At distilleries fusel oils and ketones were destroyed chemically. The amount of impurities was determined and purification was carried out quite simply. Almost all ketones (acetones) in alcohol are oxidized by the action of potassium permanganate (common potassium permanganate), and the remaining fusel oils are easily saponified with caustic soda and ammonia.
As it was done in industry: the laboratory selected 10 test tubes with the raw alcohol under study and added a little potassium permanganate solution to each.
Applied only 10% water solution potassium permanganate, the so-called "Chameleon", because if potassium permanganate is introduced in the form of crystals, then alcohol is oxidized to form acetaldehyde. At the same time, alcohol acquires a sour taste and it can be purified from acetaldehyde only by distillation.
One drop was added to the first tube, two to the second, three to the third, and so on. All this was shaken up and defended. Let us assume that in the first tubes the alcohol was transparent, in the fifth - pinkish, and then the color of each tube intensified. This indicated that four drops of "chameleon" were enough to purify alcohol in one test tube. An extra "chameleon" only oxidizes alcohol, turning it into acetaldehyde!
Similarly, the amount of caustic soda or ammonia needed for saponification of fusel oils (alkali) was determined by the sampling method.
The right amount"chameleons" and alkali to clean the entire batch of alcohol was already easy to calculate. The procedure for purifying alcohol was as follows: first, half the norm of "chameleon" was poured in and the alcohol was mixed, after half an hour the estimated amount of alkali and after an hour the rest of the amount of "chameleon".
After 2 hours of settling, the pre-purified alcohol must be distilled one more time through distillation column. The device and principle of operation of the distillation column is exactly the same as the distillation column, which means that the alcohol is again distilled at least 25 times.
When using some types of raw materials, only after rectified alcohol has passed through a filter column filled with activated carbon. It is made of stainless steel, the diameter is 0.6 m, and the height is about five meters. The entire internal space is filled with activated carbon of the MBA-4 brand (finely porous, birch, activated, fraction size 4 mm).
Two or four filtering columns are installed, depending on the quality of alcohol you need to get.
The next alcohol purification operation (which was always carried out before) is reforming (thermal shock).
Rectified alcohol was kept in a hermetically sealed container at a temperature of 70°C for a day. As a result of this procedure, artificial aging of alcohol occurred, and as a result, a decrease in the amount of toxic substances and an improvement in taste. During reforming, some substances precipitate, some evaporate, and the remaining fusel oils float, forming a film on the alcohol surface that is easy to remove.
And only after such repeated purification, the purest 96 ° ethyl alcohol is mixed with water in a special container. If you take a closer look at the label, you will see that the vodka is 40%, and the wine is -16°. Both of them indicate the alcohol content, but vodka contains 40 volume percent of rectified alcohol with a strength of 96 °. That is, the actual strength of vodka is 38.4 ° - if it is measured with an accurate alcoholometer, and the strength of wine is really 16 °.
Until the 20th century, distilleries produced vodka ( bread wine) whence the name "distilleries". But later, with an increase in the quantity and quality of alcoholic beverages, an increase in the technical level of production, they switched to the production of wheat alcohol, and vodka was obtained by dissolving ethyl alcohol with water. The main reason for using this particular technology was to improve the quality and purity of vodka. Because it is much easier to dilute strong alcohol with good water than to clean the smelly water found in moonshine.
The quality of water used to dilute wheat alcohol is of great importance. It is water that determines the taste of finished vodka, because it contains 60% water, and only 40% alcohol.
In some countries (Poland, USA), alcohol in the preparation of vodkas is diluted only with distilled water. It is chemically pure water, but deaerated (dissolved air removed) and tasteless. Such water is actually dead - it is impossible to get drunk (aquarium fish instantly die in it).
In Russia and Ukraine - ethyl alcohol is traditionally diluted and diluted only with raw water; and the best for this purpose - spring. Naturally, it should be clean, transparent, tasty and high in salt. It is the small amount of salt that determines the taste of water. Hardness salts in drinking water are always present and should be present when diluting alcohol, but within acceptable limits!
With excessive rigidity, a ring forms on the neck of the bottle, a precipitate falls out and the taste of vodka deteriorates. Products lose their presentation and are sent for processing.
