We prepare alcohol without leaving home (not counting going to the shops to buy the necessary ingredients). Let's start the process.

Home production. Recipes.

IN from recipes for making alcohol:

1. Crush ripe rowan berries (one kilogram) in a mortar and pestle. Place the crushed berries in a glass bottle. Fill the rowan with ten or twelve liters of kvass (bread). Next is adding yeast (seventy grams). The mash should ferment at a temperature of sixteen degrees. When the fermentation process is complete, stir the mixture and pour it into the distillation apparatus. The alcohol needs to be distilled several times.
2. Mash the potatoes (one kilogram). Transfer it to a vat and fill it with boiling water. Then - a little straw and a kilogram of flour (rye). After a few hours, drain the liquid. Allow the remainder to drain and fill it with water (fifty degrees). While stirring everything, again, after some time, drain the liquid. It must ferment. And, after this, you can observe, in front of you, twenty percent alcohol.
3. Fill the bag, without the slightest holes, with mash. Leave it in the refrigerator overnight, or on the balcony if there is frost there. In the morning, looking into the refrigerator, you will notice in the bag a lump of waste and some liquid. This liquid is alcohol.
4. Dilute tomato paste in thirty liters of water. Add sugar (ten kilograms) and beer (half a liter). Infuse this mixture in a warm place until it has completely fermented. Afterwards, distill it. The yield is seven to eight liters. The output is a forty percent alcohol-containing liquid.
5. Take five hundred grams of yeast, five kilograms of sugar, four loaves of bread, three glasses of milk, twenty-five small potatoes (crushed). Fill it all with boiled warm water (twenty-five liters). Leave for twenty-four hours and distill.
6. In thirty liters of water, mix six liters of syrup (any kind), add two hundred grams of yeast. Infusion time is a week. Yield: seven liters. Is this option suitable? If not, there are other options below.

Making alcohol without sugar

Get malt. It is obtained from grains of rye, barley or wheat. How? By germination in trays (their height is from five to ten centimeters). Treat the grains with potassium permanganate. Pour into trays (three centimeters) and irrigate them with water. Do this so that the grains float in the water. Cover the patches with film. Place in a place that is very lit. Irrigate the grains periodically as they absorb water. The malt will be ready in seven days. Peel the potatoes (one kilogram), chop them not very finely and boil for two hours. When the potatoes turn into a paste, leave it to cool. The temperature should drop to sixty degrees. Add malt (crushed) to it. Leave to cool to twenty-two degrees. Now - adding yeast. With the yeast, place the mixture in a warm place. At a temperature of twenty to twenty-two, the mash will be considered cooked in three days. If the temperature is fifteen degrees – in a week. Distill the mash through a special distillation apparatus. You can adjust its strength yourself during the distillation process. If you see that the alcohol turns out to be cloudy, then lighten it by adding potassium permanganate. How to do it? Go to sleep, in small quantity, it in alcohol. Stir. Leave to infuse for twenty-four hours. In the morning, carry out the process of filtering out the sediment. You, as you understand, don’t need it. And now we will also deal with the unpleasant smell. Coal (wood) will help us in the showdown. Pour it into a container with alcohol and stir. Let it brew for fifteen days. During infusion, the charcoal sometimes needs to be shaken. After fifteen days, add a mixture of coal and alcohol and filter it.

Instructions for the production of homemade alcohol

Yeast - one hundred grams. Wheat or grains of another crop (2.33 kg). With this amount of the above, you will receive one liter of alcohol, the strength of which will be sixty degrees. Remember that it is necessary to boil all the grains completely, but to brew only two-thirds of the grains. One third should be added as malt. If you make alcohol from corn or potatoes, the malt should be equal to one-fourth of the total mass of the original product.

How high quality the alcohol turns out depends only on you. It is necessary to observe all temperature conditions, follow all technologies very correctly and control the content of starch and other “alcohol requirements”.

Also, importantly, you will have to be patient. I'm not setting you up for bad things. I just want to say that preparing alcohol is not like preparing ordinary porridge or ordinary soup. That is, the cooking technology is completely different, not as simple as it might seem at first.

The only one, but a huge plus: homemade alcohol preparation can take place right in your kitchen (at home). Many housewives and housewives are glad that this opportunity exists. You will only need to go to the store to buy products that will be useful for cooking. Well, alcohol is your invention. If, of course, you need it that much.

Perhaps you want to try opening your own business producing this product. Well, take a chance. What if things don't turn out so bad? I can’t say which of the above recipes is the best. I can say one thing for sure: no one forbids you to make a choice which recipe to try and which to ignore. The choice is entirely yours.

Pcontinuation of alcohol productionproducts:

Home production of vodka. -

Folk recipes

The highest quality alcohol is potato and bread alcohol. Strong, with mild taste, a slight hangover, it used to be very popular. Then, with the transition to primitive devices, sugar gradually began to be forgotten. Nowadays there is a return to making such alcohol at home.

Alcohol from grain. Sprout rye (wheat, barley, millet, corn, peas). To do this, soak in warm water, spread in a thin (up to 2 cm) layer on a clean floor in a cool, dark place. Make sure that the grain does not turn sour. Dry the sprouted grain and grind it into flour. Boil water and while still boiling, stirring constantly, add this flour. Stir until it becomes liquid jelly. Cover and let stand for 10-12 hours. Pour into bowls, basins, cool to room temperature. Drain into a tub. Add yeast. For 5 buckets of mash, take 0.5 kg of yeast. Let it ferment for 5-6 days. Distill on a steam apparatus. If there is no yeast, add a kilogram of dry peas. The fermentation process will increase to 10 days. Yield: 7 liters of vodka.

Bread with potatoes. Make malt as in the first recipe (sprout grain, dry, grind). Boil the potatoes. Grind with the water that remained during cooking. Place in a tub. Sprinkle malt flour on top. Grind again to a smooth jelly-like consistency. All this should be very hot. Sprinkle the rest of the flour on top again and leave overnight. After 10-12 hours, stir, pour into a barrel, add 0.5 kg of yeast. Let it ferment for 5-6 days. For a bucket of malt - 4 buckets of potatoes. Yield - 12 l.

Grain alcohol. Take two loaves of black bread (2 kg), soak in warm water (0.5 l) and knead until smooth. Place the mashed bread in a large saucepan (8-10 l), add water (4 l) and place on the stove to boil. Adjust the heat and cook over low heat, stirring, for an hour. When evaporating, add water to the original level (approximately 200 ml). Make malted milk by stirring crushed malt in water (200 g of dry malt and 1 liter of water).
After boiling, remove the pan from the stove, cool the mash to a temperature of 60°C (like rubbing your hand), pour in half of the prepared malt milk (500 ml), stir and leave to liquefy for 30 minutes. After this, put it back on the stove and cook over low heat for another hour. Then cool the mash to 65-70°C, pour in the second half of the malted milk, stir for 5 minutes and, covered with a warm fur coat (blanket), leave to saccharify for 5-6 hours. Make a yeast mash (600-800 ml) in advance (a day before) in a separate sterile container. After saccharification, check the sugar content in the mash (by taste or with an instrument), cool the mash to 28-30°C, pour in the yeast, add nitrogen nutrition (0.3 g/l ammonium chloride), stir and leave for fermentation in warm place. After 3-4 days, when fermentation is over and the taste of the mash becomes bitter and sour, strain the mash through a linen bag and distill, distilling no more than half, or preferably a third, of the original volume of the mash. Treat the resulting distillate with soda and potassium permanganate, filter and distill again. Yield: 1.2 l, strength 35-45(°).

Bread on hops. Sprout wheat or rye to obtain green malt, which is then crushed. Boil the potatoes, mash them and still need to brew hops. Then you need to prepare the so-called mash - mix everything together: malt, potatoes and brewed hops - and put it in a warm place. The mash sits for 3-4 days until it stops fermenting.
For one bucket of grain: 2 cast iron boiled potatoes (2 buckets), 3 liters of brewed hops (5 tablespoons of fruit per 1 liter of water) and 4 buckets of water. Yield: about 8 liters.

Bread with baked bread. Everything is the same as in the previous recipe. Instead of potatoes, add rye or rye soaked in boiling water. wheat bread. For two buckets of malt, 15-20 loaves of bread. Yield - 12 l.

Another way to make bread. Sprout half a bucket of rye, wheat or barley. Pound. Soak 10-12 loaves of black bread in 15 liters of hot water, mix, add 750 g of yeast. If there is not enough bread (8 loaves), 117
cook cast iron potatoes. Mash and mix with grain and bread. Ferment in a warm place for a week.

And further. Sprout the wheat, grind or crush it, add hot water and let stand. Add water, yeast and place in a warm place. Then distill. For 10 kg of wheat: 30 liters of water and 0.5 kg of yeast. Yield - 6 l.
The last two methods are technologically simpler, but the best product is obtained by using the previous recipes.

Rice. Rinse the rice in cold water, boil until porridge is obtained, cool, add malt and stir, let stand, stir after 10-12 hours, pour into a barrel and cool, add yeast. Let it ferment for 5-6 days, then strain and distill. For 3 kg of rice: 3 cups of ground malt, 0.2 kg of yeast and a bucket of water (10 l). Yield - 4 l.

Pea. Grind the peas into flour. Boil water and, stirring constantly, add flour until a fairly thick, homogeneous mass is obtained. Cool, add malt, stir and let stand. Then pour into a vat, add yeast and leave in a warm place. After 5 days, distill. If you germinate the peas first, then you don’t need to add malt. For 3 kg of peas: 3 hundred cans of malt, 0.2 kg of yeast and 8 liters of water. Yield: 3 l.

Sugar. Take 6 kg of sugar, dilute it in 30 liters of warm water and add 200 g of yeast. Place in a warm place. For scent, you can add currant or cherry branches or dry dill. After 6-7 days the starter is ready. Yield - 6 l.
It is widely believed that 1 kg of sugar produces 1 liter of vodka. When using a steam apparatus, 10 liters of good product is obtained from 7 kg. That is, there is no need to make the mash too concentrated in sugar. It “burns out” and goes to waste.

Beetroot. First way. Grate the sugar beets, boil them in the oven, and crush them. Add 200 g of yeast to 30 liters of beet juice. Place the starter in a warm place. After 5-6 days it is ready. There is no need to add sugar. Yield - 5 l. 118
Second way. Grate and bake 10 kg of sugar beets in a 10-15 liter cast iron. Let cool slightly to keep the beets warm. Add 2 ha-sugar and 10 liters of warm water to it. Pour into fermentation tank. Add 500 g of yeast diluted in a small amount of water. Cover the mixture. Place in a warm place for 3-4 days. Mix. Readiness is determined by the time when the beets sink to the bottom of the dish and a crust forms on top. Then pour the mash into the tank and distill the vodka. Yield -5l.

From jam. Take 6 kg of candied jam, dilute it in 30 liters of warm water, add 200 g of yeast. To have a greater distillation yield, you need to add another 3 kg of sugar. Place the starter in a warm place for 3-5 days. Yield - 5 liters, and with added sugar - 9 liters.

From molasses. Molasses is a waste product of sugar production from beets. Add 200-250 g of yeast to one bucket of molasses and dilute it all in 25 liters of water. Place in a warm place for a week. Yield - 6-7 l. It is highly advisable to distill the resulting mixture again.

From apple juice. Chop the apples and squeeze out the juice. For 35 liters of juice add 3 kg of sugar and 200 g of yeast. Place in a warm place. Ready in a week. Yield -6-7 l.

