Very pure and clean sodium carbonate can be made by simply heating the sodium bicarbonate that you already have in your kitchen. There are instructions online but I just heat it in a clean pan until it stops steaming and then a little more. Yes, dry bicarb gives off steam and co2 as it decomposes into sodium carbonate. Doing this ensures you don't pick up any unwanted flavors from the washing powder/pool treatment brands of sodium carbonate. It's also cheaper.
Sodium carbonate should keep acetic, propionic and butyric acid from coming over in the distillate as the acids, by keeping them as their sodium salts which aren't volatile. It should reduce the formation of ethyl acetate and other esters quite a lot during the distillation too, by tying up the acetic acid and other acids as the sodium salt which would prevent them from reacting with the ethanol. No idea what it does to "fusal oils", because I haven't seen analysis of what they're actually made up of- but the acids and esters are definitely in the wash, and they smell and taste "bad" or "off". Ethyl acetate in particular can be smelled and tasted at quite a low concentration, and butyric acid is quite disgusting- not sure what propionic acid smells or tastes like but doubt it's nice either That would explain the higher pH in your distillate from the sodium carbonate relative to without it, but not why your low pH distillate went to pH 8 when you diluted it- unless your tapwater is very hard, i.e. from a well (water from rivers or lakes tends to be soft, well water can be either soft or hard).
Turning esters into salts and getting them to drop out so the don't end up in the vapor by changing the PH. I'm impressed that this does good things in a sugar watch. Definitely going to have to give it a try. Clean spirits good. Higher output good. Easy also good. Cheap, Easy, Good, More. That's not something that happens very often. Big win. Activated carbon filtering, a little glycerin and you can just start drinking your vodka without adding sugar syrup. ;) Mostly kidding about the activated carbon filtering thing seems like extra cost for not much improvement.
Great comment as usual from you. But stress the fact the this is not a conclusive result, but it did work for me. I’ve tried Activated Carbon filtering and it was such a drag to do, and like you, I wasn’t sure how much of an improvement I got from doing it. I was waiting for someone to say “forget all that rubbish, all you ever need to do is learn how to make your Cuts properly”. You were close, but I’ll let you off this time 😜 Keep Shining 😎
Using your method of incorporating the Soda Crystals into a second distillation, I'm having some good results with the following method. Keep up the great work mate. Classic 8 Turbo Yeast. 8 Kilo's of sugar. 20 Litres of water at 30 degrees Celsius. Method:- Sterilise all brewing equipment. Add 20 litres of water at 30 C to a 25 Litre (5 Gallon) brewing bucket. Add 8 kilo's of granulated sugar and stir until dissolved. Add HALF of the Classic 8 Turbo yeast packet - this will ferment out to 20% ABV after two weeks. If you want the wash to ferment out in a shorter time, add all of the yeast packet. There is no need to use the “Carbon”. LOOSLY sit the lid on the brewing bucket. Keep at around 25C for the fermentation period (I use a fish tank heater). Once Fermentation Has Finished. There is no need to use finings, nor is there a need to leave it to clear on it's own. The wash can be distilled as soon as fermentation has stopped. Just make sure to degas it well. Stripping Run Using a 6L, 900w, Water Distiller together with a voltage regulator, add 6L of the wash to the distiller. Connect the power lead to the water distiller, via the voltage regulator. Run at full power for 20 minutes, with the distiller cap OFF Once the wash has warmed through, place the distiller cap on, connect it via a direct power cable to an electrical outlet, and switch on (This allows the fan to run at full speed. Connecting it to the power socket on the distiller, will mean that when the voltage regulator is turned down, the fan will also run slower). Set a jug, or similar, under the outlet spout, and collect the first 60ml. This can be used for cleaning, or adding to the screen wash on your car. After the first 60ml has been collected, place your “Proofing Parrot” under the outlet, turn the voltage regulator down to around the point where the distillate, coming out of the parrot, is a steady drip, and collect the distillate until the hydrometer is reading 20%ABV. Switch off the power to the distiller BUT, LEAVE THE FAN RUNNING FOR A FURTHER 10 MINUTES. Store the distillate in another brewing bucket or demijohn and, run another stripping run. The Spirit Run Measure the product from the first two stripping runs (both volume and ABV) and, using the link below (or similar) temper the product down to less than 40%ABV www.distilling-spirits.com/tools/calculations/diluting-alcohol/ Add 6 litres of the distillate, to the water distiller, AND, ADD 3 LEVEL TEASPOONS (half a level teaspoon per Litre) of Washing Soda crystals. Run the still, with the lid/Condenser/cap OFF, at full power for the first 20 minutes then, replace the lid/condenser/cap, reduce the power to the same point as the stripping run, where the distillate was coming out as a drip. And leave it to go. THERE IS NO NEAD TO COLLECT THE FIRST 60ML OF THIS RUN. Collect everything down to about 30%ABV. Measure the quantity and %ABV, of the distillate collected and, again using the calculator on the web link, proof down to your desired %ABV and add the flavourings of your choice. Using this method, of double distillation, is allowing me to make just over 10 x 750ml bottles of 40% ABV distillate, from a 25 Litre wash. ALTERNATIVELY! A THIRD Distillation Again, using the calculator, refill the distiller with your desired volume of 40%ABV distillate and ADD some botanicals (your preference/choice - I used two eating apples and a half a handful of Juniper berries. Which gave me a Gin, with a hint of apple), DIRECTLY into the distillate. Run as per the Spirit Run.