If the water is too hard, then it is cleaned and softened in multi-stage filters. In succession, water passes through quartz sand, sulfo coal (this is coal treated with sulfuric acid) and a cation exchange filter filled with granules of ion-exchange resins. (In exactly the same way, preparation is carried out in boiler rooms feed water for steam boilers). Only such purified and softened water is suitable for dilution of alcohol in the preparation of vodka.
And the final procedure before bottling vodka is the addition of dissolved refined sugar. IN small quantities sugar is not noticeable, but it softens the taste, as if lubricating the throat. " Vodka goes like clockwork».
Any alcoholic drink with added sugar is tastier and, using liquor of the same strength with vodka, you can get drunk much faster.
That's why so many different recipes strong cocktails. And any ordinary domestic beer, if sweetened, will not yield to imported beer in taste. Try it!
Sugar is added in accordance with the recipe: for "Vodka" and "Extra" - 0.5%, and for various "special" up to 2%. (For a liter of vodka 5-20 grams of sugar).
The invention relates to the alcohol industry, in particular to a method for purifying ethyl alcohol from impurities. The method consists in passing ethyl alcohol through a porous sorbent selected from the series: silicon oxide, aluminum oxide, synthetic zeolite and natural zeolite activated by air flow at 350-460 o C, followed by cooling in an inert gas atmosphere, an inert gas is passed through the obtained alcohol , then diluted with water and subjected to rectification to remove impurities of isopropyl alcohol. As a rule, a porous sorbent is subjected to regeneration in an inert gas flow at an elevated temperature, and nitrogen, argon, helium, carbon dioxide, or any mixture thereof is used as an inert gas. The method allows to obtain a high quality commercial product. 2 w.p. f-ly.
The invention relates to the alcohol industry, in particular to the development of methods for purifying ethyl alcohol to obtain a high quality commercial product. Ethanol is important product in production alcoholic beverages. For food purposes, it is usually obtained by the distillation of fermented sugar-containing material such as beet molasses, sugar cane molasses or starchy substances such as potatoes and different kinds cereals: rye, wheat, barley, rice, maize. The result is raw alcohol containing significant impurities of fusel oils. The most important by-products of alcoholic fermentation are acetaldehyde, acetal, glycerol, succinic acid and the so-called fusel oil, which is a mixture of butyl and amyl alcohols and their higher homologues. Succinic acid and fusel oils are not formed from sugar, but as a result of a special fermentation process of amino acids, which are obtained from the proteins of the nutrient substrate. The most common methods for purifying ethanol from impurities are azeotropic, extractive, salt distillation and membrane purification methods [V.I. Zverev. Obtaining high-purity ethanol. Journal. Appl. Chemistry, 1997, v. 70, no. 7, pp. 1154-1158]. Most of the research on ethanol purification concerns the removal of a certain group of impurities, in particular methanol, aldehydes, fusel oils, etc. To remove these impurities, ethanol distillation is most often used in atmospheric pressure. As a result, a rectified alcohol with a significantly reduced amount of impurities is obtained. There are the following types of rectified alcohol: 1st grade, highest purification, extra, luxury, which are subject to GOST 5962-67. Alcohol must be transparent, colorless, without foreign inclusions, have a taste and smell characteristic of each of its types, produced from the appropriate raw materials, without any taste or smell of foreign substances. For the manufacture of vodka, a water-alcohol mixture is used, composed of ethyl alcohol of a certain degree of purification and purified water, with the addition of various ingredients in order to refine the smell and increase the range of taste qualities. Alcohols are used in the production of vodka. different varieties, including those of low quality. Currently, in the process of ethanol purification, the goal is to use a simpler and cheaper method while maintaining high quality for the target product. The most common cleaning agent for fusel oil has always been fresh charcoal. The latter acts mainly chemically, oxidizing alcohols with the help of oxygen concentrated in its pores; alcohols are thus converted into acids (also aldehydes) which form esters. Some of these ethers are retained by the charcoal, while some remain in the purified alcohol, so that filtration through charcoal, while refining the taste and smell of the alcohol, does not actually remove the fusel oils. The patent [US 2946687, 1960] describes the use of modified and partially activated carbon from heavy