Moonshine cleaning with activated carbon. Cleaning moonshine with charcoal

Cleaning moonshine with charcoal is an important step in moonshine brewing. Many do double distillation, but not everyone knows how to purify with natural coal. First of all, coal attracts the remains of fusel oils, causing them to precipitate. From cleaning, the drink acquires a mild taste, and a pleasant aroma without unnecessary impurities.

After cleaning, alcohol will not bring great harm For human body. This method is used when there is no time for double distillation. But not every coal is suitable for purification of moonshine. Right choice coal is a guarantee of good quality of the future drink.

Which coal to choose

There are several types of coal for cleaning moonshine:

woody birch activated;
wood coconut activated;
activated charcoal tablets;
coal from water filters or gas masks;
barbecue coals.

Read our other articles on how to clean moonshine from impurities:

It also helps to clean the moonshine with the Panchenkov nozzle -

How to use a steamer to clean moonshine -

— detailed description technology and tips

Birch charcoal and coconut charcoal are ideal for cleaning moonshine. Since it is originally made for wine companies that use it for filtration. They contain special impurities that allow the absorption of fusel oils.

Activated carbon tablets are not suitable for the process, as they are originally made from animal bones and have a different direction of use.

Charcoal from filters is suitable, but before use, you need to make sure that it does not contain additional impurities from which human health will suffer. If there is no information on the filter, then it is better to abandon the idea.

Barbecue coals are a great idea if there were no coals intended for cleaning drinks. It is necessary to kindle a fire with wood, transfer the smoldering elements to a vacuum container and clog it so that the wood smolders better without air. When the coals are ready, proceed to clean any alcoholic beverages.

How to prepare coal for moonshine from different raw materials

Some craftsmen prepare charcoal on their own at home. Burning oak and birch wood in a natural way, but this method gives coal interaction with oxygen, which is not desirable for coal. In large-scale production, they are made under vacuum, in this case, coal has good quality and is suitable for filtration of alcoholic beverages. It is better to spare no expense and buy good quality raw materials.

If you decide to cook it yourself, then you need to dig a hole with a diameter of 70 cm and a depth of half a meter. Cover the bottom with small branches and set fire to it. After burning, they begin to lay chopped logs. As it burns, the next logs are placed until the pit is filled with burnt wood.

Then a vacuum should be created for the coals. Fill the hole with leaves and soil. Leaving it to smolder for several hours. After, the charcoal is pulled out, sieved and packaged. During ignition, do not use various chemicals, it is dangerous to health.

For the manufacture of coal, you can use not only a pit, but also an iron barrel. To do this, they take a metal container of 200 liters, with thick iron walls, put wood in it and also kindle it. But the choice of a barrel must be taken seriously, since for the manufacture of coals, it should not have residues from previous raw materials. If there were oil products in it, then they must be burned out and only a clean barrel should be used.

Cleaning moonshine with charcoal

Strain the moonshine through a filter. To do this, a watering can is made from a plastic bottle, a piece of cotton wool is placed in its neck, you can wrap it with gauze for better filtration. Put the next layer of charcoal.

Before use, it must be washed and crushed into small pieces. If it is not rinsed, then coal dust will settle to the bottom of the drink. And then you have to use more stringent filters. Based on 1 liter, you need to use 50 grams of coal. And then each time change to a new portion. After filtering, the procedure should be repeated several times, this will improve the quality of the drink.

Cleaning moonshine in the above way will make the product better and softer, but this will not replace a double run through a moonshine still. If there is no possibility for re-distillation, then after filtering, moonshine should be infused with various herbs, giving it a rich taste.

Purification of moonshine with activated carbon

Activated charcoal is made from coconut shells, which is used in industrial production. They clean whiskey, giving it a refined taste and aroma. Breweries also use coal. A persistent foam is a sign of an absorbed drink from which the tannins have been removed.

It is not recommended to use activated carbon if the mash was made from jam or fruit, otherwise the drink will lose its taste and aroma. But for a sugar bodyagi, it’s just right. Do not forget that with prolonged contact of alcohols and coal, oxidation occurs, and aldehydes are obtained from alcohols.

There are several rules for cleaning moonshine:

It is necessary to dilute moonshine with distilled water to 40 degrees.
When cleaning with coconut, you should leave room for moonshine, otherwise it will overflow when filtered.
After removing the fusel oils, the drink should be re-distilled.

Without re-distillation, the quality of moonshine will not improve. Only if all the rules are followed, you can get an excellent drink. With self-filtering, you can save a lot of money on your budget. And with self-production of the hive, this process will be free.

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Nowadays, unfortunately, there are a lot of alcohol with dubious quality on the shelves of stores. If you pay attention to exclusive alcohol, then it costs a lot of money. But there is an alternative to low-quality alcohol from the store, this is the use of moonshine, which has been produced in Russia since time immemorial. This natural product, which is prepared from berries, or fruits, starch and sugar. In the process of making moonshine, natural fermentation, after the end of which alcohol is evaporated for moonshine.

People who are engaged in the production of moonshine at home know what to make mash and then overtake it - it's not tricky, but getting quality moonshine in the process, when there will be purification, in which there will be no impurities and odor, it is not so simple.

The most correct and at the same time effective method- the second stage, cleaning at home, but this is not a panacea, there are other ways and this is not the only cleaning. Experienced people who have been brewing moonshine for a long time know that you can clean it with barbecue charcoal, you just need to activate it.

What coal is useful for cleaning

We have decided that we will buy coal, but which one should we use? It is not advisable to use activated carbon which is sold in pharmacies, since it is often not made from wood, and is not able to absorb fusel oils that are in moonshine during the first distillation.

The best cleaning is charcoal. We need natural charcoal for barbecue, which is obtained by pyrolysis. Of course, you can cook such coal yourself, but the process is so complicated that it is better to refuse it.

Birch charcoal is best suited, which is used to kindle hookah and barbecue. It is good to mix charcoal and coconut charcoal. Some people who brew moonshine take charcoal directly from the brazier after cooking the barbecue, and after such cleaning, the drink acquires a slight smell of a fire.

Method for cleaning moonshine with charcoal

There are a number of ways to clean at home, there is a simple one - pass the product through a water filter, or make such a filter yourself. You need to take a funnel, it is advisable to make it yourself, from a plastic bottle. To do this, cut off the bottom of the bottle, turn it over.

