ART
BEAUTY & WELLNESS
CRAFT
CULTURE & HISTORY
ENTERTAINMENT
ENVIRONMENT
FOOD & DRINKS
REVERSE ENGINEERING
SCIENCES
SPORTS
TECHNOLOGY
WEARABLES
Ethanol 95 %: Wine Distilled, Rectified and Dried over Potash
Strong alcohol is wine distilled again and again. Andrew Ure (1839): simple redistillation over a water bath takes it to a specific gravity of 0.825, still about 11 % water; to go further, distil it over dry carbonate of potash, which holds back water. Stop at 95 % by volume, a hydrometer reading of about 0.81 at 20 °C.
The picture: a copper still over a brick fireplace in the distillery of the Westphalian Open-Air Museum, Hagen.
Advanced
Two days
Instructions
1
1
Distil the wine
Distil the wine
Fill the alembic two thirds with wine and distil slowly through the cooled coil. Throw away the first small runnings (our choice). Collect until what comes over no longer tastes of spirit: these are the low wines.
Materials for this step:
Wine10 liters
Water1 as requiredTools needed:
Copper Alembic Still
Condenser Coil
Glass Beaker
Fire Extinguisher2
2
Redistil over a water bath
Redistil over a water bath
Put the low wines in the retort, set it in a pot of water and heat the water, not the retort. Collect the spirit while the vapour stays under about 80 °C. Repeat until the hydrometer reads about 0.825, Ure's limit for plain redistillation.
Tools needed:
Glass Retort
Large Pot (lower, for water bath)
Hot Plate
Thermometer - LabCondenser Coil
HydrometerFire Extinguisher3
3
Dry the potash
Dry the potash
Heat the potassium carbonate in a crucible until it is quite dry and let it cool covered.
Materials for this step:
Potassium Carbonate (Potash)200 gTools needed:
Clay Crucible - Refractory
Charcoal Furnace4
4
Distil over the potash
Distil over the potash
Stir the dry potash into the spirit in the retort; it takes up water and settles as a heavy lower layer. Distil again from the water bath and check each portion with the hydrometer.
Tools needed:
Glass RetortLarge Pot (lower, for water bath)Hot PlateCondenser CoilHydrometer
Chemical Splash GogglesFire Extinguisher5
5
Keep it at 95 %
Keep it at 95 %
Keep the portions that read about 0.811 at 20 °C (95 % by volume) and bottle them stoppered; strong alcohol draws water from the air.
Tools needed:
Hydrometer
Glass Bottles with Stoppers6
6
Reading the hydrometer
Reading the hydrometer
Loading Jupyter Notebook...
7
7
Limits
Limits
The redistillation, the 0.825 limit and the potash are Ure's; the quantities, the 80 °C guide and throwing away the first runnings are ours. Densities from Wikipedia. The vapour burns: no open flame near the receiver.
Materials
3- 10 litersPlaceholder
- 1 as requiredPlaceholder
- Placeholder
Tools Required
13- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
- Placeholder
This blueprint makes
Related Blueprints
These blueprints share knowledge with this one — techniques, materials, or principles that connect them in the learning graph.
CC0 Public Domain
This blueprint is released under CC0. You are free to copy, modify, distribute, and use this work for any purpose, without asking permission.
Support the Maker by purchasing products through their Blueprint where they earn a Maker Commission set by Vendors, or create a new iteration of this Blueprint and include it as a connection in your own Blueprint to share revenue.