Raw alcohol. Headings distillation and purification of raw alcohol. The technological process of obtaining double moonshine

Novice distillers always ask themselves - what is the second distillation for? After all, so much time and effort has already been spent on making and the first distillation. Maybe you shouldn't burden yourself with additional work, but rather start directly using the product?

No need to hurry. Homemade alcohol must be properly prepared to be mild in taste and safe in composition... Distillation alone is not enough to achieve this result. In this article, we will figure out why a second distillation is needed, talk about cleaning methods and consider methods for refining moonshine.

Moonshine with only one distillation - this is raw alcohol (CC), which contains a large amount of harmful impurities. In order to refine it purification and second distillation required.

In previous years, few people used re-distillation in home brewing, because people did not know about the concentration of harmful compounds that make up "". To date, many scientific experiments have been carried out in this area.

They prove that drinking alcohol that has gone through only one distillation without purification is unsafe for health. Therefore, we can say with confidence that the second distillation is mandatory in the production of homemade alcohol.

If the re-distillation process is not carried out correctly, it will not lead to an improvement in the quality of alcohol.

Double distillation technology

Dilution

After the first distillation, as mentioned above, a crude alcohol is obtained with a strength of about 70º. Before cleaning it must be diluted to 20-30º. This is done because it is easier to get rid of the harmful compounds that make up the SS. under the condition of low strength of the distillate... Another reason why you need to dilute raw alcohol is to observe safety precautions for home alcohol production.

Important! A high concentration of alcohol in the distillation still can lead to a fire and sometimes an explosion. Before re-distillation, it is imperative to dilute alcohol to a strength of no more than 40º.

It is best to dilute alcohol distilled water... It has a neutral effect on the taste and smell of the final product. If this is not possible, then it can be diluted with water from a well. In extreme cases, the distillate is diluted with ordinary tap water, which it is necessary to defend a few days.

Filtration

The most suitable period for cleaning moonshine comes after diluting with SS water. Filtration is performed at room temperature.

There are many ways to clean up moonshine. The simplest and most effective method is filtration with charcoal filter... Charcoal perfectly removes harmful impurities from the distillate without affecting the taste.

But the process of making moonshine does not end there. It is also recommended to insist on it for several days (read:). This is done to improve the taste. The settled moonshine is easier to drink, it becomes softer.

What to do with double moonshine?

All these procedures are followed by refining stage... It will take much more time to make homemade alcohol more solid and give it the taste and aroma of elite drinks. This requires insist moonshine on spicy additives.

There are a huge number of recipes for brewing moonshine. In this article, we will consider one of them. For this you will need:

1 liter of moonshine with a strength of 45º;
100 grams of sugar;
0.5 kg of black currant.

First you need to carefully rinse the berries and cover them with sugar... Then all this is poured with double (double distilled) moonshine. Then you need to mix this mixture well until the sugar dissolves.

The drink is placed in a dark place where it is infused in two weeks... The longer the moonshine is infused, the more it will absorb the aroma of currants. After that, the drink is filtered using a paper filter.

The second distillation is needed to improve the quality of alcohol. With the help of double distillation, a significant amount of harmful compounds is removed from the moonshine, and the smell and taste become more pleasant. No need to be neglected by this process.

In addition, watch the video on the topic improving the taste of moonshine after the second run:

Distillation of sugar mash on a direct flow

First haul. Obtaining raw alcohol

The sequence of actions for the first distillation of sugar mash into raw alcohol

1. Pour the sugar mash into the alembic. It is necessary to fill in no more than 75% of the volume of the cube.

If you have a distillation cube of 20 liters, then it is recommended to fill in no more than 15 liters.Braga volume for filling the distillation cube \u003d 0.75 x 20 liters \u003d 15 liters of home brew

2. Connect the hoses to cold water and start heating. Heat gradually decreasing power. At the beginning, the maximum heating, then gradually reduce it so that the heating is minimal to the first drops of distillate.

3. Fractional distillation, I apply from the first distillation. Because of this, the final yield of homemade moonshine decreases, but a cleaner product is obtained at the output.

4. Fractional distillation:

4.1. Selection of heads.

At the minimum power, I take 1% of the mash poured into the distillation cube.

If 15 liters of sugar mash are poured into the cube, then

Head selection \u003d 15 liters x 1-2% \u003d 150-300 ml.

It is categorically not recommended to use the head not inside, nor for external use. For technical needs only or pour it down the drain. I dilute and fill in the car washer reservoir.

4.2. Selection of the body of raw alcohol.

After selecting the heads, I add power so that the moonshine comes out in a thin stream. The selection is made until the strength of the raw alcohol is 35%, after which I turn off the stove

4.3. Tail collection.

Very often I read on the forums that the tails should be collected separately from the body, and then added to the next wash. I don’t select tails, because I do it only for myself, then I don’t chase the quantity. For me, the purity of moonshine is more important than quantity.