We put cotton wool or gauze folded in several layers into the bottle, then pour in the coal, which we grind beforehand. We pass the product through the resulting filter.

This method is suitable for quick cleaning, or when using charcoal after barbecue. It is worth noting that such cleaning must be carried out at least five times. Each new cleaning must be carried out with a new filter.

But if you have some time, then you can apply another method, the most effective. It is necessary to finely crush the coal and fill it with moonshine. The proportions are 50 grams per liter of drink. We tightly close the vessel with a lid, and insist for three days in a dark place. After that, you need to carefully drain the drink from the sediment.

The sediment can be removed with a dropper. You need to drain only from above, so that the coal in the jar remains covered with liquid. If small particles of coal remain in the moonshine, then it will need to be filtered through gauze, or filter paper.

It is not recommended to insist moonshine with coal for a long time, as harmful resins can return to the product.
It is not advisable to use the filter that is in the water jug. Although there is a carbon filter that can soften the drink, people who have been brewing moonshine for a long time do not recommend using it.
As for pharmaceutical activated carbon, after such cleaning with coal, moonshine can be bitter, since starch is used in the production of tablets, which reacts with the drink.
There is no need to be afraid to overdo it with coal for moonshine, in this situation it is better to have more than not enough.
Charcoal cleaning is used only once, it cannot be reused.
Cannot be used from a gas mask.
If after cleaning the smell remains, then this can only be eliminated by a second distillation.
Moonshine made from grain raw materials, such as barley or wheat, has a specific, very pleasant smell, and if cleaned, this smell will disappear. So if you like it, it's better not to clean it.
The drink must be cleaned in small portions, since the coal may be of poor quality, and after such cleaning, the moonshine may become of inadequate quality.
If it is possible to find coconut charcoal (charcoal), then it is better to use it. Such charcoal cleaning at home is better.

Here are some tips for charcoal cleaning.

Moonshine at home is an occupation that has been practiced in Russia for a long time, so it’s not difficult to find the best way to brew this drink and clean it, so finding the best one for yourself is not difficult.

Vegetable oil

Not all moonshiners know that fusel impurities and other harmful components are perfectly neutralized in vegetable oils. Therefore, moonshine can be cleaned with olive or sunflower oil. The main thing here is to use an odorless product, that is, refined, otherwise the concentrated flavor will be transferred to the drink.

At this method purification of moonshine at home in alcohol remains part of the vegetable oil, even with high-quality filtration. Therefore, the second distillation in this case is a mandatory step.

How to clean moonshine after the first distillation with vegetable oil:

Dilute the moonshine with water to a fortress of 20o. For every liter of alcohol, 20 ml of oil will be required. For example, in 5 liters you need to mix 100 ml of cleaner.
Stir the ingredients for 1-2 minutes, then leave for 5 minutes, and shake everything thoroughly again.
Put the jar in a dark place with a constant temperature of 6-15 ° C, the lower the indicator, the better.
After the infusion is completed, the liquid will become slightly cloudy, and an oily film will form on its surface. It is necessary to drain pure alcohol through a tube. Try to do it in such a way as not to hurt the film.

Milk

Filtration of moonshine with milk is very popular among experienced craftsmen - this is how the "soul" of the drink is preserved and its taste softens. The principle is based on the binding of harmful impurities by the molecules of casein and albumin, which are part of the milk protein. As a result, a flaky sediment appears, due to gravity falling to the bottom. It takes about a week to filter, after which the distillate is removed from the sediment and run again. After cleaning, the moonshine acquires a clean structure, and also becomes soft in taste.

Milk is a simple, effective and completely safe way to make high-quality alcohol.

It should be borne in mind that milk contains fats, they make the drink cloudy. Therefore, in moonshine there are 2 cleaning recipes. The first uses low-fat milk, and does not provide redistillation, in the second - the percentage of fat content of the product is not important, since secondary distillation will help to clean the structure.

Method for cleaning moonshine with milk without distillation

The advantages of this filtration of moonshine are obvious, the method is absolutely safe, does not need secondary distillation and makes it possible to combine alcohol purification with other methods. But it also has disadvantages, in rare cases, the structure of the liquid may become cloudy.

Cleaning steps:

prepare a skimmed pasteurized dairy product with the calculation of 150 ml per 10 liters of fortified drink with a strength of 50%;

Instead of pasteurized milk this case allowed to use dry. But first, 3 hours before cleaning the moonshine from fusel oils, it will need to be diluted in warm water.

mix the dairy product with a fortified drink, tightly close the jar and leave for 5-6 days in a dark place with a temperature regime of 20-25 ° C;
every day during infusion, the container must be shaken well;

From the very first minutes, a precipitate will begin to form in the liquid in the form of large white flakes. This milk protein enters into a chemical reaction and precipitates harmful impurities.

at the end of exposure, alcohol is drained from the sediment and filtered several times through a multilayer gauze with a cotton pad.

If, after cleaning at home, moonshine has acquired a cloudy structure, it should be filtered through a charcoal filter.

VIDEO: What is the best way to clean distillate - coal, butter or milk?

How to properly clean the moonshine with subsequent distillation

In this case, fat dairy product It doesn't matter, as long as the milk is fresh. The process of removing harmful impurities is as follows:

100 ml of a homemade dairy product is mixed into 1 liter of alcohol, but the alcohol is first diluted to obtain a strength of 45-55 °;
all components are well mixed, tightly closed with a lid;
the container is placed for 4-6 days in a dark place, while the first 3 days the contents must be shaken for better cleaning;
Moonshine is drained from the sediment and diluted with water by 20%, after which it is sent for secondary distillation with separation into fractions - heads, body, tails.

These methods can be used to check the quality of store-bought vodka. Sometimes the result is shocking by the amount of sediment.

Egg protein

Purification of moonshine at home using protein from chicken eggs allows you to eliminate not only harmful components in the drink, but also bad smell. This method works best when filtering a distillate prepared with wheat or sugar mash. But if alcohol was prepared on berries or fruits, egg white not recommended for cleaning.

The composition of the cleaning product includes casein and albumin, in fact, due to which all impurities are deposited on the bottom. In terms of absorption, this method of cleaning moonshine at home is not inferior to coal. In addition, it should be noted the minimum loss of distillate - only up to 5%.

