How to perform the second distillation of moonshine - step-by-step instructions. What is triple distillation of moonshine? What happens if moonshine is distilled three times?

How to distill moonshine a second time? This is a question that interests many moonshiners. This is due to the fact that the resulting moonshine contains many harmful impurities, and in order to get rid of them, secondary distillation of the moonshine is necessary.

It is also necessary to take into account the fact that the greater the strength of the resulting drink, the stronger the connection with the alcohol of fusel oils and other harmful impurities.

Second distillation of moonshine

It is mainly carried out in order to remove fusel oils from the drink as much as possible, which are highly toxic and poisonous. If such oils come into direct contact with the skin, they can cause a thermal burn on it, and if they enter through the respiratory system, they lead to coughing and in some cases, suffocation may begin.

Despite its harmfulness to the body, fusel oils are used for industrial purposes.

After the second distillation of the moonshine, you get a drink that tastes much better than the originally obtained moonshine. In order for moonshine to undergo a second distillation, you do not need to spend a lot of time and money, but as a result of such refinement you will receive a drink that will contain a minimum content of harmful substances.
It will not have an unpleasant odor, since it contains mainly water and alcohol.

How to prepare for the second distillation

Let's take a closer look at how to make the second distillation. The first stage is that it is necessary to dilute the moonshine; to do this, add the resulting moonshine to the cooled water and dilute it until its strength is 35–40º.

Before re-distillation is carried out, it is necessary to clean it; this can be done using activated carbon, or another natural absorbent can be used for these purposes. If you use a recipe with activated carbon, you will need 50 g of it per 1 liter of moonshine.

To carry out cleaning, you need to make a filter, for this you take cotton wool, then a layer of gauze, activated carbon, again a layer of gauze and carbon. This drink is filtered through the resulting filter. You can clean it in 2 ways. To do this, you need to add coal to the moonshine, where it should remain for a week. It is necessary to stir everything periodically, then strain through thick cloth or gauze.

Purification of moonshine can be done in other ways; there is a recipe for which you will need a component such as potassium permanganate.

• To do this, dilute 3 g of potassium permanganate in 300 ml of warm water; this will be enough for a liter of moonshine.
• Now you need to dilute the moonshine with the resulting solution and leave everything to infuse for an hour.

At the next stage, add 1 tbsp to the resulting solution. l. salt and soda, mix everything well and leave again, but now for 2 hours. At the last stage, the moonshine is filtered; as a rule, a gauze filter is used for these purposes.

Another folk recipe for cleaning moonshine

To use it you will need milk. To do this, you need to dilute the moonshine with regular milk, the proportion is 5:1, that is, per liter of moonshine you will need 200 g of milk. The mixture should stand for half an hour, after which the second stage and distillation of moonshine at home can begin.

Distill the moonshine a second time

The technology used for secondary distillation is no different from the process of producing moonshine from mash. For the 2nd distillation, the same moonshine still is used, but before use it must be rinsed well to completely remove any remaining mash, as they can negatively affect the taste and quality of the final product.

• It is worth noting that you will do the second distillation process as you did the first time, but at the end you will get more of the finished drink, since the degree of the original raw material will be much higher than the first time.

In this case, the time spent on the second stage will be spent less than it was the first time.

When deciding how to properly distill moonshine, you should take into account that you need to not only distill it, but correctly divide it into the appropriate fractions. The separation process is that you need to divide the drink into a “tail”, a “head” and a “body”, which is a quality drink ready for consumption.

Points to pay attention to

When carrying out the secondary distillation of moonshine, in order to get a good result, you need to pay attention to a number of points:

• Keep in mind that the “head” makes up about 10% of the volume of the liquid being distilled.
• This product cannot be consumed, as it is harmful to our body.
• It is ideal for use for technical purposes, for disinfecting various household items.

After you have taken about 10% of the liquid, smell it; if there is no sharp unpleasant odor, then the main part has gone, which should be taken for consumption. Depending on the original material, body strength can range from 84–96%.
Monitor the strength of the output product, and when it drops to 45º, place a container for collecting the “tail”. You can monitor the strength of the resulting drink using a regular household alcohol meter. The share of the “tail” is also about 10% of the source material.
If the “head” is used for domestic needs, then the “tail” can be used to dilute moonshine; it is considered optimal when the diluted moonshine has a strength of 40–45%, or to increase the strength of the mash.

As a result of such distillation, you will get about 75–80% of the “body”, which no longer requires additional filtration or processing. All you have to do is dilute the drink to the required strength.