woods. Water-alcohol mixture for purification is subjected to treatment with activated carbon. However, the goal of purification is not achieved, since the oxygen contained in the pores of activated carbon oxidizes methanol, propyl, butyl and amyl alcohols (fusel oil) to harmful aldehydes and esters, which remain in finished product. Despite the reduction of various impurities present in the water-alcohol mixture, bottled vodka may have a cloudy sediment with this process. The source of this sediment is the used activated carbon containing polyvalent calcium and magnesium cations. A known method of purification of ethyl alcohol by pre-treatment concentrated ethyl alcohol with sodium borohydride, passing it through activated carbon and extracting purified alcohol by distillation [RF Patent 2046787, C 07 C 31/08, 27.10.95]. The use of this method increases the efficiency of the use of activated carbon, reduces the loss of the target product and makes it possible to obtain high purity ethyl alcohol suitable for optical measurements. A known method of purification of water-ethanol mixture on activated carbon using ultra-low temperatures from -45 to -22 o C in the first stage of processing and from -22 to 5 o C in the second stage in order to minimize the content of unpleasant tasting substances in vodka due to the formation so-called clathrate compounds. It is assumed that clathrate compounds formed during the mixing of ethanol with water at high temperatures also capture unpleasant-tasting compounds such as acetals and hemiacetals. Once captured in the clathrate cavity, these unwanted compounds are no longer removed or are poorly removed by activated carbon [RF Patent 2107679, C 07 C 31/08, 27.03.98]. Closest to the claimed is a method using activated carbon as an adsorbent [US Patent 5370891, C 12 C 3/08, 1990]. According to this method the purification process is carried out by passing a water-alcohol mixture through three layers of activated carbon at 5-20 o C. The disadvantage of this method is the low purification efficiency and the high cost of the process, since high selectivity for the target product is achieved by using low-quality spirits containing significant amounts of isopropyl alcohol, which is the cause of a harsh taste in terms of organoleptic indicators. In addition, the regeneration of activated carbon in such quantities becomes economically unprofitable. All known methods do not completely eliminate the specific taste of vodka, and therefore even high-quality vodka is recommended to be consumed very chilled. In the patent GB 2127011, 04/04/1984, a method for isolating ethyl alcohol from a mixture of it with organic matter, including higher branched alcohols, branched or cyclic alkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons or ethers by passing the mixture through molecular sieves. The mixture to be separated contains up to 20 wt.% ethyl alcohol. This means that all of the listed compounds are larger than the molecule of ethyl alcohol in size. This is the principle of mixture separation. The ethanol molecules are retained by the molecular sieve, while the larger molecules pass through the column and are collected in the receiver. The ethyl alcohol is then extracted from the molecular sieve by displacing the alcohol vapor with an inert gas when heated. This method cannot be applied in the food or medical industry, since the product extracted from the molecular sieve by displacement with an inert gas when heated will be contaminated with impurities and must be subjected to a complex additional purification procedure. Foreign matter may also appear as a result of catalytic transformations of chemical compounds that occur at elevated temperatures when the molecular sieve is heated during the extraction of ethyl alcohol. The invention solves the problem of developing a method for purifying ethyl alcohol, characterized by high quality indicators of a commercial product. Problem solved in the following way purification of ethyl alcohol. A sorbent with a specific surface area of at least 150 m 2 /g, selected from the following series: silicon oxide, aluminum oxide, synthetic zeolite, natural mineral, is loaded into the reaction column, the sorbent is activated with an air flow for 2-3 hours at 420-460 o C, cooled to room temperature temperature in the flow of an inert carrier gas (nitrogen, argon, helium or CO 2). A mixture of ethyl alcohol with fusel oils is passed through a column with a sorbent in an inert gas atmosphere. After separating the initial fraction of alcohol, enriched with a part of impurity substances (methyl alcohol, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate), a fraction of pure ethyl alcohol is collected until the other part of impurities (butyl and amyl alcohols) appears at the outlet of the adsorber. Control over the absence of impurities in the collected liquid is carried out