blase deviant
Bluelighter
- Joined
- May 9, 2004
- Messages
- 2,897
Does it affect the alcohol content in any way?
-
OD Moderators: Keif’ Richards | Tryptamino
purifying cheap vodka to quality vodka?
- Thread starter jazer80
- Start date
stepchild
Bluelighter
- Joined
- Dec 2, 2004
- Messages
- 222
blase deviant said:
if you think about your question for thirty seconds i think you will come up with the answer
if you havent worked it out yet look below!
long answer: the only way to increase alcohol content would be to produce more alcohol, i cant see anyway that a filter could do that unless it contained a super-fermenting membrane (patent pending)
i will give you a chance and assume you are talking about concentration? for that to occur then you would have to reduce the volume of the solvent (ie the water) without reducing the amount of solute (ie the alcohol although it is not technically a solute). so. unless you have a filter that can selectively filter water and not alcohol then increasing the concentration of the vodka will be very difficult
short answer: no
Methanol is not in vodka to any singificant extent. The problem comes when people turn to industrial sources of 'alcohol' that are often deliberately tainted with methanol and not a process of yeast conversion. I still think though it is good to lose the first few mls while establishing the equlibrium esp. if and where the product is intended for human consumption.
With quality whisky/rum you deliberately allow the boiler to get out of control and allow an unpure separation as this imparts flavor on the final product. However if you seek a clean vodka then you want the separation to contain 100% EtOH before dilution. You will find that establishment of a steady temperature at 79C yields less product than if you rush the process or dont use a thermometer. My nextdoor neighbours grandcousin says he always double distills his product.
With quality whisky/rum you deliberately allow the boiler to get out of control and allow an unpure separation as this imparts flavor on the final product. However if you seek a clean vodka then you want the separation to contain 100% EtOH before dilution. You will find that establishment of a steady temperature at 79C yields less product than if you rush the process or dont use a thermometer. My nextdoor neighbours grandcousin says he always double distills his product.
o0WhatThePhuck0o
Bluelighter
stepchild said:
I think the concern with the alcohol content is "does it reduce the alcohol content in any way?" When I first heard of running alcohol through a filter to reduce impurities, therefore making it taste better and "hangover free" the first thing that came to mind was does it remove any alcohol, there for affecting the concentration in a negitive way? I dont think anyone was expecting to get more alcohol by running it through a water filter. Thats just the way I understood the question.
CreativeRandom
Ex-Bluelighter
I've heard this as a way to get higher alcohol content.
Put your alcoholic beverage in a container. Put one ice cube in it. Store in freezer. Pour out the alcohol (since it won't freeze) and discard the icecube and everything that froze around it.
Put your alcoholic beverage in a container. Put one ice cube in it. Store in freezer. Pour out the alcohol (since it won't freeze) and discard the icecube and everything that froze around it.
It's a bit of fun I suppose. There really is no need to redisill vodka since there are like purity laws so even cheap vodka must be relatively pure but it might taste a bit cheerful. Smirnoff does do elaborate filtrations i believe so there is reason to suspect that a brita water filter may be getting employed to mimic this. If anybody has tried it, i'd like to know if it imparts any 'taste' on the final product and if it is agreeable/worthwhile. Freshly disilled alcohol doesnt taste of anything but fire. There is no delicate flavor profile, although a rushed process will definately leave some reminder of the source.
Last edited:
I have always pondered this process whenever I get stuck with one of those cheap grocery store plastic Vodka bottles. there's a lot of information here and if only someone could post a detailed process on how to do this, I would for sure give it a try next time. thanks everyone 
well I looked up a procedure, it is as follows:
Purpose:
In the alchemical tradition, creation of the Philosopher’s stone is the ultimate end to man’s needs. The stone has the power to cure disease, prolong life, and possesses the added benefit of being able to transmute metals, as in lead into gold.
As scienticians, we believe that such an object exists, and that it can be used for our own dastardly purposes.
Our theory is that a simple brita water filter can be used to make bad vodka, into good. In our case this meant turning a Vladimir™, into a Ketel One™. At $11.09 for 1.75 liter (Ketel is 11.99 for the 350 ml), Vladimir is a steal. It is, however, painful to drink, has a repugnant aftertaste, posesses a bouquet reminiscent of rubbing alcohol. Our working theory was that these terrible qualities were caused by a lack of proper filtration, and that running our Vlad through a charcoal filter would remove some of the impurities causing these odors and flavors.
