Hand-made production of a coal column for a moonshine still. Do-it-yourself carbon filter for cleaning moonshine

Among the masters of home brewing, the most popular material for getting rid of other impurities is. A made coal column for cleaning moonshine with your own hands, or a purchased one, copes equally well with purification of an alcohol-containing product. Next, consider how to make a coal column for moonshine stills on one's own.

When distilling the mash, along with alcohol, a certain amount of impurities harmful to health, the so-called fusel oils, enters the refrigerator. In order to reliably get rid of them, three methods are used:

1. Mechanical selection of impurities. He copes with this task "perfectly well". Partially get rid of fusel oils.
2. Secondary distillation divided into factions. Most of all harmful substances are in the "heads" and "tails", which are cut off during the distillation process.
3. Filtration. In moonshine brewing, several cleaning methods are used. Among the "doubtful" substances we will name potassium permanganate, milk, egg white, butter. And absolutely proved its effectiveness and harmlessness - carbon filter.

Reference. In the industrial production of alcohol, coal columns are used for purification so that we can buy a quality product.

Selection and arrangement of a carbon filter

Shops specializing in the sale of home brewing products offer a good selection of both coal columns and consumables for them - various types of charcoal. Therefore, if you want to have the best equipment for moonshine at home and the means allow you, it’s easier to buy.

The standard column consists of:

• pipes(usually made of stainless steel), which is untwisted in order to periodically change the coal;
• top fitting connecting with a hose coming out of the refrigerator;
• bottom fitting through which ready-made, purified moonshine flows;
• legs - supports in order to conveniently substitute a three-liter jar under the column. Not all models have legs.

When choosing, focus on ease of use. Also, given that the device of the coal column is as simple as possible, it will not be difficult to make it yourself.

Do-it-yourself coal column

You can independently make two types of columns: to clean moonshine during the race or for final disposal of the final product from fusel oils after distillation.

The second option is simpler, and also allows you to do finer cleaning. And even better - use both settings in order to obtain exceptionally pure alcohol.

Coal preparation

Buy or make your own charcoal.

Note! Only coal obtained from birch or coconut palm is intended for the column (the latter, for obvious reasons, can only be bought)!

It is undesirable to “refuel” it with barbecue coals bought on the occasion, since combustible materials are often added to them.

Therefore, it is best to buy special coal for filling columns.

On the Internet, it is offered for this purpose in small pieces (up to 1 cm in diameter) - in this form it is only suitable for a column connected to a distiller.

To use it to filter the finished moonshine, grinding required.

Advice. Put the coal taken from the fire or bought into a bag and beat with a hammer. Then take away large pieces - they can be broken again.

Sift what's left through a sieve. Use the finest dust for the cleaning ready-made moonshine, the fraction is slightly larger (ideally - like small cereals) - for filtering.

Column manufacturing

Before proceeding with the creation of a coal column with your own hands, it is necessary to prepare the materials:

1. For column connected to the distiller:

• food stainless steel pipe up to 0.5 m long, 100 mm in diameter;
• screw cap with fitting (top);
• non-removable cover with fitting (welded or soldered);
• filter-mesh fixed at the bottom;
• legs.

2. For filtering alcohol distillate:

• 2 liter plastic bottle with cut off bottom. Preferably - not to the end;
• cotton wool or cotton pads.

3. Coal is needed for any column model.

Everything is more or less clear with the connected column, it is the “last link” in the chain. It is important to fix the finished and tucked device strictly vertically.

A column from a plastic bottle is prepared as follows:

• The bottom is not cut off completely to make a kind of lid. It is needed so that the coal does not float when you pour the liquid.
• Holes are made in the lid with an awl.
• Cotton wool or cotton pads are inserted into the neck and the cap is screwed on.
• The bottle is filled with crushed coal.
• The neck is inserted into a jar (preferably a three-liter one).

Attention. Choose a PET bottle with an elongated neck and make sure it fits securely without distortion.

• Moonshine is poured on top of the coal.

Filtration

Alcohol through the holes in the lid will first pass in a trickle, but as the cotton wool is clogged with dust, it will only drip. It is possible that the dripping will stop with time.

In this case, you need to drain the moonshine remaining in the bottle into the dishes, unscrew the cap and replace the cotton wool, after which the process should be continued.

cleaning

Filtered moonshine, for completeness of cleaning, you need already in the bank fill with coal dust. Approximate calculation: 3 - 4 spoons per three-liter jar of alcohol.