Thank you both for these replies, I am new to this hobby and have started out with a 4 liter ZenVolt water distiller with a 0 to 108 *C temperature controller. Therefore Nigel Cox solution does seem to fit my set up almost perfectly. If anyone has suggestions on adjusting the temperature It would be greatly appreciated.
I agree that a true comparison would be between a second run of your regular vodka and the sodium carbonate "cleaned-up" product. I sure hope you will do that.
love your setup, im just using a air still pro, but would love bubble plates, just started using sodium carbonate as well, only 1 run in so far but another planned tomorrow.
Soda certainly reduced my supply of car winter screenwash (forshots and heads for concentrate, or stinky tails for less harsh frosts) which is a good thing most years. I can always redistill some smelly tails to produce higher proof industrial use spirit if I run short of screenwash concentrate OR use tails directly in the washer bottle (it's about 10-20% in my usual tails jugs so that's suitable for use as-is straight into the car washer bottle - broadly equivalent to the cheaper "ready to use" screenwash - not good enough for Scottish winter conditions but OK for occasional -3 or -4C mornings) For mouth and nose (human use) I'd ALWAYS use sodium carbonate for washes like this. I now concentrate much more on cutting out the tails now the soda sorts out the heads end of a run nicely. So it's a BIG improvement overall for me - I've used it for the last 6 or 7 years with no problems at all, but I did once run out of screenwash concentrate in a -9C cold snap last December :( Also a 1kg bag of soda lasts flippin years
@@johnman559 for me I’ve found that the VLLO app works extremely well. It’s very easy to use and has lots of free features and, from time to time, the devs add bits and pieces to it.
One of the things it does is break down esters. Esters are chemically a carboxilic acid, chemically bound to an alcohol, be that ethanol, methanol, etc. By making it basic, it can break those esters apart.
Sodium Carbonate will have a boiling point in the many hundreds of degrees, you're talking about having first to melt the salt then boil it. Would require a furnace. What you see remaining the kettle is the salt coming out of aqueous solution, an ionic substance like Sodium Chloride or Sodium Carbonate in this case have varying levels of solubility in water. They may in fact react with water like Sodium Carbonate because it is a mild base. (opposite of acid)
Ahhhh, the excellent Russian methode!! I always use Sodium Hydroxide and let it run under full reflux during 20 minutes before starting with taking distilate. I did this with terrible distilled products and it always turns out sweet, very neutral and more volume of ethanol. But, due to risks of very high pH's please be careful when discarding the bottom product in your boiler!!!!!
Great. I just knew you were going to pop up and comment on this! I was going to drop your name into the video as you know soo much about this kind of thing. What do you think it does to the Low Wines on a second Distillation to make it work the way it does then?
Interesting, I need to try that. I use Sodium Carbonate regularly in cooking for Alkaline noodles (half of teaspoon for 125ml of water for 300g of wheat flour makes perfect dough for noodles) and it's perfectly safe for consumption (just always remember about skin\eyes protection). I also usually just convert Sodium Bicarbonate (regular Baking Soda) to Sodium Carbonate by baking it in the oven. Pure, chemical grade Sodium Carbonate costs like 2$ per kilo, but honestly I simply can't be arsed ordering, because that kilo is just overkill amount for cooking.
From what I've read on HD site, they recommended soaking your low wines with carbonate for ~7 days then running it. Nonetheless, interesting findings on your comparison!
There might be something in leaving it for days in the Wash, but I found it worked instantly with this one example. Keep those informative comments coming!
Interesting video - just a bit concerned / confused by some of your pH readings - especially when you used water @pH 7 to proof down the 94% 'vodka' to 48ish% - I would have expected the 80% to reduce slightly to 7 - 8 ish (similar to the reading you got) BUT the other vodka at pH 4 to increase to between 4 and 7 but not go above 7 if that makes sense - the only way for that one to go to 8 would be to add something more alkali than water. Maybe your pH device is out of calibration?
Yeah I triple checked it and always got the same readings. It didn’t make sense at the time, but I will endeavour to find out the reason, or a more accurate pH reading, at some point.
Looking at the safety data sheet for Sodium Carbonate the stuff is very soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol and acetone, so maybe that has something to do with it. The SDS is worth a read (if you're into that type of thing 😉) Also, quick question. Was it half a teaspoon per litre of alcohol (30% of 9 ~ 3 litres which = 1.5 teaspoons) or per litre of low wines (9 litres which = 4.5 teaspoons)?
