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Hacking Vodka
enrico_suave writes "A group of geeks aimed to find out whether running cheap vodka through a brita water filter would make it drinkable. They claim after several passes through the filter the cheap vodka surpassed the premium Ketel One in drinkability tests. I think they should have done the test 'double blind' although drinking Vladmir Vodka probably could make you go blind anyways... =)"
I believe this has actually been known for a long time.
Here is the canonical list of the top ten things that taste better once filtered through a Brita pitcher six times, in decreasing order of improvement, according to the Brita FAQ:
- Orange juice
- Coca Cola
- Vodka
- Cooking oil
- Urine
- Gasoline
- Blood
- Vinegar
- Water
- Semen
Surprisingly, pus did not make the list....Comment removed based on user account deletion
drinking Vladmir Vodka probably could make you go blind
That's Ffud that made all those hillbillies go blind.
/* oops I accidentally made a comment, sorry */
Martin Sargent from Unscrewed did this on his show a while back.. he seemed to enjoy the taste :)
Boxing Equipment Reviews
Hookah Vodka!
Finally a great science project that the kids can do at home.
Great. Looks like someone's nine years of freshman chemistry hasn't been a complete waste.
But it sure doesn't make it taste any better.
When things get complex, multiply by the complex conjugate.
Not to mention, killing some of the impurities'll probably help with the hangover. As for myself, Ive progressed to the point where I can occasionally afford vodka from a glass bottle.
Support more choices in goverment-Vote 3rd party.
Vladimir filters YOU!
Sounds like a science experiment that I could actually participate in.
I wonder why they never featured this one on Bill Nye The Science Guy or on Beakman's World. I don't think that Lester, the self-proclaimed, "Man in a Rat Suit" would have been much different, even if he were the hands-on evaluator...
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
In Soviet Russia, Vodka filters you!
"A Goddess rarely smiles for she is forced by others to be an island unto herself." - Zephiris
Hmm.. this sounds quite a bit like the Gray Kangaroo filtration system that you can buy on the internet.
They want $41 for it, which is too expensive for me. But in my undergraduate days, I would definitely have considered it. Though you can probably use a Brita filter like these folks have and save a few bucks.
Let's see:
Cheap vodka: $10 (US assumptions)
Name brand filter: $30
Total vodka purity: $40
As compared to: Good vodka - $34.99
Hrmm, I guess it probably made sense when they did the experiment.
Seriously though, it's neat to see hacks like this. It should also be noted that the chick in the middle of this picture is kinda cute. But does anyone know what the pills are in the bottom left corner of that picture?
Don't think that a small group of dedicated individuals can't change the world. It's the only thing that ever has.
What else can be improved using the brita? Beer maybe? Soup even?
:-)
I am so curious now
Anyone else want to do trials and report the results? My mom would probably get upset.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
The question is, did they taste it after each pass through the filter? That would explain the result... ("Thish is farckn great!!")
They should try it with the premium Brita Pur filters, not just the regular Brtia kind. Those are supposed to get out even more bad stuff, and perhaps in less passes? Maybe a three way test: Brita v. Regular Pur v. Super Pur.
l
http://www.purwater.com/yourwater/pitchers.shtm
Lawrence Lessig is my personal hero.
Like they don't filter their vodka for impurities.. well, unless they add impurities to give it character or something.
MABASPLOOM!
If you really want a double blind study mix Vladimir and Pepe Lopez Gold tequila.
I've done something similar with very different results.
Once, me and a friend of mine decided it would be interesting to make a still. To make a potentially long story short, we produced a number of test batches from a sizeable amount of Corona.
Let me go on to say that nothing that tastes good has EVER come out of our still. So, in an attept to do some "activated carbon filtering", just like we read on the vodka bottles, we ran some through the Brita filter.
And got water.
Um, he's joking about the chick. Remember Hanson? I mean, come on...
Where do you keep the nuclear wessels?
-----
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Be yourself no matter what they say
I've just become a home scientist.
PS: Science makes the room spin.
"Plans are for fools! Oglethorpe, the plutonian (Aqua Teen Hunger Force)
I tried this five times with rubbing alcohol? How many times before I can get it at vodka level of drinkability?
This sig donated to Pater. Long live
not surprising considering that vodka is alcohol and water, and the better tasting the water, the better the vodka is, so ya, cleaning out some the impuritys from the water would make it taste better.
What about cheaper spirts that contain formaldehyde?
I once heard a guy run HCL(aq) through the filter then drank it... I don't know if he survived though :/
Soup even?
