Among the masters of home brewing, the most popular material for getting rid of other impurities is. Manufactured coal column for cleaning moonshine with their own hands, or bought equally well cope with purification of an alcohol-containing product. Next, consider how to make a coal column for moonshine stills on one's own.
When distilling the mash, along with alcohol, a certain amount of impurities harmful to health, the so-called fusel oils. In order to reliably get rid of them, three methods are used:
- Mechanical selection of impurities. He copes with this task "perfectly well". Partially get rid of fusel oils.
- Secondary distillation divided into factions. Most of all harmful substances are in the "heads" and "tails", which are cut off during the distillation process.
- Filtration. In moonshine brewing, several cleaning methods are used. Among the "doubtful" substances we name potassium permanganate, milk, egg white, oil. And absolutely proved its effectiveness and harmlessness - carbon filter.
Reference. IN industrial production alcohol, it is coal columns that are used for purification so that we can buy a quality product.
Selection and arrangement of a carbon filter
Shops specializing in the sale of home brewing products offer a good selection of both coal columns and consumables for them - different kinds charcoal. Therefore, if you want to have the best equipment for moonshine at home and the means allow you, it’s easier to buy.
The standard column consists of:
- pipes(usually made of stainless steel), which is untwisted in order to periodically change the coal;
- top fitting connecting with a hose coming out of the refrigerator;
- bottom fitting through which ready-made, purified moonshine flows;
- legs - supports in order to conveniently substitute three liter jar. Not all models have legs.
When choosing, focus on ease of use. Also, given that the device of the coal column is as simple as possible, it will not be difficult to make it yourself.
Do-it-yourself coal column
You can independently make two types of columns: to clean moonshine during the race or for final disposal of the final product from fusel oils after distillation.
The second option is simpler, and also allows you to do finer cleaning. And even better - use both settings in order to obtain exceptionally pure alcohol.
Coal preparation
Buy or make your own charcoal .
Note! For the column, only coal obtained from birch or coconut tree(the latter, for obvious reasons, you can only buy)!
It is undesirable to “refuel” it with barbecue coals bought on the occasion, since combustible materials are often added to them.
Therefore, it is best to buy special coal for filling columns.
On the Internet, it is offered for this purpose in small pieces (up to 1 cm in diameter) - in this form it is only suitable for a column connected to a distiller.
To use it to filter the finished moonshine, grinding required.
Advice. Put the coal taken from the fire or bought into a bag and beat with a hammer. Then select big chunks- they can be broken again.
Sift what's left through a sieve. Use the finest dust for the cleaning ready-made moonshine, the fraction is slightly larger (ideally - like small cereals) - for filtering.
Column manufacturing
Before proceeding with the creation of a coal column with your own hands, it is necessary to prepare the materials:
1. For column connected to the distiller:
- food stainless steel pipe up to 0.5 m long, 100 mm in diameter;
- screw cap with fitting (top);
- non-removable cover with fitting (welded or soldered);
- filter-mesh fixed at the bottom;
- legs.
2. For filtering alcohol distillate:
- plastic bottle volume of 2 liters with a cut off bottom. Preferably - not to the end;
- cotton wool or cotton pads.
3. Coal is needed for any column model.
Everything is more or less clear with the connected column, it is the “last link” in the chain. It is important to fix the finished and tucked fixture strictly vertically.
A column from a plastic bottle is prepared as follows:
- The bottom is not cut off completely to make a kind of lid. It is needed so that the coal does not float when you pour the liquid.
- Holes are made in the lid with an awl.
- Cotton wool or cotton pads are inserted into the neck and the cap is screwed on.
- The bottle is filled with crushed coal.
- The neck is inserted into a jar (preferably a three-liter one).
Attention. Choose a PET bottle with an elongated neck and make sure it fits securely without distortion.
- Moonshine is poured on top of the coal.
Filtration
Alcohol through the holes in the lid will first pass in a trickle, but as the cotton wool is clogged with dust, it will only drip. It is possible that the dripping will stop with time.
In this case, you need to drain the moonshine remaining in the bottle into the dishes, unscrew the cap and replace the cotton wool, after which the process should be continued.
cleaning
Filtered moonshine, for completeness of cleaning, you need already in the bank fill with coal dust. Approximate calculation: 3 - 4 spoons per three-liter jar of alcohol.