What happens if you boil the bi carb. Then add it. Will it respond ,like inverting sugar? I there a best specific gravity? For the bi carb, to be added?
I'd be fascinated to see some of your other Alcohol "potions" go through the Sodium Carbonate process, what would it do to a Gin, Blackberry or something else with more pronounced flavours compared to a Vodka?
So would I, but as a double distillation it wouldn’t work at all well. I am planning to see how this Sodium Carbonate Neutral Spirit it like once it’s been used in an infused liqueur and put it up against a single distilled turbo spirit. We’ll see how that pans out pretty soon.
As my testing pH levels drop to 2.5 pH after 2 days of fermenting, so normally I keep balancing it by adding bicarbonate soda at 5 to 5.5 pH prior to running it.
Unless the fermenting has stopped (which is very rare) I never bother checking pH, wether that’s a Sugar Wash or Wine. It interesting you adjust your pH level though. Do you think it makes a difference to the final product or are you doing this to ensure fermentation gets completed?
I tried this on a wheat wash, I found , like you did that the cuts were more defined. The only thought I have about it all is a friend that tried the wheat vodka I made out of it said he liked the taste but it made it kind of thirsty. I didn't tell him of my technique using sodium carbonate so I'm thinking that maybe some of the sodium came through.?? Beard and Bored tried this and he said if you use sodium bi-carbonate for this you would have to let it set up to 7 days before running it.
I don't normally comment on this channel but I enjoy highly spriteds vids. If u put sodium bicarbonate in to a pan an boil it (it looks like water boiling) I read that's coz it's releasing water molecules turning the sodium bicarbonate in to sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is a lot stronger than sodium bicarbonate I've also read the same as what beared said. If u use bicarbonate u leave ur low wines to sit for a week or so but with sodium carbonate u can just toss them in to the low wine and still them out. Sodium carbonate is also more water soluble so if I was to do this I'd water down to the 15% to 20% mark. Please if any one knows I'm wrong correct me :)
I’ve just tried it and I can’t say there’s any oiliness to the touch of it. Although if there is it could help explain the smoothness of the final product.
You’re asking me for advice?! I’ve heard it all now 😂 What I think is that if you add anything (with in reason) to Low Wines, and Distill it, there will be some carryover. What effect that has on your final product is anyone guess. It might mask flavours or enhance them.
@@highly-spirited I actually screwed up in the right direction for once. I made a wash from pantry pancake syrup that's basically high fructose and corn syrup. the maple flavor came thru and made a nice sweet whisk{e}y with oak chips. Thanks to you I've come a ways since the days of putting a ice cube in a glass of shine.
@@highly-spirited It would just get in the way of my hunting, fishing, metal detecting, fossil hunting and other stupid stuff I do. I enjoy watching You Tube 'stillers. It's a brother hood. If it wasn't for people like George, B and B. Jesse, Beaver and YOU I'd still be making sugar washes in a aluminum pressure cooker. By the time I found your channel I've pretty much made every grain combo whisk{e}y. Got boring. You do come up with some strange shit that's worth trying except bananas and turbo yeast....lol Plus it isn't every day a Ohio hillbillie can converse with a proper English gentleman.
@@fourdeadinohio8303 man oh man, you sure have it all going on over there don’t you! We watch The Detectorists, not that you’d ever come across it, but it’s a very funny and typical British subtle humour tv series. Plus I feel much like a fossil most days, so we do have a lot in common 😁 Keep Shining old bean 😎
Adendum to primary fermentation: yeast definately prefers a slightly acid environment to do its best work so DO NOT ADD CARBONATES (FAIRLY INTENSE BASE OPPOSITE OF ACID) to PRIMARY FERMENTATION WASH....bear
The sodium carbonate problem still intrigues me. If you search for: How to cleanly separate Ethanol from Vodka using no lab equipment and ordinary baking soda. You will probably find an answer.
OK, I have to warn you about overdoing this. I tried the same thing on recommendation from the Home Distillers forum and... my low wines that were actually one of my best to date at the time turned blue. Yes, blue, this usually means copper sulphate, but I read further into the post, and about 30 pages in someone spoke of releasing free ammonia in the spirit, and how once done this would turn your spirit blue, and it could not be removed. So as an ezpencive lesson I converted 4l of 90%avb into a nice cleaning solution. That and sapotification. By lowering the PH rapidly (in something other than sugar wash, like brandy or some whiskeys that contain some fatty acids that make it through distilation). Anyways my point is, try this, but don't take it too far, and don't try this on flavored spirits.
