I will save you money and nerves: 5 mistakes that I made when choosing moonshine

When my friend got poisoned by purchased vodka, I finally decided to purchase a moonshine still. Thank God, everything worked out for him, he didn’t even end up in a hospital bed, but the prospect is still the same.

I drink infrequently, so I pay special attention to the quality of alcoholic beverages. The process of finding a decent device was delayed for me, but now I don’t regret my choice at all and I can share secrets that will allow you not to waste money.

The story was shared by blog subscriber Vitaliy.

I want to buy only foreign, and even the best

The first dilemma that I had to face when choosing a moonshine – domestic or foreign. I compared similar models for a long time and realized the main thing – the difference in price. Devices of our production start from 3 rubles, foreign ones from 500 rubles!

Foreign ones are often counterfeited. Then I also thought that in the case of a foreign device, if some part breaks, then there may be problems with the purchase.

Russian manufacturers can be contacted, even if not by phone, at least by e-mail. It is clear that the sellers of foreign devices will be able to explain how to use it, but they are unlikely to tell about the intricacies.

I took a simple path, purchased a moonshine from a Russian manufacturer and did not regret it.

I will buy an apparatus with a small distillation cube

Another important point that I almost missed during the purchase is the size of the cube. However, he corrected himself in time and made the calculations.

If you make moonshine on sugar, then 1 liters of mash will be required to prepare 5 liter. The cube itself can be filled no more than 80%. If we take the most common cube volume on the market – 12 liters, then it will be possible to fill in only 9-10 liters of mash. And from them you get less than 2 liters of moonshine.

Important! The cube of the moonshine still can be filled with 75-85% mash, the rest of the space remains for the emitted gases.

I thought it was possible to overtake it twice, but this was the time spent on the preparation itself, draining and pouring the new mash. Chose a 25 liter cube. I have a fermentation tank with a volume of 35 liters, and a cube of 20 liters is suitable for it.

I didn’t dare to buy a 50-liter cube, it’s too hard to lift, you can break your back.

I bought the wrong type of device for my needs or the size of the apartment

It is also very important at the stage of choosing a moonshine still to determine its type. A simple distiller will not give you the opportunity to get the purest product. It is ideal for making brandy, whiskey, tequila, chacha.

Due to a specific technology, I can even say imperfect, essential oils and aromatic impurities get into the product, hence the specific smell and taste.

The distillation column allows you to expel almost the purest alcohol. It is ideal for making vodka, liqueurs, tinctures and liquor.

Important: you should not count on a pure product if you distill the mash only through a steamer.

Another problem was found out – if you take a distillation apparatus, then the minimum height of the tsarga cannot be less than 1 meter, ideally – 1,5 meters. Otherwise, there will be problems with the division into fractions.

This must be taken into account if you buy an apparatus for an apartment, problems may arise with the installation of the column.

I choose a device with a huge or scanty metal thickness, a narrow neck

After analyzing the reviews, I came to the conclusion that copper devices are expensive and impractical, it is difficult to care for them, they will have to be constantly cleaned. Stainless steel is an ideal choice, practical and durable, besides it has a high thermal conductivity.

I immediately rejected the option of purchasing a device made of galvanized steel, it is, of course, cheaper, but the wall thickness is up to 1 mm. Braga will definitely burn.

Important! The thickness of the metal of the moonshine still should be from 1 mm to 2 mm.

I chose a device with a stainless steel thickness of 2 mm, if it is larger, then the thermal conductivity will decrease, the mash will boil for a long time, and the container itself will be too heavy. The diameter of the steam pipeline should not be less than 10 mm, otherwise, the mash will accumulate there, which can cause an explosion.

I believe in all advertising promises of manufacturers

I came to an unequivocal conclusion, in no case should you trust the loud slogans of the sellers of moonshine stills. There is no need to hope that you will not have to distill the product a second time.

To get a high-quality drink and get rid of fusel oils and harmful impurities as much as possible, you still have to overtake the raw twice.

If there is a steamer, this is also not a guarantee of complete cleaning; for this, I personally needed to acquire certain skills and some experience in home brewing.

Sellers often overestimate the performance of moonshine stills. The classic apparatus produces 2-4 liters per hour.

Column devices give about the same amount, but if additional devices are used: nozzles, a reflux condenser, then the drink output rate will greatly decrease, but the quality will be higher.

This is not a complete list of issues that the future moonshiner should solve in order not to throw money away. Maybe one of the readers also recently chose a moonshine still? What did you pay attention to?