From syrup (any kind). Take 6 liters of syrup, dilute it in 30 liters of water and add 200 g of yeast. It's ready in a week. Yield - 7 l.

From pears. Add 5 buckets of spoiled garden pears (boiled), 2 kg of sugar and 200 g of yeast to 5 liters of water. Place in a warm place for a week. Yield - 8 l.

From the wild pears Collect 3 buckets of game, pour them into a 50 liter wooden tub or barrel up to half the capacity, let them rot there. Then crush them with a wooden ball and leave for 2-3 weeks. Add absolutely nothing. Then drain, filter and distill. Yield: 3 l.

From plums. Mash three buckets of plums and leave them to ferment for two weeks. Do not add water. Yield: 3 l. If you add sugar, the yield will naturally be greater.

From starch. Add 10 hectares of starch to 2 buckets of water and brew like jelly. Then add 1.5 kg of green malt, let stand, cool. Then add 500 g of yeast and 1 kg of sugar. Stir and leave to ferment for 3-5 days. Yield: 11 liters of vodka. If you add 2.5 kg of malt, then you don’t have to add sugar.

From dry fruits. Brew 2 kg of dried apples or pears in a bucket of water, add 3 kg of sugar, 300 g of yeast. Close it all tightly, leaving a small hole. Let it sit in a warm place for a week. Add a bunch of dry thyme to this starter. Yield: 3.5 l.

From grape pressing. Take 3 buckets of the juice left over from preparing grape juice or wine, add 100 g of yeast, 5 kg of sugar and dilute it all in 30 liters of water. Leave to ferment for a week. Yield: 7 liters of vodka (very light).

Combined. Mix 20 cups of sprouted and crushed wheat, 3 liters of hot water, 1 kg of sugar. Place in a warm place for 5 days. Then add 5 kg of sugar and 18 liters of water. Ferments for 7-8 days. The mash should taste bitter. Strain. Yield - 10-12 l.
If you add 5 kg of sugar and 8 liters of warm water to the remaining cake and leave it for 8-10 days, you can still get 12-15 liters.

Made from tomato paste, sugar and beer. For 30 liters of water:
one liter can of tomato paste, one bottle of beer, 10 kg of sugar. Stir, let it “play out” in a warm place, distill. Yield - 7-8 l.

Without yeast and sugar. In this recipe, yeast and sugar are replaced with leavening and malt. Steaming: brew one handful of fresh hops (two dry hops) in 2 liters of water, let it brew for a while. Strain the broth, stir a handful of flour into the still warm broth. After a short period of time (30-40 minutes), the steaming is ready. Prepare malt in the usual way - germinate grains of rye, wheat or barley, dry them and grind them.
To the main product: beets, potatoes, apples, pears, etc., add steaming and malt, dilute with water to a semi-liquid state, let it “win” in warm
place, distill. For 2 kg of steaming, take 3 kg of malt and half a bucket (5-6 l) of the main product. Yield - 5 l.

Mead. Four 700-gram jars of honey, one 3-liter jar of syrup, 25 liters of water, 300 g of yeast. Place in a warm place for a week. Exit finished product- 7 l.

From acorns. Peel the mature acorns, cut them into several parts and place them in a saucepan with water (1:3) and soak for two days. Then replace the water and heat to a boil, let it cool and drain the water, and grind the acorns by passing through a meat grinder. Pour the resulting acorn mass with water and cook over low heat for two hours. Then cool, add malt, stir and leave to liquefy. Further preparation is carried out according to the grain alcohol recipe. For 2 kg of acorns, take two glasses of dry malt and 6 liters of water. Yield: 1.1 l, strength 38-41(°).
It should be borne in mind that the alcohol distillate obtained according to the given recipes, which is called “moonshine” in everyday life, contains impurities harmful to the human body and requires additional purification.

Advice:
The word "" itself is of French origin, as are many other terms related to cooking roulette - to roll up.

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

The first thing you need to know is that you can only make alcohol (at home, at least) 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. You can learn how to get moonshine for making ethyl alcohol from another. Now you know what alcohol is made from!

Moonshine, as a rule, has an alcohol content of about 60-80% vol. It is preferable to dilute the raw material for alcohol to approximately 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 the “heads” and “tails” is obtained, which, as with distillation, must be separated when rectifying moonshine at home.

So, we understand that the production of alcohol at home begins with the production of mash, and then with raw alcohol. Next, we proceed directly to the home rectification 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 immediately note that in installations with a height of less than 1.5 m, large heating will be irrational. For example, in the case of the Shanghai device manufactured by Max Cuprum, the actual heating (without heat loss) should be about 350 kW, but taking into account heat loss, the heating power can be about 700 kW. Heat losses are calculated individually for each distillation unit.

The production of ethyl alcohol begins with the fact that you must pour raw alcohol into a distillation cube. Experienced moonshiners would also advise you to add one tsp for every 10 liters of raw moonshine. soda (baking soda). It is needed for saponification of esters, as well as neutralization of organic acids.

First, to make alcohol at home, you need to start heating the installation complete with filled moonshine. When the contents of the distillation cube reach a temperature of about 60 degrees, you should reduce the heating to the “working” temperature, which we indicated above. The product outlet will need to be shut off and the column “work for itself” for about half an hour (at least). It is important that for safety reasons you have an open atmospheric fitting (or have any other connection with the atmosphere, for example, in the case of the 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 heating, because You are faced with a common phenomenon - choking.

It is important that in order to obtain high-quality alcohol, the temperature of the product must be quite high (considerably 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 effective heat and mass transfer process.

To produce food alcohol after the installation has “worked for itself”, it is necessary to establish an effective sampling rate. In the case of “Shanghai” it is 350 ml/h. But it is important to take into account that the “heads” for producing alcohol from food raw materials should be selected as slowly as possible, at a rate of about 30-40 ml/h. They will amount to about 2% of the raw alcohol you poured into the distillation cube and contain impurities that significantly worsen the quality of the product. Therefore, if you are wondering how to quickly make alcohol, we have to disappoint you: no way.

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

The amount of circulating alcohol is determined using the Lang test: add 200 mg of potassium permanganate to 1 liter of water, mix and leave for 2 days. After this time, the test solution is considered ready! Take 50 ml of rectified product, add 1 ml of solution and note the 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 by rectified alcohol. If raw alcohol acquires this color in less than 10-20 minutes (everyone has different requirements for alcohol), then it is recycled alcohol. If it is more than this time, then it is a food fraction.

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

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

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

Now you know how to make 96° alcohol!

Moonshine, a product of the distillation of weak alcohol-containing liquids, became widespread in Russia back in the 15th - 16th centuries. Over the centuries, a huge variety of recipes have appeared, improved taste qualities manufactured moonshine.

However, all this great variety of folk recipes comes down to a triune combination: yeast, sugar and water.

After fermentation, this mixture, called mash or mash, is distilled through a special apparatus and turns into a product widely known from books, films, and even from one’s own practice, the smell of which “turns one’s nose up.”

But you can get almost odorless moonshine, and it will successfully replace store-bought vodka, and even more so low-quality and life-threatening drinks of unknown origin.

And you can make it from berries and fruits that grow in abundance in your garden plot. So where to start?

The main thing is to get sugar. Sugar is found in many fruits and berries. Its solution (squeezed juice) with a small amount of yeast, fermented, gives an alcohol-containing liquid, which must be distilled to release the alcohol. However, if alcohol could be produced only from ready-made sugar, then such production would become quite expensive: due to the shortage of sugar-containing raw materials. The solution is to use substances that, when processed in a certain way, can break down to form sugar.

These substances include plant starch, which can be decomposed into sugar by enzymes, in particular with the help of the diastase enzyme contained in malt. Starch is converted into sugar especially easily and completely if it is pre-boiled in water under pressure and the paste is converted, and if a certain temperature is maintained during the action of diastase on this paste.

This operation of processing boiled starch paste with malt (with the addition of water to liquefy the mass) at a fairly high temperature is called boiling with wort, and the resulting liquid is called wort.

This wort is further fermented by introducing yeast into it. Making mash from grain is more difficult.

When making mash from fruit and berry products, you should first rinse the raw materials well and remove spoiled specimens. Then the raw materials are crushed (using a meat grinder, masher, etc.) until a homogeneous mass is obtained, called pulp. To separate the juice, the pulp is poured into a container (a glass bottle with a wide neck, a wooden barrel, an enamel pan). Pulp that is too thick must be diluted with water. The pulp from sour fruits or berries should also be diluted with water. Yeast is added to the prepared pulp, the dish is covered with a clean linen cloth and placed in a warm place for fermentation. The temperature should be between +20 -22 degrees. C, if it is lower, then the pulp is heated. 2-3 days after the start of fermentation, the pulp is squeezed through gauze and separated from the marc. Sugar syrup (ratio of sugar and water 1:1) is added to the squeezed juice (wort) at a temperature not higher than +25 degrees. C and set to ferment again at a temperature of +18 - 22 degrees. WITH.

In any case, when making mash, as a result of fermentation and distillation, an alcohol-containing drink called moonshine is obtained.

Thus, the first place in popularity of use is regular sugar.

There are many recipes for making mash using sugar, as in pure form, and in the form of jam, sweets, etc.

The second most important is starch and various starch-containing products (wheat, rye, peas, barley, potatoes, etc.).

In this case, in the process of making mash, it is necessary to saccharify starch using malt. Cultivated and wild fruits and berries can also be used as raw materials.

The alcohol yield from 1 kg of some types of raw materials used is given in Table 9. It can be seen that the maximum alcohol yield is obtained when using grain raw materials. 9. Approximate yield of alcohol and vodka (l) from 1 kg of raw materials used Raw materials

Vodka alcohol yield (40% alcohol solution) Starch 0.72 1.52 Rice 0.59 1.25 Sugar 0.51 1.10 Buckwheat 0.47 1.00 Wheat 0.43 0.92 Oats 0.36 0.90 Rye 0.41 0.88 Millet 0.41 0.88 Peas 0.40 0.86 Barley 0.34 0.72 Potatoes 0.11-0.18 0.35 Grapes 0.09-0.14 0.25 Sugar beets 0.08-0.12 0.21 Pears 0.07 0.16 Apples 0.06 0.14 Cherries 0.05 0.12 Acorns 0.25 0.56 Chestnuts 0.26 0.57

All alcohol-containing drinks are so called because of the presence of ethyl alcohol in them, otherwise called alcohol. Alcohol is a waste product of yeast fungi, which convert sugar or fruit glucose into it.

To obtain ethyl alcohol from starch-containing raw materials at home, you need malt, malted milk, yeast, raw materials for the main mash, fermentation of the mash, distillation of the finished mash, purification of the moonshine, checking its quality.

Getting malt

Malt is a grain that has stopped growing at the very beginning of germination. Almost exclusively barley grain is used to make malt. If you cut the grain in half, you can see that the embryo is located next to a large supply of nutritional materials prepared by the mother plant: these are starch and nitrogen-containing substances. The embryo is separated from this material by a scutellum, the outer layer of which consists of so-called absorptive cells capable of transferring nutrients to the embryo. However, all of these materials are in solid and water-insoluble form. The embryo can only perceive nutrition in the form of a solution, so for its germination it is necessary, firstly, to have a solvent, and secondly, for nutrients (starch and proteins) to be transferred into solution. In this case, water always acts as a solvent, which must be given to the grain so that it is saturated with it. Enzymes act as agents that transform the insoluble nutrients present in the grain into a solution state. These complex organic substances accelerate chemical processes in plants millions of times and play a vital role in metabolism. Among the enzymes that develop in grains is the enzyme diastase, which converts starch first into maltose (an intermediate product of starch breakdown) and then into glucose. In order to force the grain to produce the required enzyme, it is placed in conditions under which it will begin to germinate - at the same time, it produces a significant amount of diastase for the purposes of its own nutrition. Once the grain has begun to sprout, it is dried to stop its growth.

