Vodka is a neutral spirit that does not possess a distinctive character, aroma, flavor or color; generally, it is not aged and is obtained by fermenting cereals, potatoes, sugar or fruit to produce alcohol. People trying to distil it at home should proceed with extreme caution to eliminate methanol, which is lethal by ingestion. It is also recalled that this procedure is illegal in many countries, including Italy; in other states it is necessary to register the alembic or obtain a license, as happens in New Zealand or the Czech Republic. Remember to consult the local laws before starting.
Steps
Part 1 of 6: Choosing the Ingredients
Step 1. Choose the products you want to ferment to make vodka
Liqueur is commonly made from wheat, rye, barley, corn or potatoes, but you can also use sugar and molasses or add them to the other ingredients. a distillery has even made an innovative vodka starting from the red Pinot Noir wine. Whatever you choose, you must have sugars or starches to transform into alcohol; yeasts feed on these substances and produce alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- When you make vodka with cereals and potatoes, the wort must contain active enzymes that metabolize starches making them fermentable sugars.
- Fruit juice already contains sugar, so it is not necessary to add enzymes; similarly, the liqueur made with simple sugar must simply be fermented, saving you the need to prepare a wort.
- When using already fermented ingredients, such as wine, they can be immediately distilled into vodka.
Step 2. Determine if you need enzymes
Depending on the product you want to extract spirits from, you may need these substances to turn starches into sugar. If you have decided to use cereals and potatoes, enzymes are essential, as these ingredients are rich in starch which must be metabolized into simple sugar.
- If you have whole grain malt, you can avoid using enzymes; these grains, like barley or wheat malt, are naturally rich in substances that transform starches into fermentable sugar.
- If you've opted for refined sugar and molasses, don't add enzymes as the base ingredient is already sugar.
Step 3. Add enzymes as needed
Food grade amylases are sold in powder form and are available at craft beer supply stores; you can add them to the wort to get sugar from starches. Use the recommended dose based on the amount of starch present; in that case, you don't need to use enzyme-rich malted grains, such as barley or wheat.
- In order for the amylases to do their job, the starches must first be reduced to gelatin. Flaked cereals have generally already undergone this process, but ingredients such as potatoes, whole grains and malt must be heated in water to the specific gelling temperature for the type of starch present.
- Potatoes usually need to be heated to 66 ° C, as well as barley and wheat. In theory, a potato wort should only be heated up to this level; if you are going to use lower temperatures, you need to finely grate the tubers before adding them to the water.
- The enzymes that digest starches only work at very specific temperatures and are destroyed by excessive heat. Although the must is generally heated up to 66 ° C, remember that exceeding 70 ° C the amylases "die"; the maximum allowed temperature is 74 ° C.
Part 2 of 6: Making Different Musts
Step 1. Try the wheat wort
Heat 24 liters of water in a 40-liter metal pot with lid. Bring the liquid up to 74 ° C and mix in 2.8 kg of dried wheat flakes. Check the temperature, make sure it is between 66 and 68 ° C and add 1.4 kg of chopped wheat malt without stopping stirring; at this point, the mixture should have a temperature of about 65 ° C. Cover the pot and let it rest for 90-120 minutes, stirring the contents occasionally.
- Meanwhile, the starches should turn into fermentable sugars and the compound should become less viscous.
- After 90-120 minutes, let the wort cool down to 27-29 ° C. Use a cold water bath to speed up the process or just wait all night; However, make sure that the temperature does not drop below 27 ° C.
Step 2. Make a potato wort
Clean 10 kg of tubers and boil them, without peeling them, in a large pot until they gel (this will take about an hour). Throw out the water and carefully mash the vegetables by hand or with a food processor before putting them back in the pot with 20-24 liters of tap water; mix the ingredients to homogenize them and heat them up to 66 ° C.
- Incorporate 1 kg of barley or chopped wheat malt, stirring carefully. Cover the pan and work the must periodically over two hours; let it cool overnight to 27-29 ° C.
- A slow and prolonged cooling gives the barley malt enzymes a lot of time to break down the starch in the potatoes.
Step 3. Make a corn wort
Follow the same recipe for wheat, but replace this cereal with already gelled corn flakes. Alternatively, sprout the cereal within three days and use it for the wort without adding the malt; in this case, each grain should have a root about 5 cm long.