5. The first run is complete!

A practical example. Personal experience.

On 03/11/2016, the wash was delivered. Main components:

by March 22nd, the mash had fermented and was put on the balcony for settling.

Doing for myself, even when driving from mash to raw alcohol, I carry out fractional distillation. To calculate the volume of the selected fractions, I make a preliminary calculation -\u003e how many heads to cut off, how many will go to the body, how many tails there will be.

Fraction calculation:

Explanation of the table calculation of fractions -\u003e predicted content of AS in mash \u003d 1.34 l.,

10% will be taken on the heads, thus 1.34 liters x 10% \u003d 0.13 liters.

65% will be taken on the body, thus AC_body \u003d 1.34 * 0.65 \u003d 0.87 liters. It is this part that will go to the second haul

Tails and trash make up 25% of the AU and equal to 1.34 liters. x 25% \u003d 0.34 l.

Distillation of mash. Statistics - Explanations for the table

date - ferry date

start time - stage start

finish time - end of the stage

fraction - which fraction is selected at the stage

t, (apparatus) - the temperature shown by the thermometer built into the apparatus at the end of the stage

sampled volume - the amount of distilled moonshine at the stage. Using a 250 ml graduated cylinder

fortress,% - spirituality of the obtained moonshine

selected AS, l - AS content in the volume obtained at the stage. Example: received 250 ml, strength 62%, which means

AC \u003d 250 ml x 62% \u003d 155 ml

selected by the speaker on an accrual basis- shows how many total speakers have already been selected. The indicator is needed to determine how many speakers are left in the distilled wash. Example - at the first stage, 0.17 liters of the AC were selected, at the second 0.155, which means that 0.325 liters were removed based on the results of two selections. AS

the remainder of the AC, l - shows how much AC remained in the wash after the completion of the stage

note - my comments on each stage, for further analysis. 400 watts means the power at which the induction cooker was operated during the stage

Brief results and conclusions on the ferry

as a result of driving from mash to raw alcohol, he received 1.7 liters of a drink with a strength of 50.97%. Quite an average result.

the total distillation time was 3 hours 37 minutes.

heads were selected for 40 ml of AC more than calculated. The body is only better!

i took 30 ml of AC more than planned. Poorly. Will need to fix it on the second distillation

How to dilute raw alcohol for the second pergon

The first run is over. From Braga you received 2 liters of raw alcohol (CC). Let's assume its fortress is 49 degrees. For the second stretch, you decided to dilute the CC to 23 degrees. How much water do you need to add to get the desired strength? To calculate, we will use the simplified formula or the calculator below.

required amount of water \u003d (A / B) x C - C

A - the strength of the available product, B - the desired strength, C - the volume of the available product

in our case we need \u003d 49/23 x 2000 ml - 2000 ml \u003d 2260 ml (or 2.26 liters of water)

* water and alcohol have different densities. 100 ml of alcohol and 100 ml of water ultimately give less than 200 ml, but for domestic conditions this can be neglected

If you need more accurate calculations, download a moonshiner calculator on your smartphone link

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id\u003dcom.kaa.spiritcalc

see rectification coefficient .

2. Calculate the volume of absolute alcohol in the distillation still

If you poured 10 liters, with a strength of 15%, then absolute alcohol (АС) 1.5 liters

AC \u003d 10 liters * 15% \u003d 1.5 liters

3. Based on the standard of 10%, I calculate how much falls on the head in raw alcohol.

Heads \u003d 1.5 liters * 10% \u003d 150 ml. This is absolute alcohol... Now we can determine how much of the first we need to separate from the body. At first, I have a distillate with a strength of about 70-72%, which means you need to cut off from the body:

Head selection at the second distillation \u003d 150 ml (absolute alcohol) / 70% (distillate strength at the beginning of the distillation) \u003d 215 ml.

4. Having completed preliminary calculations, I connect the hoses to cold water and start heating. I heat up by gradually decreasing the power. At the beginning, the maximum heating, then gradually I reduce it so that the heating is minimal to the first drops of distillate.

5. Second fractional distillation:

5.1. Head selection

At minimum power, I take out 215 ml.

It is categorically not recommended to use the head not inside, nor for external use. For technical needs only or pour it down the drain

5.2. Body selection

After selecting the heads, I add power so that the moonshine comes out in a thin stream. The selection is made to the strength of 40%, after which I turn off the stove

5.3. Tail collection.

As mentioned earlier, I do not perform tailings sampling. I pour the remains from the distillation into the sewer

6. The second run is complete!

Raw alcohol is a full-fledged moonshine obtained after the first distillation of the mash without separating the "head", "body" and "tails" fractions. Many call it unrefined, as it contains a large amount of "booze" and other harmful impurities. We do not recommend drinking it directly after distillation, but it is important to know the technology of its preparation, since it is on its basis that our final product will be made, which we will put on the table.