:-P
Uh...maybe if the soup is just a broth type soup, otherwise it will become a broth type soup on the 1st pass...
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
A group of geeks tried to filter alcohol. High school, anyone?
Take off every 'ZIG' !!
Ive always wondered what makes some vodkas better than others. is it really true that the more pure the drink the better it tastes?
if thats true then surely the best would be lab ethanol mixed with distilled water?
That's ethanol cut with wood alcohol (methanol) you'll go blind!
The question is, did they taste it after each pass through the filter?
Actually, yes, that's exactly what they did. RTFA.
Spoon not. Fork, or fork not. There is no spoon.
Well so do I, and it does so! Give me your vodka, and you can judge.
Maybe Coke works fine but in college we tried pepsi and it just sat in the top for over a day before we poured it out. Almost none went through.
Makes me think twice whenever I'm offered pepsi now.
That guy is my hero.
My other first post is car post.
Let's see... It still makes sense when you consider you can use the same filter several times. Most are rated in the gallons filtered before they need a change* whereas your "good" vodka is going to start adding up pretty quickly on a bottle to bottle basis. After the initial expense, I'm saving $20 to every bottle you buy.
*A brita pitcher filter can filter 40 gallons before changing
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You kids and your high technology.
Why back in my day we used our kidneys and liver to filter our alcohol and we liked it!
"Kittens give Morbo gas!"
For a vodkaphile on a budget nothing beats pearl vodka, it's smoother than Grey Goose and costs only ~$20/750ml. Hell I'm not on a budget anymore but I still see no reason to waste $30 per bottle =) Itgoest through A "five-time distillation and six-time filtration process" which makes it exceptionally smooth.
There are 4 boxes to use in the defense of liberty: soap, ballot, jury, ammo. Use in that order. Starting now.
Well the staff here at OMGIB are thrilled with the swell of traffic that this experiment has generated. We're working on more half assed applications of second rate science for the practical slacker as we speak.
Several questions have popped up on a regular basis in the comment thread, so I'll try to knock them out here one by one:
Um, why didn't you guys do the test double-blind?
Scienticians often are forced to take short-cuts to make giant king sized leaps of advancement in the field of boozahology. You'll also notice that the crackers weren't sterile, the glasses were barely clean, and there was a conspicuous lack of any saftey gear. Sometimes, you just have to stare down the barrel of progress and hope there's not one sitting in the chamber.
Isn't it possible that you just ended up drunk and only thought it tasted better
Our taste tests were only about a quarter of a shot each. It took about 20 minutes to complete an entire filtration cycle and we we had some food during the test. I know I only had about 2 shots worth of vodka during the experiment.
Did you try and use the filter for water after the vodka experiment?
The last thing I need in life is to catch a buzz off my morning coffee. Replacement filters are rather cheap as someone in the comment thread mentioned, but I'm sure that a few pitchers of water would take any vodka soaked into the filter out.
I think you forgot to prime your brita filter with water before you used it.
Actually, we did. It was soaked and a few pitchers of water were run through according to the directions on the package. It was in our notes, but we wrote everything up from the notes at the bar.
Why didn't you . .
Well although we plan on revisiting this experiment, we're on to make other breakthroughs of loose cannon science. We encourage all of the aspiring scienticians reading this to try this for themselves and email us your results. Send them over to ohmygoditburns@gmail.com and share your findings.
Comments Off
11/5/2004
Practical Applications of the Philosopher's stone. For drunks.
Filed under:
* Science
-- adam @ 5:08 pm
Purpose:
In the alchemical tradition, creation of the Philosopher's stone is the ultimate end to man's needs. The stone has the power to cure disease, prolong life, and possesses the added benefit of being able to transmute metals, as in lead into gold.
As scienticians, we believe that such an object exists, and that it can be used for our own dastardly purposes.
Our theory is that a simple brita water filter can be used to make bad vodka, into good. In our case this meant turning a Vladimir(TM), into a Ketel One(TM). At $11.09 for 1.75 liter (Ketel is 11.99 for the 350 ml), Vladimir is a steal. It is, however, painful to drink, has a repugnant aftertaste, posesses a bouquet reminiscent of rubbing alcohol. Our working theory was that these terrible qualities were caused by a lack of proper filtration, and that running our Vlad through a charcoal filter would remove some of the impurities causing these odors and flavors.
Materials
1. Bottle of cheap and/or nasty vodka. The cheapest price per volume was selected from the liquor store. In our case, this turned out to be "Vladimir Vodka(TM)".