Another way to get a much cleaner vodka is to skip the turbo and skip the table sugar. Use dextrose and kivik lutra, under pitch fermax yest nutriant, using about 3/4 the recommended dose. Bring it to SG of 1.070 and monitor PH daily, and bring it back up over 5 with baking soda each day until FG 1.000. Make this 4 times, pot distilling it until you get 10% ABV coming off for a total between 35 - 40%abv. Run these low wines through a column. This seems to be the most nutral spirit I can make after much experimenting with different washes, adding bicarbonate, different yeast, different nutrients, etc. Just try it, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
Yes I have seen something about it turning blue. I always thought it was to do with the reaction if you were using a Copper Still. So please do tell me what your Still is made from!
@highly-spirited Yes, I do have a copper column. At the time, I was running a T500 with copper column and stainless steel saddles for packing, so some copper contact.
The reaction with copper is copper sulfide. Any sulfur in the mash gets attracted to the copper, removing it from the distilate and depositing copper sulfide on the copper surface. This has to be cleaned off regularly, but done correctly, it will remove sulfur. If not cleaned enough, the distilate can come out blue from copper sulfide. This was different. This reaction occurred about 12 hours after adding the soda. I added directly to 93%abv, though, and probably too high of a dose, hence why I recommend caution. I intended to water it down, then re-run it. This does work, and I have done it successfully, but making an even more nutral wash removes the need.
Looks good . But I'm a lazy basterd and can't be arsed distilling again once I've already done it. I'll just let the T500 do its thing, water it down to 43%, and add my prestige rum or gin essence. Drink relax and enjoy
I’m much the same. Once it’s done, it’s done, and I’ve always thought about the extra time and cost of double Distilling. But this one is definitely off the hook and did make it worth while.
@@highly-spirited cool. Thank you! I do 200l olive barrel washes and strip 4 times to get the core low wines. This will help me greatly with the spirit run.
I wonder how that would effect the outcome of a gun run ..?? What effects would it have on the pick up of esters and oils ..🤔?.....would enhance or retard them or just do nothing ??🤔
Why not just make your own sodium carbonate? You can just heat baking soda in a pan for about 20 minutes. All you are doing is knocking off one of the carbonates. Then you know for a fact that it is food grade.
R-OH + R'-COOH [+H⁺] -> R-OO-R' + H₂O . In other words an alcohol plus some organic acid (see various acids in cellular metabolic cycle) in presence of acid (i.e low pH) and heat produces an ester which will have a lower boiling point than the alcohol and acid so tend to go over into distillate. By raising the pH you will slow the rate of this reaction. The acid and fusal oils or higher alcohols, being more soluble in water will tend to stay stuck to the water in the kettle rather than boil off (like dissolves in like, see the -OH, R-CO(OH) in the acid and in water H-OH, think velcro). Making an ester removes the -OH and the site of attraction so less energy is needed to boil those compounds off.
Very pure and clean sodium carbonate can be made by simply heating the sodium bicarbonate that you already have in your kitchen. There are instructions online but I just heat it in a clean pan until it stops steaming and then a little more. Yes, dry bicarb gives off steam and co2 as it decomposes into sodium carbonate.
Doing this ensures you don't pick up any unwanted flavors from the washing powder/pool treatment brands of sodium carbonate. It's also cheaper.
Very good info there, thanks a lot for that 👍
Sodium carbonate should keep acetic, propionic and butyric acid from coming over in the distillate as the acids, by keeping them as their sodium salts which aren't volatile. It should reduce the formation of ethyl acetate and other esters quite a lot during the distillation too, by tying up the acetic acid and other acids as the sodium salt which would prevent them from reacting with the ethanol. No idea what it does to "fusal oils", because I haven't seen analysis of what they're actually made up of- but the acids and esters are definitely in the wash, and they smell and taste "bad" or "off". Ethyl acetate in particular can be smelled and tasted at quite a low concentration, and butyric acid is quite disgusting- not sure what propionic acid smells or tastes like but doubt it's nice either That would explain the higher pH in your distillate from the sodium carbonate relative to without it, but not why your low pH distillate went to pH 8 when you diluted it- unless your tapwater is very hard, i.e. from a well (water from rivers or lakes tends to be soft, well water can be either soft or hard).
Turning esters into salts and getting them to drop out so the don't end up in the vapor by changing the PH. I'm impressed that this does good things in a sugar watch. Definitely going to have to give it a try. Clean spirits good. Higher output good. Easy also good. Cheap, Easy, Good, More. That's not something that happens very often. Big win. Activated carbon filtering, a little glycerin and you can just start drinking your vodka without adding sugar syrup. ;) Mostly kidding about the activated carbon filtering thing seems like extra cost for not much improvement.
Great comment as usual from you. But stress the fact the this is not a conclusive result, but it did work for me. I’ve tried Activated Carbon filtering and it was such a drag to do, and like you, I wasn’t sure how much of an improvement I got from doing it. I was waiting for someone to say “forget all that rubbish, all you ever need to do is learn how to make your Cuts properly”. You were close, but I’ll let you off this time 😜
Keep Shining 😎
Using your method of incorporating the Soda Crystals into a second distillation, I'm having some good results with the following method.