Sprouted corn contains enzymes that develop during the germination process
Part 3 of 6: Ferment the Alcohol
Step 1. Clean all tools and carefully prepare the work area
Fermentation must be carried out in clean and sanitized containers, which are sometimes left open but which are more often sealed to avoid cross-contamination; the process takes three to five days.
- It is possible to carry out this step in containers that have not been cleaned or sterilized and still obtain a drinkable alcohol; however, the final product is very rich in unpleasant aromatic compounds and with a high alcohol content, due to the action of unwanted yeast strains and bacteria.
- You can use oxidative cleaners, available in shops that sell items for craft beer production, or sanitizing solutions with iodine.
Step 2. Choose and mount the airlock valve
It is a device that allows carbon dioxide to escape from the container while preventing oxygen from entering. You can ferment 20 liters of filtered wort in a 30-liter bucket or in a 23-liter demijohn. You can close the bucket with the lid and the demijohn with a perforated rubber stopper, but in both cases do not seal the container completely, as the pressure exerted by the carbon dioxide could build up and generate an explosion.
- Always connect an airlock valve to lids or plugs to prevent pressure from building up.
- If you decide on an open vessel fermentation, place a cheesecloth over the containers to prevent insects or other unwanted debris from contaminating the wort.
Step 3. Filter the mixture or liquid by pouring it into the fermentation vessel
If you have prepared a wort, filter it through a fine mesh sieve while pouring it into a clean, sterilized container; try to generate splashes and let the fluid fall from a certain distance to aerate it well.
- Yeasts initially need air to grow and trigger a quality fermentation, because they produce cellular material in the form of lipids starting from oxygen; however, this gas has a negative action after the first phase of growth, since yeasts are able to produce alcohol only in its absence.
- It is recommended to add sugar at this stage. You can enrich the sugar solution with air by pouring it from a certain height above the fermentation vessel.
- If you are using juice, aerate it by pouring it through a sieve from a distance.
Step 4. Add the yeast
Hydrate the correct dose of yeast for distillates or the strain of your choice and pour it into the liquid; mix the mixture with a clean, sterilized spoon to spread the ingredient evenly. If you are using an airlock valve, you should notice bubbles in it during the process; this phenomenon should be drastically reduced or stop completely when fermentation is over.
- Keep the room temperature between 27 and 29 ° C to favor an efficient and quality process; in cold climates you can wrap the containers with belts or heating blankets.
- The yeasts for distillates guarantee a clean and ethanol-rich product with very few unwanted residues (for example alcoholic compounds other than ethanol); the dose of yeast to use depends on the brand of yeast or its strain.
- In the package you may find some nutrients that must be added to the compound to be fermented when it is poor (for example sugar solutions); however, these substances are also able to improve the fermentation of very nutritious musts, such as those based on cereals.
Step 5. Collect the fermented liquid
Use a siphon to suck up the fermented alcoholic liquid (which some refer to as a "wash") and transfer it to a sterile container or distillation plant. Leave the yeast sediment in the fermentation vessel as it can burn when you heat the still. You can further purify the wash by filtering it or by other techniques before moving on to distillation.
Part 4 of 6: Choosing the Alembic
Step 1. Use a column still if possible
It is a much more complex and sophisticated device than the artisanal ones made with pressure cookers. You can buy it or assemble the various components available individually, based on the model; however, both column stills and artisanal stills work in a similar way.
- The cooling water circulates in a closed system of the column system, its function is to condense alcohol and other vaporized substances. This means that this model of still must be connected directly to a tap or to a mechanical pump that circulates the water in the cooling ducts.
- If not recycled, it may take several liters of water to make a small batch of vodka. If you install a closed system with recirculation consisting of a main tank and a pump, you will need about 190 liters of water; however, when it heats up it becomes less effective.
Step 2. If you can't get a column still, opt for the artisan one
The elementary models are made with a pressure cooker connected to ducts; you can build it in a simple way and with a minimum financial commitment. Unlike the column models that develop vertically, the artisanal ones can take advantage of bent pipes, wrapped around themselves or immersed in containers with cooling water; a pump and large quantities of cooling water are not required, although they are sometimes used.
Step 3. Use a reflux still if needed
This tool allows you to perform several distillation processes at once. The device inserted between the condenser and the boiler allows the steam to condense and return to the liquid of origin; this "reflux" cleans the steam improving the purity of the vodka.