We will analyze the step-by-step instructions for distilling mash into raw alcohol, and also consider several options for what we can do with it further in order to get a quality product. There are only two alternatives: to carry out a second fractional distillation with fractions or to purify the crude alcohol from harmful impurities.

Interesting fact: the yield of raw alcohol per 1 kg of sugar is no more than 1.1 liters

Recipe and proportions

We use a classic sugar mash with a hydromodule of 1 to 4. For 20 liters of wort we take the following proportions:

The taste of the final product strongly depends on the quality of water, so take a spring or purchased one.

Sugar - 5 kg.
Water - 20 liters.
Dry alcohol yeast - 100 grams.

The mash ripens from 5 to 10 days in a dark place at a temperature of 20-30 degrees. It is very important to maintain the correct temperature regime and not to expose the wort to a sunny color once again, otherwise you can disrupt the chemical process in the mash.

Sometimes a situation arises in which fermentation does not take place. And the reasons and solutions to this problem are described in the publication -.

Checking readiness

It is convenient to use a special plastic barrel with a water seal as a fermentation tank

If the bubbling in the mash has stopped, a precipitate has formed and it tasted bitter, then you can proceed to the next stage.

If for some reason it remains sweet or begins to sour, then try to revive it by adding new yeast and water.

If in general everything looks very bad, then overtake at least what is.

Lightening the wash using filtration

To avoid yeast getting into the alembic (it burns to the walls), it is recommended to clarify the mash. This is done in most cases with bentonite, but we recommend using conventional filtration through cotton or gauze.

This is quite enough for a good cleaning of our wort.

The cloudy mixture becomes transparent after filtration

Step-by-step technology of distillation of mash into raw alcohol

In the instructions, I will indicate the temperature conditions under which certain chemical reactions occur. If you have an ordinary "old-fashioned" moonshine without a thermometer, then focus on jet speed (it shouldn't run too fast) and alcohol strength (collecting below 30 degrees is highly discouraged).

Use a probe thermometer to measure temperature

We begin to heat the mash rather intensively.
When the temperature reaches 63 degrees, the fire must be slightly reduced.
Starting at 73 degrees, distillate will drip. At first, it will be very strong, as the temperature rises, its strength will decrease.
We need to collect all the alcohol until the strength in the stream drops to a strength of 30 degrees. For this, it will be convenient to use a narrow, tall flask and an alcohol meter.
When the fortress falls below 30 degrees, it will be necessary to stop the distillation and summarize the intermediate results for now.

All the moonshine that we get and will be called raw alcohol - the product of the first distillation of mash. It contains many harmful impurities, so we recommend that you do not dwell on this result, but continue to improve the quality of your product.

Variants of using raw alcohol (we distill again, clean or drink)

In general, there are three options, one of which we strongly discourage you from doing.

Raw alcohol and ready-to-drink moonshine

Drink up. A terrible decision, which is chosen by a large number of moonshiners, knowing or not knowing about the high harmfulness of raw alcohol.
Clear. You can use one of the options for cleaning alcohol, which will very much remove most of the harmful substances from the liquid. This alcohol can be drunk, although it is still not ideal.
Distill again with separation of fractions. This option is the best, albeit the most expensive (in terms of time and effort). We definitely insist that you choose it, since with its help you will get the best moonshine from the options presented.

Re-distillation with separation of fractions

The best way to bring raw alcohol to a perfect finish. By separating into fractions "head", "body" and "tails", we will maximally clean the moonshine from harmful impurities and the very "booze" that has an unpleasant taste and smell.

Moonshine fractions

We dilute the raw alcohol with clean water to a strength of 20 degrees.
Pour liquid into the distillation cube and start heating.
We collect the first 50 ml of moonshine for each kg of sugar (according to our recipe, 250 ml) we collect in a separate container and do not use it for drinking. This is a harmful fraction "head", which has the highest concentration of harmful substances. This alcohol can be used for technical purposes.
We collect the rest of the distillate until the strength in the stream drops to 40 degrees. This fraction is called "body", which has the best indicators of purity and quality.
Anything that will drip below 40 degrees is called “tails”. They can be harvested to be added to the raw alcohol for re-distillation, but many do not recommend doing so. This is due to the unpleasant odor and saturation of harmful impurities. Collect "tails" or not - you decide. We recommend that you do not do this.

The resulting distillate has a neutral taste and excellent quality. It is almost impossible to make moonshine better than using double distillation.

Purification of raw alcohol

A simpler option is to remove harmful substances from moonshine. It is not as effective as fractional distillation, but still many people practice it.