Consider the steps on how to clean and filter moonshine from fusel oils and unpleasant odors using egg white:

dilute the distillate to a strength of 45-55 °, but at the same time leave 20% free space in the container;
separate the protein from the yolk, add water to it in a volume of 10% of the amount of alcohol and beat with a mixer until you get homogeneous mass, but before the formation of foam;
mix the protein solution with moonshine, cover the container and leave to infuse for 1 week;
shake the mixture every day, but do not perform these manipulations 1 day before removal from the sediment.

At the end of the exposure time, strain the liquid without sediment through a cotton-gauze stopper in a funnel. Change the filter and do the same with the sediment. Dilute pure alcohol with drinking water to obtain a strength of 18-20 ° and distill it a second time.

frostbite

This is the easiest way to filter moonshine at home. When the temperature drops below 0 °, fusel oils and other impurities begin to freeze, while the freezing point of pure ethyl alcohol is -114°C. The method takes a lot of time compared to other cleaning options, but high quality in this case is guaranteed.

Need to put the jar in freezer or outdoors if the weather conditions meet freezing requirements. When ice forms in an alcoholic drink, and these are fusel oils, the remaining liquid must be drained, the rest must be disposed of.

In the north, the “on scrap” method is practiced, although it is more convenient to use a metal corner. It is left for some time on the street so that the metal freezes well, put it in a bowl and slowly drain the distillate over it. When moving, the fuselage freezes, and the raw flows down. The result is fast and efficient.

In order to eliminate extraneous aromas from moonshine as much as possible, it is recommended to add 30 gr. to 1 liter of the drink. raisins and chopped violet root 5 pcs. The consistency should be infused for at least 10 days, after which it will be completely usable.

Rye bread

In ancient times, few people were interested in the better to clean moonshine from harmful impurities, since they used proven for centuries bread recipe cleaning. This method has not lost popularity in our time.

Use only fresh bakery products from rye flour without various impurities. The ideal option would be Rye bread home cooking.

There are many yeasts and gluten in this product, which help to retain fusel oils. As a result of such cleaning, even the most low-quality alcohol will acquire a pleasant aroma and brighten.

The process will require 100 gr. bread pulp per 1 liter of moonshine. Prior to purification, the alcoholic beverage should be filtered using one of the previous methods. After that, the bread is cut into slices, they are cleaned of the crust and crumble into small particles.

The crumbs are poured into a container, mixed with distillate, closed with a lid and left for 3 days in a dark place. After completion of the infusion, the consistency will acquire a yellow color, which is eliminated by subsequent filtration.

Place a funnel with a stopper made of cotton pads into a clean jar and strain the alcoholic drink through it. The remaining pulp is disposed of without pressing. Next, the moonshine must be diluted with water and put on distillation with the separation of fractions.

Gluing

Bonding of fusel oils and other impurities is carried out using Karluk glue. Before use, the component is diluted in water until a jelly-like consistency is obtained, after which it is mixed into the moonshine. Adhesive elements bind undesirable components of the drink and are deposited on the bottom of the container.

This method is the most qualitative, it cleans the distillate as much as possible. Its disadvantage is only inaccessibility. The fact is that glue was used, as a rule, in large-scale production activities. Also, the deficit is affected by a sharp decrease in the number of sturgeons, from the swim bladders of which the component is produced.

Salt and soda

A quick cleansing of the drink from toxins and fusel oils is carried out through the use of baking soda with salt. The advantages of the technology are short-term, the process requires no more than 1 day. Minus - inefficiency. The fact is that soda is not able to precipitate all harmful components, therefore, it requires a second distillation.

Cleaning steps:

dilute the moonshine to get a fortress of 40-50 °;
Separately dilute 10 gr. drinking soda in 100 ml of pure water;
mix the ingredients with 1 liter of alcoholic drink, close the lid;
shake well and leave for half an hour, then stir again;
put in a dark cool place for 15 hours.

After the formation of a precipitate, the clean liquid is carefully drained and filtered. A cotton pad is placed in the funnel, granules of crushed charcoal are poured on top, after which everything is covered with one cotton layer. Through such a "sandwich" a fortified drink is passed into a container.

With the help of salt and soda, you can partially cleanse the product of harmful impurities, the smell and taste remain unchanged.

Potassium permanganate with soda

There is still the usual way cleaning moonshine with potassium permanganate, but it is less effective than the combined one, so consider the second option. Baking soda helps to neutralize acetic acid, while potassium permanganate partially eliminates fusel oils.

The main advantage of such cleaning is the minimum time spent. Minus - the likelihood of a residue of manganese crystals, which adversely affects human health. To eliminate this factor, it is necessary to overtake the composition a second time.

Prepare the components based on the following proportions - for 1 liter of alcohol you need 1.5 g. manganese and 10 gr. baking soda. Pre-mix potassium permanganate with water in a volume of 200 ml, pour the alkaline solution into the moonshine and shake thoroughly. Add manganese, cover the jar with a lid and mix well.

Place the container in a dark, cold place for 14 hours. During this time, a thick precipitate forms at the bottom of the jar, a clean liquid is drained from it and placed for re-distillation.

Fruits

A less effective cleaning method that partially removes harmful components from an alcoholic beverage, but at the same time gives it a pleasant aroma and aftertaste. This is where a secondary forcing is required.

For 3 liters of an alcoholic product with a concentration of 20o, you need to prepare 1 carrot and 1 apple. The fruits are peeled, coarsely chopped and added to a container with moonshine. After this, the jar is left to infuse for 2-3 days until the fibers begin to separate from the carrot and apple.

Making alcohol cloudy

Some tasters like moonshine of a cloudy milky color, as they are made in real Russian settlements. To achieve this effect, you can use several recipes that give the product the desired shade, while not worsening its taste and aromatic qualities.

Some people like the authentic color of moonshine - it can be made cloudy on purpose

Whey from milk. For 1 liter of moonshine, from 10 to 25 ml of serum will be required, depending on the required color saturation.
Powdered milk. Use the ingredient in proportions of 5-15 gr. for every liter of fortified drink.
Vegetable oil. To obtain a white consistency, 3-5 drops of refined sunflower or olive oil are enough. After adding the component, the liquid must be thoroughly mixed.

VIDEO: Moonshiner's little tricks

Cleaning moonshine is a very important matter, the quality of the final raw materials that you and your loved ones will use depends on it, you should be extremely careful when choosing a cleaning method. One of the most common and simple is the use of coal, its absorbent qualities will allow it to draw in all the impurities and unnecessary substances, leaving our drink perfectly clean.