Materials
2. Bottle of control (control, ahh fancy scientician word) vodka. A bottle of Ketel One(TM) was grabbed at the last second while on the checkout line.
3. Science Crackers! These were essential in cleansing our palates between tastings. NOT to be overlooked! For this, we used your easily obtainable standard (err, premium) science crackers.
4. One standard Brita filter. I believe this cost roughly $15 at the supermarket. It probably should be used after the experiment to filter water.
Science Brita
5. Shot glasses. The shot glasses should be of different type, so as to be more easily able to distinguish between the filtered, and the control vodka.
there must be a placebo effect at work here.
anyone know how I can cram crappy eccies thru one of those things?
Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
I'd need to get drunk to hang out with those ugly fucks.
Drink glass of expensive vokda. Good stuff!
Drink 1st glasss of cheap vodka. Yuck ptooey!
Filter 2nd glass of crap. Almost tolera*hic*tolerable.
Filter 3rd glass of crap. Filter it again. Barely tolerablable.
Filther 4th glass of the stuff. Filther it again and spill some. Get help to filther it a 3rd time. Drink it. Could be better but gimme some more.
Ask friend to filter next glass a few times and give it back to me. I don't know how many time, just do it. Hey, not bad.
Hand glassh to fr*hic*friend and say do it again. This time more fhilther. Fhilther make junk tathe good. *hic*.
Get glass from friend. Hey, this is great!
Pass out.
Wake up the next day and post on Sloshdot.
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
Anything else just isn't real. Americans and their bottles. Sissies.
MMO Quests are like orgasms:
You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.
If you really want to go blind (it's up to you) forget about ethanol and try methanol. Just make sure you've got a white stick handy.
Everyday objects become approximately 5 to 7x funnier when qualified as lab tools. Now please excuse me while I go calibrate the ol' science pole.
i'm sick and tired of seeing things on this website (drug, alcohol references)... things that are of the crowd of people who ridiculed those of us when we were much younger, those of us who view this website . How dare we allow this into our domain.
I hack it up all over the floor
Thanks to file sharing, I purchase more CDs
Thanks to the RIAA, I buy them used...
They will also soften hard water, presumably by chelating some of the metal salts out. This means they contain various reactive chemicals as well as a simple physical filter like fine kaolin china.
/dissolve/ in the ethanol. You could be drinking all sorts of nasty chemicals dissolved in the resulting fluid.
If that stuff's reactive, what's it going to do with 35% ethanol/water solution? It might react with the ethanol, or even
I don't care what it tastes like, I wouldn't go near the result, even on a bet...
Liam P. ~ "Intelligence is a lethal mutation." (me)
Hmm... coffee is water and some oil from ground and burnt coffee beans. Do you think filtering coffee makes it taste better, by removing the impurities from the water.
Compare it to Kalashnikov vodka -- made by the guy who invented the AK-47. It's "best drunk with friends" according to http://www.madville.com/link.php?id=78017&t=11 Screw using a Brita filter. The name says it all right there. I demand vodka made from a grade-A true Russian badass!!!
Now then, Dmitri, you know how we've always talked about the possibility of something going wrong with the Bomb...
We found it--there was a nice patio and a great band. As the evening wore on, we progressed from beer to shooters. A round of vodka seemed a good idea at one point. It smelled like isopropanol (I'm a chemist, I know my alcohols) and tasted as bad as one would expect. To this day, I have wondered what the hell it was we drank, so that I could avoid ever encountering it again. I fear unfamiliar vodkas in unfamiliar bars.
Now, I know it was Vladimir. I can rest easy. Thank you Slashdot!
~Idarubicin
Is it cheaper to do this than buy Finlandia? For those that haven't tried it, Fin is basically tastless. No real taste, no aftertaste. It's probably the best mixing vodka for that reason. It's not as nice to sip as something like Kettle One because the taste of those more expensive Vodkas is one of the reasons to drink them, however it's also not as expensive.
:)
I suppose it would depend on how well the filter held up. If the single filtration kills it, well then it'll be more expensive. If it works for a few times though it could be a fairly cheap alternative.
Something that would be interesting to see a real experiement on is the difference in before/after compositions. Find out what, if anything, is actually getting filtered out. Maybe I should try and talk the chemical engineers at work into trying it.
Remind me of a shirt that read "I fucked the girl in Hanson."
:)
You used to be able to get it from tshirthell.com, but they discontinued it. They have a lot of other very nicely offensive shirts though.
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They stated that they paid $30 for the pitcher.
http://www.members.dca.net/~adam/brita/IMG_0044.JP G
Dude, you hear that? That's my head? I'm so wasted!