Before performing cleaning, you need to decide which method is best to use? In we have collected complete information about which methods work and which don't. From best to worst, this rating is as follows:

Which purifier should you choose?

Activated carbon BAU and KAU.
Egg white.
Sunflower, refined, deodorized oil.
Milk.
Black rye bread.
Soda, salt.
Freezing by cold.
Potassium permanganate (the method does not work absolutely).

Using the link above, you will receive instructions for cleaning each of the presented methods. If you decide to prepare moonshine for the table with this method, then be sure to study the rating presented to you, since even for self-development this information is very interesting.

# 1 What is moonshine?

This is a liquid containing ethyl alcohol (which we actually need) and other impurities (mostly, on the contrary, undesirable), obtained by distillation (distillation) from the mash. The distillation process can be repeated several times to improve the palatability (discarding heads and tails) and increasing the strength. With each repetition, the percentage of alcohol content increases, and the percentage of impurities decreases. Thus, the distillate is obtained from the SS using the classical method.

Why do we start with moonshine? Yes, because moonshine (or Distillate, in the modern sense) has been driven in Russia for centuries, and now they drive no less. Any person in our country, without exaggeration, has come across this drink. Moreover, 20-30 years ago, this meeting was usually negative. But now, with the use of modern processes for its preparation, and with the creation of appropriate technology, you can get Moonshine at home with a capital letter. Bread Wine, as it was called in the 18-19 centuries, or Distillate, as I will call it in this manual.

It should be noted that all over the world they traditionally preferred to produce exactly Distillates - whiskey, cognac, calvados, rum, tequila, grappa, chacha ... and further, further.

# 2 How to make moonshine correctly?

First, you need to make a wort containing sugar and water, then make a mash from it, fermenting it with yeast, then distill the mash on a moonshine still.

The classic scheme, worked out for centuries. The stages are

Made wort (from sugar, grain, grapes, potatoes - it doesn't matter, as long as there are fermentable sugars)

We fermented the wort with the help of yeast - we got mash, wine material.

Distilled on a moonshine still of any design. We got the moonshine of the first run, or, for simplicity, we will call this raw alcohol further - SS

# 3 What is moonshine made of?

From water, ethyl alcohol, impurities that are by-products of the life of yeast, and the products of the interaction of these substances with each other and with atmospheric oxygen. In the process of making moonshine, one should strive to reduce the amount of impurities. This is achieved by the quality of raw materials, adherence to the technology of fermentation and distillation, as well as additional chemical purification.

# 4 Why when distilling from mash?

Because alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water. When boiling a mixture of alcohol and water, which is mainly the wash, the alcohol turns into steam much more intensively than water. When this vapor turns into a liquid upon cooling, the percentage of alcohol in this liquid increases significantly. In addition, non-volatile substances (salts, for example) do not pass into the steam, they remain in the cube.

# 5 Why can't pure alcohol be obtained on a simple moonshine still?

Because when a mixture of liquids boils, steam is also formed from a mixture of the same substances. That is, at first one does not boil, for example, only alcohol, and then only water. These are the laws of physics.

# 6 How to distill moonshine correctly?

During distillation, the percentage of alcohol in the moonshine decreases as the alcohol boils off in the mash. The amount of impurities also changes. At the beginning of the distillation are the so-called "heads" or "pervach", which contain a significant amount of harmful substances, boiling at a temperature lower than boiling alcohol. This part is approximately 50 milliliters for every kilogram of sugar used in the preparation of the mash, and this part is not used in food. Then comes the food part. At the end of the distillation comes another non-food part - "tails", which contain a large amount of harmful and smelly substances boiling at a temperature above the boiling point of alcohol. The beginning of the "tail" part is determined from the moment when the moonshine stops burning, which means that the strength of the moonshine has become below 40%. The number of tails is approximately 100 ml per 1 kg of sugar in the mash.

# 7 What to do with the "heads"?

Well, definitely not drink. Do what you want. Pour it into the toilet, give it to your wife for washing windows and cleaning furniture, use it as fuel for burners, to light a fire or barbecue, pour it into a car washer tank if the smell does not scare you. Also, some moonshiners add to the next mash before distillation, but this is at their own peril and risk.

# 8 What to do with tails?

Save. Pour into the next wash before distillation. A little bit of alcohol remained there. This will increase the amount of food part during distillation, and the "tails" are separated better than heads, and therefore the quality of the food part will not get worse ..

# 9 I got moonshine. What to do with it next?

1.Drink as is.