chromatographically. Ethyl alcohol is collected in a container through which an inert gas is bubbled to displace traces of dissolved oxygen. The other part of the impurities (butyl and amyl alcohols and ethers) remaining on the sorbent is removed from the sorbent by displacing them with an inert gas when heated. The sorbent in the adsorption column is subjected to regeneration by heating in an inert gas flow at elevated temperatures. The purified part of the alcohol is separated, diluted with water and rectified to remove isopropyl alcohol. The alcohols of fusel oils isolated during regeneration can be used as flavorings in confectionery industry. The resulting rectified alcohol has a high degree of purification and can be used in medical purposes, as well as for the preparation of vodkas of the highest quality. The difference of the proposed method from the method described in the patent GB 2127011 is the use of a fundamentally different method for the extraction of ethyl alcohol, based on the different ability of substances to be retained by a solid porous sorbent when passing a stream of liquid substances through the sorbent. The essence of the invention is illustrated by the following examples. Example 1 33.32 g of Al 2 (SO 4 ) 3 9H 2 O are dissolved in 150 ml of water and added with stirring to a solution of 8.0 g of SiO 2 powder in 40.2 ml of 17.4 M NaOH solution. The resulting gel is subjected to crystallization at a temperature of 180 o C for 3 days. The precipitate formed is filtered off, washed with distilled water, dried at 120 o C. The resulting powder with a molar ratio of SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 = 2.3 and a specific surface area of 150 m 2 /g is tableted and loaded into an adsorption column. Then activate the air flow at a temperature of 350 o With 2 hours. Cooled in a stream of inert nitrogen gas. Raw alcohol with a fusel oil impurity content of 5 wt.%, fed at a space velocity of 1.0 h -1 , is passed through the sorbent at room temperature. After separating the initial fraction of alcohol, enriched with a part of impurity substances (methyl alcohol, acetaldehyde, ethyl acetate), a fraction of pure ethyl alcohol is collected until the other part of impurities (butyl and amyl alcohols) appears at the outlet of the adsorber. Control over the absence of impurities in the collected liquid is carried out chromatographically. Ethyl alcohol is collected in a container through which nitrogen is bubbled. The sorbent in the adsorption column is subjected to regeneration by heating in a stream of nitrogen at a temperature of 200 o C. After separating the purified part of the alcohol, it is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1 and subjected to rectification. The resulting rectified alcohol meets the requirements of GOST 5964-82. The output of the pure fraction is 45 wt.% of the missed volume of raw alcohol. Example 2. As a sorbent, a synthetic NaA zeolite with a molar ratio of SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 = 2.0 and a specific surface area of 150 m 2 /g is used. The process conditions are as in example 1, but argon is used as an inert gas. The output of the pure fraction of 35 wt.% from the missed volume of raw alcohol containing 10 wt.% impurities. Example 3 A synthetic zeolite of the pentasil type with a molar ratio of SiO 2 /Al 2 O 3 = 42.0 and a specific surface area of 500 m 2 /g is used as an adsorbent. The process conditions are as in example 1, but helium is used as an inert gas. The output of the pure fraction 65% of the missed volume of raw alcohol containing 5 wt.% impurities. Example 4. -Al 2 O 3 with a specific surface area of 180 m 2 /g is used as an adsorbent. The process conditions are as in example 1, but CO 2 is used as an inert gas. The output of the pure fraction is 15% of the missed volume of raw alcohol containing 10 wt.% impurities. Example 5 SiO 2 with a specific surface area of 200 m 2 /g is used as an adsorbent. The conditions for the process as in example 1. The output of a pure fraction of 55% of the missed volume of raw alcohol containing 7 wt.% impurities. Example 6 A natural mineral, clinoptilolite, with a specific surface area of 150 m 2 /g, is used as an adsorbent. Process conditions as in example 1, but as an inert gas using a mixture containing 50 vol.% nitrogen and 50 vol. %CO2. The output of the pure fraction 25% of the missed volume of raw alcohol containing 20 wt.% impurities. As can be seen from the examples, the proposed method allows to obtain a commercial product (ethyl alcohol) with high quality indicators, with a high yield.
Fans of their own alcoholic tinctures should know all the ways to clean alcohol at home. After all, high-quality cleansing of home-made moonshine, vodka or alcohol creates a drink not only much tastier, but also makes the next morning much more pleasant by the absence of a hangover.
