Vodka is an alcoholic beverage without a distinctive character, aroma, taste, or color. This characteristic is created through the process of distillation or cooking a coarsely distilled alcoholic beverage with activated carbon or other ingredients. Well-distilled vodka can also be clarified or cleaned by cooking with activated carbon or other ingredients. Vodka is usually not aged and can be made from grains, potatoes, sugar, fruit, and anything that can be fermented to produce alcohol. This makes vodka an alcoholic beverage that can be made easily in a short period of time from easily available ingredients.
Step
Method 1 of 6: Determining Ingredients
Step 1. Select the ingredients you want to ferment into vodka
Vodka is usually made from wheat, rye, barley, corn, or potatoes. Sugar and cane can also be used alone or added to other ingredients. One distilled ingredient can even make an innovative vodka from Pinot Noir red wine. Whichever you choose, it must contain sugar or starch for alcohol to be produced. Yeast eats sugar and starch and then gives off alcohol and carbon dioxide.
- If you're making vodka from grains and potatoes, you'll need to make a mash with the active enzymes in order to break down the starch from the grain or potato and make fermented sugars.
- Fruit juices already contain sugar so starch-destroying enzymes are not needed. Just like fruit juice, vodka made from sugar stores just needs to be fermented, not crushed.
- If you use a fermented ingredient like wine, it can be distilled directly into vodka.
Step 2. Determine if there is sufficient crushed material
If you decide to use only potatoes to make vodka, for example, your potatoes will need help converting starch to sugar. This is where enzymes are needed. Read this graph to see if you need additional enzymes for your collision to convert starch to sugar:
| Ingredients | Need Enzymes? | Postscript |
|---|---|---|
| Grains and Potatoes | Yes | Grains and potatoes are sources of starch, not sugar. Enzymes are needed to break down starch into sugar. |
| Malt Grains (example: malted barley, malted wheat) | No. Malted grains are rich in natural enzymes that break down starch into fermentable sugars. | The enzymes are active in malted grains when the seeds are cracked open, and soaked in warm water for a period of time. Milled malted grains can be used on their own, as they already contain starch, or added to a starch mash that doesn't contain a lot of enzymes. Opt for enzyme-rich malted grains, such as malted oats. |
| Refined Sugar and Cane | No. Since sugar is readily available, yeast does not require additional enzymes. | Sugar can be used alone to make vodka or added to starch paste to add a fermenting ingredient. |
Step 3. Depending on your impact material, determine whether you need to use additional enzymes
Food-grade amylase enzyme powder can be purchased from the grocery store and then added to the mix to convert the starch into fermented sugar, if you're using potatoes, for example. Use the recommended amount for the amount of starch to be crushed. You don't need to use enzyme-rich malted grains such as barley or malted wheat if you use enzyme powder.
- In order for enzymes to break down starch, even malted starch, an enzyme-rich grain, the starch must be gelatinized (made into jelly). The flaked grains are usually gelatinized. Ungelatinized materials such as potatoes and undiluted grains or malts are heated in water to the gelatinization temperature of the starch used. Potatoes are usually gelatinized at 66ºC, and barley and wheat at the same temperature. In theory, mashed potatoes should only need to be heated to 66ºC. If low temperatures are used for potatoes, they should be grated before putting them in the water.
- Starch-destroying enzymes can only work at certain temperatures and can be destroyed at high temperatures. A temperature of 66ºC can be used, but temperatures above 70ºC will destroy the enzyme. The maximum temperature is 74ºC; enzymes will work for a certain period of time at this temperature and can be used, but most enzymes will be destroyed.
Method 2 of 6: Creating Different Collisions
Step 1. Try making buckwheat mash
In a 10 gallon (37 liter) cast iron pot, heat 6 gallons (22 liters) of water at 74ºC. Add 2 gallons (7 liters) of dry oats and mix. Check the temperature and make sure it is between 66ºC and 68ºC. Add 1 gallon (3 liters) of crushed malted oats. The temperature should be at 65 C. Cover and leave for 90 minutes to 2 hours, stirring regularly. The starch should turn into fermented sugar at this point, and the mixture should become less viscous. After 90 minutes to 2 hours, cool the mixture to 27 -29 C. Use an immersion cooler to cool quickly or let it cool overnight, but don't go below 27 C.
Step 2. Try making potato mash
Clean 10kg of potatoes. Unpeeled, boil in a large saucepan until gelatinized, about 1 hour. Discard the water and mash the potatoes evenly with your hands or a food processor. Return the crushed potatoes to the pot and pour 5-6 gallons (19-23 liters) of tap water. Stir and heat the mixture to 66 C. Add 1kg barley or crushed wheat malt and mix well. Cover and stir regularly for 2 hours. Allow to cool overnight to 27 -29 C.