2. Try to clean up.

3. Ennoble by insisting on herbs, spices, fruits, etc.

# 20 What aboutsize and shape me to make my firstcube for the apparatus?

The size of the cube is chosen on how much it is desirable to get moonshine at a time. Here is approximately the following ratio: from 1 liter of home brew you get a good 0.25 liters of moonshine. But you also need to take into account that it is not recommended to fill a cube more than 3/4 in height in order to reduce the possibility of foam ejection, and to reduce the carryover of boiling mash splashes into the refrigerator. Taking this into account, for example, 0.9 - 0.95 liters of moonshine can be discharged from a 5-liter pressure cooker at a time, and 9.5 liters from a 50-liter can 9 - 9.5 liters. The shape and dimensions must be chosen, first of all, according to your conditions. ... To make it convenient to do our business, and the cube, along with the rest of the equipment, was freely placed in the place where it is supposed to be heated and receive the product. It is also important to consider where this equipment is supposed to be stored. You are not going to keep the device on the stove all the time!

The moonshine obtained during the ferry still contains a whole mass of impurities and fusel oils hazardous to health. The higher the strength of the obtained product, the stronger the connection of impurities and fusel oils dissolved in it.

The second distillation of moonshine is necessary primarily to get rid of fusel oils. They are toxic and poisonous. When interacting with the skin in its pure form, it can leave a thermal burn, and the ingestion of fusel oils into the human body through the respiratory system can cause severe coughing or choking. However, they are used for industrial purposes.

The most correct solution to this problem would be the second distillation of moonshine. What we get at the exit is called double-run moonshine, which in its taste is much superior to the original product. Therefore, spending not so much money and time on these operations, we will get a really clean and high-quality product without third-party odors and impurities.

Preparing for distillation

The first thing to do is dilute the moonshine for the second distillation. This must be done by pouring moonshine into chilled, and most importantly, clean water until the strength is 35-40%.

Before re-distillation, moonshine should be cleaned with activated carbon, or any natural absorbent should be used. Activated carbon should be used in a proportion of 50 g per 1 liter of water. Making a filter? cotton wool, a layer of gauze, coal, gauze and again coal. We filter through such a filter. You can also infuse with charcoal for a week. Then, stirring occasionally, strain through a cloth or gauze bandage.

Cleaning with a filter

You can also use a potassium permanganate solution to clean the moonshine from impurities. We take 300 ml of hot water and dissolve 3 g of potassium permanganate there. We apply such calculations to 1 liter of moonshine. We mix it all in the correct proportion and leave it to brew for an hour. Then we dilute a tablespoon of baking soda or kitchen salt, mix thoroughly and leave for 2 hours. As soon as the moonshine is infused, it should be filtered through a gauze filter.

In addition, milk can be used to clean the moonshine from fusel oils. The ratio of milk to moonshine is 1: 5, 1 liter of the drink should be diluted with 200 ml of milk. Then mix thoroughly and let it brew for 30 minutes. The product is ready, and you can safely overtake it.

After carrying out these operations, you can proceed directly to the second distillation.

The process of the second distillation of moonshine

The usual distillation process will take place here, as well as with the mash. How to overtake correctly? We use the same moonshine still, but washed, without residues of mash, small pieces of fruit or seeds. After all, the remnants of the mash in the future can spoil the taste characteristics of the drink. Before starting the second distillation, you should turn your attention to the strength of the original product. It should be about 60-65%.

The process of the second distillation is not very different from the first. But at the exit from the refrigerator we will get more drink, because the strength of the original wort is higher. You will spend less time.

In the second distillation, the resulting moonshine should be divided and distilled into fractions. The separation will take place on the? Tail? and? head ?, as well as the most pleasant part of the drink? ?body?.

We take into account the following points:

Usually the head? is about 10-12% of the total volume. The resulting product is contraindicated for use, it is harmful to our body. Ideal for technical applications such as surface cleaning and disinfection of various household items.
Use your sense of smell to identify the body and when to collect it. After receiving 10%, the liquid should be sniffed. If there is no pungent smell, then in the process? main share. The strength of the body? can be about 84%. In some cases, a product with a strength of 96% is obtained.
When the strength of the original product is about 45%, use the container to collect the "Tail". Use a household alcohol meter to constantly monitor the strength of your drink. Then you will react in time and do not mix these small impurities with the main part. Share containing this part? ten%.

So,? Head? we leave for household needs. Where do we apply the tails? It would be a mistake to get rid of them, they can be used to increase the strength of raw materials when added to the mash.

The resulting 80% of the body, after the second distillation of moonshine, is no longer worth

give in to additional treatments or filtration. We dilute only to a suitable strength and the drink is ready to drink.

After the second distillation, moonshine will no longer contain harmful impurities or heavy metals and will become transparent.

In order not to spoil the whole result, pay attention to the following points. When a temperature of 65-68 ° C is reached, the release of light impurities begins.

Moonshine obtained in a temperature regime from 65 ° C to 80 ° C will be poisonous and unusable, it is during this period that the "head" is released. It is easy to identify it by a slight alcoholic smell and condensation on the refrigerator.