Each of us has repeatedly wondered why a person gets slightly intoxicated from some drinks and does not suffer from a hangover syndrome, while others simply knock him down, turn off his consciousness and significantly undermine his health. The problem lies in the presence of foreign impurities in alcohol, which appear during low-quality purification of alcohol.
Moonshine or is considered one of the highest quality alcoholic beverages obtained through the distillation of raw materials. But increased content fusel oils in home distillation products gives a not very pleasant smell and taste.
Those who make moonshine themselves or make alcohol tinctures know very well that cleaning is required mandatory step making high quality liquor.
It should be noted that all options for cleaning alcoholic beverages from fusel oils give an effect, but differ in the degree of effectiveness.
Experts recommend cleaning a product diluted to a fortress less than 35 degrees. This concentration of alcohol allows fusel oils to separate more quickly from the water-alcohol mixture. Therefore, the lower the degree of the drink, the higher the quality of its purification.
In any case, moonshine must be defended for 1-2 days, and alcohol should be diluted with soft spring water. and product best to clean cold. You can check alcohol or vodka for purity at home. For this, a piece of glass or a small mirror is suitable, which must first be washed. hot water with soda.
The glass does not need to be wiped, let it dry itself and become crystal clear without streaks. Now you can drop a few drops of alcohol on it and leave to dry. If there are no stains left on the glass, then there are no fusel oils and other harmful impurities in the alcohol.
And the last stage of verification - you need splash glass with distilled water. The liquid should not roll off, as if it had been spilled on a greasy surface. If the alcohol has passed the test and no harmful impurities were found in it, then there is no need to clean it.
Methods for cleaning moonshine at home
Home winemakers claim that cleaning moonshine or vodka with charcoal and activated charcoal is the fastest and most reliable. Charcoal absorbs well. unpleasant odors and absorb harmful impurities.
Vodka purification. You will need activated charcoal, Enterogel or birch charcoal (it gives the best result). Pour into a saucepan, finely crush and pour alcohol at the rate of 50 grams per 1 liter.
This mixture is infused for 7 days and it must be stirred periodically. The drink is then filtered. To improve the result, this procedure can be carried out several times, replacing the coal with fresh one.
Two ways to clean moonshine:
- In the process of the first distillation of moonshine, a funnel is used to drain into a jar. It is necessary to lay a cotton pad in layers in it, small fractions of coal, then larger ones and cover with several cotton pads.
- Pour coal into a container with moonshine at the rate of 50 grams per 1 liter of liquid and let stand for 7-14 days, then strain through gauze with cotton.
These two ways are great option purification of moonshine before re-distillation.
The well-known potassium permanganate quickly and efficiently cleans both moonshine and vodka. It is necessary to take 3 grams of potassium permanganate and dilute in 300 grams warm water to make the solution homogeneous.
Next, a spoonful of baking soda and a spoonful of salt are added to the solution. Then the mixture is poured into 3 liters of alcohol and settled for 12 hours. Drink must brighten up and settle down. Settled moonshine or alcohol must be filtered through a layer of cotton wool.
Milk is an excellent cleaner for vodka or moonshine. The protein of this product contains albumin and casein - substances capable of binding molecules of harmful impurities and fusel oils of an alcoholic beverage, causing them to precipitate.
The result is a high quality drink with a mild taste. For 20 liters of vodka or moonshine with a strength of 40–50 degrees, 200 ml of milk is required. Milk must have fat content not more than 1.5% and be pasteurized.
Milk cleaning steps:
- pour milk into alcohol or moonshine;
- to stir thoroughly;
- close the lid and leave for 7 days in a dark place, at room temperature;
- for the first five days, the mixture must be shaken periodically so that the reaction starts;
- and then two days are needed for the mixture to settle;
- at the last stage, the drink is filtered through several layers of cotton wool.
If the drink is still cloudy, you can throw any citrus peel into it and leave it for a day. Milk is believed to be best cleanser for alcohol and moonshine, since it is in this way that vodka is purified in production. Under the influence of alcohol, the milk coagulates, harmful particles stick to it and fall out along with the sediment.
Interesting! Some distillers right make moonshine from milk. For this, sugar, yeast, peas, milk and water are taken, which are mixed with each other. This mixture is infused for a day, and then it is distilled twice and this drink does not require purification.