Materials:
Bottle of cheap and/or nasty vodka. The cheapest price per volume was selected from the liquor store. In our case, this turned out to be “Vladimir Vodka™".
Bottle of control (control, ahh fancy scientician word) vodka. A bottle of Ketel One™ was grabbed at the last second while on the checkout line.
Science Crackers! These were essential in cleansing our palates between tastings. NOT to be overlooked! For this, we used your easily obtainable standard (err, premium) science crackers.
One standard Brita filter. I believe this cost roughly $15 at the supermarket. It probably should be used after the experiment to filter water.
Shot glasses. The shot glasses should be of different type, so as to be more easily able to distinguish between the filtered, and the control vodka.
Someone semi-sober to take notes. Thanks Dawn.
One “Science funnel", to pour the filtered vodka back into its bottle.
Coffee Grounds. It is a not so well known fact that coffee grounds will clear your nose of a scent. We used them to clear our noses to compare the smells of the filtered to the control vodka.
Science pole! (we couldn’t find a pole, so we used a broom) ("Are you insane, Frink? Put down that science pole!")
Procedure:
The Method for this experiment was very simple, and enjoyable, except for the waiting parts.
We would simply pour the entire bottle of vodka through the filter, wait for it to drip through, and then funnel it back into the bottle for easy pouring. We then poured off small amounts into the shot glasses for tasting. Additionally, we had shot glasses full of the control vodka for comparison. Each scienticion would taste and smell the filtered vodka. They then ate a “science cracker” and sniffed some coffee, and then taste/smell the Ketel One. The recording scientician wrote down their reactions, and the entire process was repeated. Also recorded was the start and end time of the filtering process. We noted a loss of vodka through spillage (for my science homies).
Results:
Our results were taken by our ‘reporting scientician” who diligently recorded all of our filtration times, and taste comments.
8:43 - we take out first sip.
Fletcher notes that “The world hates him".
Ken comments on both the cheapness, and the nastyness of the Vladimir.
I was apparently only able to say, “oh god", and “vile".
8:45 - The first filtration begins
(note, we had a misfire as the filter was not seated properly, so…
8:46 - The first filtration begins again.
Ken notes that the brita box tells us that the brita will reduce various elements which can cause
“long term liver or kidney damage". Hooray, we all think.
8:54 - We notice that 1.75 liters takes a really long time to filter.
I noticed that the vodka ‘looked’ better. Yay for Subjective Opinions.
9:00 - I comment on the fact that it’s STILL GOING.
9:03 - First filtration finished. Second tasting.
Ken notes that we’ve spilled some on the carpet (for my homies)
Fletcher notices little bubbles, which we later decide are probably due to pouring the vodka back into the bottle, through the funnel.
Comments:
Fletcher - “I don’t think it’s AS bad.” and “I was full well prepared to cry, and I didn’t, but it still hurts.”
Adam - “Less offensive.”
Ken - “Smoother.”
All - Still has a bad aftertaste.
9:06 2nd filtering begins
At this point, the vodka appears to be filtering faster.
9:19 - 2nd filtering ends
A decrease in the horrid smell is clear.
Comments:
Ken - “My god, that is smooth”
Fletcher - “Not bad at all”
Adam - “Much better than it originally was”
We also noticed that at this point, the Ketel One has a stronger odor.
Ken also decided at this point that he preferred the filtered Vlad to the control vodka.
9:30 - 3rd filtering begins
9:44 - End of 3rd filter cycle.
At this point the Vladimir has pretty much the same odor that it did before.
Comments:
Adam - “Even better, less noxious aftertaste.”
Fletcher - “Less aftertaste” and “Chill it, and you could probably fool most people.”
Ken - “At this time, I prefer this over Ketel One.”
9:50 - 4th filtration begins.
(Our humble scienticians at this point go to the store for snacks. Filtering Vodka is hungry work.)
10:04 - 4th filtration done.
Possibly even less scent.
Comments:
Adam - “Only slightly better, but still improved.”
Fletcher agrees.
Ken - “Tessa (my cat) licked the glass, and didn’t die.”
The scienticians agreed that after 4 filtrations, the Vladimir was smoother than Ketel one.
10:18 - 5th filtration begins
In order to remind myself, and possibly for self flagellation purposes, I tried the baseline Vladimir again. I gagged. Fun.
We decided that perhaps we shouldn’t have been quite so conservative with our tasting portions. I mean, what fun is that?
10:31 5th filtration done
Comments:
Adam - “Very little smell” and “wow it’s good now, absolutely no aftertaste.”
Ken - “Enjoyable.”
