bottom, and this will happen after 3-5 days, the alcohol is filtered using cotton wool and gauze.

This method of cleaning home distillate can hardly be called effective; in some cases, it is not recommended to use it at all. You should not clean the moonshine with potassium permanganate if it is planned to ennoble it and turn it into cognac, whiskey or brandy in the future.

You can replace potassium permanganate with soda, it is well suited for refining alcohol. In addition, you don’t have to defend the moonshine for days, it’s enough to pour 10 grams of soda into 1 liter of the drink and let it stand for 12 hours.

Additional filtering still needs to be done. You can take an ordinary cotton pad or roll the gauze in several layers in such a way that it does not let small particles of soda through.

Baking soda also softens hard water, which is why it is often used to improve the quality of water or other drinks.

Filter alcohol with bread or fruit

Cleaning moonshine with bread is easy. This filtering method will help rid the drink of harmful impurities and at the same time give it a pleasant smell. The aroma of bread will give alcohol a peculiar appeal.

Bread can be used to clean any distillate, but there is one “but”: during the settling procedure, the drink can become cloudy. You can correct the situation by a second distillation or repeated settling.

To carry out the cleaning procedure, you must:

chop the crumb, you can cut it into cubes or slices, after cutting off all the burnt crusts;
after the crushed crumb is placed in moonshine, the container is closed with a tight lid;
after 10–12 hours, the drink should be filtered, now it is ready for consumption or distillation.

This method of purifying alcohol cannot harm the human body, since bread is a natural product. But it is worth using only fresh pastries, it is desirable that the bun be baked from rye flour.

Instead of bread, you can also use fruits or vegetables, most often moonshiners prefer apples and carrots. Fruits and vegetables are cut into large cubes, and then placed in a distillate, infused in a container for 10 to 14 days.

After cleaning, the moonshine can become cloudy, lemon will help correct the situation. Its zest is placed in a drink, insisted for several days - from 2 to 5, then filtered. Lemon will remove turbidity and at the same time give alcohol a pleasant aroma, add a touch of sourness.

Vegetable oil and ice

Perhaps the easiest way to get rid of moonshine from fuselage is to freeze it in the freezer. It is advisable to pour the distillate into a saucepan, and then place the container in the freezer for several hours. According to the laws of chemistry and physics, alcohol will not freeze, unlike water and fusel. When the water turns into ice, and along with it all harmful impurities freeze, the alcohol can be drained. It's not worth filtering.

There is another pole of this method of cleaning distillate after freezing: it will add to the fortress. Such a drink is advised to be diluted with clean water and recycled.

If we talk about the method of filtering with vegetable oil, then you will have to spend a decent amount on the purchase of oil. It is necessary to choose a quality product that has gone through several stages of filtration. Simply put, the oil should be refined, not have a third-party taste and smell.

Action algorithm:

For 1 liter of alcohol, at least 20 grams of oil will be required. It is simply poured into alcohol.
After the oil is poured into moonshine, the container is tightly closed with a lid, and then shaken several times every 5 minutes.
Then the container is sent to a dark place, where it will infuse for about 12 hours.

After this time, the drink will have to be subjected to additional filtration. It is worth turning the container over, using the hole in the lid or cork to drain the alcohol. The remaining oil with distillate is cleaned several times by passing them through gauze with cotton.

In order for moonshine to please with purity and transparency, it is worth approaching filtration with all responsibility. It is not enough just to divide alcohol into fractions in order to get a quality product, you will also have to clean it from fuselage. Just filtration will help improve the quality of the distillate and improve its taste.

Cleaning moonshine from fusel oils is an important task that everyone who is engaged in distilling this strong drink at home is trying to solve.

The specific smell and taste of the final product will be present in any case, no matter what recipe you use in its manufacture. Therefore, craftsmen have come up with many effective ways to clean moonshine from various harmful impurities and give it a pleasant aroma.

In this article, we will look at the most effective of these methods, thanks to which you can quickly clean and refine this strong drink.

The sharp and unpleasant smell of moonshine is caused by the following main reasons:

Poorly washed moonshine still.
Poor cleaning of mash and moonshine.
Distillation temperature too high.

Any of these reasons will ultimately affect the quality of the final product, which can turn from a noble drink into the notorious "sivukha". And to prevent this from happening, the drink during the preparation process must be subjected to repeated cleaning in various ways.

Pretreatment Methods

The future strong drink goes through the first stage of purification from fusel oils and harmful impurities even before distillation. The most popular mash clarification methods are the following cleanings:

Milk.
food gelatin.
White clay (bentonite).
A decoction of Sudanese rose petals.
Freeze.
Filtration through a press filter.

