Any of you big brains got a idea of how to clean up the undesirables for apple jack liqour ? Or even how to repolish traditional distilled liqours . Methanol proponal and the rest of the crap …
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Fractional condensation would probably be the best way.
You could leave the methanol in there if it’s not the majority component. As long as ethanol is consumed along with the methanol it won’t won’t be deadly toxic.
Most wines actually contain quite a bit of methanol. That’s probably the reason why it gives me headaches when I drink it.
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Distill it, throw away everything that carries over before 176f, and the beginning of what comes over when you hit temp
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Yea that’s what got my started on try to make a cider/ wine type drink with the least amount of methanol possible and compare hangover and next day feelings. I know in traditional distillation most of the methanol is distilled of and condensed first but I noticed a new device being sold that’s supposed to reduce the methanol propanol in a bottle of liqour by 50 percent . Witch made me realize there’s still a decent amount of undesirables even with distilled liqour . Would be curious to see if a alcoholic beverage could get down to zero undesirables and what the difference in the hangover feeling would be … sorry I know I’m somewhat incoherently ranting
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Make a carbonated drink with the same abv% but use everclear for the alcohol and compare like that.
Would be hard to get an apples to apples comparison I think from just one test. It’s always hit or miss for me whether I actually get a hangover. Completely independent of whether or not I’d eaten food at all the day prior.
I’ve always noticed drinking whiskey makes me act a different way than drinking tequila, I wonder if this kind of thing could be attributed to methanol content. Tequila smells like methanol.
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But it seems from my brief research that even ever clear will have methanol proponal and other crap, although much less than a beer or wine per alc percentage seeing how methanol has been distill off ( not propanol tho) .
And yea I agree 100 percent. I always assumed the difference in liqour buzzes and hangovers were placebo because I couldn’t figure out any science behind them but these impurities seem like they may play a roll … it’s kinda like the gorilla glue vs any sweet kush… I don’t know how 22 percent thc 1 percent cbd gorilla glue gets me such a drastically different high then 22 percent thc 1 percent cbd kush but it definitely does . Try Katla vodka or even reyka ( it’s filtered threw either volcanic ash or charcoal I believe, this might play a role ) then try the cheapest hobo vodka … clear as Day difference in the drunk and the hangover … I assume hobo vodka is likely to have more impurities than a premium Icelandic vodka … seems like a likely culprit
You also got some high boiling congeners like some aldehydes, so just pulling off low boilers wouldn’t be as complete of purification when compared against a full distillation run. If you’re running a high proof column, you’re essentially making vodka. Which should (in theory) be less of a hangover.
I can certainly attest to some apple and fruit based spirit containing higher heads by volume than when compared against some grains based products. And the worst hangover of my life happened on some real skunky barnyard ciders.
I don’t know if it truly alters the experience; but I’m quite certain it alters the hangover.
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I always did 2 stripping runs and a spirits run. Always discard foreshots. Always taste when running for when it gets less stingy (going into hearts) and when it starts to take on wet cardboard notes (going into tails).
I saw a guy on Youtube distilling into separate 75 ml glasses. When the run was done, he started in the middle and worked out each way. He could pinpoint when the hearts were getting funky. It’s a rudimentary way to see when you should be taking cuts.
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PDX said it.
The methanol comes over at like 153.
The ethanol comes over at 173
And if you do a distillation, the methanol will come over about around maybe 155…sits there for a bit…then you can watch the thermometer raise in temp for a minute, it’s rather fast, then it starts spitting out the ethanol…give it another minute and switch jars, I mean receiving flasks.
Ever clear wouldn’t have meoh in there because it is re-distilled a couple times.
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MeOH is formed during fermentation, and mainly only in recipes containing fruit. In grain liquor or vodka usually methanol is not of high concern if distilled well.
I think the hangover is more so due to aldehydes (especially acetaldehyde) which is present in different forms in both the heads and the tails.
This is a cool paper about hangovers.
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Have it tested. MeOH bad.
I have used just dextrose mono hydrate, which comes from corn, and water and yeast, and there is still MeOH coming out of the condenser, until it shoots up in temp
Just sayin
Acetaldehyde is part of the alcohol metabolism cycle. I believe alcohol dehydrogenase convert’s ethanol to acetaldehyde first then further oxidation to acetic acid.
So even if you remove the acetaldehyde it’s still produced from alcohol metabolism. Also i recall the bp is barely room temp like 65F or so, it seems unlikely you’d get much in tails at that temp.
Reckon your not moonshinin’ ifn your not givin’ from just the hearts…
I looked up how I’d detect for this and wanted to share the only reputable one I could find. Open to others!
BDA testing offers the following tests for neutral spirits for acetaldehyde:
"GC02: HIGHER ALCOHOLS AND ESTERS
“The “TTB-series”: Acetaldehyde, Ethyl Acetate, Methanol, n-Propanol, Isobutanol, 1-Butanol, Active and Isoamyl Alcohols (“Fusel oils”), Furfural. Samples over 10 Plato will required distillation. See F2 for applicable fees.
1 standard container
STANDARD-$125 PRIORITY-$187.50"
Think if I tested cheap beers (any associated with hangovers) I’d find higher levels than a fine reputable craft (or badass German) beer? Is there a column we can make to chromotography the shot out of a beer to make less tasty yet less hangover-y (less acetaldehyde)?
put it in a container and hang it from your deck for a couple or three days…
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Iv used pvpp before in extraction sands. It is used widely for wine clarification?
I also use liquid carbon i get from beer store and put in mash. Seems good at pulling out undesireables.
I usually throw out the fist few ounces of what comes off the still first.
Redistilling in stripping runs could help.
I have a fractional still that i normally just do single pass on. Has 6 sections on it so comes out high proof
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The methonal evaps out? Wouldnt there be a loss of the alcohol as well? Just curious
You could boil it out, keeping the temperature under ethanol’s boiling point. Seen this on an episode of moonshiners.
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Could you throw the applejack in a rotovap to take off the methanol at low temp to avoid damaging the flavor profile?
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Fur sure vac down to get the bp to like 30c or so I’d say for best results
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