Fletcher - “Almost no flavor now.”
10:35 - 6th filtration begins
Fletcher spills his shot of control vodka. Tsk tsk.
10:49 - 6th filtration done
At this point it was clear that there were no vast improvements over the last 2 filtrations.
Comments:
Adam - “Stability achieved”
Ken “We’re there. Either we’ve burnt out the filter, or reached the point of equilibrium”
We decided that we should try this filtration chilled, so I broke out my trusty shaker and some ice.
Shake-a shake, and pour.
Comments on chilled:
Ken - “Wow” and “goes down like water.”
Fletcher - “Quite Comfortable.”
and I gave it a boring “Good.”
Conclusions:
here one of the staff-scientists (whatever they call themselves) posted their own conclusion:
I had previously heard of a company on the internet which makes a filter for liquor, so it was with that in mind that I came up with this experiment. I believed that the filter would hold back some of the more noxious chemicals in the vodka, which lead to the bad taste (and possibly hangovers). The basis for this belief was my own experience with activated charcoal tablets. Taking these while drinking can definately lessen the chance of a wicked hangover. It seems that the charcoal binds with some chemicals which contribute to them, so why not the charcoal in a brita filter. (Note: I did not experience a hangover after this experiment, but our samples were pitiably small) Our initial estimate was based on some internet research, put the number of filtrations at 10 before a great improvement was noted. Seeing one by the 4th filtration was a surprise. Seeing no change after that presents a quandry. Did we reach a point at which the filtration had done all it could, or had we destroyed our brita filter. Further testing with the same filter, and some more Vladimir should answer this.
I found the spirits produced to have no offensive taste, nor odor, and I will be using this method in the future to create a source of cheap neutral spirits for my liquor making experiments. The leftovers from this experiment were used to create a horseradish infused vodka, which was declared “yummy” by most who tasted it. The neutral spirits allowed the full flavor of the horseradish to come through, without being adulterated by rubbing alcohol smell/taste, or the wicked aftertaste we noticed when first trying our Vladimir sample.
I hope to experiment with other types of liquor in the future, especially after determining the lifetime of a brita filter used in this manner. A decision was made that using pvc pipe,and lining up 3 brita filters cartridges inside through which the vodka would flow serially, you could reach the optimum filtration in the shortest amount of time. The most amazing thing about this is that our crackpot idea actually worked, and could be a money saving way to enjoy some premium tasting vodka.
Purpose:
In the alchemical tradition, creation of the Philosopher’s stone is the ultimate end to man’s needs. The stone has the power to cure disease, prolong life, and possesses the added benefit of being able to transmute metals, as in lead into gold.
As scienticians, we believe that such an object exists, and that it can be used for our own dastardly purposes.
Our theory is that a simple brita water filter can be used to make bad vodka, into good. In our case this meant turning a Vladimir™, into a Ketel One™. At $11.09 for 1.75 liter (Ketel is 11.99 for the 350 ml), Vladimir is a steal. It is, however, painful to drink, has a repugnant aftertaste, posesses a bouquet reminiscent of rubbing alcohol. Our working theory was that these terrible qualities were caused by a lack of proper filtration, and that running our Vlad through a charcoal filter would remove some of the impurities causing these odors and flavors.
Materials:
Bottle of cheap and/or nasty vodka. The cheapest price per volume was selected from the liquor store. In our case, this turned out to be “Vladimir Vodka™".
Bottle of control (control, ahh fancy scientician word) vodka. A bottle of Ketel One™ was grabbed at the last second while on the checkout line.
Science Crackers! These were essential in cleansing our palates between tastings. NOT to be overlooked! For this, we used your easily obtainable standard (err, premium) science crackers.
One standard Brita filter. I believe this cost roughly $15 at the supermarket. It probably should be used after the experiment to filter water.
Shot glasses. The shot glasses should be of different type, so as to be more easily able to distinguish between the filtered, and the control vodka.
Someone semi-sober to take notes. Thanks Dawn.
One “Science funnel", to pour the filtered vodka back into its bottle.
Coffee Grounds. It is a not so well known fact that coffee grounds will clear your nose of a scent. We used them to clear our noses to compare the smells of the filtered to the control vodka.
Science pole! (we couldn’t find a pole, so we used a broom) ("Are you insane, Frink? Put down that science pole!")
Procedure:
The Method for this experiment was very simple, and enjoyable, except for the waiting parts.