Charcoal cleaning is considered one of the best ways. Charcoal is well suited for this procedure, although activated charcoal can also be used. Usually two methods of such cleaning are used:

Potassium permanganate cleaning

In moonshine, diluted with water to 40 degrees, baking soda is added and stirred (3 g of soda per 1 liter of alcohol).
Then potassium permanganate is used (1 g of manganese per 1 liter of moonshine).
The jar is tightly closed and infused for 12 hours in a dark room.
After precipitation, filtration is carried out through cotton wool and any water filter at the end.

Cleaning with rye bread

Remove the crusts from the bread, cut it into pieces and crumble the crumb finely.
Pour the resulting crumbs into moonshine, seal hermetically with a lid and insist for several days in the pantry.
Then filter through cotton wool with gauze.

Milk cleaning

To do this, you need skim milk and moonshine with a strength of 45-50 degrees. For 5 liters of alcohol you need 50-70 g of milk.

After adding the required amount of a dairy product to an alcoholic drink, you need to thoroughly stir the contents of the container, close the lid tightly and leave for a week in a dark place, shaking the liquid daily.

After the above period, drain the alcohol from the sediment and strain through a cotton filter

Cleansing with egg white

One protein can clean 0.5 liters of moonshine.

Freeze

The advantage of this method is its availability and extreme simplicity. Moonshine is poured into an aluminum pan, covered with a lid and placed in the freezer for 13-15 hours.

During the freezing process, fusel oils and other harmful impurities will remain on the walls of the pan, freezing to them. And ethyl alcohol will remain liquid, as it freezes at a lower temperature.

After freezing, the volume of the product will decrease, which will entail an increase in its strength.

Oil cleansing

For this method, you need to use refined, odorless, well-purified oil, otherwise it will be transferred to moonshine.

Add refined vegetable oil to a container with alcohol (for 1 liter of moonshine - 20 ml of oil).

Then the container is closed with a lid and actively shaken for several minutes. This procedure (shaking) must be repeated several times, after which the moonshine should be left to settle for 12 hours.

Pour the purified alcohol with a tube into a clean jar.

Cleansing with soda

It doesn't matter what recipe you used to make moonshine, thanks to this method it is easy to clean it (1 g of soda per 100 ml of strong drink).

Pre-dilute alcohol to 40 degrees.
Dilute baking soda in water (100 g of soda per 100 ml of water) if you want to clean 10 liters of moonshine.
Pour the prepared soda solution into moonshine, close tightly, shake well and leave for an hour.
Then shake again and leave the container in a dark room for 12 hours.
After the above time has elapsed, the moonshine is drained and filtered through cotton pads.

Cleaning with kefir

Add a glass of fat-free kefir to 2.5 liters of strong drink, mix well and let it brew for several weeks, during which the moonshine will be completely cleared of fusel oils and harmful impurities.

After precipitation, carefully drain the clean moonshine with a hose.

During this procedure, you will lose from 300 to 350 g of moonshine, which will go away along with the sediment, but from the resulting pure drink, you will no longer be afraid of morning headaches.

Violet Root Cleansing

To clean the drink from "fussy" for 1 liter of alcohol, 35 g of orris root is needed.

The dried or raw root is crushed with a grater or knife, poured into a drink and placed for 2 weeks in a dark place.
After that, the moonshine must be drained and filtered with cotton wool and gauze.
To improve the taste, raisins are added to moonshine (for 1 liter of drink - 45 g of dried grapes).

Cleaning with pine nuts

Unshelled nuts work well for cleaning (1 handful of nuts per 1 liter of a 50-degree drink). Their peel will give the moonshine a cognac color.

Chopped nuts are poured into the moonshine, the container is tightly closed and infused for several months in a dark, warm place. The tincture needs to be shaken periodically.

If desired, dried apricots or raisins can be added to the drink along with nuts to add aroma and sweetness to the tincture.

As a result, you will get a purified product with a very pleasant taste.

Purification before redistillation

To improve the quality of the drink, you can use plain paper or special cardboard, which act as a filter. Filtering is done as follows:

Paper or cardboard is placed in the funnel.
The diluted finished product is poured into the prepared container through a funnel.
The liquid must be drained in small portions and gradually so that the maximum amount of harmful substances remains on the filter.

Redistillation

Re-distillation improves the quality of alcohol and helps to get rid of harmful impurities.

Before a strong drink is diluted with water by 10-25%, bringing it to 30-35 degrees. The lower the strength of the moonshine, the easier the impurities are separated. Water should be added in small portions and gradually.

How to properly dilute moonshine:

Measure the strength of the product after each infusion of water.
In no case should you add warm water, preferably slightly chilled.
The recommended strength of the drink before the secondary distillation is 30-35%.

By combining the above methods of cleaning, you can achieve the best result. Experiment and try different options, inspired by your own ideas and endeavors, but remember that it is strongly not recommended to produce alcoholic beverages at home without certain knowledge and skills. The distilleries have everything you need: measuring instruments, equipment and, of course, qualified specialists who control the process and release a high-quality product.

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