• A mandatory indicator of the resulting drink will be its absolute transparency, and it will contain a minimum amount of harmful impurities.
• When the temperature of the liquid reaches 65–68ºС, light impurities begin to be released, which are very toxic, and at this time the “head” is released.
• This process lasts up to a temperature of 80ºC, it can also be determined visually, since at this time condensation begins to appear on the refrigerator.

At the next stage, you need to be very careful, since at this time you need to reduce the heating intensity, otherwise the moonshine may burn out and the entire process will be done in vain, you will not get the expected result.

To obtain ideal moonshine, it is necessary to maintain a temperature of about 80–84ºС. The entire distillation process must be completed at a temperature of 85ºC, since alcohol ceases to be released further, and there is no point in collecting waste and fusel oils.

Alcohol separation process

So, it became clear to you that in order to get a good drink, it needs to be distilled 2 times, and it is enough to do two distillations, since the subsequent ones do not bring a significant improvement in the quality of the final product. It is clear that distillation alone will not help you with this, and therefore each person is looking for his own recipe. To obtain pure alcohol, you must use a rectifier.

1. There is a recipe that allows you to reduce the amount of fusel oils.

It is necessary to add milk to the resulting moonshine, leave everything for a week, during which time fusel oils are purified, and the subsequent use of a rectifier allows you to obtain a high-quality product.

There is another fairly new method in our country to re-distill moonshine. It is based on “heat shock”; moonshine is poured into a container, tightly closed with a lid and heated to a temperature of 70ºC, after which the heating is stopped and the liquid is left for a day. Then we pour the moonshine into the rectifier and immediately begin the process of separating the alcohol. We looked at only the 2 most common methods, but there are other ways to obtain high-quality and pure moonshine.

First-class moonshine cannot be achieved only by using high-quality raw materials and correctly performing all stages of primary distillation. The resulting drink will contain foreign tastes and an unpleasant odor due to the content of yeast and harmful impurities in small quantities.

Why is a second distillation of moonshine necessary?

Double distillation, if properly implemented, will allow you to achieve excellent taste of the drink and reduce hangover symptoms as a result of its consumption. Using purification, the fractional method and a dry steamer, you will remove the aldehydes remaining after the first distillation and causing significant harm to the body.

Thus, the advantages of this method of making moonshine include:

• Significant improvement in taste.
• No unpleasant odor.
• Reducing harm to health.
• Possibility of producing noble drinks based on the resulting moonshine.
• In some cases, an increase in degree.

There are situations in which re-distillation is required. These include:

• Using mash based on berries and fruits.
• Cleaning with sodium hydroxide, soda and other chemicals.
• So as not to throw it away if it turns out bad the first time.

By spending time on one more cycle, you will get a wonderful distillate that you will enjoy drinking yourself and treating your neighbors.

Second distillation of moonshine: the right technology

Having determined the need to improve quality, many distillers ask themselves:

The technology for brewing the drink in both the first and second cycles is based on different boiling point parameters for the chemical substances included in the composition, and dividing them into fractions to separate them from each other.

An important factor in the question of how to distill moonshine a second time at home is to use only the central fraction from the primary distillation. The so-called body contains an order of magnitude less difficult-to-remove impurities. Sometimes a third fraction is used - “tails”, but to obtain a high-quality product it is necessary to use the “body”.

First stage. Dilution

The first step towards the secondary distillation is diluting the moonshine with water.

Moonshine for secondary processing should have a strength of 35 to 45 degrees. Use an alcohol meter to accurately determine the strength of your drink. The alcohol concentration required after dilution depends on the fraction used and the desired strength as a result of:

• About 20° - if you took the “body”.
• About 10° - if you use “tails”.

It is extremely important not to exceed the specified alcohol concentration for two equally important reasons:

1. Ignition of alcohol vapors can lead to equipment detonation.
2. Harmful impurities at elevated concentrations form a stable chemical bond and are difficult to remove.

The water used must be clean, preferably melt or spring water. Distilled or boiled is not recommended for use. Tap water must be passed through a carbon filter and allowed to settle.

The water temperature can be room temperature, but it would be a good idea to cool it down to 10 degrees by putting it in the refrigerator for a while.

Second phase. Cleaning

An equally important step in how to properly distill moonshine a second time is cleaning. The most environmentally friendly method is considered to be cleaning using charcoal made yourself. Barbecue charcoal bought in a supermarket contains its own harmful impurities, and in the future you will need to get rid of them.