The moment of transition to strong heating will be the most crucial. Since you will need to sharply reduce the heating rate, otherwise the moonshine will simply burn out. Subsequently, the entire path traveled will be in vain.

We dilute the raw to 15 ° with water, then add refined vegetable oil at the rate of 20 ml for each liter of raw.
Close the container with a lid and shake vigorously for a minute, repeat after a couple of minutes and shake again after a couple of minutes for a minute, then leave for a day. If there is no time, let it brew at least 12 hours.
After this time, carefully remove the film from above - oil with impurities has collected here, and what remains is passed a couple of times through several layers of gauze and always through a charcoal filter.

Correct distillation means an obligatory intermediate purification, but only for sugar and grain mash. Raw from fruit and berry mash should not be peeled, organoleptic properties change too much. Fractional distillation is applicable here.

VIDEO: Fractional Distillation

Second distillation

Objectively, this stage is not much different from the first, with the exception of the temperature regime. You also need to pay attention to whether you did the cleaning or not. If intermediate cleaning was carried out, pour the raw material into the cube, tails and start the process again. If cleaning was not done, you need to carry out a number of manipulations:

We dilute the crude to 15 ° with water - this is necessary so that during distillation the distillate is more actively divided into fractions of alcohol, water and impurities.

For the convenience of separating raw, you can use a "parrot". It makes it easier to control the fortress

Pour the raw water solution into the distillation cube, heat up to 86 ° C and control the appearance of the first drops. In order to make it more convenient, we lower the temperature to 68 ° and begin to slowly select the heads. In this case, 50 ml is already consumed from each kilogram of sugar.

You can determine the duration of the heads by smell - essential oils and methyl smell harsh and unpleasant. As soon as this aroma disappears (somewhat reminiscent of acetone), the body begins to go, it is already collected in a clean receiving container.

If the design of the apparatus has a dry steam chamber, at this stage it is advisable to clean it as well - drain the fuselage, rinse and return to its place.

When the heads have been cut off, we raise the temperature again and begin to select the body. We select exactly until the fortress starts to fall below 55 °. The tails will go further.

The strength of the body is measured after it has cooled to 20 °, if the hot hydrometer will "lie". And more - do not use household alcohol meters, as a rule, in such situations they are useless. The ASP-3 hydrometer copes best with determining the strength.

The tails can be ringed, as already mentioned earlier - the quality of the final product will only improve from this, but dispose of the heads immediately.

As a result, we get the purest product, which in terms of transparency, aroma and concentration will not be inferior to the best drinks. On average, from each liter of home brew after double distillation, we get about 400 milliliters of 50-55 ° moonshine, which can then be diluted with water to the desired condition.

What to do next?

So we come to the most interesting thing - the final stage of distillation of moonshine at home. To begin with, we dilute it with water - here everyone decides for himself, for someone and 40 ° is too much, and for others, 50 ° is just that. Then we insist for at least two days in an airtight container to improve organoleptic properties. Be sure to clean up.

Those who mainly work with grain or fruit wort do not purify, and completely in vain. Not only sugar distillate is purified, but also all others.

For cleaning, you can use the most common carbon filter, and this is quite enough. Then you can use either a pure product or prepare a wide variety of alcoholic drinks on its basis. The article "" has a lot of recipes with a detailed description of how and from what to cook. On our own behalf, when moonshine becomes your second "I", do not be greedy and buy a good oak barrel - the incredible taste and aroma of the same whiskey has not yet been canceled.

VIDEO: How heads and tails are cut off and a quality distillate is made

Many home craftsmen who are engaged in the production of drinks for food often ask themselves the question: how to improve the quality of their products so that they would like to drink themselves and would not be ashamed to put the guests on the festive table.

The optimal solution is to distill moonshine a second time. The resulting product is much cleaner and stronger than the original; it is often called double moonshine. Of course, this will take a little more time, but the result is worth the effort - the drink will turn out to be of really good quality, without an unpleasant smell and foreign impurities.

Double distillation is suitable for all types of moonshine, it does not matter whether the mash is made or the raw materials used. Even moonshine made long ago can be distilled.

There is nothing difficult in double distillation, the main thing is to observe the order of all stages.
Dilution is the first thing to do before the second distillation. The logical action would be to pour water into the moonshine, but this can make it cloudy. Therefore, the opposite is done - moonshine is poured into the water. The strength of the drink should fall by 20-35%.

Why is it undesirable to drive without dilution? In strong moonshine, vapors contain a large amount of alcohol, which can cause a fire and will have to (we recommend choosing an apparatus with a distillation column of the brand or with a dry steam tank of the brand). Also, due to the high strength, it is more difficult to destroy the molecular bond of the drink with fusel oils, therefore, the distillation will be ineffective.

