Homemade moonshine made from good raw materials on a good moonshine is a wonderful drink. Good moonshine easily gives odds to many factory-made strong drinks. In order for moonshine to finally part with a fusel spirit and an unpleasant aftertaste, it must be properly cleared. There are many methods and devices, such as, for example, a coal column for cleaning moonshine that can unrecognizably change the product.
Traditional methods of cleaning moonshine
There are many ways to explain how to clean moonshine at home: from the usual traditional to completely exotic. Some of them are effective, others are not very effective.
Purification of moonshine with milk was carried out in Russian villages since the time of Tsar Gorokh. A glass of cow's milk is poured into a three-liter jar of moonshine. About a day later, a gray mass of unsightly appearance is collected and settles to the bottom of the vessel. Next, you need to drain the purified moonshine as accurately as possible, without stirring up the precipitate. The method is good only from the point of view of love for antiquity, actually it is inefficient. Fusel odor of moonshine is practically not removed.
Manganese precipitates fusel oils in a similar manner; it works more efficiently, but also not ideal. After it, the drink acquires an unpleasant aftertaste, and when cleaning the “advanced” moonshine from good raw materials (apricots, prunes, cereal malt, grapes), an aroma that we would like not to lose is completely lost.
Carbon filters
And yet, most “specialists” are inclined to believe that a filter for moonshine should be used in coal, and not without reason. Activated carbon successfully adsorbs most fusel oils on its surface. On the Internet, you can sometimes find a description of how to clean moonshine at home by falling asleep in a container with a drink of N-th amount of activated or charcoal and then shaking. This is absolute nonsense.
In order to properly clean moonshine from impurities, it must be driven through the thickness of the adsorbent. This is how a coal column works for cleaning moonshine. There are many popular, but effective ways to clean the product on coal, but without a column. The simplest one: several layers of flannel fabric are laid at the bottom of the funnel, activated or finely ground charcoal (from hardwood) is poured on top, moonshine is poured in a thin stream or drop from above, and a purified drink flows from the funnel.
In fairness, let’s say that cleaning ordinary moonshine “perfectly” handles a regular household jug filter with a simple cartridge based on activated carbon.
The device of the coal column
The filter device is shown in the figure below. In fact, a coal column for cleaning moonshine is a pipe filled with an adsorbent (activated carbon). The bottom of the pipe is a wall with a large number of small holes. A filter made of blotting paper, a white flannel or, if appropriate, a cosmetic cotton pad is placed on it. The edges of the fabric filter should fit snugly against the pipe walls. This is necessary so that small particles of activated carbon do not get into the moonshine.
Then comes the filler (adsorbent). In its quality, it will be more correct to use activated carbon for moonshine - birch or coconut. But it is quite possible to replace it with ordinary wood, finely crushed and slightly tamped. For effectiveness, medical charcoal can be added to charcoal . As can be seen from the figure, a coal column for cleaning moonshine can very well be made with your own hands. Moreover, the material can be the most diverse: metal, glass or even wood.
The ideal way to clean moonshine
The algorithm for obtaining perfectly purified moonshine using a coal column looks like this:
- The first sublimation with the classic cutting off of “heads”, “tails”. It turns out a product with a strength of about 50 ... 60%.
- Dilution of the obtained moonshine with settled boiled water to a strength of 20 ... 30%.
- Filtration on a coal column (pre-dilution is done because the stronger the drink, the more reluctant it gives coal to harmful impurities).
- Secondary sublimation (again “heads” and “tails”). The resulting product is perfectly cleaned, has a strength of about 70%.
- In this form, moonshine is ennobled by insisting on herbs, berries, aging in oak, etc.
- If necessary, the drink is brought with boiled water to a condition of 40%.