For manufacturing it is better to use soft wood. They need to be cut into small briquettes or rounds and the bark removed. It is not advisable to use a freshly cut tree; it is better to let the wood dry for a couple of weeks. After drying, the briquettes are tightly placed in a metal barrel with a sealed lid and a hole for the fitting. The fire is lit, the finished coal is periodically removed, and fresh briquettes are added.

More often, activated carbon is used at the cleaning stage as a less labor-intensive method.

It is also possible to clean using potassium permanganate. This is done as follows:

1. Dissolve potassium permanganate in hot water in a proportion of 1 gram of manganese per 100 ml of liquid.
2. Pour the solution into the moonshine and stir.
3. Let sit for an hour until sediment appears.
4. Add one tablespoon each of baking soda and salt.
5. After two hours, strain through a filter made of gauze or thin cotton cloth.

It is important to remember that there is no need to rush. The quality of cleaning using this method depends on the slow pouring of moonshine through the manufactured filter.

Third stage. Secondary distillation

There is nothing complicated or radically different from the first distillation in how moonshine can be distilled a second time. The resulting product is also divided into fractions:

• The head fraction, or primary, is the first 10-12% of the liquid, containing acetone and
• The main fraction, or body, is the next 80-90% of the liquid, consisting mostly of ethyl alcohol.
• The tail fraction is the last 5-10% of the liquid.

Pervach, despite the great love for it in Soviet times, should not be drunk under any circumstances. It has an unpleasant odor and can cause great harm to the body, but you shouldn’t throw it away. This moonshine can be used to ignite coal or wipe board contacts. The volume of the fraction, according to general estimates, is 50 ml per liter of pure alcohol.

Double distillation of moonshine at home is aimed at obtaining the main fraction. It is collected until the strength of the output product drops to 45%. The strength of the total volume of moonshine obtained is estimated at around 60-70%.

Many lovers of homemade alcohol add the tail fraction to the next portion of mash to increase its strength.

Is a steamer necessary for secondary distillation?

The presence of a steam steamer or reflux condenser is not mandatory, but desirable during primary distillation. Many distillers use it as a substitute for re-distilling moonshine. After all, it also cleans the product from fusel oils without wasting additional time.

But a steam steamer cannot provide complete purification during the primary distillation process. For people who strive for perfection in everything, using it during the first and second distillation will allow them to achieve an almost ideal product.

Using a distillation column

Additional cleaning using a rectifier can help determine how to properly distill moonshine a second time. It separates liquids based on differences in evaporation. In the process of rectification, the purest ethyl alcohol is obtained from moonshine, even if it is first-class.

Using mash leads to clogging of the rectifier. That is why it is advisable to use double distillation moonshine in the distillation column.

The output is an absolutely neutral, pure product without impurities for making tinctures or consuming in its pure form.

How to properly distill moonshine a second time? You will find tips below.

For secondary distillation, the quality of the water for the first stage is a very important factor.

Do not interchange the dilution and cleaning steps. Water partially destroys the structure of impurities, and cleaning with potassium permanganate or coal frees moonshine from the remnants of these compounds.

To determine fractions during distillation, constantly monitor the “turnovers” using an alcohol meter.

The approach of the main faction can be determined using smell. If the sharp unpleasant smell disappears, then the “body” has gone.

Don't be greedy. Drain the primary product - health is more valuable.

You can determine the strength of moonshine using the combustion method. Paper soaked in moonshine will burn without a match only at a strength above 40 degrees.

Adding oak bark or wood chips after secondary distillation removes the remaining harmful substances and makes moonshine similar to cognac.

Using these tips, you can understand how to properly distill moonshine a second time. And remember that the result is worth the effort. The second distillation of moonshine is an important step in obtaining a quality product.

Double Distillation Recipes

The absence of unnecessary odors and flavors in twice-distilled moonshine leaves room for the distiller’s creativity. The easiest way is to buy and use flavoring additives in making tinctures. You can also use natural ingredients you have on hand.

Most often, lovers of home brewing imitate noble French cognac. There are many recipes for such “cognac”. Most often, pepper, tea and bay leaves are used in the composition; the infusion process is required either in an oak barrel or on oak chips.