Egg white
Purification of moonshine or alcohol from fusel oils can be carried out with egg white, by analogy with milk cleaning. For this, 3 liters of alcohol need to take two proteins.
The protein is whipped in one glass of warm water and poured into the drink. For five days, the mixture is shaken, and then it settles for two days and is filtered through cotton wool.
Freeze
An old proven and effective way to clean vodka or moonshine is freezing. A container with a drink (an aluminum pan with a lid is suitable) is left in freezer for 12-14 hours.
During this time, water and fusel oils remain on the walls of the vessel, and only pure alcohol will remain in the container. At the same time, the strength of the drink becomes higher. It remains only to pour the vodka into another container.
fruit cleaning
To remove harmful impurities from the product and give it a special flavor, you can clean alcohol or moonshine with fruits.
For 3 liters of a product with a strength of about 25 degrees, one carrot and one apple. Fruits are cut into large pieces and added to the drink. After 2-3 days, fibers will begin to peel off from the fruit. So, it's time to pull them out and filter the liquid.
Soda
To neutralize acetic acid formed in moonshine can be used baking soda. This inexpensive product can be found in any home.
Soda is used in proportion 10 grams per liter of moonshine. It is enough to defend the mixture for 12–14 hours, more is possible, but this is not important. To remove the sediment, cotton wool is used, through which moonshine must be passed.
Oil
Purification of alcohol with vegetable oil is one of the unusual and original ways. This procedure becomes possible only because alcohol and oil cannot mix. But fusel oils are attracted to oil drops like a magnet.
For such cleaning it is necessary to take 20 grams of unscented oil per liter of alcohol. Shake the vessel with the mixture well and repeat this procedure 5-6 times, every five minutes. Settling of the mixture is 12 hours.
After the alcohol has settled, it is necessary drain it through a tube lowered to the bottom. You can turn the bottle over, let the oil film rise and carefully drain the suspension through a slightly loosened cork. The rest of the liquid is filtered through the usual cotton wool.
Rye bread for cleaning alcoholic beverages
In previous years, cleaning moonshine or alcohol with fresh rye bread was considered the most effective and safe.
Fusel oils are well absorbed into bread, alcohol becomes transparent, loses its specific taste and acquires a pleasant aroma.
When choosing this method of cleaning alcohol or moonshine, the following conditions must be observed:
- Moonshine or alcohol must first be cleaned with egg white or other absorbent.
- Exactly 100 grams of bread is taken per liter of moonshine.
- Only the crumb without the rind is used to purify the alcohol.
- For greater effect, the crumb is better to crumble well.
- Bread crumbs are poured into a bottle of moonshine or alcohol and mixed well.
- The container must be tightly corked and left in a dark, cool place for three days.
- The precipitate must be filtered off, but the bread pulp is not squeezed out.
- Careful filtration helps to get rid of the yellowish tint that the drink acquires.
Cleaning alcohol with a water filter
The most simple and fast method cleaning is cleaning alcohol or moonshine with a home water filter. Any filter, such as Aquaphor or Barrier, will do.
To do this, you need to drive alcohol or moonshine through the filter at least twice. These filters cannot be used for water!
Obviously, even the most expensive alcohol or homemade moonshine need to remove harmful impurities. If you apply one or more cleaning methods, as well as secondary distillation for moonshine, then make a great product, which in terms of quality will be better than any factory products.
And no hangover will threaten, but only if you know the measure! It is important to remember that excessive alcohol consumption is injurious to health!
Attention, only TODAY!
The ethyl alcohol obtained as a result of fermentation can be purified by distillation. At the same time, aldehydes and fusel oils harmful to health are removed from the product. In the production of alcoholic beverages and in the perfume industry, increased requirements are placed on the purity of alcohol, therefore, after distillation, it is subjected to further processing. The product is diluted with water and slowly passed through an adsorbent containing granular activated carbon. The contact time is at least an hour. Processing using finely porous coal allows you to completely remove fusel oils. However, this produces aldehydes. But to achieve the final concentration, the alcohol is distilled again. At this stage, aldehydes are removed.