Note! Cleaning must be carried out strictly according to the instructions and only food charcoal without impurities.

After cleaning our moonshine, it is necessary to think about the future of the coal mass that remains. Of course, you can throw it away, but ideally, you can restore it using the simple manipulations described in the article and use it again, which will save on the purchase of coal.

Cleaning moonshine using coconut charcoal

Pharmaceutical activated carbon is made from wood and, in principle, is suitable for purifying homemade alcohol, but it contains additional substances, such as talc and starch, which can harm the taste of moonshine, give it bitterness.

One of the most popular and effective is coconut charcoal. It is made from coconut shell and surpasses wood in the ability to absorb harmful impurities due to the presence of smaller pores. This allows you to quickly and efficiently get rid of unwanted impurities.

To rid moonshine of additional impurities, using coconut absorbent, you must:

pour the absorbent into the moonshine in the proportion of 2 tbsp. spoons per 1 liter of drink;
mix the resulting mixture well;
leave for a week to infuse;
shake the container from time to time to improve the effect;
strain ready drink through the filter.

Benefits of Coconut Charcoal

The main advantages of coconut charcoal over wood, medical and other cleaning methods are as follows:

economical use of coal (10 grams of coconut versus 40-50 grams of wood per liter);
high efficiency - small multiple pores allow you to capture and hold both large and small particles;
the natural properties of coconut make it possible to enrich filtered moonshine with iodine and iron;
naturalness and environmental friendliness - unlike other types of coal, it does not contain additives or impurities.

alcoplace.ru

activated coconut charcoal

Coconut activated charcoal is a 100% natural highly effective product made from the shell of a coconut drupe, designed to purify the resulting distillate from fusel oils, eliminate extraneous unpleasant tastes and odors, and impart finished product vodka aroma and taste.

Due to the large pore surface area (1150 - 1350 m2/g), coconut charcoal has the highest sorption capacity.

Activated carbon is poured directly into a container with distillate, based on the ratio of 10 g per 1 liter. To clean the water-alcohol solution from coal particles, it is poured through filter paper or cotton wool.

After distillation

After distillation of moonshine, even if you used fractional distillation with cutting off heads and tails, foreign substances or, if you like, fusel oils remain in the resulting water-alcohol mixture.

They not only impair the taste of the drink and its smell, Coconut charcoal for cleaning moonshine recipe and adversely affect your health.

The simplest and most affordable way to clean moonshine from fusel oil has always been and will be coconut charcoal, which adsorbs harmful impurities.
This article will shed light on this area of home brewing, and you will learn how to clean moonshine with charcoal at home.
Coconut charcoal is very porous and therefore has a large specific surface area per unit mass, which makes it an adsorbent.
The pores adsorb molecules of a certain size, so it is very important to choose the "right" carbon.

Coconut charcoal removes excess fusel oils from moonshine, while improving its taste and making the drink more noble. A drink passed through activated charcoal is drunk softer, while the use of activated charcoal is absolutely harmless to the body, which cannot be said about chemical methods for cleaning moonshine.

samogon-reception.ru

We clean moonshine with activated carbon

Activated carbon has a high absorbent effect. This is ensured by the presence of micropores on the surface. Depending on the size of these pores, it is able to purify the liquid from various impurities.

Previously activated absorbent was produced from animal bones.
A product of this origin has very small pores that are not able to absorb rather large molecules of fusel oils.
Therefore, when choosing coal, it is necessary to pay attention to what it is obtained from.
To purify homemade alcohol, an absorbent is needed, obtained by pyrolysis of wood.
This process is achieved by burning its fine particles in industrial furnaces at high temperature and in the absence of oxygen.

Pharmaceutical activated charcoal can also be used to purify alcohol. Crush it into a powder and apply the method described in the section on coconut charcoal. You can also make a homemade filter from such coal and pass alcohol through it.

What charcoal can be used for cleaning

Not all grades of coal are suitable for filtering your moonshine with them. For example, you should not buy pills from a pharmacy, since the effect described above will not be fully achieved. The pores of the tablets are too small and not suitable for absorbing large molecules of fusel oils.

Therefore, it is advisable to clean moonshine with activated carbon at home:

With the help of BAU-A (birch activated carbon). You can buy it in specialized shops for distillers or make it yourself.
Using KAU-A (coconut charcoal). We give preference to this particular adsorbent, considering its cleaning ability to be the highest.

Fans who are just starting to delve into the intricacies of home brewing often wonder if it is possible to clean moonshine with charcoal for barbecue. It's actually not recommended to do this. To filter moonshine, you need to use only an activated adsorbent, which, of course, is not ordinary charcoal for barbecue.

Its activation occurs at a temperature of 1000 degrees. If the conditions are not met, a lot of harmful substances and carcinogens remain in the product, and it is simply dangerous to eat moonshine, which was used to clean ordinary charcoal. Therefore, even cleaning moonshine with activated charcoal in tablets, and not with specialized birch charcoal or coconut charcoal, will be much more effective.

The mentioned brands BAU-A, KAU-A are already initially made for use in the alcoholic beverage industry.
Also note that the "A" in the name means the highest degree of activity of the material.
If you purchase grades BAU-B or BAU-V, then please note that they are actually rejected coals in terms of activity during the production of BAU-A.
The same should be taken into account when purchasing KAU, when it is planned to clean the moonshine with coconut charcoal.

How to make your own activated charcoal

We will describe how to make activated charcoal with our own hands, using wood raw materials for this, which will be a birch log peeled from bark and finely chopped (into chips about 3 cm long). Charcoal must be prepared with minimal access to oxygen, for this:

Prepare a flat jar in which you will cook birch charcoal
Punch about 20 holes in it, place raw materials in it and close it tightly
Put the jar on the fire, where organic gases will come out through the holes from the hot coal and immediately burn
When the degassing stops, remove the jar from the heat and let it cool.

Activated charcoal is wrapped in gauze and placed over a large saucepan half filled with water.
Place the container on the stove, where the resulting water vapor will activate our filter material
Next, transfer the wet charcoal to tin can with holes, which was previously used for degassing, put it on fire to remove moisture

After you prepare the activated adsorbent for moonshine with your own hands, store it only in a dry, tightly closed jar without air access. Otherwise, coal will begin to absorb various organic molecules from it, losing its properties.