Keep up the great work mate.
Classic 8 Turbo Yeast.
8 Kilo's of sugar.
20 Litres of water at 30 degrees Celsius.
Method:-
Sterilise all brewing equipment.
Add 20 litres of water at 30 C to a 25 Litre (5 Gallon) brewing bucket.
Add 8 kilo's of granulated sugar and stir until dissolved.
Add HALF of the Classic 8 Turbo yeast packet - this will ferment out to 20% ABV after two weeks. If you want the wash to ferment out in a shorter time, add all of the yeast packet.
There is no need to use the “Carbon”.
LOOSLY sit the lid on the brewing bucket.
Keep at around 25C for the fermentation period (I use a fish tank heater).
Once Fermentation Has Finished.
There is no need to use finings, nor is there a need to leave it to clear on it's own. The wash can be distilled as soon as fermentation has stopped. Just make sure to degas it well.
Stripping Run
Using a 6L, 900w, Water Distiller together with a voltage regulator, add 6L of the wash to the distiller.
Connect the power lead to the water distiller, via the voltage regulator. Run at full power for 20 minutes, with the distiller cap OFF
Once the wash has warmed through, place the distiller cap on, connect it via a direct power cable to an electrical outlet, and switch on (This allows the fan to run at full speed. Connecting it to the power socket on the distiller, will mean that when the voltage regulator is turned down, the fan will also run slower).
Set a jug, or similar, under the outlet spout, and collect the first 60ml. This can be used for cleaning, or adding to the screen wash on your car.
After the first 60ml has been collected, place your “Proofing Parrot” under the outlet, turn the voltage regulator down to around the point where the distillate, coming out of the parrot, is a steady drip, and collect the distillate until the hydrometer is reading 20%ABV.
Switch off the power to the distiller BUT, LEAVE THE FAN RUNNING FOR A FURTHER 10 MINUTES.
Store the distillate in another brewing bucket or demijohn and, run another stripping run.
The Spirit Run
Measure the product from the first two stripping runs (both volume and ABV) and, using the link below (or similar) temper the product down to less than 40%ABV
www.distilling-spirits.com/tools/calculations/diluting-alcohol/
Add 6 litres of the distillate, to the water distiller, AND, ADD 3 LEVEL TEASPOONS (half a level teaspoon per Litre) of Washing Soda crystals.
Run the still, with the lid/Condenser/cap OFF, at full power for the first 20 minutes then, replace the lid/condenser/cap, reduce the power to the same point as the stripping run, where the distillate was coming out as a drip. And leave it to go. THERE IS NO NEAD TO COLLECT THE FIRST 60ML OF THIS RUN. Collect everything down to about 30%ABV.
Measure the quantity and %ABV, of the distillate collected and, again using the calculator on the web link, proof down to your desired %ABV and add the flavourings of your choice.
Using this method, of double distillation, is allowing me to make just over 10 x 750ml bottles of 40% ABV distillate, from a 25 Litre wash.
ALTERNATIVELY! A THIRD Distillation
Again, using the calculator, refill the distiller with your desired volume of 40%ABV distillate and ADD some botanicals (your preference/choice - I used two eating apples and a half a handful of Juniper berries. Which gave me a Gin, with a hint of apple), DIRECTLY into the distillate. Run as per the Spirit Run.
Thank you both for these replies, I am new to this hobby and have started out with a 4 liter ZenVolt water distiller with a 0 to 108 *C temperature controller. Therefore Nigel Cox solution does seem to fit my set up almost perfectly. If anyone has suggestions on adjusting the temperature It would be greatly appreciated.
HELL YAH,,,GONNA STUDY UP!!! THANKS FOR THE INFO
It still is my ‘go to’ process, as I’m more than happy with the results it makes.
I agree that a true comparison would be between a second run of your regular vodka and the sodium carbonate "cleaned-up" product. I sure hope you will do that.
I really want to do that as well. It’s a simple thing to do, I just need time to get it done now.
love your setup, im just using a air still pro, but would love bubble plates, just started using sodium carbonate as well, only 1 run in so far but another planned tomorrow.
Soda certainly reduced my supply of car winter screenwash (forshots and heads for concentrate, or stinky tails for less harsh frosts) which is a good thing most years.
I can always redistill some smelly tails to produce higher proof industrial use spirit if I run short of screenwash concentrate OR use tails directly in the washer bottle (it's about 10-20% in my usual tails jugs so that's suitable for use as-is straight into the car washer bottle - broadly equivalent to the cheaper "ready to use" screenwash - not good enough for Scottish winter conditions but OK for occasional -3 or -4C mornings)
For mouth and nose (human use) I'd ALWAYS use sodium carbonate for washes like this.