Purification of hard alcoholic beverages (whiskey, rum, vodka)
For a long time, such a way to improve the taste and aroma of whiskey as cleaning it with charcoal has been known. As a result of such processing, not only the quality of the product is improved, but also the aging time is reduced. Components that impart an unpleasant odor and taste are removed during the adsorption process. The reason for the acceleration of maturation by professional winemakers has not yet been clarified.
Perhaps coal is a catalyst for the oxidation of aldehydes to acids. In turn, interacting with alcohol, they can form esters that give whiskey the taste and aroma of an aged drink. Previously, grained coal was used to clean whiskey. Now they use small amounts of powder, the contact time is about an hour. For beverage processing low grades the volume of activated carbon is increased.
Activated carbon is also used at the last stage of vodka purification and light rum. For this, finely porous coal is taken in granular form. After use, it is easily restored by superheated water vapor. As a result, the service life of activated carbon can reach several years. Activated carbon treatment not only makes it possible to remove impurities from the drink, but also leads to the creation of a homogeneous product from individual batches of distillates. This is very important property to create high quality branded drinks.
Wine purification
Often the wine acquires unpleasant aftertastes and coloring, which are not eliminated by ordinary clarification. For example, red wine is brown in color, while white wine has a very intense brown tint. The taste is spoiled by overripe berries and stalks in the must. In such cases, according to German wine standards, activated carbon treatment is allowed. This substance is an important auxiliary product in winemaking.
The disadvantages of using charcoal are that valuable flavors and pigments can disappear from the wine along with unwanted impurities. However, such negative consequences can be avoided if you choose the right brand and dosage of coal. The color uncharacteristic for wine is corrected with large-pore charcoal, and the taste is corrected with fine-pore charcoal.
The amount of coal required for processing is determined empirically. To do this, it is intensively mixed with wine for 15-30 minutes in a special container, then precipitated, and filtered after 2 days. Usual concentration: 5-20 g of angle per 1 hectoliter (100 l).
For decades, special granules have been used to process wines. It is obtained by molding powdered coal with bentonite, a naturally occurring clay mineral. Transportation and loading of such a substance is not accompanied by the formation of dust. Once in the drink, the granulate breaks down into its constituent components, and activated carbon begins to show its properties.
To prevent the loss of valuable taste and aromatic qualities from an already fermented product, foreign flavors can be removed directly from the pulp or must. But even here there is a minus - fungicides can be adsorbed on the surface of the coal, ensuring reliable fermentation. However, in producing countries strong wines(sherry, whiskey, etc.) industrial batches of drinks are clarified with activated carbon. For this, high-quality large-pore powder grades are used.
Beer cleaning
The process of making beer includes several complex biological and technological stages. At the same time, deviations from the standards are inevitable, which affect the quality of the product. To improve the taste of beer, activated carbon is widely used, and with very large pores and in small quantities. It is this coal, to a lesser extent than other types, that absorbs useful substances that determine the taste of beer. An unpleasant aftertaste is eliminated with finely porous coals, they are also used to remove tannins.
As a result of numerous studies, it has been established that activated carbon primarily removes tannins, pigments and components that give the drink bitterness from beer. The protein content practically does not change. In addition, charcoal treatment improves foam stability, as malt fat is adsorbed from the product and degrades the foam.
Improvement in the quality of beer is observed at doses above 10 grams per 1 hectoliter. The influence of the pore size of coal on the adsorption of substances from the drink was also studied. Large-pore species reduce the content of protein nitrogen most actively. In any case, tannins and bitter substances are removed, as well as anthocyanogens, which significantly reduce taste qualities beer.
Despite some negative effects, activated carbon is actively used in brewing. In the US and other countries, activated charcoal treatment is combined with other methods.
Brands of activated carbon used:
At Russian distilleries, according to the instructions, they use BAU-A activated charcoal.
You can also clean vodka and alcohol at home. But we’ll warn you right away: this will not save you from deadly methyl alcohol. And from harmful impurities - easily. Additional purification will improve the quality of vodka and prevent hangover syndrome(if you drink in reasonable quantities).
Part 1. Vodka from the store
You bought a bottle in a store and suddenly doubted its proper cleaning. You can insure yourself by cleaning the vodka yourself. home cleaning may well remove foreign impurities in the product. There are several ways to clean vodka. They can be used either singly or in combination.