Allowing it to cool for a longer period of time also gives the barley malt enzymes longer to break down the potato starch
Step 3. Try making corn mash
Make the mash based on the oat mash recipe, but use cornstarch instead of flat oats. You can grow your own corn for 3 days and make mash without adding malted grains. Roots approximately 5 cm long will grow from each seed. Growing corn will contain enzymes that are formed during the germination process.
Method 3 of 6: Fermenting the Collision
Step 1. Clean all your equipment and prepare the area well
Fermentation can be done in a clean container that is sometimes opened but more often closed to avoid contamination. Fermentation usually lasts 3-5 days.
- Fermentation can also be carried out in containers that have not been cleaned, and the distilled product will produce drinkable alcohol, but fermentation may produce an undesirable taste as well as a higher alcohol content due to yeast and bacterial stains.
- Oxidative cleaners like B-Brite can be purchased at the grocery store, as can sanitizers like iodophor.
Step 2. Select and install your airtight device
This tool is a mechanism that allows CO2 flow out without letting o2 enter. 5 gallon (19 liter) strained mash can be fermented in a 7.5 gallon (28 liter) food-grade bucket or in a 6 gallon (23 liter) carboy bottle. The lid can be attached to the bucket, just as the rubber cap can be drilled into a carboy bottle, but when using the lid, never completely cover the container, as the pressure from producing carbon dioxide will cause an explosion. Therefore, install an airtight device on the cover.
When fermentation is taking place in an open container, place a cloth to cover the container so that no insects or other unwanted things get into it
Step 3. Strain the mash or other liquid into your fermentation vessel
If you are adding the mash you made, strain the liquid through a strong mesh strainer from the mash container into your clean fermenting vessel. Try to pour the liquid from a certain distance so that air can enter easily. Yeast needs air (oxygen) to grow and start a good fermentation process. This is because yeast makes cellular material in the form of lipids from oxygen. However, oxygen is not needed after the first growth stage, because yeast produces alcohol without oxygen.
- “As another option”, ferment the mash without straining. However, the fermented mash must still be filled with air, can use an aquarium air pump and an air stone. The mash must also be filtered before being put into the distiller (distillation apparatus), and it may be easier to ferment the smaller number of collisions that result from the filtered mash, as the fermented mash may overflow from the container.
- If using a sugar solution, prepare the solution described in Make Alcohol from Common Table Sugar. You should also let air in by pouring it remotely into the fermentation vessel.
- If the juice is fermented, let air in by pouring it from a height through a sieve or sieve into the fermenting vessel.
Step 4. Add the yeast to the fermentation vessel
Add sufficient water to it or other yeast or add to the liquid. Stir with a clean spoon to evenly distribute the yeast. If using an airlock, the airlock will bubble during the active fermentation process, and the bubbling will slow down rapidly or stop completely when the liquid finishes fermenting. Place the fermented liquid in a room with a temperature of 27 -29 C for a good and efficient fermentation process. Or, use the heater in a cold area.
- Distilled yeast will ferment cleanly, produce a high alcohol (ethanol) content, and produce a low content of unwanted compounds such as alcohol other than ethanol. The amount of yeast used will depend on the specific brand or type of yeast used.
- Nutrients may be included on the yeast pack. Yeast nutrients are needed when fermenting low-nutrient ingredients, such as sugar solutions, but they can also aid fermentation when using high-nutrient ingredients such as grains.
Step 5. Take the fermented liquid, which is also called "the wash
" Pour the fermented liquid, and alcohol (called the wash) into a clean container or distillation apparatus (distiller). Leave any yeast that has settled in the fermentation vessel, as it can burn when heated in the distiller. The poured wash can also be clarified using a filter or other means prior to distillation.
Method 4 of 6: Choosing Your Distiller
Step 1. Try to distill using a column if possible
Column distillers are more complex and sophisticated than pot distillers. These can be purchased, depending on the design, or made using ready-made materials. However, column and pot distillers work in relatively the same way:
- Cold water is usually circulated through an enclosed space in a distillation column, causing the evaporated alcohol and other materials to condense in the column. This means the distiller must be attached to a faucet or a mechanical pump to drive water from the source into the distiller.
- If you don't get water from a single source, thousands of gallons of water may have to be used to make a little vodka. If water is drained from a central container using a pump, approximately 50 gallons (189 liters) of water can be used, but the water will be hot and less effective.
- See Resources below for more detailed, high-quality instructions for the construction and use of column distillers.