Nevertheless, it must be understood that such a method of preparation is significantly inferior to the industrial one, where the material is calcined at a temperature of 1100-1200 degrees and processed not with simple saturated, but with superheated steam at a pressure of about 2.5 atm. Naturally, its activity is an order of magnitude higher than that of coal prepared at home for cleaning moonshine.

Our advice to you, do not save and do not waste your precious time, but just buy high-quality coal, it is not at all expensive.

Why filtering is necessary

A lot of side substances are formed in the distillate, which worsen not only the taste of the drink, but also make its use dangerous. These are fusel oils, all kinds of aldehydes, esters, etc. Not all harmful impurities are removed by activated charcoal, but the use of the latter is still necessary. Filtering allows you to remove:

up to 86% fusel oils
up to 92% esters

Purification of moonshine with coal gives such an effect due to the presence of pores on its surface, which determine the excellent adsorbing properties of this material.

Cleaning moonshine using charcoal

Exist various varieties charcoal. To purify moonshine, it is better to use birch charcoal, it can be purchased at a regular store. It is important that the product does not contain additional impurities that can dissolve in alcohol. This information can be found on the packaging.

Wood absorbent is easy to make at home.
To do this, it is enough to burn birch wood on a fire. The pyrolysis process is simulated in a non-flammable container with a tight lid that will not let oxygen in.
Purification of alcohol with charcoal is identical to the method using coconut charcoal. Before use, it is necessary to grind it as much as possible, to increase efficiency.
Another simple way to get rid of harmful substances from moonshine is to pass the drink through a regular filter purchased at a store or made by yourself.

A home-made filter is called a coal column for cleaning moonshine. To do this, take a funnel and put a couple of cotton balls or several layers of gauze into it. Pour birch charcoal on top. When using a home filter, the procedure must be repeated several times to obtain an acceptable result. Before each repetition, the raw materials in the homemade filter must be replaced.

Cleaning moonshine at home occurs in four stages:

filtration from large impurities through a household filter;
infusion of distillate using birch activated absorbent;
upholding;
filtering through coal column.

Cleaning methods

Infusion

The first stage of the process involves the infusion of moonshine. For this strong moonshine must first be diluted to 40°-50° or even lower if a second distillation is to be carried out. Doing this is a must. The higher the strength of the drink, the stronger the molecular bonds and, accordingly, the more difficult it is to extract impurities.

Coal also needs to be prepared. If it is formed into briquettes, they should be broken up as finely as possible. We need to maximize the area of contact of the surface of coal and moonshine. For 1 liter of liquid with a strength of 40 °, 10 grams (2-3 tablespoons) of coal will be required. They put more, but it will not give a better result.

Crushed coal must be separated from dust and washed. This will allow not to color the moonshine so much. Then the prepared coal is placed in a container with moonshine and mixed thoroughly.

Regarding the duration of infusion, there are several points of view. It is recommended to insist from one day to a week. Practical experiments show that two to three hours is quite enough. Increasing this period most often does not change the result.
Some sources claim that with prolonged aging, moonshine not only does not improve, but, on the contrary, worsens. After some time, the coal pores open and release all the collected compounds back.
One way or another, it is better not to exceed the threshold of 3 hours. Every 20-30 minutes the container must be stirred.

After this time, the second stage begins - filtration. First, using a cotton pad or gauze folded into several layers. This will separate large particles and dust suspension. At the exit, we have moonshine with a slight charcoal tint. From the point of view of the presence of impurities, it is certainly pure. But drinking such moonshine is not entirely pleasant. It needs to be brightened up. For this purpose, a filter for a coffee maker, a filter for water purification, an ashless filter are suitable. It is better to feed moonshine into the filter in a thin stream or drops. This is easily accomplished with a conventional variable flow dripper.

Filtration

The second cleaning method is a simplified version of the previous one. In this case, moonshine must be cleaned immediately through the filter. It can be designed in different ways.

You can make a kind of coal column. This will require two containers, usually a bottle and a can. Since plastic is not recommended for operations with alcohol, it is better to take glass or ceramics.
At the bottle, you need to cut off the bottom (for example, with a glass cutter) and install the jar upside down in the neck. Pour coconut charcoal into the bottle to clean moonshine at the rate of 12-15 grams per liter.
The neck of the bottle is lined with cotton pads to prevent coal from spilling into the jar. Moonshine through the filter should be spilled at low speed.
In a lightweight version, it is proposed to make a filter in the funnel itself, alternating layers of cotton pads or gauze and coal. For the best performance of such cleaning, it is worth repeating it several times, while changing the coal.

How safe is charcoal cleaning?

Activated carbon is the most environmentally friendly product to use in the cleaning process. Wood absorbent is used in water filters, gas masks, aquarium filters, etc. You can use this raw material. In the case of such a choice, it is necessary to treat a number of sources with caution.

Carbon in water filters includes additional impurities that make it possible to soften the water. For moonshine, this is not a critical parameter and will not drastically affect the taste, but experienced winemakers are not inclined to use such a filter.

If you use raw materials from a gas mask, you need to make sure that it has not been used before, as it could absorb harmful substances that can dissolve in alcohol and spoil the drink not only in terms of taste, but also make it simply dangerous to drink.

Coal educational program

The process of purifying alcohol with charcoal is called carbonization. Coal is a wonderful natural sorbent, that is, it absorbs other substances.
To be even more precise, it refers to adsorbents: it attracts and holds the molecules of these substances on its surface. In this it differs from absorbents, which react and convert the original substances into new compounds.
Several types of coal can be used in distilling. The most affordable is activated medical. The next type is woody. The brands BAU-A and BAU-LVZ are intended for the alcohol industry. And the third type - on a coconut basis.
Produced under the name KAUSORB or KAU-A. The name is worth paying attention to, since coconut coals are produced not only for food purposes, but also for hookahs, barbecues. In this case, they may contain aromatic additives or flammable compounds.

Coconut charcoal is produced by pyrolysis - exposure to high temperatures in an airless environment. On sale it is present in crushed form or in small briquettes. A significant drawback, you will not usually find it in the wide sale. You need to order online or look in specialized stores. Can sometimes be found in liquor stores.

Flow Filtration

The first recipe will require some improvised materials, for example, a jug for filtering water, where you will need to fill the adsorbent. The filter can also be made independently, for example, from a plastic bottle. For this, the bottom is cut off for this, holes are made in the cork, and the neck is laid with cotton wool.

The filter material should be laid out in the proportion:

homemade coal requires about 50 g per liter of filtered solution;
BAU-A should be put about 12 g per liter of moonshine.

Moonshine can be passed through the filter element up to several times, but the result will be worse each time, so it is better to change the coal after each filtered batch. The amount of filter material required for the process is recommended to be washed with water to remove coal dust, which subsequently also has to be removed from the filtrate.

Filtration by filling coal into moonshine

If moonshine is cleaned with coal in the second way, that is, by pouring it into alcohol, then the filter element is taken with the calculation of 50 g per 1 liter of distillate. Drink manufacturers with many years of experience often recommend infusing the resulting mixture for 1-2 weeks to filter moonshine at home, shaking it periodically. Then the drink settles for another 5-7 days and is filtered through a dense cotton filter.

However, such an approach to the purification of an alcoholic beverage is contrary to scientific facts, indicating that only during the first 15-20 minutes of such processing, the content of aldehydes hazardous to health decreases, reaching a minimum value by the 20th minute.

Therefore, it is better to use coal for half an hour, then you need to remove it or, if necessary, repeat the procedure with a fresh portion of the adsorbent.

Coal dust removal

Next, we will consider how to clean moonshine from coal dust in order to make the distillate clouded after filtration as transparent as possible. We note right away that this procedure is not mandatory, since the mentioned dust is not harmful to health and in no way affects the taste of the drink. However, to improve the appearance of an alcoholic beverage, a good ashless filter can be used.

These elements are made from 95% pure cellulose and are filter paper cut in the shape of circles. For example, a "White Ribbon" filter can be used, which has a high filtration rate and a good ability to screen out coarse particles in solution like coal dust.

Filter reuse

Those who are just beginning to learn the intricacies of making a homemade alcoholic drink often do not know if the same cleaning element can be used to filter different batches, and also how many times this is allowed.

In fact, this should not be done, if only because when the pores of coal are saturated with harmful substances, it loses activity. Moreover, with further use, the adsorbent begins to give these substances back, that is, after its use, you will no longer receive a filtrate, but a solution saturated with aldehydes and fusel oils.

But if you already use used coal, then before cleaning moonshine, the material must be reactivated. To do this, it is treated with a 2% hydrochloric acid solution, washed thoroughly with water, dried and re-calcined. However, for high-quality filtration, it is still desirable to use fresh, manufactured in industrial conditions.

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Oil cleaning

This method is based on the effect of dissolving fusel oils in other oils. Whereas alcohol itself, when abundantly diluted with water, does not dissolve in it. In order to get rid of aldehydes in the distillate in one procedure, it is recommended to add alkali to alcohol before cleaning with oil - this will allow the aldehydes to become soluble.

At home, refined vegetable oil is used. This is necessary in order to protect moonshine from odor changes after cleaning. The only disadvantage of this choice may be the need for a second distillation of raw materials.

The sequence of cleaning homemade alcohol with oil:

make sure that the oil is odorless and suitable for cleaning moonshine;
dilute raw alcohol to 15-30 degrees with water;
pour oil into a container with alcohol in a proportion of 20 ml per 1 liter of drink;
close the container with a tight lid and shake continuously for 1 minute, let it stand and repeat the shaking procedure after 3-5 minutes;
leave the drink at rest for a day in a dark, cool room, the recommended air temperature is 5-16 degrees, the lower threshold will be more useful;
in a day, a film of oil that has absorbed harmful impurities will appear on the surface of the moonshine. Without damaging it, it is necessary to drain the moonshine. This happens with the help of a tube, on the surface of the film we make a funnel and drain the moonshine through it;
drained moonshine is recommended to be additionally filtered, for this you can use a charcoal filter.

After such cleaning with oil, moonshine is ready for the second distillation.

In addition to the above methods of cleaning moonshine, there are many more options. All of them are aimed at cleansing moonshine from fusel oils and aldehydes. Purification of moonshine with oil or activated charcoal is the most environmentally friendly, since it is essentially not a chemical cleaning, everything is based on the physical properties of substances. That is why these methods are considered the safest and simplest.

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Why is cleaning necessary?

After the primary distillation, despite the selection of the tail and head fractions, the distillate still contains impurities that are very dangerous and harmful to human health, such as, for example, acetic and formic acids, acetaldehyde, amyl and methyl alcohols. Their common name is fusel oils.

They give alcohol a disgusting smell and can do people more harm than good.

Therefore, the primary distillate must be purified.
Fusel oils contained in crude moonshine are harmful to health
Fusel oils remain on the walls of the steamer of the moonshine still.
For this reason, it is recommended that you always rinse the steamer after distillation.
In the alcohol industry, these oils are not thrown away, but are used to make an excellent solvent for dairy and confectionery industry: amyl alcohol.

First of all, purification is needed in order to get rid of isoamyl alcohol (C5H4OH).

This component of fusel oils is the most dangerous, and it accounts for most (up to 60%) of the total amount of impurities removed. C5H4OH is dangerous because when it comes into contact with the skin, it causes blisters from burns, and when interacting with the respiratory system, it causes suffocation and severe coughing. For more information on cleaning with a carbon filter, see this video:

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Step by step procedure

Activated charcoal, which is sold in almost every pharmacy, is prepared using wood. This option is quite acceptable for cleaning moonshine at home, however, the substances present in this product (starch, talc) can spoil the taste of moonshine at the exit, giving it a bitter aftertaste.

The most popular and effective way to clean moonshine at the moment is cleaning with coconut charcoal.

It is made from coconut shells. It is superior to wood-type coal in terms of absorbing harmful impurities, because it is much smaller in size. Coconut charcoal makes it possible to quickly and efficiently remove the entire set of unacceptable impurities from the product.

To remove auxiliary impurities from moonshine with the help of a coconut absorbent, you will need:

Add an absorbent to an alcoholic drink, subject to the following proportion: two tablespoons fall on one liter of an alcoholic drink;
Carefully mix the mass that you received as a result of the procedure;
After that, the resulting product must be infused throughout the week;
Periodically, the manufacturer must shake the contents of the container in order to obtain a greater effect.
Using a filter, you must strain the moonshine.

What is the difference

Activated carbon has an increased absorbent effect. This feature is explained by the fact that this type of coal is covered with micropores on the surface itself. It all depends on the size of the pores: the ability to remove harmful impurities is expressed to a greater or lesser extent.