A recipe for Christmas moonshine will never be superfluous. Of course, this must be done in advance:

1. Fill with sliced ​​apples and top with moonshine.
2. Leave to infuse for six months.
3. Strain through a cloth or fine sieve.
4. Add sugar to taste.
5. Heat to a boil three times, paying close attention to fire safety.
6. Place in a cool place for a week.
7. Strain again.
8. Dilute a quarter of water per 10 liters of liquid.
9. Distill and filter.
10. Christmas vodka is ready.

There are a huge number of recipes based on moonshine, and everyone can choose one that suits their taste.

Experienced moonshiners know that it is double. But how to properly implement it on your own? What is the best way to distill moonshine twice in order to obtain a product of adequate quality? We'll show you detailed instructions, thanks to which you will clearly understand what steps you need to complete to solve this problem.

We will not consider the issues of setting up mash, since we have already discussed this topic many times on. It is much more important to decide if necessary use technology and or can it be avoided? I suggest that you don’t put everything off and start taking action.

Stage #1: cleaning the mash from fermentation products

First of all, it is necessary to clean the finished mash from everything that could negatively affect its taste.

I'm talking about yeast, which processed sugar and turned it into alcohol. They are not needed in the final product, and during heating they release many harmful impurities. That is why it is very important to get rid of them before distillation begins, so as not to further worsen them.

I suggest using a regular one cotton wool or gauze filter:

1. We insert several layers of filter into the funnel.
2. We pass all the mash through it, trying to prevent any mash sediment from getting into the funnel.
3. After clarification, the liquid can be immediately sent for distillation.

There is a more effective way, which is called.

We believe that carrying out such work inappropriate, since a regular filter is sufficient for adequate cleaning.

Stage #2: first distillation at maximum speed

Since there are still a lot of harmful impurities left in the mash, we need complete the race as quickly as possible so that all this “alcoholic broth” is cooked as little as possible.

To do this we need to do the following:

1. Turn the heat on the stove to maximum.
2. We select the product as much as possible, trying to avoid it.
3. When the sampling rate drops to almost zero, it is necessary to stop distillation, disassemble and wash the apparatus, and then reassemble it for the next stage.

We do not save water supply to the cooler. Distillation consumes from 100 to 600 liters of water. You can spend 20 rubles from your own pocket to reduce the loss of your own drink.

The presence of a steam chamber in the apparatus is strictly necessary.

Stage #3: purification of raw alcohol

We have somehow prepared for you. These products are ideal for raw alcohol, so we choose the easiest option for you and get to work.

Coal for cleaning moonshine (BAU).

Possible cleaner options:

1. Activated carbon BAU and KAU (1 tablespoon per liter of moonshine).
2. Egg white.
3. Sunflower, refined, deodorized oil.
4. Milk.
5. Black rye bread.
6. Soda, salt.
7. Freezing by cold.

Of all the variety, activated carbon (it can be used in tablets) and black rye bread seem to me to be the most adequate.

But I still don’t consciously carry out this cleaning, since a double distillation is quite enough (in my subjective opinion).

Stage #4: second fractional distillation with separation of harmful fractions

A serious stage, which is considered the most important in the entire process.

It is necessary to separate high-quality alcohol from bad alcohol, while avoiding large losses of the product. The quality of the drink and its volume will depend on your skill.

1. We dilute the raw alcohol to a strength of 15–20%.
2. We heat the distillation cube to approximately 78 degrees.
3. As soon as the first distillate drips in, it is necessary to reduce the power of the stove to a selection rate of 1–2 drops per second.
4. IN first container, take 50 ml of alcohol from each 1 kg of sugar (). This is a harmful product that is oversaturated with acetone and isoamylol. Under no circumstances should you drink it.
5. In second container we collect the body, that is, the main product that we will serve on the table.
6. Third We substitute the container at the moment when the strength in the stream drops below 40%. These will be in which there is little alcohol and many other smelly compounds. They can be distilled next time or simply poured into the sink.

Your sense of smell (nose) will help you select the heads correctly. The first drops of moonshine smell terribly of acetone, and it is very clearly different from alcohol. When this smell ends, you can collect the normal product.

Tails in most cases stop burning, since the alcohol content of the liquid drops below the critical 40%.

Don't be greedy and take away all the harmful fractions of your product.

Stage #5: stabilizing the taste of the drink

Even from my own experience, I found out that if moonshine or alcohol diluted with water If it sits for a few days, it will taste better.

From a chemical point of view, I don’t understand what is happening in this solution, but there is clearly a positive effect from waiting. Therefore our recommendation is as follows:

1. Dilute the distillate to the strength you require (usually 40%).
2. Let it sit for 2-3 days in an airtight container.
3. After this, you can safely start tasting!

If you really can’t wait, then drink straight from the stream of selection. But we still recommend good things, so stick to them as much as possible.

Videos from experienced moonshiners

Double distillation on a moonshine still with steamer

Few can compete Konstantin Kapochkin in his videos on double distillation.

It’s extremely difficult to chew anything even stronger, so I recommend this guy for you to watch. The videos are divided into two stages: the first and second distillation.

Double distillation on a distillation column

A very fresh and relevant video on double distillation from Russian Haze.

Rectification will be carried out on an apparatus with a column diameter of 2 inches. Now you will be surprised what results you can get in such a short time. One of the fastest devices on our market!

There are really very few instructions on the internet on this kind of equipment, so a video would definitely be very helpful.

You can improve the quality of moonshine by removing all foreign impurities from it. And this can be done if another additional fractional distillation is carried out. The resulting product was called double moonshine. To prepare it, you will need to spend a little more time than usual (about 3-4 hours from the first distillation). However, the end result will be the purest distillate without any odors or harmful impurities.

Absolutely any moonshine can be double distilled. It makes no difference what raw materials it was created from. It is important to know that even a drink that has been kicked out for a long time can be refined in this way. Let's look at how to properly distill moonshine for the second time at home?

Why do you need a second distillation of moonshine?

Previously, many people in Rus' indulged in drinking. People simply made their own mash and consumed it with pleasure. At that time, no one was familiar with the distillation method. And the mash was prepared from everything that was on hand in the house or grew in the garden.

Today, all experts loudly insist that drinking mash is harmful. After all, it contains acetone, fusel oils, and aldehyde. This is not the entire list of substances, the accumulation of which in the body leads to death. Therefore, abusing the drink is incredibly harmful.

Today it is quite simple to rid mash of unnecessary impurities. This requires a second distillation of the moonshine. As a result, the product becomes clean and harmless.

Three important steps in the process

Each specialist who distills moonshine has his own important rules, tricks, secrets and nuances. Re-distillation must be done efficiently. To do this, all the main steps are followed:

Dilution

No matter what recipe for an alcoholic drink is chosen, the strength of the raw material before distillation should be within 35-40%. Otherwise, there is a chance that the equipment used will deteriorate, and real fireworks will occur in the kitchen. In this regard, before placing the raw material into the device, it must be diluted. This is necessary to:

• The alcohol vapors really did not rupture the moonshine still;
• It is more efficient and faster to separate ethyl alcohol from heavy and harmful impurities. If the strength of the raw material is above 40%, then the molecular bonds in the raw material will be stronger.

Moonshine must be diluted with filtered water. It must be cool. You can make it this way by placing it in the refrigerator first.

The fractional procedure for diluting raw materials implies that water is added gradually. In this case, it is recommended to measure the strength each time using an alcohol meter. Ideally, if you bring it to 35%. It is necessary to add water to moonshine, and not vice versa.

Cleaning

Fractional distillation also involves careful preliminary purification of moonshine. Several methods can be used. To do this you will need:

1. filter cardboard or paper;
2. potassium permanganate;
3. Activated carbon;
4. charcoal.

If you intend to use special paper, then cleaning is very simple. You need to put the sheet in a funnel, and moonshine is poured into it. It is necessary to pour the drink as slowly as possible so that the filtration occurs as efficiently as possible.

The cleaning recipe using manganese requires care and patience. It is very important to maintain all proportions and follow the steps consistently:

• For each liter of raw material, take a solution of 50 ml of hot water and 2 g of potassium permanganate. As soon as the pharmaceutical crystals dissolve, all this is poured directly into the moonshine;
• then the raw material settles for at least 10 hours;
• as a result, sediment should remain at the bottom of the container;
• the next stage is filtering the moonshine through cotton wool or flannel, which is placed in a funnel. Alcohol is filtered through it.

Only after such filtration is the moonshine re-distilled.

The final stage is the direct distillation

First, the moonshine still is prepared. It is thoroughly washed and then carefully and correctly collected. The second run is carried out in the same way as the first. In this case, the end result will be slightly less finished drink.

Despite the purity of the feedstock, “heads” and “tails” occur during re-distillation. That is why you should pay attention to what comes out of the device. If necessary, you will need to separate the so-called “body”.

It is important to consider several important points when carrying out the procedure:

• In the total volume of the product, about 10% will be “heads”. This fraction can be used exclusively for technical purposes: disinfection of objects, cleaning of various surfaces. You can't drink it, it's very harmful.
• It is important to monitor the “turnovers” during distillation. This is done using a conventional alcohol meter. If the strength drops to 45%, you will have to prepare a special container in which the “tails” will be collected.
• You can determine the moment of collecting the main part of the valuable moonshine using your sense of smell. Having collected 10% of the product, you just need to smell it. If there is no strong, pungent odor, then double moonshine has already started and is ready for consumption. Most often, the main part is 80% of the total volume. However, there are high-quality powerful units that produce up to 95% of the “body”.
• The “head” is useful for some household needs. But the “tails” are an assistant in increasing the strength of new raw materials. They are simply added to the mash in order to make another batch of the purest homemade alcohol in the future.

Additional cleaning of the finished product

Once the entire double distillation process is completed, you can:

1. Additionally purify the moonshine;
2. Elevate it so that it tastes better. For this purpose, special aromatic additives that are sold in stores are suitable. You can add fresh berries and fruits to the product;
3. Enjoy the result in its purest form. You can dilute the drink with water to make it softer.

The recipe for additional purification of the resulting drink may be different. You can use natural milk. This is the most common method.

For 1.5 liters of alcohol you will need about a glass (250 ml) of milk. It is poured into moonshine and left alone for a week. Experienced professionals who have been making high-quality moonshine for years are confident that this process will require milk “from the village.” Only a natural product can cope with the task. The result is the purest moonshine even at home.

However, the cleaning doesn't end there. Next, pass the alcoholic drink through a funnel with a layer of activated charcoal or charcoal. It is not recommended to use potassium permanganate. This time, this option can significantly harm your health.

After additional cleaning, you can refine the drink. You can use a recipe for making cognac or a healing tincture for this.

Cognac from double moonshine

The recipe for making cognac is easy to follow. It is enough to put the peels of several lemons into a three-liter jar of alcoholic drink. A tablespoon of black tea (without aromatic additives), 3 cloves, 3 peppercorns and bay leaves are also added there. In addition to seasonings, 2 tablespoons of sugar and a pinch of vanilla are mixed into the future cognac. Cover the finished mixture with a lid and place in a dark place. In exactly 10 days, the noble drink will be ready for consumption. You can set the table!

Recipes for refining moonshine

The art of cooking is not only the preparation of original dishes, but also the creation of a variety of drinks, including the refinement of moonshine. Drinks with bitter tastes are known. However, moonshine can also be given other flavors. Each moonshiner has his own signature recipe. Here are just some of the “seasonings” that are added to moonshine after the second distillation:

• Rosemary – 1 gram per liter;
• Orange zest – 100 grams per liter;
• Nutmeg – 3 grams per liter;
• Vanilla (to obtain a bitter taste) – 2 grams per liter;
• Ginger (for pungency) – 10 grams per liter.

The recipe assumes that the drink must be infused with additives for at least 2 weeks. Only then can you drink it.

To make moonshine sweeter, you can add to it:

1. Syrup, which is prepared from sugar and water in proportions of 1 kg per 1 liter, respectively;
2. Jam.

Having added a sweetener to the moonshine, the drink is heated over a fire until gases begin to be released from it. After this, it needs to be filtered. The finished moonshine is poured into containers and infused for 3 days.

You can add color to the moonshine. The recipe implies that it is best to color alcohol before filtration, immediately after re-distillation:

• The red color comes from adding dried blueberries to the drink;
• The yellow tint comes from lemon balm and mint. You can use celery or parsley for this;
• You can make moonshine golden by adding saffron, walnut partitions or orange peel;
• The brown tint is obtained by adding unshelled pine nuts or a small amount of good loose leaf tea (a large spoon for 3 liters);
• Moonshine gets its blue hue thanks to the bright flowers of cornflower;
• You can make a green drink by adding the boiled juice of fresh onion feathers or ordinary leaves from blackcurrant bushes.

Herbal additives provide not only a certain color and a wonderful aroma, but also softness, which makes drinking such alcohol even more pleasant. And secondary distillation makes it possible to make alcohol of high quality and completely safe. Taking care of your health, it must be done every time you make moonshine at home. At the same time, you can experiment with different tastes, aromas and colors of the drink. For particularly high-quality purification, you can distill it again and get triple-distilled moonshine, in which case the finished product will be even better.

Almost every moonshine lover sooner or later wonders; how to improve the taste of this strong drink and make a real “masterpiece” that will be worthy of all praise and admiration. The best and most effective way to improve the quality and purity of brewed moonshine is to re-distill it using a moonshine still.

