Cleaning moonshine with milk at home: effective methods and reviews

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

The presence of it on the table, surrounded by snacks rich in "harmful" calories - sausage rings, pickles, of course, lard and fresh herbs, causes an appetite attack even among burnt aesthetes.

Many moonshiners on the Internet on the forums are wondering how to give moonshine such a slight haze that it was "like in the movies." Cleaning moonshine with milk is one way to achieve the desired representative effect.

Why moonshine is cloudy

In general, the cloudiness of moonshine, which was driven in the villages in the old days, was due to the imperfection of technology. Few of today's amateur moonshiners know and remember the method of distilling mash "into the dark." How alcohol was obtained in this way is shown in the figure.

How did it work? Ready-made mash was poured into a sufficiently large container. A brick was laid in the middle of the bottom, on which a smaller vessel was located - this is for the finished moonshine. The whole thing was covered with a large copper basin with a rounded bottom filled with ice water. Vapors of boiling mash rose, condensed on the cold surface of the basin and dripped into drops in a container standing on a brick.

But during the distillation, the surface of the boiling mash bubbles, and the foam in certain quantities inevitably gets into the container with the finished product, which makes the moonshine cloudy. The hit of mash spoils the taste of the drink very much, so even at the dawn of home brewing, the question arose of improving it.

One of the ways was cleaning moonshine with milk. At home in a Russian village, this was an affordable and easy way out.

What is the reason for the need to clean moonshine

However, the need to clean moonshine is associated not only with the presence of mash components in it. By the way, in normal moonshine stills, especially with a reflux condenser and (or) a dry steamer, it is almost impossible for foam to get into the finished product.

The fact is that alcohol in mash is formed as a result of the vital activity of yeast. But yeast, unfortunately, together with ethyl alcohol produce a meager amount of methanol, which is vital to remove from moonshine. Also, together with methanol, at the very beginning of the distillation, volatile fusel oils are released, giving the drink the famous moonshine "bad" fusel smell. At the end of the process, they begin to evaporate andheavy fusel oils get into the moonshine, which also degrades the quality.

Partially the problem is solved by crushing (cutting off the first 50 grams for every 3 liters of mash and stopping distillation at a temperature of 85-87 ° C). But to completely clean homemade alcohol and finally get rid of the unpleasant fusel smell, additional filtration is necessary. Cleaning moonshine with milk is still popular with moonshiners, especially in the countryside.

The cleaning principle is based on the presence of albumin and casein in cow's milk. These substances are believed to react with fusel oils, resulting in a solid residue that can be easily removed with any filter.

The first way to clean moonshine with milk "like in the movies"

In order for the cleaning process to be effective, moonshine must have a strength of about 50%. To process 5 liters of drink, you will need about 100 ml of pasteurized cow's milk. Cleaning moonshine with milk at home can give moonshine that cloudy hue, like in old movies. To do this, milk should be taken with an average fat content of 2.5 to 3.5%, but not cream. The liquid will acquire a whitish hue due to the fat contained in cow's milk. The taste of the drink will not be affected. If the drink should be crystal clear, it is better to use skim milk, it will be easier to subsequently filter to a “tear”.

Milk is poured into a container with moonshine. The jar should not be filled to the very top, as the mixture will subsequently need to be shaken well,a couple of times daily for a week. The mixture must stand in a place protected from solar ultraviolet radiation.

After 7-10 days, cleaning moonshine with milk ends with filtration. If moonshine should have a cloudy hue, it is filtered through several layers of gauze. Using a carbon filter (regular jug with a simple cartridge) will result in a crystal clear product.

Distillation method

It is possible to remove the fuselage that spoils the taste and smell of the drink from moonshine with the help of secondary distillation. The algorithm of actions for this method of cleaning moonshine with milk is the same as in the previous case. The difference is that instead of fine filtration, distillation is done.

After the mixture has stood for a week in a dark place, the sediment flakes that have fallen to the bottom of the can are filtered out on several layers of gauze or on a piece of loose synthetic fabric. After such a rough cleaning, the moonshine is diluted to 20-30% of the fortress and poured into the moonshine still.

This cleaning of moonshine after milk allows you to get the purest product without a hint of an unpleasant smell or taste of fusel oils. The distillation is again carried out fractionally, with the separation of "heads" and "tails".

How effective is this

However, there are enough critics of the method of cleaning moonshine with milk. The usefulness of the method is rightly questioned. Some moonshiners who have experimented with this method claim that cleaning with milk does nothing in itself, and getting rid offusel oils occurs during subsequent operations. In the first method, this is fine filtration on a carbon filter, in the second, secondary distillation. By themselves, these methods have long been successfully used by lovers of homemade drinks and have proven their effectiveness a hundred times over.

The logic is simple. If you do not use either fine filtration or re-distillation, moonshine after cleaning with milk retains unpleasant odors. But if you pass alcohol through a good filter or overtake again (and it is better to dilute to 25-30%, filter and then overtake), then the drink will be perfectly cleansed without any old-fashioned methods.

However, how many experts, so many opinions. And whether it is worth using cleaning moonshine with milk, the benefits and harms of this method for their home production, each moonshiner decides for himself.

To make it "like in the movies" - other recipes

By the way, there are other ways to give moonshine a whitish hazy tint. To do this, the drink does not have to be made on a bad machine and smell like fuselage.

Here is one of the options. It is necessary to dissolve a teaspoon of propolis in a glass of pure food alcohol 96.6%. After dissolving, the mixture will acquire the color of a good strong tea. If you add a tablespoon of the resulting propolis tincture to 0.5 liters of 40% moonshine, the mixture will immediately take on the same unclear look. At the same time, there is no smell of fusel oils or an unpleasant aftertaste.

On the contrary, a light honey aroma will not only turnordinary moonshine is a wonderful aperitif, but it will also make a wonderful remedy for colds and sore throats (in moderation, of course). True, people with intolerance to bee venom should be careful with such a drink.