Thus, the essence of making malt comes down to forcing the grain to produce the enzyme necessary for moonshine brewing, and this happens at the very early stage of germination.

To start the process, two factors are needed: water and the appropriate temperature. The barley grains are first thoroughly washed and then soaked so that they can absorb water. Washing and soaking are carried out in wide dishes with low sides. The dishes are washed clean and filled with water to half the volume. The grain is not poured in immediately, but in small portions, stirring constantly. After 2-3 hours, any debris, damaged or weak grains that float to the top are removed with a colander and thrown away. Then part of the water is drained, leaving enough of it so that it covers the grain with a layer of no more than 2.5 - 3 cm. Leave for 1-2 hours and remove the debris that floats to the top again. Soaking is carried out until all the grains swell, which happens after about 3-5 days. The water is changed daily. Signs that it is time to stop soaking: the husk is easily separated from the pulp; the grains bend between the nails and do not break; at the end of the grain to which the sprout is adjacent, the skin is cracked; With crushed grain you can draw a chalk-like line on a wooden board. After soaking, the grains are germinated in a well-ventilated area. They are scattered on the floor in an even layer no more than 15 cm thick, and after 5-8 hours they are turned over. As soon as root shoots appear, the layer is reduced to 10 cm, and when the grain temperature reaches +18 - 20 degrees. C, they begin to stir it constantly, sprinkling it with water to avoid premature drying of the malt. Grain germination must be stopped when: root sprouts have reached 1.5 grain lengths; the sprout of the grain itself has reached 1/2 - 1/3 of the grain; the roots are so intertwined with each other that if you take one grain, then 4-8 more grains will follow it; the grains have completely lost their floury taste." Grain germination begins with the development of a root; first one appears, then a whole bunch of them is formed. The germinal leaf, directing its growth in the opposite direction, goes under the scales for some time until it reaches the top of the grain, where it first swells scales, and then breaks through it and comes out. This happens approximately 10 days after the start of malting. The amount of diastase in the grain continues to increase with further growth. When the grains have sprouted to the required size, they are dried or their temperature is lowered with the help of a strong flow of air. The grain is harvested when it acquires a special smell characteristic of malt and when the sprouts are easily separated from friction in the hands.

If green malt is required, then malting continues for 12-14 days, until the sprout becomes 2-3 times longer than the grain. For every 100 parts by weight of barley, 140 - 150 parts of green malt or 80 parts of dried malt are obtained. Malt is considered good when it is: full and so light that, thrown into water, it does not sink to the bottom; crunches when bitten; sweet in taste and white inside; easily separated from sprouts; has a pleasant smell. Store malt in a dry place.

Grind at home using a coffee grinder or mortar. Before using dry malt or a mixture of malts, malt "milk" is prepared. To do this, the malt is soaked for 10 minutes in water at a temperature of +60 -65 degrees. C and mix thoroughly with a mixer until a homogeneous white liquid is obtained.

Ready-made malt “milk” is added to starters made from grains. Malt "milk" - a solution of malt with water - allows you to obtain a solution with enzymes capable of saccharifying starch. In malt “milk,” the main enzyme, diastase, is removed from the malt into solution, which is why it acquires a huge surface area for interaction with the starch of the wort.

Starch saccharification

The best malt "milk" is prepared from barley, rye and millet malts, taken in a 2:1:1 ratio. When making malted milk, the malt is thoroughly washed with hot water (temperature +65 degrees C) at least three times. The mixture of components is placed in a bowl with water, kept for 7-10 minutes and then the water is changed. For 1 kg of starch-containing raw materials, 65 - 80 g of malt and 0.45 - 0.5 liters of water are required. To ensure saccharification of starch, malted milk and a mixture of starch-containing raw materials and water (called mash) are heated to a temperature of +55 -65 degrees. C and stand for a certain time. The duration of starch saccharification largely depends on the starting material. If pure starch is used, then saccharification lasts 7-8 hours, but if potato mash is saccharified, then 1-2 hours. It is important that the temperature regime is strictly maintained. Mixing malt milk and starch mass is carried out in a mash tun (a saucepan with a capacity of at least 10 liters). 0.5 liters of malted milk and cold water are poured into the bowl, everything is vigorously stirred and the boiled starch mass is slowly added. The solution is heated, making sure that the temperature does not exceed +60 degrees. C. If the temperature rises higher, the mash tun should be cooled by washing its surface with cold water. The mixture must be constantly stirred. When it becomes homogeneous, pour the remaining malted milk into the vat and mix thoroughly again. During mashing, malted milk is mixed with steamed or boiled starch mass and saccharifies the starch. The resulting liquid is filtered and the wort is tested. After this, yeast is added to the wort and left to ferment. The consumption rates of malt and water for saccharification of 1 kg of starch raw materials are given in Table 10.

10. Consumption rates for malt and water during saccharification of 1 kg of starch raw material Type of raw material Rate of mixed malt, g Amount of water, l Volume of malted milk, l Potatoes with a starch content of 15% 40-50 ; 0.25 0.2 Potatoes with a starch content of 20% 50-60 0.5 0.3 Wheat flour 90-120 4 0.5 Rye flour 80-100 3.5 0.4 Oat flour (oat flour) 80-100 3 .5 0.4 Pea flour 80-100 3 0.4 ^

After the saccharification time has expired, the concentration of sugars in the wort is measured and the presence of unsaccharified starch is checked using an iodine test. To carry out an iodine test, approximately 10 ml of wort is taken from the upper clarified layer. The sample is filtered, poured into a saucer and 2-3 drops of an aqueous solution of iodine are added. If the sample does not change color (it remains brown-yellow), then it is considered that saccharification has occurred completely. If the sample has acquired a red tint, it means that the saccharification process has not ended and must be continued. If the sample turns purple, it means that saccharification is not going well and you need to add malted milk. An iodine solution is prepared from 0.5 g of iodine crystals, 1 g of potassium iodide and 125 ml of water, mixing everything thoroughly. Store the solution in a dark place. Saccharification is carried out until the iodine test shows the complete absence of unsaccharified starch in the mash. If the malt is old or the technology is broken, the saccharification process can take up to 20 hours, instead of the usual 3-4. If the house has a wood-burning stove, then it is better to put the mash in it overnight, cooling it under the stove to +60 degrees. C. After saccharification, the sugar concentration in the wort should be about 16 - 18% (1.06 - 1.0"7 g/cm3). The sugar concentration is determined as follows.

Drain off the clarified layer of wort, filter through linen cloth and pour 200 ml into a measuring glass. A saccharometer is lowered into a glass. A wort with a sugar concentration of at least 16% and a sweetish taste is considered high-quality.

Acidity can be determined using indicator paper placed in a measuring glass: the degree of change in its color will indicate the acidity of the wort. Acidity is determined less accurately by taste: with normal acidity, the wort has a slightly sour taste. Wort fermentation When control measurements have been made, the wort is cooled to +30 degrees. C, add ammonium chloride at the rate of 0.3 g per 1 liter of wort and yeast mash. Stir everything and continue cooling to a temperature of +15 degrees. C. At this temperature, the wort is poured into a fermentation tank (a container of appropriate volume) and placed in a dark place for fermentation. The fermentation tank is covered with a linen cloth and stirred periodically, after 5 - 6 hours. Fermentation has three stages: initial fermentation, main fermentation and post-fermentation. During the initial fermentation, the mash is saturated with carbon dioxide, its temperature rises by 2 - 3 degrees. C. The sweetness gradually disappears. The initial stage can last up to 30 hours. During the main fermentation, the surface of the mash becomes covered with bubbles and a lot of foam is formed. The temperature rises to +30 degrees. C, the alcohol concentration increases rapidly, the taste becomes sour. By the end of the main fermentation, the concentration of sugars in the mash decreases to 1.5 - 3%. The duration of this process is 15 - 24 hours. At the post-fermentation stage, the foam settles, the temperature of the mash drops to +25 - 26 degrees. C, the taste becomes bitter-sour, the concentration of sugars decreases to 1%, and the acidity increases.

The main purpose of this stage is the fermentation of starch transformation products (dextrins), therefore it is necessary to keep diastase in an active state in the mash. To do this, the temperature regime during the saccharification process must be strictly maintained.

So, potato mash ferments for 15-25 hours, beet mash - 90-120 hours. At the end of fermentation, the quality of the mash is checked. The readiness of mature mash is determined by the following indicators: alcohol content, residual sugar concentration (low-grade) and acidity.

To determine the alcohol content, you need to take 100 ml of mash filtrate and add 100 ml of water to it. Then distill half the volume of the mixture, measure the density (strength) of the solution with an alcohol meter at a temperature of +20 degrees. C and determine the alcohol content. To establish the residual concentration of Sugars (unkindness), you need to take 200 ml of mash, filter through several layers of linen cloth into a measuring glass and lower the saccharometer into it. The device readings should be no higher than 1.002, which corresponds to a sugar concentration of approximately 1%, and the sweetness of the mash cannot be tasted. The following is considered good mash: alcohol content of at least 10%, concentration of residual sugar (poor quality) - no more than 0.45%, acidity - no more than 0.2%. Distillation of alcohol After fermentation is completely over and the mash has turned into mash, the stage of separating the resulting alcohol from the rest of the substances that make up the mash begins. The process of separating alcohol from mash is called distillation or distillation (from the Latin word stilla - drop). The distillation process is based on the fact that the boiling point of alcohol differs from the boiling point of water and fusel oils. Pure (absolute) alcohol boils at a temperature of +78.3 degrees. C at an atmospheric pressure of 760 mmHg. At the same pressure, water boils at +100 degrees. WITH.

The essence of distillation is that the mash is heated to boiling point, and the resulting steam is cooled, and the steam collects in the refrigerator in the form of drops, merging into a stream when sufficiently accumulated. This liquid, collected by cooling the steam, is called distillate. If there is a mixture of alcohol and water boiling in their pure form at different temperatures, then the boiling point of this mixture will be somewhere between the boiling points of water (+100 degrees C) and alcohol (+78.3 degrees C). And the more alcohol in the mixture, the lower the boiling point of the mixture. When the mixture boils, the alcohol will evaporate much faster than water. The more alcohol evaporates from the mixture, the less of it remains in the water and the higher the boiling point of the mixture rises. For example, from 100 volume parts of mash containing 14 volume percent alcohol, you need to distill 35 volume parts of liquid to remove all the alcohol from there, while the distillate will contain 38.8 degrees. alcohol, which corresponds to 32.3 weight percent. To obtain alcohol of 88 degrees, the resulting distillate must be distilled 5 more times. This repeated distillation of alcohol is called rectification. By distilling 100% volume parts of a mash containing 10 volume percent alcohol, you can distill all the alcohol with the first 40 volume parts, and the alcohol strength in the distillate will be 25 degrees. These 40 parts of distillate give: during the 2nd distillation, 20 parts alcohol strength 50°, with the 3rd distillation 14 parts of alcohol with a strength of 71°, with the 4th distillation 12.5 parts of alcohol with a strength of 80°. In the end, you can reach a strength of 96 - 97°, but not higher, because the last 3 - 4% of water is retained by alcohol very strongly and cannot be removed by distillation.