Part 5 of 6: Distill the Alcohol
Step 1. Prepare for distillation
The still heats the fermented "wash" which has a relatively low alcohol concentration. The liquid is brought to a temperature higher than the boiling point of alcohol but lower than that of water; in this way, the alcohol becomes vapor while the water remains in the liquid state. Thereafter, the alcoholic vapor (which still contains some water) passes through a column, pipe or conduit.
The external water cooling system adheres to the column by condensing the vapor which returns to the liquid state; this liquid is collected and transformed into vodka
Step 2. Heat the "wash" in the still to begin the process
Depending on the specific model you are using, you may be using a gas stove, a fire with wood, electric plates, or other cooking systems. The goal is to bring the liquid to a temperature of 78 ° C at sea level, but it is essential that it does not exceed 100 ° C, which is the boiling point of water.
As the liquid heats up, alcohol and other substances become vapor and condense in the cooling area of the system
Step 3. Throw away the "head"
The first liquid that comes out of the distillation system (the "head") contains methanol and other volatile substances toxic and fatal by ingestion. In a 20-liter batch of washing, throw away at least the first 60 ml of distillate.
It is extremely important not to consume this liquid
Step 4. Collect the "body" of the distillate
After throwing away the first part of the production, you can collect the one that contains the desired alcohol (ethanol), some water and other compounds; this liquid is called the "heart" or "body" of the distillate. If you use a column still with cooling liquid in motion, you can adjust the flow of the cold water to control the flow of the distillate and its purity.
Aim for 10-15ml of alcohol per minute; if you increase the output speed, you increase the concentration of impurities
Step 5. Delete the "queue"
When the distillation is about to end, the temperature reaches and exceeds 100 ° C and other harmful chemicals are produced; this part of the distillate, called the "tail", contains fuselol, a mixture of propanol and butanol that must be thrown away.
Make sure you always throw this liquid away and don't consume it
Step 6. Check the alcohol content and purity of the distillate
Cool a sample down to 20 ° C and use an alcohol meter to measure the ethanol concentration. The distillate may be too diluted to be considered an acceptable vodka (with a concentration of less than 40% alcohol) or too strong (with a volume greater than 50%).
The dilution is done before bottling, so the distillate is really very strong; it could also have a flavor and aroma that are too intense for which additional distillations or activated carbon filtrations are necessary
Step 7. Distill the liquid one more time if you wish or need to
This step allows you to increase the alcohol content and purify the product; to obtain a very pure vodka it is customary to carry out three or more distillations.
Remember to throw away the head and tail of each distillation
Part 6 of 6: Adding the Finishing Touches
Step 1. Filter the vodka through the activated charcoal
Run it through a filter of this type, available in most stores that sell craft beer items; this process eliminates unwanted volatile flavors and aromas. You can modify the activated carbon filters that are used for water so that they are also effective with distillates.
Step 2. Dilute the vodka to the desired concentration
Pour purified water into the distillate until you get the alcohol content you prefer; use an alcohol meter to check the concentration several times during the process.
Step 3. Bottle the drink
It uses a gravity bottling machine and seals the alcohol in containers with screw or cork caps; if you wish, add custom labels. Some bottling machines consist of a 30 liter tank with a tap, a PVC tube and a simple plastic spring valve, but machines with multiple taps can also be used.
Advice
- You need to adjust the pH of the wort with chalk or other compounds to allow the starch-digesting enzymes to work efficiently.
- The distillation of spirits and therefore the production of vodka is illegal in Italy.
- You can flavor the vodka however you like.
- In New Zealand small stills of excellent workmanship are built.
Warnings
- Make sure you throw away the first 5% or so of liquid; the "head" of the distillate contains methanol, a toxic substance for the optic nerve that can be fatal if swallowed.
- Domestic distillation is illegal in many countries, even in Italy.
- The production and consumption of alcohol by minors is illegal.
- Alcohol is flammable and potentially toxic.
- If you are building an alembic still, be aware that the chemicals contained in the plastic, rubber and lead present in the solder filler material could penetrate the liquid during distillation.
- A lot of pressure builds up inside the fermentation vessels which could trigger an explosion. Distillation devices are generally not closed systems under pressure and do not foresee this risk.
- The still is heated by an open flame or by methods that could cause explosions and personal injury, especially due to the flammable nature of the alcohol.
- Leaks from the still and any other situation in which alcohol (or its vapors) can come into contact with an open flame are very dangerous, they can cause an explosion and fire.
- For safety reasons, the distillation process should not be carried out at home.