I now concentrate much more on cutting out the tails now the soda sorts out the heads end of a run nicely. So it's a BIG improvement overall for me - I've used it for the last 6 or 7 years with no problems at all, but I did once run out of screenwash concentrate in a -9C cold snap last December :(
Also a 1kg bag of soda lasts flippin years
Wow that’s soo good to hear that from you. Let me do you use Bubble Plates as well? And do you use the same kind of technique as what I used?
Great energy and humour, as a comic it takes a lot to make me laugh and you did it, you're clearly natural, oh and excellent science too.
Glad you enjoyed it, but trust me, you’ll soon get weary of my humour. I take the jester approach to hide the fact that I don’t know what I’m doing 😬
@@highly-spirited I know what you mean but it all works👍👍 oh by the way can you give me a heads up what editing software you use please?
@@johnman559 for me I’ve found that the VLLO app works extremely well. It’s very easy to use and has lots of free features and, from time to time, the devs add bits and pieces to it.
@@highly-spirited Thanks!
One of the things it does is break down esters. Esters are chemically a carboxilic acid, chemically bound to an alcohol, be that ethanol, methanol, etc. By making it basic, it can break those esters apart.
This is too much effort for me. But was very interested. Great job dude and seems your comments section is alive 😊
“too much effort”! And I thought I was the lazy one around here pmsl 🤣
Very interesting. I need to know more. Thanks for sharing.
I was interesting for me too, and opens up more questions and experiments to do. But it worked, that’s the main thing.
Sodium Carbonate will have a boiling point in the many hundreds of degrees, you're talking about having first to melt the salt then boil it. Would require a furnace. What you see remaining the kettle is the salt coming out of aqueous solution, an ionic substance like Sodium Chloride or Sodium Carbonate in this case have varying levels of solubility in water. They may in fact react with water like Sodium Carbonate because it is a mild base. (opposite of acid)
Fantastic comment. Thank you very much for the clear info 👍
LUV NEW THINGS!!!!
Ahhhh, the excellent Russian methode!! I always use Sodium Hydroxide and let it run under full reflux during 20 minutes before starting with taking distilate. I did this with terrible distilled products and it always turns out sweet, very neutral and more volume of ethanol. But, due to risks of very high pH's please be careful when discarding the bottom product in your boiler!!!!!
Great. I just knew you were going to pop up and comment on this! I was going to drop your name into the video as you know soo much about this kind of thing. What do you think it does to the Low Wines on a second Distillation to make it work the way it does then?
Interesting, I need to try that. I use Sodium Carbonate regularly in cooking for Alkaline noodles (half of teaspoon for 125ml of water for 300g of wheat flour makes perfect dough for noodles) and it's perfectly safe for consumption (just always remember about skin\eyes protection). I also usually just convert Sodium Bicarbonate (regular Baking Soda) to Sodium Carbonate by baking it in the oven. Pure, chemical grade Sodium Carbonate costs like 2$ per kilo, but honestly I simply can't be arsed ordering, because that kilo is just overkill amount for cooking.
Thanks for the reassurance about using Sodium Carbonate. Everything in moderation hey.
Where can you u get a kilo of sodium carbonate for $2??
@@pimpjetfighter05 store that sells lab and food grade chemical reactives and food additives n Ukraine. 🙃 Sodium Carbonate is that cheap, indeed.
From what I've read on HD site, they recommended soaking your low wines with carbonate for ~7 days then running it. Nonetheless, interesting findings on your comparison!
There might be something in leaving it for days in the Wash, but I found it worked instantly with this one example. Keep those informative comments coming!
That’s not necessary, the chemical reaction will happen very quickly. Wouldn’t even need 7 minutes, let alone 7 days
@@jaymcbakerkhe’s confusing using bicarb, which does take quite a bit longer
7 days for bicarbonate, instant for carbonate, so they say
Interesting video - just a bit concerned / confused by some of your pH readings - especially when you used water @pH 7 to proof down the 94% 'vodka' to 48ish% - I would have expected the 80% to reduce slightly to 7 - 8 ish (similar to the reading you got) BUT the other vodka at pH 4 to increase to between 4 and 7 but not go above 7 if that makes sense - the only way for that one to go to 8 would be to add something more alkali than water. Maybe your pH device is out of calibration?
Yeah I triple checked it and always got the same readings. It didn’t make sense at the time, but I will endeavour to find out the reason, or a more accurate pH reading, at some point.
Looking at the safety data sheet for Sodium Carbonate the stuff is very soluble in water and insoluble in alcohol and acetone, so maybe that has something to do with it. The SDS is worth a read (if you're into that type of thing 😉)
Also, quick question. Was it half a teaspoon per litre of alcohol (30% of 9 ~ 3 litres which = 1.5 teaspoons) or per litre of low wines (9 litres which = 4.5 teaspoons)?
Thanks for the info. And the quantity I used was by volume a lone. So it was 4.5 tsp that was put into the 9 ltrs of Wash.