Distillation of alcohol is a complex process and requires strict adherence to temperature conditions at all stages. To obtain high-quality moonshine, heating the mash must be carried out in stages. To justify the choice of temperature regime, you can use a graphical representation of the distillation process (Fig. 7), where the curve is somewhat idealized, since in real conditions strict adherence to the temperature regime is fraught with great difficulties and is often impossible. In order to avoid mistakes often made by moonshiners who do not have sufficient experience, it is necessary to pay attention to the main points of the distillation process: the first critical point (1) corresponds to the boiling point of light impurities contained in the mash (+65 - 68 ° C); the second critical point (2) corresponds to the boiling point of ethyl alcohol (+78°C), and at a mixture temperature above +85°C (point 3), intensive release of heavy fractions - fusel oils - begins. The mode of heating the mash to critical point 1 is practically unlimited, and the higher the heating rate, the more efficient the work moonshine still. When the temperature reaches +65 - 68 degrees. The intense release of light impurities begins. Therefore, moonshine, popularly called “pervach”, is obtained by heating the mash from +65 to +78 degrees. C, is the most poisonous and unsuitable even for external use as lotions and other alcohol-saturated infusions. Graphic representation of the distillation process

The beginning of the process of intense evaporation (point 1) is easily determined if there is a thermometer in the evaporator chamber. If it is not there, the temperature corresponding to critical point 1 can be determined visually without much difficulty: moisture begins to condense on the walls of the refrigerator - “fogging”, the first drops appear on the outlet neck of the refrigerator and the walls of the receiving flask, and a slight alcohol smell appears. The moment of transition of the process from point 1 to point 2 is the most critical, since it requires a sharp decrease in the heating rate in a relatively small temperature range - otherwise the mash may be released.

Critical point 2 corresponds to the beginning of the main process of moonshine distillation. It should be borne in mind that during distillation the concentration of alcohol in the mixture will constantly decrease. This will cause an involuntary increase in the boiling point of the mash, which will worsen the distillation conditions. The ideal conditions for obtaining a high-quality product is maintaining a temperature regime in the range of +78 - 83 degrees. C during the main distillation time.

Critical point 3 corresponds to the minimum amount of alcohol content in the mash. To extract these residues, it is necessary to increase the temperature of the mash, which, in turn, will cause intense release of fusel oil fractions and a deterioration in the taste and quality of the distillate. The temperature at which the intensive release of fusel oils begins (point 3) corresponds to +85 degrees. C. The distillation process should be stopped when the mash temperature exceeds +85 degrees. C. If there is no thermometer in the distillation apparatus, then this stage can be determined using a piece of paper soaked in the resulting solution. this moment distillate. If the piece of paper flashes blue, then the distillation can be continued; the cessation of burning indicates that the concentration of ethyl alcohol is low, and fusel oils predominate in the distillate. In this case, distillation should be stopped or the resulting product should be collected in a separate container and processed with the next portion of mash. The presence of fusel oils in moonshine or vodka can be determined as follows. An equal amount of sulfuric acid is added to the sample from the liquid being tested (electrolyte for car batteries can be used). If the mixture turns black, it means there is fusel oil in the moonshine or vodka. Equipment and containers Thermometers used to control temperature must be liquid with a scale of up to +120 degrees. WITH.

The quality of the final product depends on the accuracy of determining and maintaining temperature during distillation, so it is necessary to use thermometers with scale divisions of 0.5 degrees. A hydrometer is used to determine the absolute alcohol content in alcohol-containing liquids. This is a glass float with a ball at the bottom where the weight is placed. At the top there is a graduated scale to determine the relative weight of the liquid. For measurements at home, you will need a hydrometer with a measurement range of 0.82 to 1.00 g/cm3. The measurement is carried out like this. The liquid is poured into a glass vessel, a hydrometer is lowered into it; when it becomes motionless, read from the scale the value that it shows. Filters are used to purify alcohol-containing liquids from impurities. In addition to homemade filters, you can also use household filters designed to purify tap water. Connecting elements and seals. When using any design of a moonshine still, it becomes necessary to use various tubes, hoses, plugs, etc.

It should be remembered that fermentation and distillation products are chemically active substances, therefore, whenever possible, stainless steel, glass or special chemical-resistant rubber should be used to connect individual units of the apparatus. Putties can be used to seal connecting nodes and parts. Putty made from water and flour. Fry the flour, dilute it with water until it becomes mushy and cover the cracks with it. Yellow wax putty is very fusible, but this drawback can be avoided if you add 1 part by weight of coniferous tree resin to 3 parts of wax. This putty is especially suitable for glass parts of distillation apparatuses. Grease putty is prepared from dry clay and boiling linseed oil. The putty easily adheres to glass and metal, but only if the surfaces are dry. English putty consists of 2 parts finely ground lead oxide (lightweed), 1 part crushed into powder river sand and 1 part fine lime powder. All components are thoroughly mixed and mixed with linseed oil until sour cream thickens. Apparatuses for distilling alcohol For distilling alcohol, there are many designs of distillation apparatus based on the same principle.

The essence of the process is as follows. The alcohol contained in the mash transforms into a gaseous state under the influence of temperature. Its boiling point is much lower than the boiling point of water. Entering the cooling chamber (refrigerator) through the pipes, the alcohol condenses and flows as a liquid into the alcohol receiver. This is the principle.

The difference lies in the design of units and parts of the devices (plate or coil type of refrigerator), as well as in a number of special devices designed to increase the concentration of alcohol in vapor and purify it from harmful impurities and odors. The simplest distillation apparatus (Fig. 8 a) consists of a pan of the required size, which is half filled with mash. A stand is placed at the bottom of the pan, which can be made from a used one. tin can(the stand should be higher than the level of the mash). Numerous holes must be punched in the jar so that it does not vibrate under the influence of steam. A plate with a diameter 5 - 10 mm smaller than the inner diameter of the pan is placed on the stand. Place a bowl of cold water on the pan. However, using such a device it is impossible, or almost impossible, to obtain high-quality alcohol. It comes out cloudy, and some of the alcohol simply evaporates into the air. Another version of a similar apparatus is shown in Fig. 8 b, c.

When the mash is heated, alcohol-containing steam rises to contact with the cold bottom of basin 2, where it condenses, turning into moonshine, and flows into collection 3. Evaporator 4 is sealed with basin 1 using dough or other putties, the recipes for which are given above. These device designs are simple due to the use of ready-made elements and are convenient for use in any conditions. Their main drawback is that it is necessary to periodically remove the basin with coolant in order to remove moonshine from the collection (this does not apply to the diagram shown in Fig. 8, c.) If you apply skill and use metalworking skills, you can make the apparatus shown in Fig. . 9. The prototype for it was the previous schemes. The essence of the improvement is to install an additional funnel 2 and an outlet tube with a tap 4. Due to this, it becomes possible to move the collection 5 outside the evaporator. The funnel is placed on a wire basket or tripod installed at the bottom of the evaporator 3. The joint between the refrigerator 1 and the evaporator is sealed with dough, as a result of which a possible explosion is prevented when excess pressure is formed. At the same time, the dough does not allow alcohol-bearing vapors to evaporate, and the smell of fusel will not linger in the room.

Diagrams of the simplest distillation apparatuses Fig. 8. Schemes of the simplest distillation apparatus: a - with a floating collection of moonshine; b - with collections installed on a stand (1 - basin, 2 - cold water, 3 - collection, 4 - evaporator, 5 - mash, 6 - heat source, 7 - stand, 8 - tube); c-with distillate discharge to the outside. Rice. 9. Diagrams of isothermal distillation apparatus: Diagrams of isothermal distillation apparatus a - with a receiving funnel on a tripod; b- with a funnel attached to the refrigerator (1 - refrigerator, 2 - funnel, 3 - evaporator, 4 - tap, 5 - moonshine collection, 6 - tripod, 7 - funnel fastening). Diagram of a distillation apparatus made from improvised means Fig. 10 Diagram of a distillation apparatus using improvised means; / - heat source; 2 - stand; 3 t-vessel with water 4 - jar with a volume of 10 l; 5-thermometer; 6- connecting tube; 7 - water supply tap; 8-can with a volume of 3 l; 9 - outlet tube; 10 -sink with drain. When using this apparatus, it is necessary to carry out some research related to the volume of the evaporator 3 and the amount of mash poured into it. To guarantee the quality of the final product, you should periodically, using tap 4, drain the moonshine into collection 5. To determine the regularity of draining the finished product, experiments are necessary on devices of this design.

From scrap materials, you can quickly build a simple distillation device (Fig. 10).

It consists of glass jars with a capacity of 10 and 3 liters. The large jar is used to heat the mash, and the smaller one is used as a refrigerator. A large jar is filled 1/2 full with mash and placed in a water bath (take a basin or wide low pan with water and place it on an electric or gas stove). The jar is closed with a stopper with holes for the thermometer 5 and tube 6. The small jar is also closed with a stopper with two holes - for the connecting tube 6 and the outlet tube 9 - and is turned over. The end of tube 6, which goes into a small jar, should reach almost to its bottom; along it, alcohol-containing vapors enter the refrigerator, condense on the walls of the jar and flow down. For greater efficiency, the refrigerator jar is placed under running cold water. Tube 9 serves to equalize the pressure inside the refrigerator. Some of the vapor that did not have time to condense will escape through this tube to the outside. They can be caught if you place a water seal at the end of the tube: the alcohol will dissolve in. water. This liquid can be distilled with the next portion of mash. To distill small quantities of mash, you can make a very convenient apparatus from a pressure cooker (Fig. 11). The valves are removed from the lid 1 of the pan, and in their place plugs are installed for the thermometer 2 and tube 3, which is connected to the refrigerator 4, which has forced water cooling. The movement of the cooling water flow is shown in the figure by arrows. The device works more efficiently the colder the water flowing through the refrigerator. The refrigerator itself is connected to the receiving flask 6 by a glass tube 5 with an elongated narrow end. This end should reach almost to the bottom of the flask.

Diagram of a distillation apparatus based on a pressure cooker Fig. eleven.

Diagram of a distillation apparatus based on a pressure cooker: 1 - lid; 2 - thermometer; 3 - connecting tube; 4 - refrigerator; 5 - drain tube; 6 - collection of moonshine; 7 - cold water bath. Pour mash into the pressure cooker in an amount of 2/3 of the volume of the pan, close the lid tightly and place on gas or electric stove. Then connect the inlet pipe of the refrigerator to the water tap, and lower the outlet pipe into the sink. Open the tap and ensure a constant flow of water. After bringing the mash to +65 - 70 degrees. Reduce heat slightly. The beginning of the boiling of alcohol is determined by the appearance of drops of distillate and a characteristic odor. This distillation apparatus is particularly compact, practical and easy to maintain. After some experience and acquisition of skills in working with the device, you can obtain the product sufficiently High Quality. The disadvantages of the device are low productivity and small volume of the evaporator, which requires frequent refilling of the mash. The distillation apparatus shown in Fig. 12 differs from other designs in its compactness and availability of individual elements. However, it has low performance. The design of the device allows you to distill mash and flavored solutions in small volumes (from 0.5 to 7 l).

Diagram of a compact distillation apparatus Fig. 12.