We would simply pour the entire bottle of vodka through the filter, wait for it to drip through, and then funnel it back into the bottle for easy pouring. We then poured off small amounts into the shot glasses for tasting. Additionally, we had shot glasses full of the control vodka for comparison. Each scienticion would taste and smell the filtered vodka. They then ate a “science cracker” and sniffed some coffee, and then taste/smell the Ketel One. The recording scientician wrote down their reactions, and the entire process was repeated. Also recorded was the start and end time of the filtering process. We noted a loss of vodka through spillage (for my science homies).
Results:
Our results were taken by our ‘reporting scientician” who diligently recorded all of our filtration times, and taste comments.
8:43 - we take out first sip.
Fletcher notes that “The world hates him".
Ken comments on both the cheapness, and the nastyness of the Vladimir.
I was apparently only able to say, “oh god", and “vile".
8:45 - The first filtration begins
(note, we had a misfire as the filter was not seated properly, so…
8:46 - The first filtration begins again.
Ken notes that the brita box tells us that the brita will reduce various elements which can cause
“long term liver or kidney damage". Hooray, we all think.
8:54 - We notice that 1.75 liters takes a really long time to filter.
I noticed that the vodka ‘looked’ better. Yay for Subjective Opinions.
9:00 - I comment on the fact that it’s STILL GOING.
9:03 - First filtration finished. Second tasting.
Ken notes that we’ve spilled some on the carpet (for my homies)
Fletcher notices little bubbles, which we later decide are probably due to pouring the vodka back into the bottle, through the funnel.
Comments:
Fletcher - “I don’t think it’s AS bad.” and “I was full well prepared to cry, and I didn’t, but it still hurts.”
Adam - “Less offensive.”
Ken - “Smoother.”
All - Still has a bad aftertaste.
9:06 2nd filtering begins
At this point, the vodka appears to be filtering faster.
9:19 - 2nd filtering ends
A decrease in the horrid smell is clear.
Comments:
Ken - “My god, that is smooth”
Fletcher - “Not bad at all”
Adam - “Much better than it originally was”
We also noticed that at this point, the Ketel One has a stronger odor.
Ken also decided at this point that he preferred the filtered Vlad to the control vodka.
9:30 - 3rd filtering begins
9:44 - End of 3rd filter cycle.
At this point the Vladimir has pretty much the same odor that it did before.
Comments:
Adam - “Even better, less noxious aftertaste.”
Fletcher - “Less aftertaste” and “Chill it, and you could probably fool most people.”
Ken - “At this time, I prefer this over Ketel One.”
9:50 - 4th filtration begins.
(Our humble scienticians at this point go to the store for snacks. Filtering Vodka is hungry work.)
10:04 - 4th filtration done.
Possibly even less scent.
Comments:
Adam - “Only slightly better, but still improved.”
Fletcher agrees.
Ken - “Tessa (my cat) licked the glass, and didn’t die.”
The scienticians agreed that after 4 filtrations, the Vladimir was smoother than Ketel one.
10:18 - 5th filtration begins
In order to remind myself, and possibly for self flagellation purposes, I tried the baseline Vladimir again. I gagged. Fun.
We decided that perhaps we shouldn’t have been quite so conservative with our tasting portions. I mean, what fun is that?
10:31 5th filtration done
Comments:
Adam - “Very little smell” and “wow it’s good now, absolutely no aftertaste.”
Ken - “Enjoyable.”
Fletcher - “Almost no flavor now.”
10:35 - 6th filtration begins
Fletcher spills his shot of control vodka. Tsk tsk.
10:49 - 6th filtration done
At this point it was clear that there were no vast improvements over the last 2 filtrations.
Comments:
Adam - “Stability achieved”
Ken “We’re there. Either we’ve burnt out the filter, or reached the point of equilibrium”
We decided that we should try this filtration chilled, so I broke out my trusty shaker and some ice.
Shake-a shake, and pour.
Comments on chilled:
Ken - “Wow” and “goes down like water.”
Fletcher - “Quite Comfortable.”
and I gave it a boring “Good.”
Conclusions:
here one of the staff-scientists (whatever they call themselves) posted their own conclusion:
I had previously heard of a company on the internet which makes a filter for liquor, so it was with that in mind that I came up with this experiment. I believed that the filter would hold back some of the more noxious chemicals in the vodka, which lead to the bad taste (and possibly hangovers). The basis for this belief was my own experience with activated charcoal tablets. Taking these while drinking can definately lessen the chance of a wicked hangover. It seems that the charcoal binds with some chemicals which contribute to them, so why not the charcoal in a brita filter. (Note: I did not experience a hangover after this experiment, but our samples were pitiably small) Our initial estimate was based on some internet research, put the number of filtrations at 10 before a great improvement was noted. Seeing one by the 4th filtration was a surprise. Seeing no change after that presents a quandry. Did we reach a point at which the filtration had done all it could, or had we destroyed our brita filter. Further testing with the same filter, and some more Vladimir should answer this.
