Contents
I have a lot of friends who are fond of home brewing. Naturally, we periodically arrange joint tastings and share our own achievements. Not all of us make decent drinks.
How many times have I noticed that moonshine can have such a pronounced smell of acetone that it is impossible to even smell it, let alone drink it. But some distillers are not embarrassed by this, they believe that this is normal.
In fact, they made fatal mistakes during production. Most often this is caused by three reasons: laziness, ignorance and greed. Now I want to talk about the most common mistakes in distilling a homemade product.
These tips were shared by my reader Sergey.
Greed for “heads”
As you know, the heads are expelled first, since acetone and all similar ethers begin to evaporate already at 50-60⁰С.
Many pay too little attention to this moment and do not withstand enough time. As a result, “heads” get into the body.
The worst thing is when a person without experience believes that one distillation will be enough for him, and this “acetone cocktail” product begins to be used.
This is a poison that is suitable only for kindling coals in the barbecue. Hence – an unbearable headache, a burning taste, a chemical taste.
The body itself should not flow in a trickle, but ooze drop by drop for several hours.
Unfortunately, if a lot of heads got into the drink, then it is almost impossible to fix it. It is necessary to distill the product at least two times, and then, the output will be just moonshine suitable for consumption, but there can be no talk of its quality.
In order for the distillate to get the maximum degree of purification, I distill it three or even four times.
Law 1. Moonshine is not in a hurry!
Oils enter the “body” – greed for the “body”
Other moonshiners are too carried away with the pasture of the body, they try to decant every last drop and miss the moment of overheating of the cube, which entails the ingress of tails into the body.
They are not so dangerous, but the smell spoils terribly. The tails contain the bulk of fusel oils, which negatively affects both the taste and the negative impact on the body.
To avoid this, you do not need to save on a normal thermal relay, which will turn off the heating of the cube when critical temperatures are reached.
Many deliberately allow some tails into the body, for the sake of “enhancing” the aroma, however, there are a few “BUT”:
- Tailings can be added only after the second separate haul. This refers to the “body” obtained from distilled tailings.
- What flavors can we talk about when a moonshiner uses sugar mash? This method is only suitable for berry, malt and fruit brews. And then, for each of them there are nuances that need to be considered.
- Tails are added at the end of cooking and neatly, in portions, to meet all the necessary proportions.
My personal opinion: sugar mash is evil
This leads to another law:
Law 2. If you want to add “tails”, they need to be overtaken additionally.
Number of hauls
Each stage reduces the amount of drink at the exit. This is what worries “thrifty” distillers.
In order to get as much moonshine as possible, they try to distill the product as little as possible.
And these are heads in the body, and tails, and a full set of fusel oils. It is necessary to distill at least two times, and then only if there is confidence that all the pasture time frames have been met.
Here is the third law of moonshine.
Law 3. The more distillation cycles, the purer the product.
Moonshine basics
When many moonshiners begin to justify their failed drinks with budget equipment, it just looks ridiculous to me.
Yes, the equipment facilitates many processes, but the essence remains the same. You can also make acetone using the most expensive column.
It is enough just to stick to the basics, not to rush and strictly follow the instructions for moving the body. The body is the foundation.
And then you can experiment. But it’s much easier to create new drinks with a good drink, rather than a low-quality one.
Further, it should be borne in mind that no matter how all the rules are observed, the quality largely depends on the mash.
Rectified sugar will never have a noble aroma. Therefore, saving in our business never leads to good. And what do you know about common mistakes in moonshine brewing?