Carefully! You don’t need to pour a lot of coal, because with an excess, by “binding” fusel oils, it can “steal” the degree.

Should be cleansed from a couple of days to a week. The jar needs to be shaken periodically. By the end of cleaning, alcohol should be transparent, and coal dust should lie on the bottom in a layer. After that, you need to filter through cotton wool, discs or filter paper.

Reference. Pharmaceutical activated carbon is the least suitable for cleaning, since it also contains talc, sometimes starch. Many complain that this product gives bitterness to the drink.

The principle of operation of the carbon filter

Why is charcoal an excellent sorbent? During combustion, wood materials burn unevenly, as a result of which the remaining coal microcavities are formed.

They "capture" high-molecular organic compounds (the same fusel oils) and hold them, leaving a product that is clean of organic matter.

Passing through such a "sieve", the moonshine is completely cleaned and leaves all harmful substances in the coal.

Due to which we will use not "sivukha", but pure and natural product, with moderate consumption, only a beneficial effect on the body.

Useful videos

The video below shows a self-made coal column, how to use it when cleaning moonshine:

See how to make a coal column for cleaning moonshine at home from improvised means, how it affects the taste of homemade alcohol:

How to make a glass charcoal column from a bottle, see:

How do you use charcoal to clean moonshine? Share in the comments. Like the article if it was useful to you, share the information with your friends on social networks.

Homemade moonshine, made from good raw materials on a good moonshine still, is a wonderful drink. Good moonshine is easy for many factory-made strong drinks. In order for the moonshine to finally part with the fusel spirit and unpleasant aftertaste, it must be properly cleaned. There are many methods and devices, such as, for example, a coal column for cleaning moonshine, that can change the product beyond recognition.

Folk methods for cleaning moonshine

There are many ways to explain at home: from the usual traditional to completely exotic. Some of them are effective, others not so much.

Purification of moonshine with milk has been carried out in Russian villages since the time of Tsar Pea. A glass of cow's milk is poured into a three-liter jar of moonshine. After about a day, an unsightly appearance gathers and settles to the bottom of the vessel. Next, you need to drain the purified moonshine as carefully as possible without stirring up the sediment. The method is good only from the point of view of love for antiquity, in fact it is ineffective. The fusel smell of moonshine is practically not removed.

Similarly, potassium permanganate precipitates, it works more efficiently, but also not ideal. After it, the drink acquires an unpleasant aftertaste, and when cleaning the “advanced” moonshine from good raw materials (apricots, prunes, cereal malt, grapes), the aroma that we would like not to lose completely disappears.

Carbon filters

And yet, most "specialists" tend to believe that a carbon filter should be used for moonshine, and not unreasonably. Activated carbon successfully adsorbs most fusel oils on its surface. On the Internet, you can sometimes find a description of how to clean moonshine at home by pouring an N-th amount of activated or charcoal into a container with a drink and then shaking it. This is absolute nonsense.

In order to qualitatively clean moonshine from impurities, it must be driven through the thickness of the adsorbent. This is how a coal column works to clean moonshine. There are many popular, but effective ways to purify the product on coal, but without a column. The simplest of them: several layers of flannel fabric are laid on the bottom of the funnel, activated or finely crushed charcoal (from hardwood) is poured on top, moonshine is poured in a thin stream or a drop from above, and a purified drink flows out of the funnel.

In fairness, let's say that an ordinary household jug filter with a simple cartridge based on activated carbon copes with cleaning moonshine perfectly.

Coal column device

The filter device is shown in the figure below. In fact, for cleaning moonshine, it is a pipe filled with an adsorbent (activated carbon). The bottom of the pipe is a wall with a large number of small holes. A filter made of blotting paper, white flannel or, if the dimensions are suitable, a cosmetic cotton pad is placed on it. The edges of the fabric filter must fit snugly against the pipe walls. This is necessary so that small particles of activated carbon do not get into the moonshine.

Then comes the filler (adsorbent). In its quality, it would be more correct to use activated carbon for moonshine - birch or coconut. But it is quite possible to replace it with ordinary wood, finely crushed and lightly rammed. For efficiency, you can add medical, tableted. As can be seen from the figure, a coal column for cleaning moonshine may well be made by hand. Moreover, the material can be the most diverse: metal, glass or even wood.