Filtration
This is the simplest: take a paper towel, roll it up with a funnel, put a piece of cotton wool on the bottom, you can pour more activated or simple charcoal, put another paper funnel on top. And slowly, in a thin stream, pour vodka through this structure.
You can use a good water filter to filter vodka.Instead of paper towels, it is convenient to use paper coffee filters.
You can take activated charcoal, you can buy charcoal tablets in a specialized store for cleaning moonshine, or you can pull out a cooled coal from the barbecue in the country. It is better not to take purchased coals for barbecue - they give an unpleasant smell to the product.
Infusion
You can add the same coal to vodka and insist on it for several days. Tightly closed containers with vodka should be shaken twice a day. After infusion, it is better to filter the vodka, as described above.
Milk and proteins
Ancient folk way. Add milk to vodka egg white. Shake. Protein or milk will curdle, bind impurities and fusel oils and precipitate. And you filter the vodka, and drain the sediment.
Potassium permanganate
In vodka you need to add 2-3 grams of potassium permanganate. Insist during the night. There should be sediment at the bottom. Then we filter the vodka, leaving a sediment in the bottle.Freeze
Vodka is poured into a bag and placed in the freezer. In our freezers, vodka does not freeze, its freezing temperature is below 20 degrees. But impurities turn into small pieces of ice. They must be filtered first through a fine sieve, then through a paper filter.
Part 2. Alcohol
The days of Royal alcohol are long gone. And you can’t buy food alcohol in stores now. But sometimes they still get it. In different ways and for different purposes, but ethyl or medical alcohol reaches the consumers. Rare extreme people drink it pure. Usually alcohol is diluted to a strength of vodka - 40 degrees. This must be done carefully. And the resulting product must be cleaned. Since when diluting even pure alcohol with pure water, impurities are still released.
Step 1. Distinguish from methyl (technical)
It is very important. In general, it is better not to buy alcohol in a dubious place. Although if the official sale is prohibited, then all places are dubious. Sometimes alcohol is bought at distilleries, this is a fairly reliable place. However, if drinking alcohol comes into contact with you:
Smell. Bad alcohol will smell like acetone. But just do not bring your nose close to alcohol - you will burn your mucous membrane. It is necessary to bring the container with alcohol to the side of the nose, no closer than 15 centimeters, and wave the alcohol vapors at yourself with your hand. This is how professional tasters evaluate aromas, it is safe. Methanol itself does not differ from ethyl alcohol, but its impurities differ.
Set it on fire. Ethyl alcohol burns with a blue flame, technical alcohol with a green one.
Heat up the copper wire. When hot copper wire gets into the alcohol, a sharp unpleasant odor can be released - this means you have methyl alcohol. food alcohol won't react to it.
Step 2. Find good water
Not boiled and not distilled. It is best to take bottled water and filter it additionally. Or spring - and also filter. Doesn't fit mineral water with added salts.
Step 3. Glucose
You can buy it at a pharmacy or cook it yourself. 1 kg of sugar must be diluted in a liter of water and put on fire. Boil, constantly removing the white foam. When the foam stops forming, the syrup is ready.
Step 4. Quantity calculation
Approximate proportion: 2 parts alcohol to 3 parts water. That is, for 100 ml of alcohol, you need to take about 150 ml of water. On the Internet, you can easily find a calculation table, according to which you will understand how much water is needed for a certain strength of alcohol and for a certain strength of the drink in the end. The above proportion is for 96% alcohol and approximately 40% vodka.Step 5Connect
Pour the required amount of water into a container, add a spoonful of glucose and stir. Then pour alcohol into the water.
Important! It is necessary to pour alcohol into water, and not vice versa. In the latter case, you will get a whitish liquid, undrinkable.After you have introduced alcohol, mix the resulting liquid. Keep in mind that its volume may be less than the combined volume of water and alcohol. Part of the liquid volume is lost during the reaction.
Step 6. Purification and filtration
It is necessary to add coal to alcohol, you can even have a few activated tablets. Leave for 2-3 hours, then filter through a dense cloth or through cotton wool. Additionally, you can use any method of cleaning vodka from those outlined in the first part of the article.
Step 7: Exposure
Pour the diluted vodka into bottles and let stand for 2 days. Sometimes it is recommended to defend a week.