Well, this is all well and good, but does the alcohol percentage of the filtered vodka remain consistant. Now, I know some filters use carbon to purify water. And, i couldn't find a source to prove it, but i'm pretty sure they use carbon for alcohol poisoning before they pump the stomach. So, does brita use carbon filtering?
From which episode of The Simpsons comes the science pole quote? I've googled it to no avail!
8:43 - we take out first sip.
Either they're using 12h clock or they're solid pros. Vodka in the morning...mm.m..
they are designed to filter water.. who knows how much vodka they can handle. actually, now that i think about it they might actually do other things than filter with other substances, though i think they are mostly just charcoal
also: my favorite (as a college student) vodka is Takka. ultra cheap and in comes in a drunk proof plastic bottle! i mean, it tastes like you think rubbing alcohol might, but i don't have high standards.
System.out.println(syynnapse.getSig());
activated carbon removes organics from water or any solute passed through/over it; that is a fact. a brita filter works mainly on this principle and not a 'physical' filter (like a hepa filter). a brita removes organic carbons (like ethanol), water 'hardness' (carbonate, calcite....) with resin pellets-an electron exchange, chlorine, some heavy metals and of course relatively large particulates (if you are using a brita to filter microbes you are in for some stomach trouble). last i checked ethanol is soluble in both water and gasoline (for example) because of its molecular structure (ie, it is technically an organic molecule but is soluble in water due to it's structure). which means, at least some of the ethanol will affix to the ativated carbon. therefore it should be noted that filtering the vodka would also reduce the alcohol content. i would be interested in an experiment that also tested the alcohol remaining in the vodka. it is quite possible that after 4 passes the carbon had reached it's capacity for adsorbing (not a typo) contaminants (ie ethanol). so long as 'smooth' was not confused with adjectives such as 'water-like' or 'pure', some alcohol probably remained but i do not think you could do this experiment without some reduction. depending on who you are any change in alcohol content might be considered significant! also, once a 'contaminant' is affixed to the carbon pretty much only a whole lot of heat+flame are the only things that would remove/recharge it.
i should also mention that if my typing is off it is because i did not filter my wine before i drank it tonight =)
If you do this, you can wait longer until you need to replace the filter.
The vodka will surely kill any nasty bugs that have been collected in there.
Even the best filters can only barely take out viruses -- considering that hydrogen ions (the thing that makes acid an acid) are five orders of magnitude (or so) smaller volume, the filter wouldn't do anything to the pH. I doubt it would even affect the molarity of the chlorine ions. I mean, come on. If a filter was fine enough to remove hydrogen, it would also stop water.
Great! now I have something to do over christmas break!
Ahhhh!!!!!111oneone This is the exact same annoying thing as people thinking asians say "lice" instead of "rice"!
Now that I've calmed myself, I must inform as many as possible that it is the exact opposite. The Russian language does NOT have a true W sound, and they would NOT pronounce it "wadka". "Vodka" is exactly how it is truly pronounced.
I have no problem with people making fun of different countries' customs, but please, at least do it correctly.
"I could have sworn sulfuric acid was what is in your stomach, not hydrochloric."
;)
Well, if it was, you'd probably burp a smell of rotten eggs.
I think natural selection took care of eliminating the species that developed sulfuric-acid-based gastric fluids
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you... Pepsi Green!
;-)
I was going to mod down that AC troll, but eh, I figured this was more important.
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Have you seen those chicks on the pics ? No wonder they drink vodka.
Go grab those torrents.
Considering that the brita filters use activated charcoal, which removes organic chemicals, one of the things it'd be filtering out is the alcohol.
wow, the ignorance.
the water in vodka, is probably from distillation, so therefore, it's already pretty damn "pure".
it's the other organic compunds that have boiling points equal to or less than ethanol/water that also go into the distillate and fuck you up with the nastyness.
Do not read this sig.
Spiked with Methanol,that is, which makes you go blind. One thing I know from working in Chemistry labs is that you should never touch alcohol coming from a lab. (If you don't believe me, squirt a bit into a Gas Chromatography column, and notice that there are two peaks, not one.)
The more you know, the more you know you don't know.
Yet in germanic countries they pronounce it as wodka (at least the Norwiegan I have been hanging out with does) so it is not a totally random misconseption, because people dsay it.
