The idea of
this still did not come to me straight away. For many years I
was just a hobbyist brewer, and in fact, I was making spirits of
my own since I was 12 years old (under adult supervision:-).
Everything was so exciting, and everyone was happy about
results, as time goes by I started to ask myself some questions
like why my homebrew is not that good and tastes more like
rocket fuel, so I began to think of how to improve the quality
of my brew?
The reality is: the new technologies of distillation
and purification exist and are widely used by leading
alcoholic beverage produces. And this new approach to the
distillation is evident because along with our smelly
homebrewed liquors we have exceptional products on the
shelves of our local liquor shops.Moreover,
the cost of a good liquor production is two times as cheap
as an average cost of homebrew production per unit! I know
it is for a fact because I was co-owner of vodka factory and
the rule of business is - spend less and make more
significant margin plus keep quality high.
Only the big guys do not want people like you to know how to
make real high-quality alcoholic beverages because they can
lose their market, but as long as simple people are making
simple homebrew, the same people will buy quality liquor
despite their hobby again and again. While in the vodka
business I was personally suppressing any information about
our equipment and the production methods.
As the basis for spirit production, I adopted the method
that was used in Russia for production of high-quality
spirits by leading vodka companies; the alcohol is producing
in two stages.
The first stage is the production of raw or crude alcohol -
where the main goal is to separate alcohol from the mash and
all by-products that naturally occurring in any ferment:
acids, salts (yeast nutrition), and mechanical particles.
The second stage is actual fractioning (rectification) where
the raw, crude alcohol that contains esters, methanol,
ethanol (alcohol we are aiming at) and smelling butyl
alcohol, is redistilled in a fractional column.
The construction of fractional (reflux)
column makes it possible for the ethanol to be re-distilled
inside the column for more than 30 times before it reaches
the collection vessel ( this ability of column gives us the
strength of alcohol of 95 - 96% alc/vol). The correctly
built fractional column creates some fractions' queue inside
the column where the lightest spirit fraction is locating at
the top of the column and get collected while the most
massive alcohol fraction is yet located at the bottom. The
light alcohol is collecting the next in the queue, and more
heavier one is replacing the lighter one and so on (this
ability of column gives us the high quality of alcohol
because one can separate and collect all fractions one after
another very precisely.
The understanding about amounts of
different fractions in the crude alcohol plus the
measurement of total spirit percentage in the batch before
fractioning makes it possible to forecast whole distillation
process. These include the time of distillation and amounts
of different fractions in liters or milliliters and
percentages concerning to total alcohol amount.
So, instead of relying on carbons (people still think that
carbon filtration will eliminate all the impurities from the
final product) you separating all impurities from each other
with your fractional column during distillation and all you
need to do is to dilute your distilled spirit with water and
filter only if you wish so.
The 25L fractional homebrew
still has all you need to perform precise distillation; it
has one small column for raw spirit production and the big
fractional column for high-quality food grade ethanol production. The small
column also can be used along with infuser or by itself for
an aromatic beverages production where you can redistill
alcohols that were soaking with herbs or fruits, ( I used
the small column to make absinthe).
When the crude alcohol is ready for the fractional
distillation, and all data about spirit percentage and
amount is taken, then it is mixed with water, that helps to
bound heavy fractions and odors, then loaded into the still
and fractionally distilled. The result - is a high-quality
ethanol for further beverage production.
The whole still arrangement
that includes two columns is designed to produce
high-quality ethanol at highest percentage possible. There
are two columns: the first column is intended to deliver a
low-quality spirit from the fermented wash (mash, beer,
wine...) and works as a pure pot still. The primary purpose
of this column is to separate spirit from the wash.
The second, (fractional)
reflux column (has the option of manual reflux ratio control
that does not depends on cooling water flow speed or
temperature) is designed to fractionally separate all the
impurities from the low-quality spirit that we get after the
first distillation.
The fractional column is used only for crude alcohol - or
moonshine quality redistilling and separates all impurities
physically from ethanol.
Thus with the help of fractional column you can get all
fractions precisely defined, and during distillation, you
will rely on mathematical calculation of spirits amounts
that based on fractions percentage calculation - this means
that you will know of how much of each fraction you are
going to get even before starting your distillation.
If you are familiar a bit with some reflux columns, you
could know that basically, all reflux columns are capable
only to produce the spirit with the relatively high
percentage of alcohol in the spirit/water mix and not
capable of separating any impurities. Plus the percentage of
the alcohol drops during the distillation, and the reflux
ratio (sending back into the column or condensing some
spirit inside the column for repeated distillation). The
percentage and the quality of alcohol are achieved and
controlled by the speed of cooling water flow - believe me,
it is almost impossible to accomplish any good quality
results with this type of distillation system.
You are going to get out of simple reflux type of still just
what it is capable of giving you. The distillation system
that is described on this page is real fractional distiller
where one can control reflux ratio and spirit speed flow
regardless of water flowing rate. In fact, the spirit
collection/flow control valve can be closed completely, and
column will utilize all spirit back into column's internal
space, and no pressure build up will ever happen.
All fractions get separated accordingly to their
physical properties plus this fractional distiller will give
you a maximum possible percentage of spirit: 95%+ from the
start of distillation to the end of distillation. In fact,
all impurities that you will get from this still can be used
to power four stroke engines (I use it for my lawnmower).
Just a few words about
filtration: some people believe that activated carbon can
absorb impurities such as methanol or butyl alcohol, this is
not right. One can run the bottle of methanol through the
activated carbon filter and get the same poisonous methanol
from the other end of the filter. It will be sparkling
clean, but there In fact, if activated carbon's pores are
big enough for the water to run through then they are even
bigger for anything that more liquid than water. All the
carbon does is absorb the odors and mechanical particles
(cloudiness). I prefer the activated carbon that is made out
of coconut shell over the carbon produced out of peat, guess
why?
Some people believe that during filtration the spirit must
be in contact with activated carbon for at least 45 minutes,
(back in the army I used to use the gas mask with activated
carbon in the filter cartridge, and no one was breathing in
for 45 minutes. We were breathing as usually, and carbon did
the job. In reality, you can even use the pressure pump to
boost the filtration process (all vodka companies are using
the pumps to increase the filtration speed) but make sure
that your filter is loaded correctly and tight.
Never filter undiluted spirit, the carbon works only up to
60% spirit strength, it is simple - the water that is added
to the alcohol during dilution is bounding up with some
impurities, and the carbon keeps this bounded up molecules.
Undiluted spirit will just run through the carbon.
Here is some facts:
Here is are some facts to Save your $$$ on distillation!!!
The fractional distillation offers low cost of distillation (under NZ $4 per
litre of 40% vodka) and highest quality possible.
Here is some example:
To make 5L of 40 % vodka you will need: Sugar – 6kg = $7.20 Super yeast – one pack = $9.00 Power - $0.20 per unit, total 9kw =$1.80
All this will give you >=2L of 96% spirit that after dilution with water makes 5L of vodka.
Total cost = $18.00 divided by 5L = $3.6 per
litre of high quality 40% alcohol, just try to find the distillation system that will offer high quality and yet low production cost. The prices in your country may be different from above.
The 25L still is now available for international
customers. Stills are build to your order and delivered by
air post within ten business days,
The fractional distiller can also be used and ordered as a
water purifier and essential oils extractor, the still can
be used for a small scale fuel ethanol production. Buy the "Alex 25" still construction plans, parts and stills: