How to properly dilute alcohol with water – table, formula, proportions and process technology

The content of the article

• What alcohol is used in vodka
• Degree of purification
• What water to dilute alcohol
• Tap
• Rodnikova
• Filtered purchase
• Distilled
• How to dilute alcohol
• The ratio of water and alcohol to obtain vodka
• Alcohol meter readings
• How to get a drink of the desired strength – Fertman table
• The formula for diluting alcohol with water
• Process technology
• Ingredient cooling
• Alcohol in water or water in alcohol
• Cleaning
• Upholding

Obtaining vodka by diluting alcohol is a cold method. It has found wide application even in distilleries, so the final product is of high quality. At the same time, home craftsmen may have a question about how to properly dilute alcohol with water so that the degree is suitable for consumption – the recipe is relatively simple, but it requires competent observance of technology. All the necessary actions can be easily performed in the domestic environment..

What alcohol is used in vodka

For the preparation of most tinctures and other homemade alcoholic beverages, it is necessary to use not a 96% alcohol, but its diluted version. It must be medical or ethyl. The difference between them is that the first is made from the second, and its composition contains small impurities of water and other substances at the molecular level. Both types are suitable for the manufacture of vodka – there is no significant difference between them. Methyl alcohol is not suitable for preparing a drink, as it is toxic – even 50 grams of products can make a disabled person out of a healthy person.

Degree of purification

Before diluting with alcohol, inquire about the degree of purification of this product. Of the types of ethyl product listed below, you can use any, but note that the highest quality product is the least quality, and the most suitable is Lux. According to the degree of purification of ethyl products distinguish:

• medical;
• anhydrous;
• lux (96.3%);
• extra (96.5%);
• higher purification (96.2%);
• first grade (96%).

What water to dilute alcohol

To dilute alcohol and get an alcoholic drink at home, you will need such an important ingredient as water, which must be transparent, clean. In classic Russian recipes, spring water is used for this purpose, but it is very difficult for residents of large cities to get it, so you need to pay attention to its other types. The main indicator of water is the total hardness – the amount of calcium and magnesium in its composition.

According to one source (“Technology of alcoholic and alcoholic beverage production” 1973), to prepare alcoholic beverages, water is required whose hardness is less than 0.36 mEq / l for softened water and 1 mEq / l for natural water. For dilution, it is best to use a liquid with the lowest hardness, otherwise the solution will become cloudy and get an unpleasant taste. It turns out that the softer the water, the better.

Tap

To make vodka, tap water is the worst option. Its rigidity sometimes reaches 7 mEq / L. In addition, it has a pronounced smell and contains chlorine in its composition. If you decide to use this liquid, be sure to let it stand for 3-4 hours to start – bleach should stand for that time. After that, it will be necessary to boil the water, let it cool and pass through a household filter such as a “jug”.

Rodnikova

Many people recommend using this type of water, but here it is not so simple as it might seem initially. The spring fluid, as a rule, tastes good, but it will not be possible to determine its rigidity and composition without a thorough analysis. In addition, indicators of such water vary greatly depending on the time of year, drought or heavy rain. If you decide to use it, then try to make a small amount of the mixture from it and evaluate the result. If the taste suits you, and the product does not cloud, then the water you took from the spring is quite suitable.

Filtered purchase

Purchased bottled (filtered) version is considered by many to be the best. On a bottle of such water you can get acquainted with the chemical composition and hardness, so it remains to choose the right product. Choose water with a hardness parameter of 1 mEq / L or lower – there are many such products in stores. If hardness is not indicated on the bottle, then focus on the content of Ca and Mg. Make sure that the first is less than 10 mg / l and the second is 8 mg / l.

Distilled

This option may seem to many to be the most purified, but not so simple. Moreover, such water is unlikely to cloud, but it all depends on what you plan to use the finished product for. If it is needed for the preparation of a particular tincture, the taste of which is determined by its components, then such water is quite suitable – it is devoid of taste. Vodka based on distilled water will be significantly inferior in taste to an analogue on bottled or spring liquid.

How to dilute alcohol

When planning to dilute alcohol to 40 degrees or to some other indicator, determine the required number of parts of water and alcohol. According to Mendeleev, the ideal proportion is 2 to 3: 2 parts of 96% alcohol are mixed with 3 parts of water. True, it is correct to calculate not the ratio of the volumes of the ingredients, but their weight. Thanks to this, you can calculate the strength of the finished mixture. For example, if you have 70% alcohol or some other alcohol, then you need to use the Fertman table to correctly calculate the proportion.

The ratio of water and alcohol to obtain vodka

Fertaman table will help to obtain the optimal proportion, so that the finished home-made alcohol will be as it should. When mixing ethyl products with water, the volume of the resulting solution decreases, i.e., if you mix 1 liter of each component, then the output will not work 2 liters of the mixture. This effect is called contraction – it significantly complicates the calculations..