Carefully! You don’t need to pour a lot of coal, because with an excess, by “binding” fusel oils, it can “steal” the degree.
Should be cleansed from a couple of days to a week. The jar needs to be shaken periodically. By the end of cleaning, alcohol should be transparent, and coal dust should lie on the bottom in a layer. After that, you need to filter through cotton wool, discs or filter paper.
Reference. Least suitable for pharmaceutical cleaning Activated carbon, since it also contains talc, sometimes starch. Many complain that this product gives bitterness to the drink.
The principle of operation of the carbon filter
Why is charcoal an excellent sorbent? During combustion, wood materials burn unevenly, as a result of which the remaining coal microcavities are formed.
They "capture" high-molecular organic compounds (the same fusel oils) and hold them, leaving a product that is clean of organic matter.
Passing through such a "sieve", the moonshine is completely cleaned and leaves all harmful substances in the coal.
Due to which we will use not "sivukha", but clean and natural product , with moderate consumption, only a beneficial effect on the body.
Useful videos
The video below shows a self-made coal column, how to use it when cleaning moonshine:
See how to make a coal column for cleaning moonshine at home from improvised means, how it affects taste qualities homemade alcohol:
How to make a glass charcoal column from a bottle, see:
How do you use charcoal to clean moonshine? Share in the comments. Like the article if it was useful to you, share the information with your friends on social networks.
Beginning moonshiners filter their product by adding some coal to a jar of moonshine (infusion method). Their more advanced counterparts know that flow cleaning works best, but requires special device- coal column. The cost of factory devices is high, but you can make something similar at home from improvised means: a plastic bottle, coal, a glass jar and cotton wool. The proposed technology combines two filtration methods - flow and infusion, which guarantees a high degree of purification.
1. Preparation of coal. To clean moonshine, you need birch or coconut charcoal without impurities. BAU-A and BAU-LV brands are ideal - activated birch charcoal, designed specifically for the alcoholic beverage industry. These stamps are sold over the Internet, it is not a problem to buy them.
Also suitable coal for barbecues, from aquarium and household filters for water purification, wood activated carbon from a pharmacy. Pharmaceutical coal is the worst option, since it almost always contains third-party substances - talc and starch.
Activated carbon should not contain any other impurities, otherwise the filtration will negatively affect the quality of moonshine!
Often, coal is sold in lumps, which is not very good for cleaning moonshine. The larger the contact area, the better the filtration. First, the coal must be crushed with a hammer, after putting the pieces in a bag, for example, from under sugar. The grind should be as fine as possible. Grinding is best done on the street so that the coal dust that appears does not pollute the room.
After crushing, the coal is sieved through a colander or a sieve with large cells. Three fractions will be obtained: powder, small and large pieces that are not completely broken, which are returned back to the bag. Only used for filtering small pieces and powder.
2. Manufacture of a coal column. The most affordable vessel of the desired length and diameter is a plastic bottle. The bottom of a two or three-liter bottle is cut off, then 5-6 holes are drilled (burned) in it at an equal distance from each other. The bottom is needed to press the coal to the bottom, otherwise it will float all over the bottle. One hole of large diameter is drilled in the lid, through which the filtered moonshine will drain.
With prolonged contact with alcohol, plastic emits harmful substances, therefore, instead of a bottle, it is better to use another container - a glass jar or a metal cylinder, the design principle does not change. Filtration does not last long and is therefore safe, but in no case do not store vodka (alcohol, moonshine) in a plastic container.
3. Construction assembly. At the bottom is a two or three liter glass jar, into which the purified moonshine flows. The cap is screwed on the neck of the bottle, the bottle itself is lowered into the jar upside down.
From above, pieces of coal are poured into the bottle - a little more than a third of a two-liter bottle in height, and covered with a bottom. If you pour a little coal, the filtration efficiency will drop, more - the coal will absorb some of the alcohol, the product will turn out to be of high quality, but the fortress will drop by a couple of degrees.
