Cooking homemade moonshine always begins with the mash. The taste of the future product largely depends on the quality of this drink. Therefore, you need to pay due attention to its preparation. One of the important points of this process is the clarification of mash. This is a mandatory step that prevents the burning of yeast. As a result, moonshine is tastier, and there are no unpleasant odors and tastes.
There are many methods for cleaning mash. Someone resorts to cold, others use gelatin. In today's article, we will talk about how to use bentonite to lighten mash.
general information
Bentonite is a fine-porous clay that has long been used in winemaking. This natural substance helps to clarify homemade alcohol, significantly improving its taste. Bentonite is also an adsorbent and absorbs metal ions. They are always present in moonshine. An apparatus for distilling mash can not be imagined without steel parts.
In nature, white clay lies in shallow layers of soil. It contains a large number of trace elements and mineral salts. This material is even used to treat bone pathologies. With its help, they carry out wellness procedures for the skin, eliminate pain in inflammatory processes. Powdered bentonite is one of the varieties of white clay. It is he who, as a rule, is used for the production of long-aging wines. We will talk about how to use bentonite to lighten the mash below.
Where to buy it?
You can buy ready-made and pre-cleaned powder in stores for winemakers. The cost of 100 g varies between 250-300 rubles. If there are no such points of sale in your city, you need to look on the Internet networks.
However, it’s much easier to buy ordinary cat litter. Do not be afraid, because it is based on clay bentonite. It perfectly absorbs not only moisture, but also the smell. It is recommended to choose such packages where there is no inscription about aromatic additives. Otherwise, the taste of moonshine will be unpleasant. Cat litter fillers of interest to us are produced only in Russia. Import suppliers use charcoal, silica gel and other additives in the manufacture of this product.
If the above options are not suitable for any reason, you should go the third way. You can buy bentonite to lighten mash in a pharmacy. In its pure form, it does not go on sale. You need to stop your choice on cosmetic clay. It also contains the necessary powder. However, you should study the composition of the product in advance and make sure that there are no additional flavorings.
Recommended Proportions
How much bentonite is needed to lighten the mash? If you don’t have a cat at home, you can buy the smallest pack of toilet filler. For 1 liter of mash, only 2-3 g of bentonite is required. This is about half a teaspoon. For 10 liters of drink you will need about 20 g of powder. This corresponds to the volume of a full tablespoon. When clarifying a large amount of mash, starting from 10 liters, the portion of the substance should be increased to 5 g per liter.
Bentonite preparation
The preparation of bentonite consists of several stages.
- First, the material must be broken into small pieces, and then crushed into crumbs. The resulting raw materials are sent to the oven for 45 minutes. In this case, it is necessary to strictly observe the temperature regime. Otherwise, the result will not live up to expectations. To dry bentonite, it is necessary to set the temperature to 120 degrees.
- After this, pieces of clay should be crushed again to a powder state. To do this, you can use a conventional kitchen blender or drill with a special nozzle.
- Bentonite to lighten the mash is almost ready. Now you need to prepare a solution from it. To do this, a liter of water is heated in a pan and the powder is poured there. Mix the mixture periodically so that no lumps form in it. The whole process usually takes no more than five minutes.
- At the final stage, the solution should be infused. After that, it is thoroughly mixed again. The consistency of the resulting product should resemble fatty kefir.
In fact, the whole process takes a little time.
If the powder sticks together ...
So that at the preparatory stage lumps do not form in the solution, experienced winemakers advise it to cook like semolina porridge. In heated water, the powder must be introduced gradually, preferably in a thin stream. In this case, the solution is recommended to constantly stir with a stick. You can also artificially create a semblance of vortex in a container. To do this, the pan should be untwisted.
If after these tips lumps still form, you should not despair. However, such bentonite is not suitable for lightening mash. It must again be passed through a blender or use a drill with a special nozzle.
Mash preparation
Before cleaning, make sure that the drink is completely fermented. Depending on the quality of the components and environmental conditions, this process can take up to two weeks. The readiness of the mash for further processing is determined by its appearance, the characteristic smell of alcohol, and sour taste. In addition, there should be no carbon dioxide bubbles on the surface of the liquid.
Experienced winemakers recommend using a sugar meter to be 100% confident in the readiness of the product for clarification. To this end, approximately 1.5 L of the beverage is taken and then filtered through cheesecloth. Braga is poured into a transparent container with a wide neck. For this, the usual three-liter jar, which is in every house, is suitable. Then a sugar meter is released into the solution and its readings are recorded. It is necessary to wait until the device is installed in one position.
If the sugar content does not exceed 2%, you can start clarifying the mash with bentonite. The instructions presented below describe this process in detail. Before applying the powder solution, the fermented wort is recommended to be drained through a thin hose, slightly warmed up.
Beverage Purification Technology
For clarification of mash, bentonite must be shaken thoroughly in order to raise settled clay particles. The same procedure should be repeated with a vessel for a homemade drink, so that a funnel is formed on its surface. This can be done with a long spoon or spatula. After that, a solution of bentonite is quickly poured into the center of the funnel. High-speed manipulations help to instantly distribute clay powder over the entire volume of the drink. Sometimes the mash is prepared in a container with a narrow neck. In this case, it is recommended to simply pour in a bentonite solution. Then close the neck with a cork and shake the drink.
The rate of precipitation can vary from 15 minutes to several days. It all depends on external factors and the quality of the raw material itself. The fastest precipitate is formed in a completely fermented braga. At the next stage, it is necessary to carefully collect the clarified drink and pour it into another container. During this procedure, it is important not to disturb the precipitate formed. For the collection and overflow of alcohol, it is recommended to use a regular hose or a siphon specially designed for this purpose.
This procedure can be considered complete. Its success will depend on whether it was possible to correctly calculate how much bentonite is needed to lighten the mash. The final product should be almost colorless.
It is worth noting that the remaining sediment from yeast and bentonite cannot be poured into the sewer. Clay can tightly clog the pipes, and it is very difficult to clean the resulting blockage. What to do in this case? Leftover products can be transferred to a tight bag or plastic container, and then thrown into the bin.
Bentonite for lightening mash: advantages and disadvantages
Bentonite is a clay material with a spongy structure. It is absolutely harmless to the body, non-toxic and neutral with respect to alcohol compounds. These properties make it an ideal tool for cleaning mash.
Among other advantages of this substance, winemakers note the absence of extraneous odors in the finished product. In addition, when using bentonite, the time required to prepare the wort for distillation is significantly reduced.
There are practically no drawbacks to this method of lightening mash. Its only minus is a decrease in the volume of the drink due to the precipitation of a dense precipitate by about 10%.
Useful Tips
To make the resulting product pleased with your taste, pay attention to the following tips:
- Bentonite should be perfectly clean and odorless. Flavored additives often spoil the taste of a home-made drink.
- It is necessary according to the instructions to clarify the mash with bentonite. The proportions recommended in our article will help to achieve the desired effect of the drink.
- You can not overexpose the product, otherwise it will acquire a sour tint.
- Before starting the clarification procedure, you need to make sure that the drink has passed the stage of fermentation to the end. If the distillation process is started earlier, there will be less liquid at the outlet, and sugar will partially disappear.
If you follow these recommendations, moonshine should meet all the expectations of home winemakers.