Diagram of a compact distillation apparatus: ./ - tripod; 2 - asbestos mesh; 3.9 - flasks; 4 - thermometer; 5.8 - connecting tubes; 6 - refrigerator; 7 - water outlets; 10 - cold water bath. A flask 3 is installed on an asbestos mesh 2, fixed in a stand 1, closed with a stopper with a hole for a thermometer 4. The hole in the side plug serves for a tube 5 connecting the flask to a refrigerator 6, which has outlets 7 for connecting cold water and a connecting tube 8 for drainage of condensate into receiver 9, installed in bath 10 with cold water. Flask 3 is filled to 2/3 of its volume with liquid for subsequent distillation. The improved design of the device is shown in Fig. 13. It uses a water bath 1 and a drop catcher 3. A flask 2 is placed in the water bath, into which pieces of ceramic are placed to ensure uniform boiling of the mash. Droplet eliminator 3 catches drops of liquid emitted along with steam into the pipeline and returns them to the evaporator. Alcohol vapor, passing through the drop catcher and connecting tube 4, rises into the refrigerator 5, where it condenses and flows into the receiving area as a finished product.

Diagram of a distillation apparatus with a drop eliminator Fig. 13.

Diagram of a distillation apparatus with a drop eliminator: I - water bath; 2 - flask; 3 - drop catcher; 4 - connecting tube: 5 - refrigerator; 6 - collection of moonshine. nickname 6. When working with such a device, it is necessary to pay attention to the correct connection of water to the refrigerator and the direction of its movement (indicated in the figure by arrows), which increases the efficiency of the device.

The still with a coil (Fig. 14) has become the most widespread. It consists of a tank 1, closed by a lid 2, in which a thermometer 3 and a pipeline 4 are mounted. The latter is connected to a coil 5 located in the tank 6 and cooled by running water. Tank 1 is filled with mash to 2/3 of the volume and brought to a boil. When heating the mash to +75 degrees. C, the heating rate is reduced. Diagram of a distillation cube with a coil Fig. 14. Diagram of a distillation cube with a coil: / - tank; 2 - cover; 3 - thermometer; 4 - connecting tube; 5 - coil; 6 - cold water tank. Diagram of a distillation cube with a device for increasing the concentration of alcohol in the distillate Fig. 15. Diagram of a distillation cube with a device for increasing the concentration of alcohol in the distillate: / - tank; 2 - thermometers; 3 - safety valve tube; 4 - pipeline; 5 - additional tank; 6 - refrigerator; 7 - moonshine collection: 8 -water bath with cold water. and achieve stable boiling with a fully controlled heating process. The productivity of this design is 1 - 1.5 liters of moonshine per hour of operation. The strength of the product after a single distillation is 35 - 45 degrees.

To get more high-quality moonshine use the apparatus diagram (Fig. 15), which includes a design for cleaning and increasing the concentration of the distillate. It consists of a tank 1, thermometers 2, a tube 3, which serves to protect against a sudden increase in pressure, a pipeline 4, an additional tank 5, a refrigerator 6 and a product receiver 7. When working with such a device, first heat the water in the additional tank 5, then the mash in tank 1 and begin distillation. Alcohol-containing vapors pass through tank 5 with a water temperature of +80 - 82 degrees. C. In this case, the water component of the vapor condenses in tank 5, and the alcohol-containing vapor released from it enters the refrigerator 6 and, after condensation, into the receiver 7. Since part of the alcohol vapor condenses in tank 5, the water in it is saturated with alcohol. This water is distilled either separately or with the next portion of mash.

To obtain a good quality alcohol distillate, a convenient diagram (Fig. 16, a), where the so-called reflux condenser 3 is placed between the evaporator and the refrigerator - a device that allows ethyl alcohol to be separated as completely as possible from all components. In the primary chamber of the reflux condenser, due to air cooling, heavier fractions of alcohols with a boiling point of more than +80 degrees are condensed. C, which flow back into the evaporator. In the upper part of the reflux condenser, a liquid with a boiling point of about +78 degrees condenses. C (ethyl alcohol). It is this that flows into the refrigerator 5 and into the receiver 6 of the finished product.

Diagram of the distillation apparatus Fig. 16.

Diagram of the distillation apparatus: a - with a reflux condenser (1 - evaporator. 2 - thermometers, 3 - reflux condenser, 4 - connecting tube, 5 - refrigerator, b - moonshine collector); b - diagram of the reflux condenser (1 - thermometer, 2 - reflux condenser, 3 - refrigerator connecting pipe, 4 - evaporator). Diagram of a distillation apparatus with an additional vessel Fig. 17. Diagram of a distillation apparatus with an additional vessel: / - tank with mash; 2.4- thermometers; 3 - connecting cabin; 5-refrigerator with coil; 6 - collection of moonshine; 7 - additional vessel. Distillation processes are monitored using thermometers 2. After heating the mash and the alcohol begins to boil away, it is necessary to drain the lower boiling fractions, and then, by adjusting the heating strength and distillation speed, achieve a stable condensate temperature of +78 degrees. C at the top of the reflux condenser. After establishing the required temperature, you can begin collecting the highest quality fraction of the distillate. At home, to obtain high-quality moonshine, you can use a dephlegmator, the diagram of which is shown in Fig. 16, b.

If you use a distillation apparatus with an additional vessel (Fig. 17), it will allow you to better clean the product from impurities and increase the alcohol concentration to 70 - 80 degrees. Its main difference from other distillation devices is the presence of an additional vessel with water. The operation of the device is based on passing the vapors of a mixture of alcohol and water through an aqueous medium with a set temperature of 80 - 82 degrees. C, as a result of which the water vapor of the mixture condenses and remains in the vessel, and the alcohol vapor passes through the refrigerator, cools and condenses in it, and is then collected in a collection. Two vessels are connected to each other by a pipeline. A thermometer is installed in each of them. A cube with a coil can be used as a refrigerator. Tank 1 is filled to no more than 2/3 of its volume alcohol-containing liquid(with mash or moonshine after the first distillation). Purifying moonshine After distilling an alcohol-containing liquid at home, harmful impurities are always present. To reduce their number it is necessary throughout technological process follow certain rules: when preparing mash, be sure to use high-quality raw materials; after the end of the fermentation process, keep the mash until it is completely clarified; When distilling, carefully observe temperature conditions. Complete purification of the alcohol-containing liquid obtained during distillation consists of the following processes: preliminary chemical purification, special distillation, basic chemical purification and filtration. During preliminary chemical purification, the resulting alcohol-containing liquid is treated with a solution of potassium permanganate. For each liter of liquid, add 2 g of potassium permanganate, diluted in 50 ml of distilled water. The vessel with the alcohol-containing liquid and the cleaner is thoroughly mixed and left for 10-12 minutes at rest until a precipitate forms and the solution becomes lighter. After this, the liquid is filtered through a filter made of 2 - 3 layers of linen fabric. Special distillation is carried out in a distillation apparatus equipped with thermometers, which allows you to control the temperature of the process. It should be noted that with a high alcohol content, the alcohol-containing liquid does not easily part with impurities. To avoid this, the liquid must be diluted with water to 40 - 45% concentration. The liquid poured into the distillation apparatus is quickly heated to +60 degrees. C, and then the heating rate is reduced, gradually bringing it to a temperature of +82 - 84.5 degrees. C. The first fraction obtained at the beginning of distillation (it is usually 3 - 8% of the original volume) is poured into a separate container. This fraction is used for technical purposes. The next stage of distillation should take place at a higher heating rate (up to +95 - 97 degrees C). As a result, the next fraction is released (its volume is 40 - 45% of the original volume). This fraction is poured into a separate container. It can be used to make drinks. The third fraction contains the highest content of fusel oils and a small amount of wine alcohol. The main chemical cleaning is carried out using activated carbon, which is quite accessible at home and gives good results. Activated carbon can be obtained from different types of trees, but it should be borne in mind that the absorption capacity of carbon varies. Experience has determined that it increases in the following order: poplar, alder, aspen, spruce, oak, linden, pine, birch, beech. It should also be borne in mind that when preparing coal, it is necessary to use wood lumps, without bark, knots and cores from trees no older than 50 years old. The prepared chocks are burned on a fire until there is no longer a flame, but only heat from the coals. From these, larger coals are selected, placed in some kind of container and covered tightly with a lid. When the coals have cooled, they are taken out, blown off coal dust, crushed into pieces of 7 - 10 mm and sifted on a sieve to remove dust and fines. To obtain activated carbon, it is better to put the coals from the fire in a colander and hold them over a bowl of boiling water until they cool to extinguish them with steam. You cannot put coals in water. A filter is made from prepared activated carbon. Take a funnel (preferably glass) of suitable size, put in it a thin layer of cotton wool, a layer of gauze, and on it a layer of activated carbon at the rate of 50 g per 1 liter of liquid to be purified. The edges of the gauze are wrapped inside the watering can so that the coal does not float up. The alcohol-containing liquid is filtered through charcoal 2-3 times. You can clean with activated carbon in this way: put carbon into a bottle with an alcohol-containing liquid (50 g per 1 liter of liquid), then this mixture is infused for 2-3 weeks, shaking twice a day. Then filter through cloth or filter paper.

One of the ways to purify moonshine is freezing. The distilled alcohol is poured into strong containers, for example, champagne bottles, sealed and placed in the refrigerator freezer for several days or, if it is winter, in the cold. The water contained in alcohol, along with impurities, turns into ice. Before the ice melts, the alcohol must be drained.

How to make alcohol that is close in strength to 100 degrees. ?

To do this, you need to take copper sulfate, calcine it in a glass, copper or aluminum container and pour it into the alcohol obtained after distillation. Since one molecule of vitriol attaches to itself seven molecules of water, the alcohol is dehydrated. If you distill such alcohol again, it will become 100 degrees. It must be stored in a very tightly sealed container, because this alcohol is extremely hygroscopic. Distillation of the primary distillation After the first distillation, the alcohol distillation is neutralized with ash obtained from burning birch firewood. When re-distilling, alcohol distillate is poured into the apparatus, filling no more than 3/4 of the volume. Up to a temperature of +70 degrees. The heating of the alcohol distillate is carried out intensively, and then the degree of heating is reduced. The boiling point of the distillate is +85 - 87 degrees. From and until this temperature is reached, heating is carried out slowly. When secondary distillation appears, the heating rate must be increased. During the second distillation, it is necessary to constantly monitor the alcohol concentration in the receiver with an alcohol meter. When the concentration of the secondary distillate is 55 - 60 degrees. the resulting alcohol is poured off and the distillation of the second fraction is continued until the boiling point of the mixture rises to +98.5 degrees. C. The distillate of the second fraction with a low alcohol concentration (30 degrees) should be distilled again. When distilling an alcohol distillate, it is necessary to take into account the initial volume of the distillate and the volume of the resulting alcohol. The total volume of the two fractions of the second distillation should be no more than half the volume of the initial alcohol distillation. The alcohol concentration in the distillate product is usually determined by the combustion method. To do this, take a tablespoon (about 20 ml) of distillate and set it on fire. It is believed that if the combustion is even and stable with a high flame, and the water residue is less than half the initial volume, then the alcohol concentration is more than 50 degrees. ; if the combustion is intermittent, with a flashing flame, then the alcohol concentration is 35-38 degrees. ; if combustion does not occur, then the alcohol concentration is less than 30 degrees. Refining moonshine So, alcohol has been obtained. But this is not vodka yet - it has to be made. Therefore, first you need to learn how to flavor the drink. To create a supply of plants for obtaining aromas, such plants must first be dried and stored in a tightly closed container. Plants are crushed using any available method. Aromatic substances are extracted using a solvent: water and alcohol. It is better to use alcohol of 45 - 50 degrees strength. Infused plants should be no more than 2 cm covered with solvent. Fresh plants are infused for 3-5 days, dry ones - from 8 to 15 days. If it is desirable to obtain an alcohol solution infused with orange or lemon zest, the process should last 3-4 months. The vessel for infusion can be a regular saucepan or can.