4. Filtration. The entire remaining volume of the bottle is poured with moonshine to create sufficient pressure. Moonshine passes through the coal column and gets into the jar. At the exit it is black due to particles of coal dust, this is normal, the color is removed in the next step.
The black color of moonshine is removed in the next step. Gradually, the opening of the cover becomes clogged with coal dust, which reduces the jet. If the hole is completely clogged, the bottle is shaken and lightly squeezed a couple of times. IN last resort, unscrew the lid and clean it by pinching the opening of the neck with your finger.
Moonshine is run through this homemade carbon filter 2-3 times. Then coal powder is poured into it at the rate of 30-50 grams per liter, mixed, hermetically sealed and left for 1-2 days. Having absorbed the maximum possible amount of harmful impurities, coal settles to the bottom of the can. This is a sign of readiness for cleaning.
5. Cleaning. Makes moonshine transparent. The bottle, which was the basis of the carbon column, is washed away from dust particles. The neck is filled with cotton wool and twisted with a lid. The assembled structure is inserted into a glass jar. The column is being filled muddy moonshine. It is advisable to cover the bottle with something on top so that the alcohol does not evaporate.
Cotton wool removes black color, moonshine becomes transparent Pure moonshine flows into a jar. But after a while, the cotton filter will clog. In this case, the unfiltered moonshine is poured back into the jar (from which it was taken), the cotton wool is changed, the column is assembled and the tank is refilled with untreated moonshine. Cotton wool is replaced several times.
Immediately after cleaning, moonshine is ready for use.
Crude homemade moonshine contains many other substances that spoil its smell and taste, adversely affect health. To get rid of this, use various ways purification and filtration of moonshine. Purification is carried out with soda and salt, milk, egg, after which the purified drink remains well filtered and re-distilled. This allows you to get the purest drink, free from harmful impurities.
Activated carbon and moonshine filtration
The high porosity of activated carbon makes it an excellent adsorbent. Different types activated carbon differ in the size of the pores, respectively, the ability to retain molecules of certain sizes. Therefore, a coal filter for cleaning moonshine must contain a type of coal suitable for this task.
Ordinary charcoal contains too many impurities (such as starch) that affect the taste of moonshine. From them, it can become tart, bitter, lose transparency. Therefore, special grades of activated carbon are needed. Such carbon can be found in aquarium filters, gas masks and filter elements for drinking water purification. But water filters contain ion exchange resins, and a gas mask filter can have accumulated harmful substances. Therefore, it is better to place special coal for alcohol in the filtering device for moonshine - BAU-A birch charcoal or KAU-A coconut charcoal.
The device is a container filled with activated carbon. The crude product enters it, passes through the activated carbon filling and flows out the other side. Important feature column design - the possibility of its disassembly in order to clean and replace the filter media.
You can buy it at the store or make it yourself. The simplest option The carbon column is made from a regular plastic bottle. More advanced designs are made of metal. You can make a filter for cleaning moonshine with your own hands from a stainless pipe (or take a drawer from moonshine still) with two screw caps (you can take a herringbone adapter and fix it with clamps) you get a very durable, strong and chemically safe column.
Charcoal column from a plastic bottle
You can make a high-performance carbon filter for moonshine yourself using available materials. The filter housing is made from a plastic bottle with a capacity of 2-3 liters. The bottom must be cut off, make several holes in the bottle cap, place a cotton pad in it and twist.
Plastic emits harmful substances during prolonged contact with alcohol. Therefore, instead of a plastic bottle, it is better to use a metal or glass container. However, the filtering unit has a large throughput and does not stay in prolonged contact with moonshine. Filtration through a carbon column from a plastic bottle is safe, but using plastic to store moonshine is unacceptable.
It remains to place the bottle on a three-liter jar with the neck down, fill it with crushed pieces of coal to a height of about a third of a three-liter jar. If you pour more coal, it will absorb too much alcohol and reduce the strength of the product. If less, the filtering will not be effective enough.
This is how a coal column is made for cleaning moonshine with your own hands. Now you can filter moonshine through it.
The drink is poured through the bottom of the bottle and flows into the jar, passing through a column filled with coal. To increase the efficiency of moonshine, it is necessary to filter 2-3 times. The drink may become cloudy due to the charcoal it contains.