Step 2. If you can't find or build a column distiller, use a pot distiller
A simple pot distiller is similar to a pressure cooker attached to a pipe. They can be built easily and inexpensively. Unlike column distillers, which consist of vertical columns, pot distillers can use curved or circular pipes that can be immersed in a container of cold water. Pumps and large quantities of cold water are not required, but can be used.
See Resources below for detailed, high-quality instructions on pot distiller construction
Method 5 of 6: Distilling Fermentation Liquid (Wash)
Step 1. Prepare for distillation
The distiller will heat a wash containing relatively low alcohol to a temperature higher than the boiling point of alcohol, but less than the boiling point of water. In this way, the alcohol evaporates but the water does not. The evaporated alcohol (with a small amount of evaporated water) rises up the column, or distiller pipe, causing the evaporated alcohol to cool and condense back into water. The alcoholic liquid worked and became vodka.
Step 2. Heat the wash in the distiller to start the distillation process
Depending on the type of distiller used, gas burners, wood fires, or electric heating plates can be used. A temperature of approximately 78.3 C is fine to use, but the temperature "should" be below the boiling point of water, 100 C at sea level. After the washer is heated, the alcohol and other substances evaporate and condense in the cooling section of the distiller.
Step 3. Remove the head
The first distilled liquid (called the “head”) that the distiller produces is rich in harmful methanol and other volatile chemicals that you don't want to drink. . For every 5 gallons (19 liters) of wash, discard at least the first 30 ml of the distillate.
Step 4. Collect the bodies
After you remove the head, the resulting distillate will contain the desired alcohol (ethanol), along with a small amount of water and other compounds. This is called the "body". At this time, if using a column with cold running water, the water flow can be adjusted to control the production and clarity of the distillation. Try to produce 2-3 tsp of distillate per minute. More distillation income means less clarity.
Step 5. Remove the tail
At the end of the distillation process, when the temperature reaches 100 C and above, the distillation process produces other harmful chemicals. This is called a “tail”, which contains fusel alcohol. Tail is unwanted and should be discarded.
Step 6. Check the alcohol content and clarity of the distillate
Cool the distillate sample slightly to 20 C and use a hydrometer to measure the percentage of alcohol from the distillate. The distillate may be too runny to serve as vodka (less than 40% alcohol), or too thick (perhaps more than 50% alcohol). Vodka is usually diluted before being bottled, so the distillate may contain very high levels of alcohol. The distillate may also be too flavorful and must be further distilled or filtered using carbon.
Step 7. Re-distillation of the distillate if necessary
This increases the alcohol content and clears the distillate. It is very common to re-distill 3-4 more times to produce a very clear vodka.
Method 6 of 6: Making the Final Touches
Step 1. Use a carbon filter (activated carbon) if necessary
Pour the distillate into a carbon filter, such as those sold at a liquor store, to remove unwanted excess taste and aroma. Carbon water filters can also be used to purify the distillate.
Step 2. Dilute the vodka to the desired consistency
Add clean water to the distillate to reach the desired alcohol percentage. Use a hydrometer to measure the percentage of alcohol.
Step 3. Pour the vodka into the bottle
Fill the bottle using a “gravity bottle filler setup” and close it with a bottle cap or cork. Label specific bottles if desired. Some "gravity fillers" may consist of a 7.5 gallon (29 liter) bucket (with faucet), vinyl tubing, and simple spring-loaded bottle filler. Multiple-spout wine bottle fillers can also be used.
Tips
- High quality small distillers are manufactured in New Zealand.
- If you're making a distiller, remember that chemicals from plastic and rubber and lead from solder and iron can get mixed up during the distillation process.
- Vodka can be flavored.
- The pH content of the mash may have to be adjusted using plaster or other materials for the starch-destroying enzymes to work properly.
- The distillation and production of vodka at home is permitted by law in New Zealand.
Warning
- The fermenter can build up pressure and explode. Distillers are generally unsealed and pressurized, so they don't build up pressure.
- Make sure that you throw away the first 5% or so of the distillate! It most likely contains a concentration of impurities that are boiled at a lower temperature than ethanol. If you drink this part, you can go blind or die.
- The distillation apparatus is heated with open flames and other things that can cause bodily injury and explosion, mainly due to flammable alcohol. A leak in your distiller, or any other situation where alcohol or alcohol vapor may be exposed to a fire, is likely to result in an explosion and fire. Distillation is best done somewhere other than your home for safety reasons.
- Alcohol is flammable and can be toxic.
- In many countries, distilling alcoholic beverages is prohibited by law, including the U. K. and U. S., without government permission. In New Zealand it's illegal to sell your homemade vodka, but don't drink it.
- The production and consumption of alcohol under the age of 21 is illegal in many countries.