The ideal way to clean moonshine

The algorithm for obtaining perfectly purified moonshine using a coal column looks like this:

• The first sublimation with the classic cutting off of "heads", "tails". It turns out a product with a strength of about 50 ... 60%.
• Dilution of the resulting moonshine with settled boiled water to a strength of 20 ... 30%.
• Filtration on a coal column (preliminary dilution is carried out because the stronger the drink, the more reluctantly it gives harmful impurities to coal).

• Secondary sublimation (again "heads" and "tails"). The resulting product is perfectly purified, has a strength of about 70%.
• In this form, moonshine is ennobled by insisting on herbs, berries, aging in oak, etc.
• If necessary, the drink is brought with boiled water to a condition of 40%.

Stainless steel carbon column

The history of cleaning alcohol with charcoal goes back to the distant past. Back in 1785, the Russian chemist T.E. Lovitz was engaged in research on the interaction of alcohol with coals. In addition to coal, he experimented with food acids, vinegar, and honey. The best results were obtained by the interaction of alcohol with coal. All his theoretical developments and practical research formed the basis of traditional methods for making vodka.

There is an opinion that the best coal for cleaning alcohol is obtained from birch. This is not entirely true. At the end of the 18th and 19th centuries, the best brands of vodkas were refined with linden, alder, oak, and poplar charcoal. Many distilleries owned by nobles and merchants used beech and alder coal in the preparation of vodka. But at present it is produced mainly from birch, as the most accessible and cheap material. Even the pharmacy is mostly birch.

This suggests that at home you can use any coal, except for pharmacy. A lot of different additives are added to it during manufacture, such as starch and talc. These impurities, when vodka passes through the filter, react with alcohol, and not only worsen its taste, but can also form some undesirable compounds that are very toxic to the body and adversely affect the hangover syndrome.

Birch charcoal is the most popular

By the way, hangover syndrome occurs not only with the immoderate use of vodka and moonshine. In most cases, its appearance depends on the quality of the drink.

Coal column device

Early models of industrial coal columns ran on raw coal - ordinary charcoal, which was used to light samovars and cook food. Such coal is rich in various resins, which worsen its quality; during prolonged interaction with alcohol, they reacted and significantly worsened its organoleptic properties.

The first models of coal columns were made in the form of huge copper cylinders, 70 centimeters in diameter and 4 meters high. All sizes were selected experimentally and have been preserved almost to our time. The difference is that the early modifications of the cylinders, which used raw coal, were mounted in the form of series batteries of 4-5 columns, in which the water-alcohol mixture was kept for a certain time.

The transit time through the entire battery was about 24 hours. During this time, vodka was not only purified, but also almost completely changed its taste. When coal interacted with vodka, active redox processes took place, it was enriched with microelements, and new components appeared in it in the form of food acids, for example, acetic. But part of the alcohol did not have time to completely oxidize, and acetaldehyde remained in it - an intermediate element of the process.

How to make a coal column with your own hands

The invention of conducting vodka through a column under pressure made it possible to improve the quality. This technology began to be used in the 30s of the last century. This made it possible not only to obtain a larger amount of raw material per unit of time, but to reduce the size of the column. The residence time of the raw material in the column ranged from 30 minutes to 1 hour. After numerous studies, this time is recognized as optimal for the complete purification of vodka, changing the taste and quality without the formation of harmful substances in it, for example, acetaldehyde.

This was made possible by the invention of the carbon activation process. It consists in processing with superheated water vapor, as a result of which all resins and foreign compounds are washed out, and the number of pores and their size becomes larger. In do-it-yourself columns, only activated carbon from birch or coconut is used, so you should not be afraid of chemical contamination of moonshine.

At home, a pressure sweep is not used. A do-it-yourself coal column for cleaning moonshine is built on the principle of gravity flow under the pressure of gravity. It is a vertical pipe made of copper or stainless steel with a diameter of 5-10 centimeters and a height of more than half a meter. An outlet pipe is installed at the bottom of the column, which is connected to the intake tank with a silicone hose. The top is open. For vertical installation of the column, three or four legs are welded or screwed on studs at the bottom.