It mixes in water easily not too dangerous I have some in my mouth right now 😂 it's used in smokeless tobacco I make it by cooking baking soda
What happens if you boil the bi carb. Then add it. Will it respond ,like inverting sugar?
I there a best specific gravity? For the bi carb, to be added?
I'd be fascinated to see some of your other Alcohol "potions" go through the Sodium Carbonate process, what would it do to a Gin, Blackberry or something else with more pronounced flavours compared to a Vodka?
So would I, but as a double distillation it wouldn’t work at all well. I am planning to see how this Sodium Carbonate Neutral Spirit it like once it’s been used in an infused liqueur and put it up against a single distilled turbo spirit. We’ll see how that pans out pretty soon.
This process only works with Low Wines (the product of Stripping Runs). Normal wash / spirit runs go nasty if you add SC.
As my testing pH levels drop to 2.5 pH after 2 days of fermenting, so normally I keep balancing it by adding bicarbonate soda at 5 to 5.5 pH prior to running it.
Unless the fermenting has stopped (which is very rare) I never bother checking pH, wether that’s a Sugar Wash or Wine. It interesting you adjust your pH level though. Do you think it makes a difference to the final product or are you doing this to ensure fermentation gets completed?
@@highly-spirited well in my case it helps keeps the yeast healthy and dont smell like rotten eggs also ferments faster.
I tried this on a wheat wash, I found , like you did that the cuts were more defined. The only thought I have about it all is a friend that tried the wheat vodka I made out of it said he liked the taste but it made it kind of thirsty. I didn't tell him of my technique using sodium carbonate so I'm thinking that maybe some of the sodium came through.?? Beard and Bored tried this and he said if you use sodium bi-carbonate for this you would have to let it set up to 7 days before running it.
That’s fascinating. Great comment, thanks 😊
I don't normally comment on this channel but I enjoy highly spriteds vids. If u put sodium bicarbonate in to a pan an boil it (it looks like water boiling) I read that's coz it's releasing water molecules turning the sodium bicarbonate in to sodium carbonate. Sodium carbonate is a lot stronger than sodium bicarbonate I've also read the same as what beared said. If u use bicarbonate u leave ur low wines to sit for a week or so but with sodium carbonate u can just toss them in to the low wine and still them out. Sodium carbonate is also more water soluble so if I was to do this I'd water down to the 15% to 20% mark. Please if any one knows I'm wrong correct me :)
Awsome timing, I got 1Kg of Sodium Carbonate in the mail yesterday :)
Nice!! Get stuck in and see for yourself 😎
Just cook baking soda...
Hello,, I heard that the vodka gets a little oily to the touch when using sodium carbonate, is that true?
I’ve just tried it and I can’t say there’s any oiliness to the touch of it. Although if there is it could help explain the smoothness of the final product.
Ilse - you're doing it wrong. If it's vodka. Don't touch it - drink it.
@@justsome-guy7596 yeah,yeah, ok smart ass 😂
Another great video mate. thank you.
I think I'll have a chat with Mr Bezos tonight and order in some of this white stuff and give it a whirl
See what happens and please let me know how your final product turns out.
Nice work!!!. I have yet another way to approach the heads-tails-problem. I can email you the instructions if you like!!😊
Fire away Maverick. I’m open to all sorts of techniques/ideas 😎
@@highly-spirited Stupid question maybe but where do I find the adress?🙄
@@highly-spirited ...found it!
you think a box of alka seltzer would do the same thing? maybe lemon or orange for flavor...
You’re asking me for advice?! I’ve heard it all now 😂 What I think is that if you add anything (with in reason) to Low Wines, and Distill it, there will be some carryover. What effect that has on your final product is anyone guess. It might mask flavours or enhance them.
@@highly-spirited I actually screwed up in the right direction for once. I made a wash from pantry pancake syrup that's basically high fructose and corn syrup. the maple flavor came thru and made a nice sweet whisk{e}y with oak chips. Thanks to you I've come a ways since the days of putting a ice cube in a glass of shine.
Check you out! I think it’s time you got you own UA-cam channel going 😎
@@highly-spirited It would just get in the way of my hunting, fishing, metal detecting, fossil hunting and other stupid stuff I do. I enjoy watching You Tube 'stillers. It's a brother hood. If it wasn't for people like George, B and B. Jesse, Beaver and YOU I'd still be making sugar washes in a aluminum pressure cooker. By the time I found your channel I've pretty much made every grain combo whisk{e}y. Got boring. You do come up with some strange shit that's worth trying except bananas and turbo yeast....lol
Plus it isn't every day a Ohio hillbillie can converse with a proper English gentleman.
@@fourdeadinohio8303 man oh man, you sure have it all going on over there don’t you!