Next comes steam distillation. Its essence is that aroma vapors are drawn into the cooler by water vapor. Concentrated alcohol solutions of aromatic substances are called essences. Essences with a strength of 65 degrees. can be stored for a long time without losing their quality. To prepare the flavor more quickly, make a decoction - a solution obtained by boiling the raw material in a closed container, followed by infusion or without it. Boil the raw materials for 10-15 minutes (the ratio of raw materials and water is 1:2 - 1:5). If the decoction is distilled, you can obtain concentrated solutions with a high degree of saturation with aromatic substances.

Essential oils and glucosides contained in plants give drinks a special aroma. Various spices (pepper, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg) or combinations of them are widely used as flavoring additives.

Various parts of plants can be used for flavoring: seeds (mustard, anise, cumin, dill), fruits (pepper, cardamom, vanilla), flowers (saffron, cloves), flower buds (capers), leaves (laurel, tarragon, marjoram, savory, etc.), bark (cinnamon, oak), roots (horseradish, ginger, maral root, etc.). Choosing combinations various additives, you can get flavored drinks to suit every taste

It should be remembered that to prepare vodkas with essences, you need to take alcohol with a strength of 60 degrees, and for liqueurs and other alcoholic drinks with aromas of essential oils - 80 - 90 degrees, since oils do not dissolve in weaker alcohol.

Spices and substances, in turn, are divided into two classes: firstly, plants with essential oils- caraway seeds, anise, dill, celery, juniper berries, lemon peel, bitter almonds; secondly, aromatic plant substances with the presence of non-volatile aromas and bitter substances in them - cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, vanilla, nutmeg, galangal, wormwood, etc.

Flavoring additives:

Many substances can improve and correct the taste of the drink. The corresponding taste appears after infusion on these substances for at least 2 weeks. For ease of use, the taste and required amount of flavoring additives are summarized in Table 11. 11. Flavoring additives Name of flavoring additive Taste Amount, g/l Orange peel bitter 50 - 100 Lemon zest bitter 60-250 Grapefruit zest bitter 2.5 - 50

Drinking (wine, ethyl) alcohol is widely used in the household: it is part of strong drinks and wines, and is used as a preservative in home preparations of fruits, berries and juices. Of particular note healing properties drinking alcohol, the main component of medicinal and healing tinctures, which stimulates blood circulation, due to which it is used for compresses and rubbing (as an effective external remedy).

Drinking alcohol is a colorless transparent liquid with a characteristic odor and taste, easily soluble in water in any quantity. Alcohol is lighter than water and therefore is unevenly distributed throughout the volume of the aqueous mixture; it is more concentrated in the upper layers of the aqueous solution and in the mash. The specific density 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 and require careful handling and compliance with fire safety rules.

Avoid using open flames to heat alcohol; steam heating is preferable.

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

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

Selection and preparation of raw materials

Life experience has shown that the main criterion when choosing raw materials is its availability, i.e. minimizing the cost of its acquisition. Sugar is most often used as a raw material, but it should be remembered that sugar is not only a valuable, but often a scarce 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 raw materials, a table is provided for the yield of alcohol and vodka from various types of raw materials.

The choice of the type of raw material largely determines the quality of the finished product. For example, alcohol from sugar beets and pomace is not suitable for preparing thin beets.

Juice-quality varieties of alcohol, but it is better than many others for simple, sharp and sharp drinks, which are characterized by a relatively low cost. Alcohol from potatoes is of slightly better quality, but requires refinement (double distillation, additional purification). With appropriate processing, alcohol from fruits and berries approaches the high-quality category and is suitable for quality drinks. To prepare high-quality strong drinks, we recommend using alcohol obtained from starch raw materials (wheat or other grains).

In addition to starch- and sugar-containing products, yeast, water, minerals and aromatic substances are needed to prepare drinking alcohol.

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

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

Starch is the main carbohydrate of potatoes and cereal flour; it has the ability to swell, gelatinize and be converted by enzymes into simple sugars, which during fermentation turn into wine spirit. To convert starch into sugar, it is subjected to saccharification. This operation is carried out in a liquid medium at elevated temperatures 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 derivative value and occupies the smallest volume during storage, which makes it the most profitable raw material for producing alcohol.

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

Potatoes rank first in the ease of extracting starch and converting it into sugar. The gelatinization temperature of potato starch, i.e., the transition to a soluble state, is 55°C. To increase the alcohol yield, it is better to use potato varieties with high content starch (20-25%). Determining the starch content in potatoes is easy. First, you need to weigh, for example, 5 kg of potatoes in air in a light bag or net, and then re-weigh this potato by lowering it into water and without removing it from it. The weight of the potatoes will be much less. Depending on the weight of potatoes placed in water, the starch content is determined from the table below and the alcohol yield from the amount of raw material 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 more liquid and therefore more suitable for fermentation.

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

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

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

To do this, first mix flour with water in a 1:1 ratio and leave for 20 minutes, then wash the dough 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, and the starch is washed out with water into a basin and used to make the mash. Other agricultural crops, including wild ones, containing starch in sufficient quantities, as well as cereal and bread kitchen waste, can also be used to produce 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 cultures contain sugars less than 10%, which does not allow obtaining alcohol 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 yeast activity. Therefore, in order to increase the concentration of sugars and reduce the acidity of the mash, the juices are subjected to special processing: neutralization and boiling.

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

Apples occupy second place in the production of alcohol and wines after starch raw materials. They contain a simple sugar, levulose, which is directly fermented by yeast.

The sugar of grapes and fruits - glucose, as well as the 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 forests, meadows, along the edges of fields and swamps, in shallow bays of rivers and lakes (see table).

Acorns are of particular interest because they are easy to find and collect. Contains about 57% starch and up to 10% sugars. Tannins give acorns an astringent, bitter taste and inhibit the development of yeast. If these substances are removed, then a good starch-containing product is obtained from acorns, suitable for producing alcohol. Tannins are easily removed by soaking. To make alcohol, pulp is made from acorns. To do this, acorns collected ripe at the end of September are peeled, each cut into several parts and filled with water for two days. Then the water is drained and the acorns are again filled 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 flour from rye, wheat or other crops.

Horse chestnut contains a large amount of starch, so it can be used to produce 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 to obtain flour.

Icelandic lichen contains up to 44% soluble starch (lichenin) and up to 3% sugar. The 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, and soaked in water again for 24 hours. clean water, then dried and ground into flour. To soak 1 kg of lichens, you need 16 liters of soda solution. Crushed lichen is used to make 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 and used to make alcohol.

Cattail, a plant with a tall stem, straight long leaves, and an inflorescence at the top in the form of a black cob, is widespread and well known. Dry cattail rhizome 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. Dried in an oven until they break with a dry crack. The rhizomes are then ground into flour.

Common reed (trusta) is one of the most common marsh 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 greatest number starch and sugar. To obtain flour, the rhizomes are dried, crushed and ground.

Common arrowhead is an aquatic plant that can often be found in shallow bodies of water. It has characteristic spear-shaped leaves and, during flowering, produces a long flower spike with white three-petaled flowers. Arrowhead is a starch-bearing 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 collected 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.

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

Lake reed is a perennial plant with tall cylindrical stems, almost devoid of leaves. Reed is widespread and grows in the thickets of the coastal strip of shallow water bodies. Reed rhizomes contain a significant amount of starch (up to 43%) and sugars. Dry reed rhizomes are used to make flour, which is used to make alcohol.

Large burdock is a plant widespread in many regions. Burdock roots contain up to 45% of a special starch (inulin), which 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 acetic essence per 1 liter of water). After boiling in an acidic environment, inulin turns into sugar. Excess acid is removed by adding honey, crushed marble or baking soda, and from the resulting sweet mass alcohol is prepared.

Juniper is a branched coniferous shrub that grows in pine forests on the edges and along old clearings. Juniper fruits are cone berries and contain up to 42% sugars. Wine and alcohol are made from them. To do this, a sweet syrup is first 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 materials cannot do without yeast.

Yeasts are single-celled 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 determined mainly by their ability to ferment carbohydrates, that is, to break down sugars into wine alcohol and carbon dioxide. To prepare 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, interacts intensively with the sugars of the solution (wort) and is capable of forming a large amount of alcohol per a short time, and in addition, they are acid-resistant, which is necessary, since fermentation always occurs in an acidic environment. Yeast reproduces well when normal conditions in a liquid nutrient medium, which includes nitrogenous and phosphorous substances and acids.

To prepare alcohol at home, pressed yeast (10-15% of the mass of the starting raw material) is used to immediately ensure its 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 also grow the yeast yourself in the required quantity.

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

To feed yeast, organic nitrogen, which is part of the protein compounds of raw materials, is usually not enough. The absence of nitrogenous and phosphorous compounds, as well as oxygen, in the sourdough leads to a decrease in yeast activity, which delays the fermentation process of sugars, so minerals are additionally added to the sourdough in the form of ammonium salts and phosphorus-containing compounds: ammonium chloride, ammonium sulfate, superphosphate or diammonium phosphate. 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 starter.

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

The water used to prepare alcohol must meet the hygienic requirements for drinking water. It should be transparent, colorless, odorless and without foreign taste, and in addition, soft, with a low content of magnesium and calcium salts.

Boiled water should not be used to prepare sourdough, because it practically does not contain dissolved air, which is necessary for yeast.

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

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

Charcoal, caustic (washing) soda, aromatic substances and traditional spices are used to eliminate unpleasant odors from alcohol and drinks.

After selecting the raw material, the next step is its preparation.

The simplest, most economical and technological way to prepare 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. The 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 to 3-4 days.

And although starch-containing raw materials may be cheaper than sugar, in a city apartment the technology for preparing it is very labor-intensive and creates a lot of inconvenience, which makes its use difficult.

It's a different matter in rural areas and in the country. There are more favorable conditions for the use of these raw materials. Preparation of starch-containing raw materials consists of preparing malt and malted milk, processing starch-containing products and preparing yeast starter.

To prepare malt and malted milk, it is necessary to germinate cereal grains. Grain germination periods for different cultures the following: 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. When germinated, active enzymes are formed in the grain, which significantly accelerate the saccharification of starch. If necessary, malt should be dried, but after drying, enzyme activity drops by 20% and germination time increases accordingly.

The preparation of malt consists of a number of essential operations, which include grain sorting, soaking, germination, desprouting and drying. Let's look at these operations using barley as an example.

The grain is sifted through a large and fine sieve, then washed 2-3 times per hot water at a temperature of 50-55°C. The grain is soaked in a clean wooden or enamel bowl, half filled with water. Floating grains and debris are removed. It is better to pour the grain into the water a little at a time - this will make it easier to remove accumulated debris. The water should be changed every 7-8 hours. When it turns out 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, soaking must be completed and the malt must be germinated.