If there is no suitable pipe at hand, and for some reason it is difficult to buy it, then you can use a large glass funnel, with a cone capacity of about 3 liters. These are sold in stores and on laboratory glassware websites. At the bottom of the cone, a stainless steel strainer with small cells is installed so that coal does not wash out and spill out.

The video will help you get acquainted with the coal column in detail:

Principle of operation

The column works like this - first, activated carbon is poured up to half the height of the column. Then moonshine is poured to the top, and the column is closed with a lid. Do not close too tightly so that the alcohol does not evaporate, but air can enter inside. When the liquid moves down, a vacuum occurs, and with a sealed cover, the cleaning process may stop.

The productivity of the column is up to 1 liter of moonshine per hour. The device of the indicated dimensions includes up to 2 liters of drink, which is the optimal amount - the column with coal cannot work for more than 2 hours. The pores become clogged with impurities and filtration stops. The performance of the column is restored after 8-10 hours.

On one filling with high-quality coal, which can be bought on the Internet, a do-it-yourself column can clean up to 30 liters of moonshine, after which the coal should be replaced. You can only use wood or coconut, specially made for filtering alcohol-containing liquids. Bone, or, even worse, coal from gas masks or industrial filters, should never be used.

You often see homemade charcoal columns made from PET bottles on the Internet. It is absolutely impossible to do this. Polyethylene reacts with alcohol, and instead of purified vodka, you get a toxic chemical mixture. It is also not recommended to filter "heads" and "tails" on the column. They quickly clog the pores of the coal bed and the filter becomes useless.

To achieve the desired effect, moonshine should be passed through the column twice.

If conditions allow, coal for moonshine can be made with your own hands . It is enough to cook fruit or birch firewood, build a fire, let it burn well. When the firewood turns into pieces of red heat, they are closed in a metal container with a lid and left to cool completely. After that, the ash is removed, and the remaining pieces of coal are ground to a fraction of 4-6 mm, sifted, and placed in a filter housing or a self-made coal column.

You can buy beverage cleaning material online. Ideally this is:

• Birch activated carbon brand BAU-A;
• Coconut activated carbon BAU-LV.

The latter is used and specially designed for the industrial purification of alcohol.

The history of cleaning moonshine

At all times in our country, moonshine has been a popular drink. And even now, well and lovingly expelled, purified, infused with herbs, coffee beans, red pepper, the drink will give odds to factory products.

Even during the time of King Peas, people were looking for ways to improve the quality and taste of moonshine. For this we used:

• Cow's milk (1 cup per 3 liters of product);
• Potassium permanganate, which precipitates harmful oils.

They knew then about the ability of charcoal to ennoble the drink. And at the end of the VIII century, the Russian scientist-chemist T.E. Lovits, the successor of M.V. Lomonosov, made an important discovery for science - the adsorption of dissolved substances by charcoal.

Thus, cleaning moonshine with charcoal has a scientific basis, and the effectiveness of the method has been tested by time.

Strong drink cleaner

Some "experienced" distillers are aware of the properties of coal, but purify the product by pouring a certain amount of adsorbent into the container and shaking it. The effect is negligible, and it also takes time for subsequent filtration.

To clean moonshine well from harmful substances, it must be driven through a thick layer of adsorbent. The coal column works according to this principle.

Equipment for cleaning the product is sold in stores, but their cost is high. In our country, where every second man is Kulibin or left-handed, you can make a reliable filter from improvised means. To do this, you will need a plastic bottle, a cotton pad (tampon) or coffee filters, a 3-5 liter glass jar.

If you are seriously engaged in the manufacture of moonshine, it is better to buy, find, get a piece of stainless steel pipe for the column body. Weld legs to it, the inner filling is similar to the option with a plastic bottle.

"bottle" design

A do-it-yourself coal column is made for cleaning moonshine as follows: a bottom part 2-3 centimeters high is cut off from plastic 2 or 3 liter dishes. Several holes are drilled in the screw cap.

A cotton pad is inserted into the neck and the lid is twisted. The bottle is turned over and inserted into a three-liter jar and 1/3 filled with charcoal. The coal column is filled with moonshine, almost to the very top.

Some pressure is created, the moonshine passes through the coal, and harmful oils are retained by its grains. Over time, the dust washed out of the coal clogs the cotton wool. In this case, the coal is removed from the column, the cotton wool is replaced, and the coal is returned to the column.