Activated charcoal, as an absorbent, was once made from animal bone tissue. The product produced in this way has tiny pores that are not able to absorb too large molecules of fusel oils.
For this reason, when you decide which coal to use, it is worth asking about the method of obtaining it.
To clear homemade alcohol When using charcoal, the absorbent must be obtained through wood pyrolysis.

This procedure is implemented in this way: its small particles are fired in industrial-type furnaces using high temperature regime and without oxygen.

Moonshine cleaning is carried out with activated charcoal, which is sold in a pharmacy. Further, the coal is pushed apart, turning into a fine powder.

After the whole procedure is carried out in exactly the same way as when cleaning with charcoal from coconut. All actions are almost identical. It can also be used to create a filter through which the drink itself will be passed.

Security Level

Cleaning the product with coal is one of the most environmentally friendly procedures. Coconut and wood charcoal is used not only in home brewing. Absorbent meth is present in any water filter, gas mask, and also in an aquarium filter. When choosing coal for the manufacture of a product, it must be remembered that in given ingredient impurities of varying degrees of harmfulness may be present.

Varieties of coal

In this section I will list the types that are used with more or less popularity by moonshiners to clean their drinks.

Birch activated carbon

Very popular with moonshiners. Sold in shops for winemakers, as well as in specialized stores, such as "Russian Chemist".

Coconut (KAU)

As it is not difficult to guess from the name, it is made from coconut shells.

Also a very popular brand. That is what I recommend for use. According to many sellers, KAU has a higher cleaning power than birch. You can buy it in the same place as BAU.

Pharmacy activated charcoal.

Everyone has probably seen and even tried this. You can use it, but there is one caveat. Pharmaceutical coal often contains excipients, mainly potato starch and sucrose.

I have heard from fellow winemakers that these additives make moonshine harder. To be honest, I never noticed the difference, but just in case I try to use only KAU.

Charcoal for barbecue

Some distillers use this as well.

I do not recommend doing this. It is not known from what material it is made. Most likely, such coal is not regulated by GOSTs, and therefore it is not known by what technology it was obtained.
Activated carbon for alcohol purification is produced at 800-1000 °C. If the temperature is lower, then resins may remain in it in a small but sufficient amount to spoil the product for us.

Household filters

You can clean moonshine by passing it through a filter jug. He does his job well. True, in some cases there is an increased loss in the fortress - about 5 degrees.

Instructions for charcoal

So, below are a few methods for cleaning moonshine with charcoal. As I said at the beginning of the article, before cleaning, moonshine must be diluted to 15-20% alcohol. Then distill it again to increase the strength.

The maximum effect can be achieved if clean moonshine with vegetable oil.

Purification of BAU or KAU

Coal is taken at the rate of 10 grams (heaped tablespoon) per 1 liter of sorting.
Washable with drinking water from dust.
Take a regular plastic bottle. Several holes are made in the cork and the bottom is cut off. A piece of cotton wool or a cotton pad is placed under the cork and falls asleep required amount KAU.
Well, then moonshine is poured and filtered. I run 3 times.

You can also simply pour the coal into a sorting container and shake well. In this case, it is better to double the dosage. Keep coal in moonshine for no more than 20 minutes, then filter through cotton wool or filter paper.

Pharmacy activated charcoal cleaning

Everything is the same as in the previous cleaning. Dosage - 45 tablets per 1 liter of moonshine. Crush tablets before use.

Laboratory analysis of cleaning quality

I give the results of a laboratory analysis of moonshine before and after charcoal cleaning.

Analyzes were conducted by a highly respected member of the Homedistiller forum under the nickname Alexander956. Here is a link to a forum post.
These data confirm what this article says - coal very effectively copes with fusel oils, and the quality of cleaning increases markedly with strong dilution of moonshine.
Raw alcohol from sugar mash, distilled to a temperature of 99 degrees in the cube, i.e. almost to the water.
The amount of impurities is indicated in mg per liter of anhydrous alcohol.

Coal regeneration at home

Charcoal can be used several times, but over time it loses its adsorbing properties. In industry, it is subjected to regeneration.

This can be done at home as well. Maybe not as effective, but still. How to do this is described in the same book by Dorosh-Lysenko. Instructions in the photo below:
OK it's all over Now. Now you know how to properly coal moonshine. In a compartment with double fractional distillation, you can get a very high-quality and tasty product.
In my plans, I have articles about a few more cleaning methods, so I suggest subscribing to new articles. I also encourage you to share your experience in the comments. I'm very interested.

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How to make activated charcoal

Making high-quality activated carbon with your own hands for cleaning moonshine is quite difficult. The technology of how to activate charcoal to clean moonshine uses the effect of pyrolysis - burning wood in conditions of oxygen deficiency.

To make your own activated charcoal, follow these steps:

take birch firewood and let it burn completely in an open fire;
when only smoldering coals remain, place them in a container with a tight-fitting lid;
after the coals go out and cool, the filter medium will be ready.

If you correctly follow these steps, the resulting coal will actually not be inferior in quality to that offered in the store.

How to make charcoal

You can prepare charcoal for cleaning moonshine with your own hands using two options:

By burning wood in conditions of oxygen deficiency.

After burning the firewood to the state of coals, place them in an airtight container that does not allow air to enter.

By calcining firewood without air access.

The simplest implementation of this method would be to place firewood under a metal basin and build a large fire on it.

In fact, the steps above are also a way to activate charcoal to clean moonshine. It is thanks to this treatment that coal acquires increased ability to absorb harmful substances.

How to restore activated carbon after cleaning moonshine

Reusing activated charcoal to clean moonshine is not recommended. Since during use, the coal is saturated with harmful impurities contained in the product, it is much easier to replace the cleaning element instead of restoring it.

Some of the cost-saving tips for purifying alcohol can be hazardous to your health. These include tips to rinse activated charcoal after cleaning moonshine.

It is worth knowing that substances absorbed by the structure of coal cannot be washed out under a stream of water.

And in the case of reuse of such a filter material, all the impurities absorbed by it can return to the drink.
There are recommendations to restore coal after use by treating it with a 2% hydrochloric acid solution, then rinse with water, dry, ignite on fire in a closed container and reuse.
Given the danger of harmful compounds remaining in activated carbon getting into the drink being purified, this method should not be used.

Drinking moonshine immediately after distillation is not worth it. Even after fractional distillation fusel oils remain in it - extraneous harmful substances. Such impurities can spoil the taste, smell and harm health.