To do this, in a dark room, scatter the grains on a baking sheet in a layer of up to 3 cm and cover them with a damp cloth. The room temperature should be maintained at no higher than 17.5°C and humidity at least 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 starch losses, the air flow into the room is limited, and they try to prevent an increase in temperature in the days remaining until the end of the process by mixing and cooling the grains.

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

After this, the malt is scattered in a warm, dry room and dried. The malt is then dried in a kiln until its moisture content is 3-3.5%. The drying temperature should not exceed 40°C. When the malt is ready, it is dry to the touch, smaller in size than before drying, and the roots are easily separated by friction in the hands. The malt is ground by hand, the sprouts are separated and sifted on a sieve. Store 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 malt mixture is poured with water at a temperature of 60-65°C, left for 10 minutes and the water is drained. Then the mixture is finely ground in a coffee grinder or mortar, and then poured with a new portion of water at a temperature of 50-55 ° C, mixed thoroughly (for this it is better to use a mixer) until a homogeneous white liquid is obtained. At first, you can fill in not all the water, but 1/3 or 1/2 of the volume.

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

Processing starch-containing raw materials involves releasing starch from cells and converting it into a soluble state. This is achieved by heat treatment of starch with water. When the temperature rises, starch grains absorb a large amount of water, gelatinize, increase in volume and become soluble. As a result, starch is easily subjected to saccharification (enzymatic hydrolysis). Potato processing consists of washing, chopping the tubers, boiling and preparing the starter.

Wash the potatoes in warm water, and for better cleaning, keep the potatoes in warm water for 1-1.5 hours. Wash the tubers, changing the water several times, the last water should be clear, without turbidity. If the quantity of potatoes is small (up to 10 kg), you can use conventional washing equipment (brushes, sponges, etc.) for washing.

Crush potatoes using any grating devices that are at hand. The pulp after crushing should not contain particles larger than 3 mm. To make this operation easier, you can first boil the potatoes, then mash them and, adding water, pass them 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.

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

Obtaining starch. When obtaining starch from potatoes, wash it thoroughly with a brush and, without peeling it, rub it on a fine grater to obtain potato pulp. The pulp is placed in a canvas bag, tied and placed in a basin of cold water. After this, the bag is crushed with hands or a wooden pestle until liquid begins to flow out of it. milky; The water in the basin is changed and, if the water remains clear, squeezing the pulp is stopped. The milky liquid should be allowed to sit for three hours. When a white dense sediment forms at the bottom of the basin, carefully drain the water from above and pour clean water into the basin. The starch is mixed with water again, allowed to settle and the water is drained again. The resulting washed sediment is potato starch. 150-200 g of dry starch is obtained from 1 kg of potatoes.

In the same way, you can obtain starch from wheat flour by first preparing a stiff 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 starch by simple washing, so fermentation is used to pre-decompose the gluten. To do this, the grains are first soaked in water until they can be easily crushed with your fingers. Then they are crushed in a mortar or passed through a meat grinder, placed in a fermentation vat and filled with warm water. To speed up fermentation, add a little leaven left over from the previous brew to the vat. Soon natural fermentation 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 becomes 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 settled 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 obtain starch from unripe apples, pears and other plants, including wild ones. Starch obtained from various types of raw materials is saccharified to produce sweet wort.

Processing of sugar-containing raw materials involves obtaining a sweet starter 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 the beets, grinding the root vegetables into small chips, treating the chips with hot water, extracting the juice, neutralizing and boiling the juice until the wort obtains the desired concentration (15-18%) of sugar. 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 to obtain juice containing up to 15% sugar. To increase the sugar concentration to 18-20%, the juice is boiled, 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 prepare wort.

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

Issues of optimizing the use of various types of fruit and berry raw materials come down to the choice of one type or another based on the ratio of sugar content and acidity indicators presented in the following table.

Preparation of yeast starter involves preparing sweet wort and then adding royal yeast to it. Sweet wort can be prepared by saccharification of starch raw materials or using sugar raw materials. The wort is prepared two days before preparing the main mash as follows. Take barley malt in the required quantity, depending on the weight of the supply and the volume of the future starter (for 2 kg of flour supply of the main mash, take 7-8 liters of water and 1.5-1.6 liters of ready-made yeast mash).

1.5 liters of water are poured into a yeast vat (3-liter saucepan) and heated to 35°C. Then slowly pour rye flour (120 g) into the water and mix 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 stirred 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 check the taste: it becomes sweet. Then the mass is heated to 60-63°C and kept for another 2 hours. After this, the wort is filtered through a sieve, the grounds are 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, pre- 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 sugar raw materials is prepared as follows. Take 250 g of sugar per 1.5-1.6 liters of water, dissolve and heat to a boil. Then it is cooled, mineral nutrition is added, acidified in the previously indicated manner and used for growing yeast.

Then seed (mother) yeast is sown. Pressed 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 for the yeast to mature.

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

If ready-made yeast is not available, homemade yeast is used. At home, yeast for fermenting wort is easy to obtain.

First way. 1/2 cup of wheat flour pour 3/4 cup of warm water. Add a tablespoon of warm water to this mixture every day for three days. On the fourth day, boil the mixture, 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 container, covered with a towel, at room temperature (20-22°C). By the end of the week the yeast will be ready. Store them in a tightly closed glass jar in the refrigerator, without freezing, for 8-10 days and use them in the same way as compressed yeast.

Second way. Two tablespoons of hops (dried female fruits) are poured into 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 pour a glass of wheat flour into a clean enamel bowl and gradually pour in the hot broth and mix thoroughly. Cover the container with a clean towel, keep in a warm place for 1.5-2 days, after which the yeast is ready. Add a glass of yeast to 5 cups of mash. The remaining yeast can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-3 days if you pour a glass of flour into it and let it sit warm for 4 hours. For further use, the yeast is first diluted in a glass of warm water and placed in a warm place for 1.5-2 hours.

The process of preparing raw materials ends with mashing (preparing) the starter, which consists of mixing the supplies, their saccharification and the addition of mature yeast.

Pour 0.5 liters of malted 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 higher temperatures, the starter mass is cooled by washing the surface of the tun with cold water or passing water through a coil placed inside the mash tun. At the same time, they continue to intensively mix the contents of the vat. After mixing the malted milk and starch mass, the temperature should not exceed 62°C. After this, add the rest of the malted milk (0.5 l) and stir the starter for 5 minutes.

The consumption rates of malt and water per 1 kg of supplies are given 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 process of saccharification of starch starter usually lasts 3-3.5 hours, but with old malt or deviation 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 starter can be placed in a cooled oven (50-60°C) in the evening and left until the morning. After saccharification, the taste of the wort should be quite sweet.

Starch is diluted with water and stirred to obtain starch milk. Starch milk is poured into boiling water and stirred, avoiding the formation of a paste. The boil must be maintained all the time and starch milk must be added gradually. Then quickly cool the solution to a temperature of 60-65°C. Add malted milk to the starch solution and mix. The paste solution immediately begins to liquefy and after 3 minutes an almost transparent liquid is obtained. This solution is left at a temperature of 60-65°C for 3 hours, during which the saccharification of starch ends. After saccharification, the wort is filtered through a sieve to separate the husks and grains of malt, 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 first dissolved in a small amount of water and heated to a boil, cooled and poured into a fermentation tank.

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

The fermentation tank (pan, flask) is left at a temperature of 15°C and is not sealed, but only covered with thick cloth. During fermentation, periodically, every 6-8 hours, stir the contents of the fermentation tank to ensure access to air 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 cover cover is considered normal for barley, oat and wheat starters, but if the potato starter has 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 sloshing and loss of raw materials.

To eliminate this drawback, prepare a thick yeast dough, which is highly fermented; use only pure malt; restrict the nutrition or respiration of yeast in the starter; oat or millet malt is used; use defoaming agents: vegetable oil and melted lard.

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

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

One of important factors The effectiveness of fermentation is to maintain an optimal temperature (not less than 18°C ​​and not higher than 24°C). Thus, a sharp cold snap during 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 remains alive, but cannot work. In this case, it is necessary to increase the temperature; the yeast will be able to continue working and will complete the fermentation, but for this it is first necessary to “perturb” them by stirring. Heat fermentation is much more dangerous, since it can weaken the vital activity of the yeast so much that it will not be possible to resume their work. In this case, we recommend using a rubber tube to remove the wort from the yeast, add fresh ones and place the container in a room with a temperature no higher than 20°C. The rate of the fermentation reaction under normal conditions is proportional to the sugar concentration in the starter, but it should be taken into account that the fermentation reaction stops when the concentrations of the resulting alcohol reach above 10 percent by volume. It follows that if there is not enough sugar, fermentation will occur slowly, and excess sugar simply will not participate in the reaction of alcohol formation, which will lead to additional losses.

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

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

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

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

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

The ability to correctly determine the moment of ferment ripening is very important for obtaining good alcohol. When distilling an overripe starter, its quality parameters are reduced, and the use of an unripe starter significantly reduces the yield of the final product. However, the real ability to grasp 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 fermented starter makes it possible to obtain an alcohol solution of increased concentration. It contains between 8.5 and 14.5% alcohol, which corresponds to a hydrometer reading of 0.987-0.990. When the starter boils, vapors are formed containing several times (3-8) more alcohol than in the solution, which can be seen in the table below.

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

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

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

A single distillation produces a distillate that is 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 design of the distillation device. Some designs of distillation cubes allow you to obtain an alcohol concentration of 72-80° after the second distillation. During the distillation process, the temperature of the solution is monitored using a thermometer, and if it rises to 98.7°C, distillation should be stopped.

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

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

The resulting distillate of the second fraction with a low alcohol concentration (30°) must be distilled again. To do this, measure the volume of distillation, as well as the volume of alcohol obtained. The total volume of alcohol of two fractions obtained as a result of the second distillation is no more than 1/2 of the initial volume of alcohol distillation.

The alcohol concentration can be approximately determined by the combustion method. To do this, place a small sample (20 ml) of alcohol in a tablespoon and bring a lit match; the alcohol concentration is determined approximately as follows: no fire occurs - the concentration is less than 30°; intermittent combustion, with a flashing flame - concentration 35-38°; smooth, stable combustion with a high flame, the water residue is less than half the initial volume - the alcohol concentration is more than 50°.

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

Preparation of cognac alcohol

To make cognac alcohol, wine material is first obtained by fermenting grape juice. A must is prepared from grape juice, which is fermented for 3-4 weeks in closed containers under a water seal. This wine material is fermented wort; it is subjected to repeated distillation, as a result of which cognac alcohol is obtained.

Distillation of wine material allows you to obtain an alcohol solution of increased concentration. Fermented wort contains from 8.5 to 12.5% ​​alcohol. Distillation is based on the property of alcohol to concentrate in vapors to a greater extent than in aqueous solutions. For distillation, the wine material is placed in a still and heated to boiling point, which, depending on the alcohol content, can be 83-93°C. When the wort boils, vapors are formed that 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 produces a distillate that is 3 times more concentrated. To obtain raw, i.e., unrefined, alcohol, various distillation devices are used. Some designs of stills allow you to obtain an alcohol concentration of 72-80° after the second distillation.

As a result of the first distillation, no more than half of the original volume of wine material used in distillation is obtained (3 liters of distillation are obtained from 6 liters of wine material).

Raw grape spirit is subjected to repeated distillation and is divided into fractions: head, middle (first grade cognac alcohol) and tail. The waste liquid remains in the cube.

The second distillation of raw alcohol with the 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 speed. The second distillation is carried out in water-heated apparatus.