Note: the openings of the cover are gradually clogged with fine coal chips and dust, the filter throughput decreases. To restore it, it is necessary to replace the cotton pad in the neck of the bottle.
To clean moonshine from coal, it must be filtered through several layers of cotton wool placed in a funnel or in the neck of a plastic bottle, from which the bottom is first cut off, so you get an impromptu filter for moonshine with your own hands. For final purification, a method such as vacuum filtration through a membrane or a filter cartridge can be used.
Watch another video on how to make a coal column for cleaning moonshine with your own hands.
If conditions allow, coal for moonshine can be made with your own hands . It is enough to cook fruit or birch firewood, build a fire, let it burn well. When the firewood turns into pieces of red heat, they are closed in a metal container with a lid and left to cool completely. After that, the ash is removed, and the remaining pieces of coal are ground to a fraction of 4-6 mm, sifted, and placed in a filter housing or a self-made coal column.
You can buy beverage cleaning material online. Ideally this is:
- Birch activated carbon brand BAU-A;
- Coconut activated carbon BAU-LV.
The latter is used and specially designed for the industrial purification of alcohol.
The history of cleaning moonshine
At all times in our country, moonshine has been a popular drink. And even now, well and lovingly expelled, purified, infused with herbs, coffee beans, red pepper, the drink will give odds to factory products.
Even during the time of King Peas, people were looking for ways to improve the quality and taste of moonshine. For this we used:
- Cow's milk (1 cup per 3 liters of product);
- Potassium permanganate, which precipitates harmful oils.
They knew then about the ability of charcoal to ennoble the drink. And at the end of the VIII century, the Russian scientist-chemist T.E. Lovits, the successor of M.V. Lomonosov, made an important discovery for science - the adsorption of dissolved substances by charcoal.
Thus, cleaning moonshine with charcoal has a scientific basis, and the effectiveness of the method has been tested by time.
Strong drink cleaner
Some "experienced" distillers are aware of the properties of coal, but purify the product by pouring a certain amount of adsorbent into the container and shaking it. The effect is negligible, and it also takes time for subsequent filtration.
To clean moonshine well from harmful substances, it must be driven through a thick layer of adsorbent. The coal column works according to this principle.
Equipment for cleaning the product is sold in stores, but their cost is high. In our country, where every second man is Kulibin or left-handed, you can make a reliable filter from improvised means. To do this, you will need a plastic bottle, a cotton pad (tampon) or coffee filters, a 3-5 liter glass jar.
If you are seriously engaged in the manufacture of moonshine, it is better to buy, find, get a piece of stainless steel pipe for the column body. Weld legs to it, the inner filling is similar to the option with a plastic bottle.
"bottle" design
A do-it-yourself coal column is made for cleaning moonshine as follows: a bottom part 2-3 centimeters high is cut off from plastic 2 or 3 liter dishes. Several holes are drilled in the screw cap.
A cotton pad is inserted into the neck and the lid is twisted. The bottle is turned over and inserted into a three-liter jar and 1/3 filled with charcoal. The coal column is filled with moonshine, almost to the very top.
Some pressure is created, the moonshine passes through the coal, and harmful oils are retained by its grains. Over time, the dust washed out of the coal clogs the cotton wool. In this case, the coal is removed from the column, the cotton wool is replaced, and the coal is returned to the column.
In this way, moonshine can be filtered several times. At the same time, the replacement of cotton wool, coal before each run is not out of place, and the final product only benefits from this.
Water filter option
If a small batch of product is intended for filtering and cleaning oils, cleaning moonshine through a home-made coal column can be simplified.
At an ordinary household water filter with a jug, it is cut off with a hacksaw top part cartridge. The contents are thrown away, since this coal contains water softening additives in the form of small granules, alcohol will dissolve them and they will fall into the final drink.
A cotton pad is placed on the bottom, new coal is covered in layers of 2-3 cm high to the top of the cartridge and carefully compacted. From above, so that coal does not float, another cotton pad is placed, after which the filter is inserted into the jug, and the process of cleaning the drink can begin.
metal column
You can make a metal coal column with your own hands, having welding skills. The principle of operation of a stainless steel column is the same as that of a plastic column.
