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I have been brewing moonshine for a long time, I consider myself an expert in this field. Therefore, when I arrived in the village to visit my wife’s relatives and “for the meeting” the owner of the house put a bottle of cloudy moonshine on the table, I was somewhat confused.
It seems that it is not convenient to refuse, relatives, nevertheless. But I didn’t want to drink this, health is more expensive.
We talked with the owner, I said that I was cleaning moonshine from impurities. To which he looked down at me and contemptuously declared: “Urban!”.
I tried to explain that it is harmful to drink such an unrefined drink, but I could not convince the owner: “My grandfather cooked like that, and my father. So consider this a family recipe!”
So my old friend, a specialist in home moonshine brewing, Alexander began his story. I want to share his knowledge with you.
What is moonshine cleaning
Purification of moonshine is the removal of various impurities from the distillate – a distillation product. The main ones are fusel oils, which are formed during moonshine brewing.
It is thanks to them that drinks obtained by distillation (cognacs, brandy, whiskey) and the like have a recognizable unique taste.
However, everything is good in moderation. A large amount of “sivukha” can make moonshine dangerous to health. That’s why they clean it up. But I do not welcome completely pure alcohol – there is no taste left in it.
Why do you need cleaning
No matter what the defenders of their natural product claim, fusel oils will always be present in it. It is easy to make sure of this: just set fire to the strongest moonshine in a spoon and wait until the alcohol burns out.
There will still be some oily liquid left in the spoon. This is fusel oil. And the lower the strength of the outgoing product, the more impurities.
GOSTs and technical regulations define the maximum allowable proportion of fusel oils in drinks that are produced at factories.
At home, it is almost impossible to determine their exact content in moonshine. Therefore, sometimes it is better to additionally clean the prepared moonshine in order to avoid negative consequences.
Methods for cleaning moonshine
At home, moonshine can be cleaned in several ways:
- Use of filters for drinking water purification. They can be used as a filter jug or as a unit for stationary cleaning. Both options are expensive and inconvenient, as they require frequent replacement of filter elements. In addition, only rough mechanical cleaning is carried out.
- Cleaning with milk is done by mixing a small amount of it (about 200 ml per liter of distillate) with moonshine. After 5-7 days, when the milk absorbs harmful substances and falls out in the form of flakes, the moonshine must be filtered through a cotton wool filter.
- The use of coal. This type of cleaning is universal. Removes almost all impurities. But it is not worth using pharmacy pressed activated carbon in the form of tablets, since the pores in it are small and cleaning will be of poor quality. It is better to use wood or purchase special coal. By pouring 50 g of charcoal into a liter of moonshine, after three days you can filter out an almost perfectly pure product. We also filter through a cotton filter.
- Cleaning with soda (1 tsp per liter) or potassium permanganate (1-2 g per liter). Such cleaning is carried out within a day. Soda or potassium permanganate is mixed with moonshine, after which it settles for 20-30 minutes. After this time, the moonshine is shaken and left for a day. A day later, it is carefully drained through a cotton filter, and the sediment of soda or potassium permanganate, which has absorbed fusel oils, is thrown away.
Personally, I usually use soda for distilled distillate, or I use special BAU-M coal, which can be used to purify moonshine right during distillation. This will require a special column. Coal is poured into it, through which the drink is filtered.
Is it always necessary to clean moonshine
Sometimes, when distilling a product from fruits or berries, it is a pity to lose the taste and aromatic components of the drink, for which it is usually valued. But when cleaning a distillate, especially with soda or potassium permanganate, a change in flavor properties is inevitable.
Therefore, sometimes I prefer secondary distillation to cleaning moonshine. To do this, it is necessary to dilute the distillate of the first pasture with water up to 35% vol. During the secondary distillation, it is necessary to select the first (about 10% of the product) and the last (with a strength of less than 40% vol.) fractions in the same way as in the first pasture.
These parts of the distillate are not suitable for consumption. It is clear that to control the strength it is necessary to use accurate alcohol meters.
It is not allowed to distill the wort with a strength of more than 40% by volume, otherwise it may ignite.
Anyone who remembers at least a little the school course of mathematics will understand that with each subsequent distillation, the amount of harmful substances decreases exponentially. But in my opinion, this does not necessarily make the drink better. After all, something from nature must remain in it.
Excessive alcohol consumption is harmful to your health. Take care of yourself!
How do you clean moonshine? And do you do it? Maybe you are against additional purification and love the very taste of fusel oils? Share your experience.