We watch The Detectorists, not that you’d ever come across it, but it’s a very funny and typical British subtle humour tv series. Plus I feel much like a fossil most days, so we do have a lot in common 😁
Keep Shining old bean 😎
Adendum to primary fermentation: yeast definately prefers a slightly acid environment to do its best work so DO NOT ADD CARBONATES (FAIRLY INTENSE BASE OPPOSITE OF ACID) to PRIMARY FERMENTATION WASH....bear
My setup is almost identical to yours, so...
I'll just copy what you did, Thanks! ;P
Give it a go and see what you think.
Spirit run looks like Twig&Berries--giggle giggle
The sodium carbonate problem still intrigues me. If you search for:
How to cleanly separate Ethanol from Vodka using no lab equipment and ordinary baking soda.
You will probably find an answer.
Will this work if I put this in my Rum low wines?
I don’t see why not. But as you’re probably aware, a double distillation will mean it will strip out even more flavour.
OK, I have to warn you about overdoing this. I tried the same thing on recommendation from the Home Distillers forum and... my low wines that were actually one of my best to date at the time turned blue. Yes, blue, this usually means copper sulphate, but I read further into the post, and about 30 pages in someone spoke of releasing free ammonia in the spirit, and how once done this would turn your spirit blue, and it could not be removed. So as an ezpencive lesson I converted 4l of 90%avb into a nice cleaning solution. That and sapotification. By lowering the PH rapidly (in something other than sugar wash, like brandy or some whiskeys that contain some fatty acids that make it through distilation). Anyways my point is, try this, but don't take it too far, and don't try this on flavored spirits.
Another way to get a much cleaner vodka is to skip the turbo and skip the table sugar. Use dextrose and kivik lutra, under pitch fermax yest nutriant, using about 3/4 the recommended dose. Bring it to SG of 1.070 and monitor PH daily, and bring it back up over 5 with baking soda each day until FG 1.000. Make this 4 times, pot distilling it until you get 10% ABV coming off for a total between 35 - 40%abv. Run these low wines through a column. This seems to be the most nutral spirit I can make after much experimenting with different washes, adding bicarbonate, different yeast, different nutrients, etc. Just try it, I'm sure you will be pleasantly surprised.
Yes I have seen something about it turning blue. I always thought it was to do with the reaction if you were using a Copper Still. So please do tell me what your Still is made from!
@highly-spirited Yes, I do have a copper column. At the time, I was running a T500 with copper column and stainless steel saddles for packing, so some copper contact.
The reaction with copper is copper sulfide. Any sulfur in the mash gets attracted to the copper, removing it from the distilate and depositing copper sulfide on the copper surface. This has to be cleaned off regularly, but done correctly, it will remove sulfur. If not cleaned enough, the distilate can come out blue from copper sulfide. This was different. This reaction occurred about 12 hours after adding the soda. I added directly to 93%abv, though, and probably too high of a dose, hence why I recommend caution. I intended to water it down, then re-run it. This does work, and I have done it successfully, but making an even more nutral wash removes the need.
@@Jake_B74can you explain in more details how it can be done 😅
Savers sell this brand of Sodium carbonate for £2 a kilo.
Do you see any problem trying this in an air still?
Looks good . But I'm a lazy basterd and can't be arsed distilling again once I've already done it. I'll just let the T500 do its thing, water it down to 43%, and add my prestige rum or gin essence. Drink relax and enjoy
I’m much the same. Once it’s done, it’s done, and I’ve always thought about the extra time and cost of double Distilling. But this one is definitely off the hook and did make it worth while.
@@highly-spirited i wonder what would occur if you did it on the first run
Can you share Carls specific instructions?
Tbh, I pretty much followed his step by step guide to the letter, so there’s no more details/instructions/info other than what I did in the video.
@@highly-spirited cool. Thank you! I do 200l olive barrel washes and strip 4 times to get the core low wines. This will help me greatly with the spirit run.
I wonder how that would effect the outcome of a gun run ..?? What effects would it have on the pick up of esters and oils ..🤔?.....would enhance or retard them or just do nothing ??🤔
Now try blowing bubbles.
Something is wrong with your pH meter. Ethanol has a pH around 7, so there’s no way that 94% ABV would have a pH of 4
Why not just make your own sodium carbonate? You can just heat baking soda in a pan for about 20 minutes. All you are doing is knocking off one of the carbonates. Then you know for a fact that it is food grade.
Can I mix sodium carbonate with my drinking water
R-OH + R'-COOH [+H⁺] -> R-OO-R' + H₂O . In other words an alcohol plus some organic acid (see various acids in cellular metabolic cycle) in presence of acid (i.e low pH) and heat produces an ester which will have a lower boiling point than the alcohol and acid so tend to go over into distillate. By raising the pH you will slow the rate of this reaction. The acid and fusal oils or higher alcohols, being more soluble in water will tend to stay stuck to the water in the kettle rather than boil off (like dissolves in like, see the -OH, R-CO(OH) in the acid and in water H-OH, think velcro). Making an ester removes the -OH and the site of attraction so less energy is needed to boil those compounds off.