The second distillation helps significant purification of moonshine from harmful particles, making it stronger and also more palatable. Therefore, many experienced moonshiners are not lazy to spend time on repeated high-quality distillation in order to achieve a high-quality product that you cannot even buy in a store.

If you have a bottle with old and unknown alcohol content lying around, do not rush to get rid of it, because by distilling this liquid again you can probably get a good strong drink. Below we will discuss all the nuances, as well as the technology for obtaining a high-quality homemade product called moonshine. By following these instructions, you can surprise your loved ones and friends with this “miracle” of your own production.

Many people in Rus' used to binge. People made mash and consumed it with great pleasure. They were not yet familiar with the distillation method, and made mash from what grew in the garden and was at hand. Now doctors unanimously speak about the harmfulness of mash due to the content of aldehydes, fusel oils and acetone in it. And this is not a complete list of harmful substances that accumulate in the body and can be fatal.

This is why the abuse of low-quality strong drinks is fraught with consequences. Although it is not particularly difficult to rid the mash of harmful impurities. This will require a second distillation of the moonshine, and as a result you will get a clean and harmless product.

How to distill moonshine for the second time. The main three stages of the process.

Each moonshine distiller has his own individual secrets and tricks for producing this drink. But, the main thing is to do the re-distillation efficiently, and for this it is necessary to follow all the main stages of this process, which are as follows:

1. Drive again Dilution.

Regardless of what recipe the alcoholic drink will be prepared from, the starting raw material must have a strength of 35–40 degrees before distillation. Otherwise, you can damage the equipment you are using and create real fireworks in the kitchen. Therefore, before placing the raw material into the device, it must be diluted. This is necessary in order to:

• Alcohol vapors could not break the moonshine still.
• Quickly separate ethyl alcohol from harmful and heavy impurities. With a high strength of the feedstock, the molecular bonds will also be stronger.

Moonshine must be diluted with cool filtered water. In order for it to become such, it is first placed in the refrigerator. Water must be added gradually and during this process it is recommended to measure the strength with an alcohol meter each time. The ideal option would be to bring the alcohol consistency to 35 degrees, and it is water that is added to the moonshine, and not the other way around.

2. Cleaning.

In the process of fractional distillation, it is necessary to first thoroughly clean the moonshine, which can be done in several ways. For this you will need:

• Potassium permanganate.
• Filter paper or cardboard.
• Wood and activated carbon.

If special paper is used, cleaning is quite simple. A sheet is placed in a funnel and moonshine is poured through it. For maximum filtration quality, overflow must be done very slowly.

When cleaning with manganese patience and accuracy are required. What is important is the sequence of actions and compliance with the necessary proportions, and this is done as follows:

For one liter of raw material, use a solution of hot water (50 ml) and potassium permanganate (2 g). It is poured directly into moonshine, and the raw materials are then left to settle for at least ten hours.

After the above time has passed, sediment remains at the bottom, which is removed by straining the moonshine through flannel or cotton wool, which is placed in a funnel and the alcohol is purified through it. And after filtration, you can re-distill the moonshine.

3. Double distillation of moonshine Direct transfer

First you should prepare the moonshine still. To do this, you need to rinse it thoroughly and then assemble it correctly and carefully. The second stage is carried out in the same way as the first. As a result of this process, more of the finished drink will be obtained, since the preliminary purification stage has already been completed. And it will take much less time to do this. Although, despite the purified feedstock, there will still be “tails” and “heads” during secondary distillation. Therefore, you need to monitor what exactly comes out of the device. If necessary, the so-called body should be separated. But when carrying out this procedure, the following important points must be taken into account:

For the total volume of product it turns out about 10 percent of the "head" This can be used for technical purposes: cleaning various surfaces or disinfecting objects, but it is very harmful and should not be drunk.

The main thing is to monitor the speed during distillation. To do this, use a regular alcohol meter. If the strength drops to 45 percent, you need to collect the “tails” in a specially prepared container.

The moment of collecting the main part of the valuable moonshine is determined using the sense of smell. After collecting 10 percent of the product, you just need to smell it. Usable double moonshine is determined by the absence of a sharp, strong odor. Typically the bulk accounts for 80 percent of the total product. Although, if you have a high-quality and powerful unit, you can get up to 95 percent of the “body”, and the “head” is useful for household needs. “Tails” can be used to increase the strength of new raw materials by adding them to the mash to make a new batch of pure homemade moonshine.

