Vodkas

Today vodka is one of the world’s most popular liquors. The past few years, our country has seen a huge hike in the sales of top shelf vodkas such as Ketel One, Grey Goose, Belvedere, Chopin and many many more. Vodka is the main ingredient in such drinks such as: Bloody Mary’s, screw drivers, martini’s, mind eraser, melon ball, sex on the beach and tons of others!

Vodka is made from food items high in starches such as sugar, molasses, rye, potatoes, wheat and other types of wheat’s. Vodka that is smooth  is made from grains, like rye or wheat. Not such smooth vodkas are made with potato, molasses or sugar beets. Like any recipe, the finished product will only be as good as the ingredients and techniques put in to in. Using quality ingredients with the right techniques will ensure that the final product will be of quality. Little do vodka drinkers know, is that they can make this popular spirit right in their home. All that it takes is some know how in distilling. With the right tools you can distill vodka right in your home. Please check local laws as you do not want to break any!  I should warn you that the process of making homemade vodka correctly is time consuming and labor intensive.

Vodka that is made improperly could be harmful to the drinker’s health, some extreme cases can even lead to being visually challenged. The making of homemade vodka is not for the beginner. One suggestion would be to try to make as much progress with distilling other types of spirits before moving on to distilling vodka. Vodka distilling is a great master hobby for those already experienced in brewing their own beers, ales and for the home wine maker trying to improve their skills. Always remember to consult someone who has experience in setting up the Still and who has experience in distilling vodka. Nothing is a better coach than that of experience. One very important thing to remember is that home brewing and home distilling is illegal in many states and counties. So please consult local authorities from your state or community to find out the legalities and if you can legally make your own spirits.

To make homemade vodka you will need to purchase a still or some plans of making your own still. You can purchase a still online or you can purchase the plans to make your own still online. Many of the parts for a “made at home” still can be purchased at a local hardware store, as well as a cooking store and home brew store too. Either way, you can get your operation up and running pretty quickly.

Your still will be made up mainly of 4 key parts as follows: a source for heating, a source for boiling, pipes to cool water and the collection chamber or bottle. Your still will look as if it just came out of your favorite movie scene.

You are now ready to dig in deep and learn the proper ways to making your favorite spirit. Vodka will take five steps to create:

1.     Sanitize all of your still equipment with bleach and water mixture. Foreign particles will contaminate the flavor and your will be very upset with the results. Just as in any food or beverage preparation, start with clean, sterile equipment!

2.     Create a mash. This starts with your source ingredients… sugar, grain, potatoes etc. This is where you need to consult a book on how to make your desired mash to fit your taste. Different types of mash will produce different types of vodkas. Some mashing processes will have you make your mash out of potatoes, then add purified water and heat for an hour or two, after that you would add some yeast and then let the whole mash sit for a week or two. Please consult proper mashing technique in a manual that explains the whole mashing process. Always remember that your water will be your key ingredient to taste to use the best filtered purified water available.

3.     Step three is the distillation process. In this step you will use the mash solution that you made, add it to the “boiling chamber” and then ignite your heating source. The whole idea in this step is that your alcohol in the mash starts to evaporate, moving through the water tubes used for cooling down the evaporated alcohol, which then collects the alcohol as it becomes liquid and releases it into your collection chamber. You now have vodka! But do not get so impatient, you will want to sanitize your whole operation again and repeat this whole process. Not once but at least two more times. Remember that vodka is known for its clean appearance and smooth properties. To achieve this you may want to repeat the process above, four, five or six times.  As mentioned earlier that vodka made incorrectly can make you very ill or affect your vision. As a precaution you will want to get rid of the first fifty milliliters and the last fifty milliliters that you collect, each and every time you repeat the process. This is known as the bad alcohol “methanol”. Remember never to drink any of the first or last fifty milliliters of your creation.

4.     Step four is known as the filtration process. This is the process that takes away the rough properties and creates what we like to call the smoothness of vodka. A very popular way of filtering vodka is to use activated carbon filtration. Very simply put, you pour your vodka (that has been through your distilling processes) through activated carbon and cotton filter to simply filter the vodka. You may want to repeat this process as many times as you seem the need for.

5.     This is the final step, step five, the dilution phase of your journey to making homemade vodka. By using distilled pure filtered water, you will dilute the vodka to a ration of seventy five percent vodka to twenty five percent water. You will have to experiment with your own taste in vodka. If you prefer weaker vodka just dilute with more water and if you want it stronger just dilute with less water. Either way, it is your own and only you will know how to make it as you like it. You can always add your favorite flavoring as well. Some well know flavors are blackberry, raspberry, vanilla, licorice, hot pepper etc. The flavors are endless!

Just remember and take into consideration that this is for informative purposes only. This is to have fun at your home hobby and to please drink responsibly. Please consult a full manual before taking on the task of being your own home brewer. Have fun and consult as many references as possible in your venture.