In this way, moonshine can be filtered several times. At the same time, the replacement of cotton wool, coal before each run is not out of place, and the final product only benefits from this.

Water filter option

If a small batch of product is intended for filtering and cleaning oils, cleaning moonshine through a home-made coal column can be simplified.

For a conventional household water filter with a jug, the upper part of the cartridge is cut off with a hacksaw. The contents are thrown away, since this coal contains water softening additives in the form of small granules, alcohol will dissolve them and they will fall into the final drink.

A cotton pad is placed on the bottom, new coal is covered in layers of 2-3 cm high to the top of the cartridge and carefully compacted. From above, so that coal does not float, another cotton pad is placed, after which the filter is inserted into the jug, and the process of cleaning the drink can begin.

metal column

You can make a metal coal column with your own hands, having welding skills. The principle of operation of a stainless steel column is the same as that of a plastic column.

Only the drink, according to experts, is cleaned better in such a device. This is motivated by the fact that moonshine is still an aggressive substance, and polyethylene, no matter how durable it is, still emits harmful substances.

Redistillation

It is necessary to filter "raw" moonshine 10-15 days before use or before re-distillation, if such is planned.

Before re-distillation, the degree of the product is lowered - diluted with rain, melt or spring water to the desired degree. The diluted alcohol is then passed through a makeshift column twice.

Conclusion

Using charcoal is a recognized, harmless, time-tested, highly effective method. The best option for this is coal filtration columns, which you can buy in a store or do it yourself.

Coal is a good adsorbent, molecules of a substance that we want to get rid of are attached to its surface.

Let's start cleaning moonshine with coal.

To do this, we take birch charcoal, bought in a store, for cooking barbecue. Pour it into a bag, I use a bag of sugar. We take a hammer and crush it, the smaller the better. I do it on the street, as coal dust flies, and the house will be dirty.

From coal at the end we must get coal powder. The finer the coal is ground, the more it will have a surface area on which impurity molecules will stick. The efficiency of coal will be higher.

After the coal is ground, we sift it through a sieve or colander. We get three fractions, coal powder, larger coal and coal that has not been completely broken, which we throw back into the bag.

At the second stage of cleaning moonshine, we make a coal column.

We take a plastic bottle, I use a two-liter one, cut off the back of it. In the resulting bottom, we drill or burn holes. We also drill a large hole in the lid of the bottle.

We put the bottle on the jar neck down. We pour coal into it, press it with the bottom so that it does not float in the moonshine. We pour moonshine for cleaning into our coal column. Moonshine passes through coal, fusel oils stick to it. Moonshine washes out additional coal dust. Over time, coal dust settles at the bottom of our coal column and it stops dripping. You can unscrew the lid and poke your finger in the neck.

You can drive moonshine through a coal column several times.

After we drove the moonshine through the coal column, pour coal powder into it and stir.

How much charcoal powder is needed to clean moonshine? A coal particle attaches impurities to itself, to its surface, along its radius. More than it can, it will not take in impurities. So if we add a little charcoal powder, the charcoal won't take all the dirt. And if we add a lot of coal powder, then the coal will absorb excess alcohol, there will be losses of moonshine. Choose the optimal amount of charcoal powder for home cleaning of impurities.

We remove our moonshine with coal for settling. Coal powder will take in impurities, become heavier and settle to the bottom. The dirtier the moonshine, the faster the coal will settle. My coal powder settles to the bottom the next day, if the moonshine is after the first distillation. After the second one, it floats longer.

Instead of coal powder, you can use activated carbon from a pharmacy to clean moonshine from impurities at home, but this will increase the cost of moonshine.

After the coal has absorbed the impurities and settled to the bottom, we proceed to clean the moonshine from the spent coal.

We take our coal column, this is already a filter. Insert a cotton swab into the neck. We put the filter on a jar, pour purified moonshine into it, carefully so as not to raise the sediment. Moonshine drips into the jar. As soon as the moonshine stops dripping or slows down, pour the unfiltered moonshine into another container. We unscrew the neck and change the swab and continue to filter the moonshine.

Purification of moonshine from impurities with coal can be done twice. After the first distillation, purify it through a carbon column. After the second, clean the moonshine with coal powder.

Purification of moonshine with coal. Coal column, video.