Recently, factory-made moonshine stills have been flying around the country like hot cakes. The reason for this is the flourishing of the activities of the producers of "singed" alcohol. News about people who were injured or even died from it from different regions of the country, unfortunately, has already become commonplace. Even the habit of buying expensive alcohol in outlets with famous names does not save.
The article is intended for people who do not yet have practical experience, but are already thinking about having a small moonshine still at home to produce their own drinks.
How moonshine is chasing
The distillation process is exactly the same, be it miniature moonshine stills or giants with evaporators per ton, made by craftsmen and hidden from the police in the depths of the Bryansk swamps.
In the beginning, microscopic workers called yeast work. They feed on sugar, but their waste product is alcohol. But yeast is not able to produce vodka, the fact is that the alcohol they have produced is a poison for them. And upon reaching12% ABV most yeast cells die.
The degree after the end of the work of microorganisms is small. The moonshine still enriches the product. Its work is based on the separation of liquids according to the difference in their boiling (evaporation) temperatures. Ethyl alcohol molecules acquire sufficient mobility to become a gas at a temperature of about 78 °C. And while the alcohol vapor leaves the container, most of the water remains in place.
Necessary - unnecessary moonshine "gadgets"
Moonshine, like any other business, has its own characteristics. How to make a small moonshine still for home or buy ready-made, so as not to overpay for unnecessary "options" and at the same time get a good quality finished product?
The figure shows a schematic diagram of the production process for obtaining homemade strong alcohol. The process is easy. In the hawk moth, under the influence of a heat source, the mash boils, the vapors, having passed through the reflux condenser and the dry steamer, enter the cooler, where they condense into a liquid. Let's take a closer look at some of the elements.
The reflux condenser is necessary so that the foam formed on the surface of the boiling mash does not get into the tubes and through them into the final product, significantly degrading its quality. If a small moonshine still of 5 liters or even less is purchased or made independently, the presence of a reflux condenser should not be neglected. But if the device is equipped with a dry steamer, you can do without a dephlegmator.
Sukhoparnik - in itsome of the vapors condense, and water condenses to a greater extent, since it has a higher vaporization temperature than alcohol. The distillation from the steamer is not thrown away, but poured into the next batch of mash before the next distillation. The presence of a sukhoparnik allows you to get stronger and purified drinks from fusel oils.
What does "small" mean
The capacity of the moonshine still depends on the needs of the owner. It is not difficult to calculate it: from 3-4 liters of mash you can get one liter of high-quality moonshine with a strength of 40%. Thus, in order to get a three-liter jar of moonshine in one cycle, you must have an apparatus into which you can pour 10-12 liters of mash.
The smallest moonshine still on sale is unlikely to be less than 3-5 liters. Products of a smaller capacity are suitable only for the production of valerian for a cat. The most popular (popular) capacity of purchased devices is 10-20 liters.
And as with the classics
The use of a small moonshine, in principle, does not give the owner any trouble when it comes to sugar moonshine. But any self-respecting moonshiner sooner or later takes a swing at the classics - bread moonshine. But its production has features. The fact is that simply putting an evaporator with cereal mash on a gas stove will not work - the plant residues lying at the bottom will burn, and the product will be spoiled.
How do manufacturers of large professional devices get out of the situation? Braga can be heated by a built-in electric heating element, the temperature of which does not exceed the carbonization temperature of organics, or by a water heating element.
But there are some tricks that allow you to "teach" a small moonshine still to produce a classic bread elixir. For example, proceed as shown in the figure, placing the body of the apparatus in a large container so that the bottom of the apparatus does not touch the bottom of the container. Heat will be transferred to the apparatus through the water, and the remaining grains will not burn. Or you can simply filter the bread mash before the distillation process, as recommended in the reviews.
How to choose machine material
The material of the apparatus greatly affects the taste of the future drink. How to choose a moonshine for home in terms of material? The most common distiller material on the market is stainless steel, there are also products made of copper. Homemade products are most often made of aluminum (a 14-liter capacity from a milking machine is a classic starting material for this purpose).
Copper is a classic version of all distillers that produce the most famous, and simply running (folk) whiskeys.
But running into good copper is a big problem for us now. In order to reduce the cost, half the periodic table is added to electromechanical copper. Edible copper is not produced in the Russian Federation now, so the best material for a small moonshineapparatus, according to 90% of Russian amateur moonshiners, is still "stainless steel". But even here it is advisable to ask the seller about the characteristics of the metal, ask for a certificate for it.
The option with a milking machine made of aluminum will be no worse. The fact is that such products are most often produced at serious enterprises that have established proper multi-stage quality control of the purchased material.
Do No Harm
When making homemade moonshine, it is important to follow a few simple rules so that instead of a high-quality purified product, you do not get a surrogate that smells of foul oil.
According to reviews, in no case should you put a container for collecting moonshine under the first drops from the cooler ("head"). It is they who carry micrograms (nevertheless sufficient to spoil the entire product) of methanol, which evaporates 12 degrees “earlier” than ethyl alcohol. In the case of a small moonshine, it is enough to select and pour the first 30-50 grams of the product into the sewer.
You should not take the moonshine flowing out of the apparatus at the end of the process ("tails"). The distillation should be stopped when the temperature in the evaporator reaches 84-85 °C.
Overview of offers
It is impossible to cover the entire range of factory-made moonshine stills on the Russian market today, even if we consider only small volume products. However, we should focus on some patterns that are most common in trading.
"Robin Economy 12" - a moonshine still with an evaporator with a capacity of 12 liters. Such a volume will allow distilling no more than 10 liters of mash at a time (about 2.5 liters of a forty-degree drink). Made of food-grade stainless steel, which guarantees a long service life.
The device is initially equipped with a thermometer and a water cooler, the design of the filler neck (threaded plug) guarantees tightness during the working process.
The disadvantages of the moonshine still include the lack of a steamer and the small diameter of the steam pipe. It is better to filter the Braga before the distillation process so that the particles contained in it do not clog the tube. But the price is good - in the range from 4 to 4.6 thousand.
"Phoenix Dream 8". In this 8-liter small moonshine still, it is better not to pour more than 6 liters of mash (less than 2 liters of 40-degree moonshine at a time). The presence of a dry steamer favorably distinguishes it from the previous model. The larger diameter top cover is attached with two screws located at the edges. The large diameter of the lid is used, as a rule, in devices for the production of bread moonshine by steam. A very worthy distiller, worth the money (just under 6k).
"Good heat Triumph" is a wonderful 15-liter device, equipped with all the necessary related additions: a steamer, a large-capacity cooler, a huge cover with 6 screws, a thermometer. The device is suitable for the production of m alt moonshine. But the product also costs more than 16 thousand.
And finally - "German". The device is made in Germany with the speaking name "Bavaria". A fairly simple distiller with a dryer and a cooler. A capacity of 12 liters allows you to drive both sugar and bread "elixir" (bread mash will have to be filtered - a narrow threaded filler neck). The price of about 30 thousand is due to the place of production and the manufacturer's chic warranty obligations - 12 years.