Additional purification of the final product

Once the double distillation process is complete, you can do the following:

Additional purification of moonshine carried out in various ways. The most common of them is cleansing with natural milk. One and a half liters of this alcoholic drink can be cleared with a glass of milk (approximately 250 ml). To do this, “cow nectar” needs to be poured into moonshine and left to settle for a week. Many moonshine experts recommend using not store-bought milk swill, but milk from village cows. Because only a natural product copes with the task. And the end result is the purest moonshine, which is not inferior to the best whiskey.

Although the cleaning does not end at this stage. The next stage of this process is another cleaning using charcoal or activated carbon. In this case, it is not recommended to use potassium permanganate so as not to harm your health. After all the purifications, the drink can be refined using various recipes for preparing medicinal or cognac tinctures, which will be discussed a little later.

Cognac from double distillation moonshine

Cognac recipe Quite easy to do at home. It is quite enough to put a few lemon peels in a three-liter container with an alcoholic drink. You can also add a tablespoon of black tea, but without aromatic additives, as well as a tablespoon of bay leaf, peppercorns and three cloves.

In addition to seasonings, a pinch of vanilla and two tablespoons of sugar are added to the cognac consistency. The finished mixture is covered with a lid and placed in a dark place. In just a week and a half, you get a noble drink called cognac. It can be served not only among family and friends, but also at brutal parties, because a high-quality drink prepared according to this recipe at home will outshine any European alcohol brand.

Recipes for refining moonshine

Cooking is an assistant not only in preparing original dishes. It also contributes to the creation of a variety of drinks, which in this case is homemade moonshine. It can be given different aromas and flavors. Almost every moonshiner uses his own signature recipe for preparing this strong drink. Some even share their secrets, which are as follows (per liter):

• One gram of rosemary.
• One hundred grams of orange zest.
• Three grams of nutmeg.
• Two grams of vanilla for a bitter taste.
• Ten grams of ginger for heat.

With these additives, the drink must steep for at least two weeks, after which it can be consumed. To give moonshine a sweet taste, the following ingredients are added to it:

• Syrup made from water and sugar in proportions of one to one (kg/l).
• Jam for every taste.

After adding sweet ingredients to moonshine, the drink must be heated over a fire until gases are released, and then filtered. Then the finished moonshine must be poured into the prepared container and left for three days.

If desired, the final product can be given a color palette, but it is best to tint moonshine after secondary distillation. To give a certain color to a drink you need the following:

• It turns red when dried blueberries are added to it.
• It turns yellow if you add mint and lemon balm. You can also use parsley or celery for this.
• If you add saffron to moonshine, it will turn golden. Orange peels or walnut septa are also suitable for this purpose.
• Unshelled pine nuts or some good loose leaf tea will turn this strong drink brownish.
• Cornflower flowers will give the moonshine a corresponding bluish tint.
• Black currant bushes (leaves) or green onion feathers (boiled juice) will make the drink green.

Herbal additives give moonshine not only a certain color, but also a pleasant aroma and softness, which contributes to a romantic mood while drinking this pure and strong drink. Moreover, without any special consequences after drinking, since secondary distillation turns the alcoholic consistency into a practically safe product.

A very important factor for secondary distillation is quality water for the first stage. Therefore, there is no need to reverse the cleaning and dilution steps.

Water is a partial destroyer of the structure of impurities, unlike potassium permanganate and activated carbon, which free moonshine from residues of harmful compounds.

To determine the fractions during distillation, you need to constantly monitor the “turnovers,” which can be determined using a conventional alcohol meter.

No unpleasant odor says that the “body” has gone. At the same time, you shouldn’t be greedy, but you need to drain the primary product, because health is more valuable.

Often, the strength of moonshine is determined by the combustion method. To do this, paper is moistened with it, which should maintain combustion after arson, if the strength of the drink is above forty degrees.

To make cognac from moonshine it is necessary to add wood chips or oak bark to it after secondary distillation, which will allow you to get rid of harmful substances in this drink.

Using these tips, you can correctly distill moonshine again. And it is important to remember that the second distillation of moonshine is an important step in obtaining a quality product.

Now you know how to perform a second distillation of moonshine and how to filter, purify and dilute the product of a home winery. If you wish, you can even conduct chemical tests to ensure the quality of your own preparation. Although the best experts will be your relatives and friends, who will adequately appreciate your alcoholic “culinary” masterpiece.