I bought a distillation column for 22, started to drive cognac on oak chips, but it turned out to be swill that you can’t even drink: I figure out where I made a mistake

A year ago, I accidentally stumbled upon a forum of moonshiners on the Internet. I have always been sure that people gather there who drive moonshine through copper cooler tubes, and then, with inhuman efforts, try to clear it of fusel oil and methyl alcohol.

In fact, it turned out that technology has gone far ahead, and you can make any drinks on fairly simple equipment. Now the simplest distillation apparatus costs only 3-4 thousand rubles.

And the distillation column, on which pure alcohol is obtained, from 10 thousand. My distillation column cost me 22 rubles.

The story was sent by blog reader Ivan.

Why I decided to make alcohol myself

And I decided that I was no worse than others and could understand these technologies. Since I like cognac most of all from booze, I tried to get it at first in an economical way.

They write on the forums that cognac producers use huge oak barrels. But in barrels there seems to be nothing special that distinguishes them from oak poles or shavings. I believed it. I bought a distillation column, caught up with alcohol and bought oak dies, as the cheapest material.

There are such dies in a nearby specialized store for 100 rubles, and I decided that I would infuse alcohol on them and get cognac. A little worse than French, but it will be drinkable.

Plates are of three types:

• small roasting (more often for whiskey);
• medium firing (for cognac and whiskey);
• strong roasting (for cognac).

What ingredients are required

To infuse such homemade cognac, you need only two ingredients:

• alcohol;
• oak planks.

And several months of waiting.

The cost of these ingredients, taking into account the total cost of distillation of alcohol, was:

Electricity and water for cooling cost a little more, but it is difficult to calculate and I usually take them equal to 200 rubles for one distillation.

The cooking process

Over my “cognac” I conjure as follows:

1. I filter tap water through a household filter such as Aquaphor or Barrier.
2. I fall asleep for 10 liters of 5 kg of sugar.
3. Mix thoroughly because yeast can only eat dissolved sugar.
4. I fall asleep a pack of yeast, mix.
5. I close the lid with a water seal.
6. I wait 1 week for the yeast to ferment.
7. Distilled in a distillation column.

Cooking oak dice:

1. pour boiling water;
2. after 2-3 hours I change the water;
3. so I play for about three days;
4. I wash them with soda and rinse under running water.
5. I fill oak dies with alcohol in a glass bottle.

You see, I even drew a sticker. And what is the end result…

What result did I get

And I got such a swill that it is impossible to drink! If at first the drink was infused slowly and simply tasted like oak, then after 3 months it turned into a real “plinth”, as moonshiners say.

It is impossible to drink this, and there are only two ways to use it: pour it into the sewer or drive it through rectification again.

However, by that time I had already become smarter and more experienced. I realized that all sorts of economical options will lead to a similar result. I bought oak barrels from rocky oak, caught up with wine material, and cognacs were already infused with me, promising to be tasty in the future.

And I decided that the resulting swill could be used to replenish the degree that the angels would steal. Every cooper knows what it is. During the infusion of strong alcohol, up to 10% of liquid and / or degrees can be lost, depending on the humidity of the surrounding air.

Now I add this plinth to the barrels as I lose the volume of liquid, not being afraid that I will break the taste of cognac.

Have you tried making cognac on plates yourself? Maybe you did better?