Purifying vodka with milk

[NZChris]

Ran it today. It still needs a rest, but first indications are that it was a waste of time doing the trial with this batch of alcohol, which is quite flavorsome. The fat tasted quite nasty when I took it off, so I was hopeful that it might make quite a difference, but it didn't. I'll give it a couple of months then get an independent opinion on it.

Something more neutral might be a better subject.

[MDH]

I have to say, it's true that the vast majority of commercial vodka is basically tasteless, aside from byproducts made during the filtration process, and a bit of heads.

Not that I necessarily care for flavorless Vodka, but if you are dealing with a very delicate taste like pistachio, for instance, then you'd want as neutral of a Vodka as possible, right?

[NZChris]

Ran it today. It still needs a rest, but first indications are that it was a waste of time doing the trial with this batch of alcohol, which is quite flavorsome. The fat tasted quite nasty when I took it off, so I was hopeful that it might make quite a difference, but it didn't. I'll give it a couple of months then get an independent opinion on it.

Something more neutral might be a better subject.

Wow. Tasted it today. Mouthfeel is nice, kind of chocolate texture and flavor, harshness is gone. I will be playing with this technique again using more neutral spirits.

[Dan P.]

I have used egg-white. From what I've read (about its use in wine fining) the quantity used is pretty tiny; I used considerably more. Personally I won't be doing it again. I have found adding a small teaspoon of brewshop lactic acid to an imperial gallon has some clearing effect vie precipitation. This may be similar to NZChris's lemon juice experiment.
Most important for making "vodka" on a pot still is, in my opinion, ingredients.
For natural AG vodka, it has got to be wheat, triple distilled and well filtered. It is very mild.
For something with a bit less snob value, but good for vodka is birdwatchers or similar (I've used boiled wheat berries for nutrients before) but using dextrose instead of sugar. This is good with just double distillation. Dextrose produces very little taste compared to table sugar, but produces a little more heads.

[Paulinka]

Dear Dan and NZChris, thank you very much for sharing your experiments. Came to my mind a fortification technique, ice-distillation or what not it is called, when the early settlers' cider were left outside in the winter cold in barrels, then after the coldest nights the ice was discarded from the top of the cider, rendering the applewine much stronger in alcohol then it was before. Maybe this method was utilized in vodka-making too?

[Dan P.]

Dear Dan and NZChris, thank you very much for sharing your experiments. Came to my mind a fortification technique, ice-distillation or what not it is called, when the early settlers' cider were left outside in the winter cold in barrels, then after the coldest nights the ice was discarded from the top of the cider, rendering the applewine much stronger in alcohol then it was before. Maybe this method was utilized in vodka-making too?

I've always been a little skeptical of this method. You need to extract a lot of ice! Certaily I wouldn't want to do it if I were fermenting on the grain.

[NZChris]

I do that with the dregs from cider and beer and add it back to a couple of special bottles, but that is very different from vodka. Ice jacking only removes water, so it concentrates flavor, acids, bitter, higher alcohols, ethyl acetate, methanol etc..

[sdpoage]

How many people on this forum have a degree in chemistry. Certainly not me. I have no freaking idea what any gal whoevers posts mean. Nor do I care. I personally would rather learn from the layman's terms than from that. Thanks everyone else who's posts make sense. Getting ready to try vodka myself, and still researching.

[Dan P.]

I have no freaking idea what any gal whoevers posts mean.

Took me a little while to work out who/what was being referred to. A puzzling meta-necro-troll event.

Fining with egg white; I wasn't quite clear about it before; Adding a teaspoon of eggwhite well mixed (emulsified?) with a little salt disolved in water to an imperial gallon of 60% ish AG spirit caused the demijohn to be half filled with eggy gunk which simply did not settle. It was then re-distilled (mostly to get rid of the egg white, and the result was a very smooth spirit, so maybe as an inter-run treatment this might work?
Certainly if one is patient there is so much crud that precipitates/settles out of a clear seeming spirit, maybe ageing low-wines might be a thing to do?

[scuba stiller]

Wow. Tasted it today. Mouthfeel is nice, kind of chocolate texture and flavor, harshness is gone. I will be playing with this technique again using more neutral spirits.

And

... Fining with egg white; I wasn't quite clear about it before; Adding a teaspoon of eggwhite well mixed (emulsified?) with a little salt disolved in water to an imperial gallon of 60% ish AG spirit caused the demijohn to be half filled with eggy gunk which simply did not settle. It was then re-distilled (mostly to get rid of the egg white, and the result was a very smooth spirit, so maybe as an inter-run treatment this might work?
Certainly if one is patient there is so much crud that precipitates/settles out of a clear seeming spirit, maybe ageing low-wines might be a thing to do?

NZChris and Dan P, thanks for your post. Looks like we're moving toward cleaner Vodka.