Although many people who brew moonshine do not add water before distilling the moonshine again, they say that an unpleasant smell still remains in the diluted drink. This is quite reasonable, but when distilling such moonshine, make sure that there is no open fire nearby.

Cleansing. Before proceeding to the second distillation, the moonshine is purified in any way familiar to a person. Someone prefers potassium permanganate, someone - activated carbon. For example, for the first method, 3 grams of potassium permanganate dissolved in 300 ml of hot water is taken for 1 liter of moonshine. The solution is mixed and infused for 30 minutes, then a tablespoon of rock salt and the same amount of baking soda are added.

After stirring again, it is infused for another 2 hours. The settled moonshine is passed through a filter. A household water filter is great, but if it is not at hand, you can make an elementary cotton-gauze.

How to properly distill moonshine a second time?

The final stage does not differ from the first distillation from home brew. The main thing to remember, as mentioned above, is that distilling a strong drink is more dangerous and less effective. Therefore, before starting the process, it will not be superfluous to check the degree of moonshine again.

If in the future the moonshine is no longer processed, at the exit it is divided into fractions: head, body and tail.

The head is the first 10% of the received drink, it can only be used for technical needs, but not internally. This liquid has an unpleasant odor.

It is impossible to distill the heads of moonshine a second time.

Before substituting the container for collecting the body of moonshine, you need to make sure that the unpleasant smell is gone, then you can continue collecting.

The tail is determined by the strength of the moonshine: it drops to 40%. Most often, this liquid, to increase the strength, is added to the next wash or purified in a rectification column. It is practically useless to distill the tails of moonshine, the quality from this process will not improve.

The main part, the body of double moonshine, does not require additional processing. If desired, it can be diluted to the desired strength and used in.

All professional moonshiners at some point are faced with the issue of improving the quality of a hot drink made with their own hands. The most popular recipe in this case is the secondary distillation of moonshine. Double rectification through a moonshine still and a certain temperature during the procedure allows you to make a pure product that will be much stronger and cleaner than the original version. That is why it is recommended to devote more time to making moonshine at home and make the drink truly high-quality, without unnecessary odors and impurities. Popularly, the recipe for cooking using this technology gave the name to the drink "double moonshine".

Re-distillation of moonshine can be carried out with any kind of mash, and neither the raw materials nor the recipe for making a hot drink affect the cleaning process. You can make a double distillation of moonshine with a drink that has been stored with you for a long period of time. Moreover, the distillate will become crystal clear and soft at the exit. However, the temperature during distillation must change in a strictly defined sequence. To get a quality drink at home, let's figure out in detail how to distill moonshine a second time.

The technological process of obtaining double moonshine

Stage one: dilution with water

First, it is necessary to distill the mash in the usual way, while the temperature of the liquid during this procedure should be 100 ° C. In order to carry out the second distillation of moonshine, the drink must be diluted with clean spring water. Cold purified water must be poured into the hot liquid until the strength of the mash reaches 20-30%. In order for the drink not to become cloudy, it is recommended to pour alcohol into the water, and not vice versa. Distilling with a higher concentration of alcohol vapors is dangerous because the moonshine can catch fire. In addition, stronger moonshine has a much stronger molecular bond with fusel impurities and harmful substances, in this case the recipe for the secondary distillation of moonshine will be less effective and will not bring the desired result.

Stage two: cleaning

Before starting the re-distillation of grain or sugar moonshine at home, it is imperative to do cleaning. The procedure is performed using potassium permanganate, baking soda, milk, activated carbon and any other adsorbing substance convenient for you.

The most common and classic recipe for this is to do it. We need manganese powder in the amount of 3 grams per 300 ml of water, the temperature of which is over 40 ° C. The diluted solution is added in proportion to 1 liter of moonshine. The resulting mixture should be mixed well and infused for 30 minutes. Further, the recipe provides for the addition of 1 tablespoon of baking soda and table salt. Then mix the contents again and let stand for two hours. After the rectification has passed, the liquid is separated using a water filter or cotton-gauze funnel.

Stage three: fractional distillation

The first thing to do before the final stage is to double-check the strength of the drink. So that the high temperature arising during distillation does not cause a fire, the strength must be 20 degrees. The fractional distillation is carried out by a steam boiler, and the liquid outlet must be divided into fractions: "head", "body" and "tail". The outlet temperature of the first 8-10% mash is 75 ° C, and this harmful fraction is prohibited for use, since it consists of fusel oils and other low-quality impurities. To obtain the second fraction, the temperature of the mash rises to 95 ° C, and the amount of the drink is 80% of the total liquid and is double moonshine, that is, the drink that we wanted to get. This part must be collected until the fortress drops to 45%. The outlet temperature of the third last fraction rises to 100 ° C, the liquid is recommended to increase the strength of the future moonshine, but you should not use it.