I found the spirits produced to have no offensive taste, nor odor, and I will be using this method in the future to create a source of cheap neutral spirits for my liquor making experiments. The leftovers from this experiment were used to create a horseradish infused vodka, which was declared “yummy” by most who tasted it. The neutral spirits allowed the full flavor of the horseradish to come through, without being adulterated by rubbing alcohol smell/taste, or the wicked aftertaste we noticed when first trying our Vladimir sample.
I hope to experiment with other types of liquor in the future, especially after determining the lifetime of a brita filter used in this manner. A decision was made that using pvc pipe,and lining up 3 brita filters cartridges inside through which the vodka would flow serially, you could reach the optimum filtration in the shortest amount of time. The most amazing thing about this is that our crackpot idea actually worked, and could be a money saving way to enjoy some premium tasting vodka.
jazer80 said:
no.
it might help the flavor a little......possibly.
but i doubt it's doing anything to "purify" it.
see.....the thing with alcohol is there are actually many different sub-catagories of alcohol, and you really only want one or 2 of these sub-catagories. if my memory serves me correctly there are at least 15 types of alcohols.
the cheaper vodka's are only distilled one time. when you only distill alcohol once you get several sub-catagory alcohols that you really don't want.
the more times you distill it the more of these unwanted alcohols you remove.
expensive vodka's are distilled 3, 4 or 5 times and contain almost none of the sub-catagory alcohols.
if you want to "purify" cheap vodka you are going to have to distill it several more times to remove the unwanted alcohols.
also, these sub-catagory alcohols have different temperatures at which they vaporize.
if the heat levels get a little too high you start vaporising these unwanted alcohols. that's one of the reasons "moonshine" can be dangerous. you never know if the person who distilled it did a good job and kept the temps at the right level.
the more times you distill alcohol and have the correct temps the more of these unwanted alcohols you remove and the "purer" the finished product is.
i guess i understand where you're coming from, but how do you know distillation is the only way to purify?
there seems to be multiple, unconflicting reports that it makes it taste better. it's clearly doing this by removing somethign. i know that the following reason isn't 100% sound, but the way that i see this is that if there is somehting coming out that tasted bad, it must be impurities, because who the hell would add stuff to make teh vodka taste worse?
ALSOOOOOO, had a flashback in bed this morning to an old maxim issue where they show you how to flavor vodka (maybe all alcohol, but i think it was just vodka), with fruits and stuff. if anyone knows what i'm talking about and has that one still, please post the details, i'd lvoe to be able to take junk booze, make it purer, then give it hints of flavor, it would be easy as shit and end up w/ good product for no $
there seems to be multiple, unconflicting reports that it makes it taste better. it's clearly doing this by removing somethign. i know that the following reason isn't 100% sound, but the way that i see this is that if there is somehting coming out that tasted bad, it must be impurities, because who the hell would add stuff to make teh vodka taste worse?
ALSOOOOOO, had a flashback in bed this morning to an old maxim issue where they show you how to flavor vodka (maybe all alcohol, but i think it was just vodka), with fruits and stuff. if anyone knows what i'm talking about and has that one still, please post the details, i'd lvoe to be able to take junk booze, make it purer, then give it hints of flavor, it would be easy as shit and end up w/ good product for no $
whaddaya know, i found a small version of that article (or maybe it is the full version?) on maxim online. here ya go.
http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_6270.html
http://www.maximonline.com/grit/articles/article_6270.html
DarthMom
Bluelighter
yeah i was just reading that article on the potty the other day (yeah, i know, tmi) and was thinking of this when we first started to talk about filtering it. suggested to the hubby we make our own flavored purified vodka for friends as a christmas gift. not a bad idea! and cheap.
EudoXia
Bluelighter
yup i have heard of people filtering their own shitty vodka with water filters.. never tried it tho (I'm too lazy). I just buy the good shit
vtex256
Bluelighter
im sdrunk right now but has annyone actualy tried this shit yet with the brita filter? cuz my friends gave me 2 half gallons of cheap vodka for halloween and itd be fuckin pimp if that shit worked cuz shitty vodka fucks my stomach up bad
if any of u tried it report it
if any of u tried it report it