According to the table, to obtain a product with a strength of 40 degrees, it is necessary to mix 100 ml of 90% degree alcohol with water of 130.8 ml. In the example, the proportion is 1 to 1.3. You can make changes to the addition of glucose, juice and other additional ingredients, but these components do not significantly affect the strength. It is worth noting that all proportions will be true, provided that the temperature of the mixed components is 20?.

Alcohol meter readings

In addition, for the preparation of homemade alcohol, take into account the performance of the spirometer. If you intend to measure the concentration of alcohol with this device, please note that its readings will vary depending on changes in temperature. A temperature deviation of 5 degrees will result in a deviation in alcohol of approximately 1 degree.

How to get a drink of the desired strength – Fertman table

Using anhydrous alcohol, medical or any other suitable ingredient of this type, it is necessary to calculate the optimal proportions of its dilution with water. In this case, the Fertman table will help you. Thanks to her, you can prepare homemade alcohol of the required strength. From it you will find out how many ml of liquid you need to add to 100 ml of the original product to obtain the desired result. The table of dilution of alcohol with water:

The formula for diluting alcohol with water

So that the drink does not acquire an unpleasant aftertaste during preparation, use the special formula. It is suitable for making drinks with a strength of more than 95%. With its help, you can calculate how much the mixture should get after diluting it – X = S / K * V (ml), where:

• V is the initial volume of the starting product in ml.
• K – the required strength of the solution in percent.
• S – initial fortress in percent;
• X is the total volume of the resulting mixture in ml.

Process technology

A mixture resulting from dilution of alcohol with water is called sorting. However, it is usually not suitable for use. In this regard, before use, such a product must be defended for a week, but not less than a couple of days. This is necessary so that all ongoing chemical reactions come to an end. Key steps:

1. Preparation of the main ingredients. Distilled and boiled liquid is not suitable for vodka, as during distillation and boiling, it loses some of the nutrients and is poorly suitable for dissolution. The latter must be medical or ethyl, and it is necessary to measure its initial strength.
2. Cleaning up. To improve the quality of the prepared domestic alcohol in a mixture for 1 liter of sorting, you need to drop a spoonful of coal (you can buy it in a store for moonshiners) or several tablets of an activated analogue from a pharmacy. Then the mixture should be left at room temperature (about 22 ° C) for a couple of hours. After this, you need to carefully strain the solution through a dense tissue.
3. Preparation of other components. You need glucose to get homemade alcohol. You can cook it yourself – take 1 kg of sugar and dissolve in 1 liter of water. Next, the container with the mixture must be put on low heat and boiled, constantly removing the emerging white foam. You can soften the taste not only with sugar or a spoonful of honey, but also with orange and lemon juices. Sometimes acetic or citric acid is added to the solution.
4. Mixing. Determine the amount of water using the table above. Mix all the ingredients. In this case, do not overdo it with additional components, for example, acetic acid per 1 liter of the original product, add no more than 1 tablespoon.
5. Upholding. The diluted product will be ready for use in about a week. After aging, you can bottle the solution.

Ingredient cooling

If you have already familiarized yourself with the answer to the question of how to properly dilute alcohol with water, then it remains to focus on several important steps. One of them is the cooling of the ingredients. It is recommended that you use water and alcohol only in a well-cooled condition, so the drink will not clouding up for sure: you can put the first in the refrigerator and the second in the freezer.

Alcohol in water or water in alcohol

Remember that you need to dilute the water with alcohol, but not the other way around. Pour the second ingredient in a thin stream. In the system “water-alcohol” according to D.I. Mendeleev there are three compounds (chemical) formed by hydrogen bonds. If alcohol is poured into chilled water, then aqueous hydrates will form. If you use a warm liquid and pour it directly into ethyl products, then the result is monohydrates with taste and smell that will be characteristic of alcohol, but not vodka.

Cleaning

An important role in the preparation of a homemade alcoholic beverage is played by a process such as cleaning. For 1 liter of sorting, you will need about 1 tablespoon of coal from a specialized store or about 30 tablets of coal (activated), which can be bought at any pharmacy. An alternative to this treatment is to use double filtration through a jug filter. At the same time, note that after carbohydrate sorting will lose about 2 degrees of strength. The resulting solution is left for a couple of hours and filtered through a tissue (dense).

Upholding

In order for the problem of how to properly dilute alcohol with water to be fully solved, it is necessary to pay attention to the settling process. First of all, try to fill the container where the diluted product will be stored, at the very neck. If the mixture interacts with oxygen, then it will begin to oxidize – as a result, acetic acid will form.

The ethyl product diluted with water must be defended in a cool dark place – at a temperature of 4 ° C or slightly higher. You can use the finished product after two days, but it is better to let the mixture stand for about 7 days. During this time, all reactions in the solution will be completed. After the alcohol settles, you can safely fill it with the ingredients of various tinctures.