Only the drink, according to experts, is cleaned better in such a device. This is motivated by the fact that moonshine is still an aggressive substance, and polyethylene, no matter how durable it is, still emits harmful substances.
Redistillation
You need to filter "raw" moonshine 10-15 days before use or before redistillation if such is planned.
Before re-distillation, the degree of the product is lowered - diluted with rain, melt or spring water to the desired degree. The diluted alcohol is then passed through a makeshift column twice.
Conclusion
Using charcoal is a recognized, harmless, time-tested, highly effective method. The best option for this is coal filtration columns, which you can buy in a store or do it yourself.
Homemade moonshine, made from good raw materials on a good moonshine still, is a wonderful drink. good moonshine easily many factory-made strong drinks. In order for the moonshine to finally part with the fusel spirit and unpleasant aftertaste, it must be properly cleaned. There are many methods and devices, such as, for example, a coal column for cleaning moonshine, that can change the product beyond recognition.
Folk methods for cleaning moonshine
There are many ways to explain at home: from the usual traditional to completely exotic. Some of them are effective, others not so much.
Purification of moonshine with milk has been carried out in Russian villages since the time of Tsar Pea. IN three-liter jar glass of moonshine is poured cow's milk. After about a day, an unsightly appearance gathers and settles to the bottom of the vessel. Next, you need to drain the purified moonshine as carefully as possible without stirring up the sediment. The method is good only from the point of view of love for antiquity, in fact it is ineffective. The fusel smell of moonshine is practically not removed.
Similarly, potassium permanganate precipitates, it works more efficiently, but also not ideal. After it, the drink acquires an unpleasant aftertaste, and when cleaning the “advanced” moonshine from good raw materials (apricots, prunes, cereal malt, grapes), the aroma that we would like not to lose completely disappears.
Carbon filters
And yet, most "specialists" tend to believe that a carbon filter should be used for moonshine, and not unreasonably. Activated carbon successfully adsorbs most fusel oils on its surface. On the Internet, you can sometimes find a description of how to clean moonshine at home by pouring an N-th amount of activated or charcoal into a container with a drink and then shaking it. This is absolute nonsense.
In order to qualitatively clean moonshine from impurities, it must be driven through the thickness of the adsorbent. This is how a coal column works to clean moonshine. There are a lot of folk, but effective ways purify the product on coal, but without a column. The simplest of them: several layers of flannel fabric are laid on the bottom of the funnel, activated or finely crushed charcoal (from hardwood) is poured on top, moonshine is poured in a thin stream or a drop from above, and a purified drink flows out of the funnel.
In fairness, let's say that an ordinary household jug filter with a simple cartridge based on activated carbon copes with cleaning moonshine perfectly.
Coal column device
The filter device is shown in the figure below. In fact, for cleaning moonshine, it is a pipe filled with an adsorbent (activated carbon). Pipe bottom - wall with big amount small holes. A filter made of blotting paper, white flannel or, if the dimensions are suitable, a cosmetic cotton pad is placed on it. The edges of the fabric filter must fit snugly against the pipe walls. This is necessary so that small particles of activated carbon do not get into the moonshine.
Then comes the filler (adsorbent). In its quality, it would be more correct to use activated carbon for moonshine - birch or coconut. But it is quite possible to replace it with ordinary wood, finely crushed and lightly rammed. For efficiency, you can add medical, tableted. As can be seen from the figure, a coal column for cleaning moonshine may well be made by hand. Moreover, the material can be the most diverse: metal, glass or even wood.
The ideal way to clean moonshine
The algorithm for obtaining perfectly purified moonshine using a coal column looks like this:
- The first sublimation with the classic cutting off of "heads", "tails". It turns out a product with a strength of about 50 ... 60%.
- Breeding the resulting moonshine settled boiled water up to a fortress of 20 ... 30%.
- Filtration on a carbon column (pre-dilution is done because than stronger drink, the more reluctantly it gives harmful impurities to coal).
- Secondary sublimation (again "heads" and "tails"). The resulting product is perfectly purified, has a strength of about 70%.
- In this form, moonshine is ennobled by insisting on herbs, berries, aging in oak, etc.
- If necessary, the drink is brought with boiled water to a condition of 40%.