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, esters and higher alcohols with a pungent odor and unpleasant taste. This fraction is selected within 20-40 minutes in an amount of 1-3% of the volume of raw alcohol.

When the distillate reaches a strength of 74-77% of the volume, the pungent odor weakens, and from this moment the middle fraction (cognac alcohol) begins to be selected. The yield of this fraction is 30-35% of the original volume of raw alcohol. During selection, the strength of the distillate gradually decreases and averages 60-70% of the volume.

When the distillate strength decreases to 50-40% of the volume, they proceed to the selection of the tail fraction. The volume of the tail fraction is 17-23% of the volume of raw alcohol. The waste liquid remaining in the cube is 37-52% of the volume of raw alcohol taken.

The separated middle fraction is cognac alcohol, which is immediately (without rectification) placed in oak barrels for long-term aging.

Fresh cognac alcohol is colorless, has a burning taste and is not aromatic enough. When aging in oak barrels, significant changes occur in it.

The barrel is filled with alcohol at a temperature of 18-20°C, leaving free space (1-2% of its volume) for possible expansion of the alcohol when the temperature changes. Filled oak barrels are hammered with tongues 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 maintain a constant temperature in the storage. The tongues are waxed to prevent alcohol loss. During storage, alcohol is added to the barrels annually and tasting is carried out: color, alcohol content and acidity are checked. They also check the condition of the barrels, which should not have even minor leaks or smudges.

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

To age cognac, oak barrels are used, made from oak aged 70-100 years. Plates for barrels are cut from sawn timber. Knots disrupt the properties of wood, so wood with knots is not used for making 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 alcohol 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 area per 1 liter of cognac alcohol.

Before laying, oak plates are washed and treated with a caustic alkali solution (0.5%) at a temperature of 15°C for two days. Then washed and dried. The plates are loaded into a tank, secured 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 by pouring it from a container. The plates are used 3-4 times, then removed upper layer(2-3 mm) and reused. Alcohols are aged for 3-5 years. After aging, cognacs are prepared from cognac alcohol.

The fractions obtained after repeated distillation (head and tail) are mixed, treated with potassium permanganate and caustic soda, allow to stand for two hours, and then carry out fractional distillation. The middle fraction is used to prepare alcoholic beverages.

Purification of drinking alcohol and its flavoring

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

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

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

La is saponified and converted into a non-volatile state also when treated with alkali, the remaining impurities are oxidized with potassium permanganate.

These impurities are then removed by distillation.

First, the alcohol distillation is subjected to chemical treatment, and then fractional distillation is carried out, during which sequential separation occurs components alcohol distillation. Low-boiling impurities - head impurities - are released at the initial stage of distillation, then fairly pure alcohol is distilled off and, finally, high-boiling impurities - tail impurities.

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

This process can be represented 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 not suitable 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 in compliance with all necessary conditions.

Purification by distillation can be carried out using the same equipment as for simple distillation. However, to increase the concentration and degree of purification, they use special devices. Purification of crude alcohol includes: first chemical purification, second distillation and second chemical purification.

First, the alcohol content and acidity of the distillate (raw alcohol) are checked. If there is an acidic reaction, add alkali or soda to the alcohol to neutralize the acidity (1-2 g of KOH alkali 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. The alcohol and potassium permanganate solution are thoroughly mixed and left for 15-20 minutes to complete the chemical reaction. After this, add alkali or soda again in the same amount, mix and leave to clarify for 8-12 hours. Then the alcohol is filtered through 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 using potassium permanganate, the following two options are offered.

Option No. 1. A bunch of blackcurrant branches, peeled from the bark, about 15-20 pieces, is placed in a three-liter bottle with first distillation alcohol, 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 the filter element is played by potatoes cut into cubes about 0.5-1 cm in size. They fill a plastic can of carbonated water about 3/4 full, and the first distillation alcohol is passed through this filter.

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

To purify alcohol by the 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°. Required amount 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 the 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 at 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 later be used for food purposes. The volume of alcohol in 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 cleaning 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 through the second distillation, there are several additional techniques that help eliminate the unpleasant odor and taste of the first distillation alcohol.

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 several spoons to the distilled alcohol table salt and 100-200 g of birch coals.

The effect is not so pronounced; moreover, the smallest particles of coal clog the coil and pipelines, which can lead to temporary failure of the device.

Thirdly, adding various spices to the distilled alcohol - 5-6 black peppercorns, 5-6 bay leaves, etc. The effect is also not clearly expressed. Chemical purification of the second (food grade) alcohol fraction is carried out by treatment with charcoal. To do this, alcohol is placed in a bottle and crushed charcoal(linden, birch) in the amount of 50 g per 1 liter of alcohol. Alcohol with charcoal is shaken periodically, 2 times a day, and infused for 3 weeks. After cleaning is completed, the alcohol is filtered through linen cloth and filter paper.

In order to obtain alcohol of high concentration, close to 100%, it is necessary to further process the alcohol obtained after distillation and carry out a dehydration operation, for which special chemicals are used that are capable of adding water and do not interact with alcohol. These substances include calcium chloride and copper sulfate, well known to all gardeners. These salts have the ability to add and retain water in an amount several times greater than the weight of the dry matter. But since copper sulfate itself is far from a harmless substance, it is recommended to use calcium chloride. It must be calcined in a metal or porcelain container 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 still and distill. After distillation, the alcohol concentration is 96-97°. This alcohol is very hygroscopic and should be stored 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 resulting alcohol after purification, a series of tests can be carried out at home if you have the necessary equipment.

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

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

The alcohol must pass the purity test and the 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 greater than 0.02 g/l free acids, 0.02% aldehydes, 50 mg/l ethers, 0.003% fusel oils, the presence of furfural is not allowed.

To determine 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 alcoholometer using the data in the table below.

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

The resulting mixture is immediately heated in an alcohol lamp, producing 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 is well mixed 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 reach its surface, forming 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-in stopper and, using a stand, 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 quality of glass.
The test result is considered positive if the mixture is as colorless as alcohol and acid.

To carry out an oxidation test, 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 level of alcohol in the cylinder. After 10 minutes, add 1 ml of potassium permanganate solution (0.2 g of potassium permanganate per 1 liter of water) to the cylinder, close the cylinder with a stopper and, after mixing the liquid, immerse it again in a bath of water. When 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 the alcohol, place a sheet of white paper under the cylinder. The time during which the oxidation reaction occurs is expressed in minutes. The test result is considered positive if the color remains for 20 minutes.

Determination of acids and furfural content is usually carried out in laboratory conditions.

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

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 test alcohol, ml; 6- amount of acetic acid corresponding to 1 ml of 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution, mg; 10 - conversion factor per 1 liter of alcohol; K - conversion factor to anhydrous alcohol K = 100; C is the strength of the tested alcohol, % (by volume).

To determine the furfural content, 10 drops of pure aniline, 3 drops are poured into a 10 ml cylinder with a ground stopper using a dropper. of hydrochloric acid(sp.v. 1.885) and bring the volume 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 can significantly improve the taste and smell of drinking alcohol prepared at home is its aromatization.

To obtain aroma and impart alcohol special taste You can use almost all edible berries and fruits, spices and some herbs, flowers and roots. Typically, plants used to flavor drinks are prepared 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 takes up less space and is better preserved.

Flavoring substances are extracted from plant materials using solvents - alcohol or water. Before processing, the raw materials must be crushed. The easiest way to extract it is to infuse it with alcohol. During the infusion process, the alcohol is saturated with aromatic substances, and the taste of the drink changes. The raw materials should be infused until all the flavoring substances from the plant are dissolved in alcohol.

When infused, the solution is periodically decanted, and then the raw material is poured back in and shaken. Plants release flavoring substances most effectively at a solvent strength of 45-50°. If the alcohol is stronger, which is determined using a hydrometer, then the solution is diluted. Periodically replacing it with fresh flavoring raw materials and filling it with the same alcohol, an infusion of a higher concentration is obtained. The same effect is achieved by boiling the raw material in a closed container, followed by infusion or without it. The boiling time is 10-15 minutes. With the help of concentrated infusions, alcohol that has not gone through the infusion stage is sometimes improved.

The duration of 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 for some types of raw materials is reduced to 5-8 days. This tincture is called early ripening. If bottles with the infused drink are placed on wooden blocks placed in a pan of water and boiled, you will 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 almost do not change the taste of the drink, but give it the desired aroma.

To add flavor, not only decoctions, but also infusions are distilled. To do this, you need to take some spice, finely grind it, pour boiling water (take 3.5 liters of water for 400 g), seal tightly and leave for 24 hours. Then add 2.5 liters of water and distill until the smell of the spice persists. Then add fresh spices and distill again. You can perform this operation a third time. This kind of water is called troena, and if 200 g of this water is poured into 1.2 liters of alcohol, the taste of the resulting drink will be similar to that obtained when distilled with spices.

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

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

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

If plants and spices are added to the starter, then during distillation the aroma will be weak. To strengthen it, you need to first infuse the water with which the starter is diluted with the selected spices. You can make a decoction of them and use it to dilute the starter.

It is more preferable to prepare the starter with flavored water, and also place the flavoring in a steamer. Such alcohol will have a stable aroma without the slightest specific smell of fusel. To do this, it is advisable to make the tubes between the firebox and the container, the container and the steam chamber in the form of coils and additionally heat them. You can also heat the steamer itself if it is made of metal. The essence of the process is to treat 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 plants, and the alcohol itself is infused again. For example, alcohol infused with lemon peel, after distillation, is infused again with fresh lemon peel.

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

A good aromatic remedy is berry alcohol, which is obtained by infusing slightly dried berries with a strong natural aroma (blackcurrant, raspberry, wild strawberry, strawberry). To do this, the berries are dried in the sun or in a drying oven until they become dense, but still remain quite soft. The berries are placed in a glass bottle, filling the entire volume, and filled with strong alcohol 80-90°, then sealed 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 this, the alcohol is drained and used to alcoholize berry wines that have a weak natural aroma.

Vanilla infusion is also prepared using alcohol, which is poorly soluble in water. Vanillin should not be added directly to the drink, as it adds bitterness and worsens the taste. To prepare vanilla alcohol, take 5-6 teaspoons of vanillin, add alcohol (200 ml, 70°) and leave for several days, then filter and use for making 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 aromatic substances and are used in very small quantities to aromatize large volumes of food.

Pitkov. In some cases, two drops of essential oil (for example, rose) 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 water steam.

The device for obtaining oils (Fig. 1) includes a flask 1 with a volume of 1 liter, a reflux condenser 2, an oil receiver 4. For distillation, add 20-50 g of spices (plant raw materials) into the flask and pour 500-800 ml of water, and for uniform boiling small pieces of porcelain or shards of baked clay 5 are placed in the flask. An oil receiver is hung 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 must be placed freely in the flask, without touching its walls, and be located 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 stops. The rate of condensate flow should not exceed 50-55 drops per minute. When distilling essential oils whose density 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 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 a hole in the receiver. The density of essential oils, which are often used to flavor drinks, 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. The most commonly used essences for flavoring drinks are citrus, flower and rum essences.

To prepare essences, herbs and roots must be well dried and crushed. Mix them according 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 left for at least 8 days; This infusion is then distilled into essences for making drinks. The infused solutions are distilled in a special distillation cube, which has a cylindrical metal mesh (a metal glass with holes) in the middle, in which there are crushed roots and herbs.
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