As a result, the second distillation at the outlet gives about 60-70% of a crystal clear drink without foreign impurities and unpleasant odor. You just have to dilute it to a suitable strength and the drink is ready to drink.

Purification of moonshine by distillation is superior in efficiency to any other methods, since it allows you to get rid of the maximum volume of fusel oils. Double or even triple distillation allows you to get the most pure product even without intermediate purification, but it will not be superfluous either. In many ways, the quality of the final product will depend not only on the raw materials, the number of runs, but also on their correctness, and the main thing here is the ability to select the desired alcohol fractions. The problem is that in addition to ethyl alcohol, the wash contains a lot of other alcohols and acids, other unnecessary impurities, each of which boils at a certain temperature, and it is not so easy to track the temperature of the wash and vapors during distillation.

The situation with modern factory-made moonshine stills is easier - they are often supplied complete with special thermometers built into the stills. In other modifications, a niche for a thermometer is provided directly in the distillation column. But what about those who distill moonshine “blindly”? Personally, for example, for ferrying I use an aluminum flask of 40 liters, a homemade steam boiler, a copper coil and a non-flow type condensation tank. To help - an alcohol meter, which can be bought at almost every step, as well as the basics of chemistry and mathematics.

Purification of moonshine - second distillation

So, to begin with, a few numbers - I will give them in the table for a simpler perception, and below I will explain what's what.

	First haul	Second leg	Third haul
Light faction - "pervak", "heads"	2% of the mash volume	5% of the yield of moonshine	2% of the yield of moonshine
Ethyl alcohol - "body"	15% of the mash volume Harvested to a fortress of 45 degrees	From +76 C o to +84 C o for mash (vapor) or up to 45 degrees of strength of the drink	From +76 C o to +80 C o for mash (vapor) or up to 45 degrees of strength of the drink
Heavy fraction - "tails"	Whole remainder 45 to 25 degrees	From +84 C o to +95 C o for mash (vapor) or up to 35-40 degrees of strength of the drink	From +80 C o to +95 C o for mash (vapor) or up to 35-40 degrees of strength of the drink

And now in Russian:

Light faction or "pervak", "heads" - acetone impurities that should not be used. They are drained down the drain without regrets or used in the garage as a solvent
Ethyl alcohol or "body" - the product we need, which is suitable for consumption
Heavy fraction "tails" - moonshine with a high content of fusel oils. It is assembled separately only for the final stretch. That is, if you drive twice, then you separate the tails only on the second drive. And at the first one you drive it out into the general mass - into the “body”. If you drive three times, then you separate the tails only on the third haul, and the first two times you drive them directly into the body

The table shows the numbers by which you can navigate when driving using a thermometer to measure the temperature of the mash, as well as the strength of the drink for those who, like me, use only an alcohol meter. The most difficult thing is to guess the total output of the moonshine on the second and third haul in order to clearly separate the "heads" (pervak). But there is no need to guess - we take the exit of the first haul and focus on it to be sure.

Example! I have 20 liters of mash, which I want to distill three times. Accordingly, on the first run, I drain 400 milliliters of pervak, drain the dry pot, and collect the entire remainder together with the tails in one container - I get about 3 liters of raw moonshine. It must be diluted with water to a strength of 20-30 degrees in order to facilitate separation into fractions during the subsequent distillation and to exclude the possibility of ignition of alcohol vapors. I get about 4-4.5 liters of workpiece. I distill it a second time, draining about 150 milligrams of "heads", drain the dry pot, and collect the rest to the condensate strength of about 30 degrees. Should come out no more than 3 liters, and in the mind - a little less. I dilute the resulting alcohol with water to a strength of 20-30 degrees and distill the third time, separating already only 50-60 milligrams of "heads", I drain the dry pot, and then, collecting the body to a condensate strength of 45 degrees according to an alcohol meter - I collect the remaining tails up to 35 degrees separately and use it at the first ferry of the next wash. I dilute the product obtained as a result of triple distillation with clean water to a strength of 40-45 degrees. About 2.5-3 liters of pure vodka should come out, depending on the quality of the mash.

After the selection of the "heads", it is necessary to drain the dry box, since part of the light fractions remains in it, and then is transferred to the "body".

Intermediate purification of moonshine after the second distillation

Intermediate cleaning can be done between distillations, although this is not necessary. To do this, add ordinary vegetable oil to the workpiece already diluted with water to a strength of 20 degrees at the rate of about 20 milligrams of oil per 1 liter of workpiece. Shake well, leave for a day, drain through a silicone tube.

Of course, doing everything that is described above is rather troublesome, but the quality of the product does increase significantly. I recommend putting lemon zest, fragrant fruits and spices in the dry pot (after the selection of heads) before the final ferry - they give the drink a light pleasant aroma.