The popularity of home brewing in the country is gaining momentum. And I must say that the product that modern lovers of home-made strong drinks can boast is not always the muddy dreary sivuha with a bad smell, the memories of which come to mind at the very word “moonshine”.
Modern moonshine still allow you to get drinks certainly not worse than store vodka of the middle price segment. There is one improvement that allows you to get drinks of higher strength and excellent quality at home. In the article we will analyze why we need a steamer in a moonshine still and how to improve the quality of moonshine with it.
How does alcohol sublimation occur?
The production of alcohol or home-brew is divided into two stages. The first is the production of ethyl alcohol from sugar-containing products using special microorganisms - yeast, in other words, fermentation. The next stage is the sublimation of mash in order to obtain from it a product purified from unnecessary and harmful impurities, with a higher content of ethyl alcohol.
Why do you need a steamer in the manufacture of moonshine? It is for cleaning and fortifying. The moonshine still will work without a steamer, but the drink will have an unpleasant smell, and it will be difficult to achieve a good strength.
Isolation from mash is due to the difference in the boiling points of alcohols and water. The process looks like this:
- The mash is heated in the evaporator, until it reaches a temperature of 65 ° C, nothing happens.
- At 65-76 ° C, the first drops of moonshine with a high methanol content start to drip from the cooler, CH 3 (OH) - the strongest poison, not even suitable for external use. This is another reason why you need a leaner. On the moonshine equipped with this device, moonshine is made, completely purified from methanol and other light toxic fractions.
- 76-82 ° - there is a process of obtaining high-quality pure moonshine.
- 82-96 ° - secondary moonshine with a low alcohol content is being collected, which will subsequently be added to the next batch.
- 96 ° C - sublimation stops.
And what is the sucker doing
To explain why you need a steam generator in a moonshine still, it should be noted that although the boiling point of water is 100 ° C, it starts to evaporate much earlier. It intensively goes into a gaseous state, together with ethyl alcohol vapors, its vapors enter the cooler and then into the container with moonshine, lowering the “degree”.
A suction tank installed before the cooler helps to condense the excess water vapor.
The simplest design of a sukhoparnik
So, why do we need a steamer in a moonshine still, understandably. But what if the available equipment is not equipped with this device? A simple to manufacture and yet sufficiently effective version of the reflux condenser is shown in the figure.
The design consists of a glass jar with a hermetically sealed lid and two fittings, which are able to make any turner of the average hand from a piece of “galley”. The appearance of the device may not be quite, but why do we need a steamer? For a moonshine still, it acts as a primary filter, and the described construction copes with this role perfectly.
How to use a steamer
The first race will dot all i. Only having done the whole process with your own hands and having tried the result, you understand why you need a steamer in a moonshine still.
At the beginning of the sublimation, it is necessary to collect the first 50 milliliters of moonshine (from every 10-15 liters of the original mash). During this time, about 20-30 milliliters of liquid also condenses in the sucker. This liquid (both from the sucker and from the refrigerator) must be disposed of, preventing it from entering the final product.
Subsequently, the process goes on as normal, moonshine flowing from the refrigerator is collected for further processing (filtration, infusion, etc.). It has a strength of about 70%, has remarkable transparency and good organoleptic properties.
And here is another reason why you need a steamer for a moonshine still - in it, in the process of sublimation, moonshine is collected, not completely purified, of a small strength (about 15-20%), but without harmful impurities. It is collected and poured into the mash before the next race, thereby increasing the yield of the final product.