You can clean moonshine from harmful substances at home using activated charcoal. If in the days of our grandfathers it was problematic to get a quality product for filtration, now there is a huge selection of different types of coal.

What are the types of activated carbon

To filter moonshine, you can use the following types of activated carbon:

pharmacy activated tablets;
from aquarium filters;
coal used by winemakers;
the one that is in gas masks;
from water filters;
from protective gas analyzer tubes.

What is the best carbon to use for filtration

Today we have a huge selection of material for the purification of the drink. Pharmaceutical activated charcoal seems like the perfect option, but it's not. Yes, it will help to perfectly clean the moonshine, but at the same time it can ruin the taste. As a result, the drink will be bitter. And it's all about third-party impurities. For example, talc is a standard component or starch, without which they will not be those familiar black tablets. How much activated carbon is needed to purify moonshine depends on the method of purification and the volume of liquid.

Any water filters may also contain impurities, such as resins that help soften it. Experienced moonshiners with experience do not recommend this type of absorbent.

Once upon a time, most often, fuselage was filtered with coal from gas masks. But this is not the best option, because inside the filter there can be harmful chemical compounds. This will not only not make the drink clean, but also harm your health.

Do not clean moonshine with homemade charcoal from the fire unless you know what went into the fire. For example, plastic bottles, cups, when burned, release very toxic compounds.

The special coal that winemakers use when working will be the best option. And this is understandable, because it is designed specifically for such work. It is made from real wood. Most often it is birch. A special difference between industrial and self-prepared is that under normal household conditions, combustion occurs with oxygen. In the case of purchased charcoal, you can be sure that it was burned by pyrolysis - without oxygen supply.

The process of making charcoal activated charcoal

When there are no other options but to make charcoal at home, then don't worry. This is a very simple procedure. To obtain such coal, it is necessary to burn wood, but this must be done correctly.

These simple steps ensure combustion without oxygen. Another plus is the complete burnout of organic gases. When all the gas is out of the tin, remove it from the stove and cool completely. The resulting absorbent must be subjected to another simple action, which will make it active and suitable for further use.

You can activate the coal with steam, which will easily expand the pores of the wood.

It is best to use a tall saucepan in which you need to pour water up to half. No more, otherwise it will be superfluous. While the water is boiling, prepare the charcoal. The point is that the coal is in a water bath, above the steam and does not touch the boiling liquid. The easiest way is to wrap the coals in cheesecloth and secure in a saucepan. The steam will pass through each open pore of the charcoal and clean them.

Now you need to dry the coal. To do this, place it in a tin, tightly closing it. Moisture will evaporate from the already cleaned pores of the coal and go outside. As soon as the release of steam stops, the coal can be taken away - it is ready.

Be sure to close the jar. If this is not done, but the absorbent will absorb foreign odors and other substances from the air.

Once the charcoal has cooled, transfer it to an airtight storage jar.

The process of cleaning moonshine with charcoal

The first thing to do is to dilute moonshine with water until a fortress of about 40-45 degrees is obtained. Next, we take a sorbent, in our case homemade activated carbon, and use it as follows:

Add 50 grams of coal per 1 liter of moonshine;
We insist the resulting mixture for 7-8 days;
We clean alcohol from coal by filtering through cotton wool or gauze.

We get crystal clear moonshine, which can be used as a basis for making a variety of alcoholic beverages or consumed immediately.

During infusion, systematically shake the container with moonshine.

We clean moonshine with activated charcoal tablets

Despite the fact that cleaning with pharmaceutical activated carbon is not the best option, it happens that another way is currently not possible. To filter alcohol from fusel oils, do the following:

Do you clean moonshine with pharmaceutical activated carbon?

YesNo, I do not recommend!

We take 50 grams of tablets per 1 liter of liquid;
Tablets must be crushed;
We cover the bottom of the jar or other container with a thin layer of cotton wool;
Next, we put 10 centimeters of powdered coal;
We install another layer of cotton wool on the coal;
Pour moonshine and forget about it for a week;
Shake once a day for better cleansing.

After a week, we filter the drink through a layer of gauze or cotton wool from the remnants of the absorbent.

Cleaning moonshine with a charcoal filter

Charcoal filters show good results when cleaning any type of alcohol from fusel oils. This method is faster than the previous one.

In order to make such a filter, prepare - cotton wool or gauze, a bottle with a wide neck or a jar for alcohol, coal, as well as a funnel or a cut-off neck from a plastic bottle.

Install a funnel in the container where the purified alcohol will drain. At the bottom of the funnel, compact cotton wool or gauze with a dense layer, and on top of the sorbent at the rate of 50 g per liter of moonshine. Next, we pass the drink through a filter made by ourselves at least five times.

Such a process is labor-intensive and infrequently used, but nevertheless effective.

Do-it-yourself coal column for cleaning moonshine

You can buy such a column in stores that sell the appropriate materials, or you can make it at home without much difficulty. It is a steel tube, at the bottom of which a silicone tube is inserted to drain the liquid. Coal is poured at the bottom of the column and alcohol is poured. As it is cleaned, it passes through the entire absorbent layer and flows into the prepared container.

To independently make a column for the purification of fusel oil, you must perform the following steps:

For the column, a copper or stainless steel vertical pipe with a diameter of 5-10 cm and a height of up to 50 cm is used;
A drain pipe must be installed at the bottom;
Pour activated charcoal into the tube at half the height;
Pour alcohol that needs cleaning;
We close the lid, but leave a minimum gap for the passage of air.
We are waiting for all the moonshine to be cleaned.

In an hour, such a column is able to purify up to a liter of alcoholic beverage.

Video review of the coal column

Cleaning moonshine with barbecue charcoal

Use only the coal you are sure of. If the fire was kindled with plastic, then such an absorbent will not work.
Rinse the charcoal under running water to get rid of dust and dirt.
Install a filter in a watering can - a layer of gauze or cotton wool, and then pour in 3-4 cm crushed charcoal for barbecue.
Pass the sivukh through a watering can with a filter several times, ideally 5-6 for a more thorough cleaning.

As you can see, there are several simple ways by which you can easily clean the "fire water" from impurities. Which one to choose depends on the circumstances, material possibilities and personal preferences.

At home, it is best to use several filtering methods. In this way, a truly pure and pleasant alcoholic product can be obtained.