Wow, sent an e-mail as suggested when clicking on "use classic" banner, and got a fast response that addressed my msg
A company called gray kangaroo makes alcohol filters that do precisely what is being described here. Take this with a grain of salt, since the source is biased (they are trying to sell filters), but their FAQ claims the following:
How is the Gray Kangaroo different than a commercially available water filter?
GK uses more filter material than a standard personal water filter. It also uses filter material which is optimized for liquor. Water filters use a variety of filter materials, some of them improve liquor while others (which eliminate chlorine, lead and other hazards in tap water) do nothing for liquor and only waste space. Also some filters use plastics which are dissolved by hard liquor and end up making your drink taste like crazy glue. Most importantly the GK is designed to easily filter liquor multiple times and built to be rugged enough to be used by a group of heavy drinkers.
LS
There is a fine line between being a cultivated citizen and being someone else's crop. - A. J. Patrick Liszkie
Take previously purchased cheap Vodka.
Filter Through Brita Filter
Taste Test
Repeat 3-4 times.
Filter Vodka Through Kidneys.
Fill Cup
Pass through Brita Filter.
Give to Sh1thead Roommate.
Record and publish taste test results on slashdot.
He's using his liver and pancreas to filter his vodka, so I wouldn't want to drink it after it's been through his filtration system. For you, it might be a golden opportunity, however.
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
US metho consuming folk reckon any plastic drink container packed with burnt toast, does a pretty good job, getting yeasty overtones, just like a good French champaign. Fishtank filters, and bagged activated carbon, can be added between bread layers, or for someting better, a whole activated carbon fishtank filter is the bees knees. Use plastic to cover fish tank filters, or the angels share (evaporation)can be horrendous. Metho costs $2.75 a litre in Australia(95% ethanol, fusels added).
Initially I was very doubtful of the mixture. It was concentrated from a "vegtable peelings mash" by means of fractional freezing. They concentrated the alcohol by means repeated freezing and thawing. Concentration was done by fractional freezing. Basically they placed the mash outside (where it was -60C or worse) to let the ice freeze, brought it back inside and removed the ice that has formed on the top ... or so
I was told.
So speaking of blindness, I was initially hesitant to sample their finished product. Someone informed me that to refuse a sample would be an insult. I didn't want to offend our hosts so I finally agreed to have a shot. When I was served, I noticed that they poured the vodka out of a Brita water filter. When I inquired about the reason I was told that it made the finished product "better". Apparently they have been doing vodka water filtration for years "in the land way down under''.
The Vostok Vodka was excellent. It was a bit hyper concentrated (beyond the normal Vodka proof), but very fine none the less. The next time you find yourself in Vostok Antarctica you should give their vodka a try! :-)
Yes, you give me vodka. I filter. You judge.
It's isopropyl alcohol. Certianly not something you want to drink, but far less dangerous. Methanol causes an irreversable swelling of the optic nerve, leading to blindness and possibly death. Isopropyl is far less dangerous. It's highly likely to make you vomit and give you diarrhea and generally make oyu feel like shit, but unless you drink a lot of it, it's very unlikely to kill you. You'd probably have to dirnk as much of it as you do ethanol to kill yourself.
It's more unplesant than it is really dangerous. The other types of alcohol are much worse.
Wake up the next day and post on Sloshdot.
...can't really remember quite yet). By now you think you actually might still live thru the ordeal and begin to recover. Take two more acetaminophen tablets and eat something for breakfast.... about a half hour later when your blood sugar finally stabilizes to a somewhat functional level, THEN you might feel like turning on the computer to post to Slashdot.
Wake up the next day feeling like total sh*t and stay in bed until at least about 11PM until you absolutely must try to put some kind of food in your stomach and hope it stays down.
Pass out again and have delerious feverish nightmares as your body struggles to rid itself of all the acetaldehyde now circulating in your bloodstream while trying to digest the food you ate while (you sort-of) sleep with a pounding headache.
Wake up the 2nd after (did it get dark two or three times since you drank?
What a wacky coincidence. I saw this experiment posted up on a message board and just tried it with some friends this evening. They left not 10 minutes ago.
Started off with a 750ml bottle of "Medallion Quality". You don't expect much from a bottle that large that costs in the range of $11 Canadian. Needless to say, it was putrid. Bordering undrinkable. You'd have to be drunk to start with to consume the stuff. Smells reminiscent of rubbing alcohol, tastes like turpentine with an aftertaste not unlike a bowling alley shoe. As my buddy described it, "It feels like a clown is raping my mouth."
We were sure to prime the filter first. It ships with some chemicals in the charcoal, so run a few pitchers of water through.
After 3 filters of the vodka, the odour was drastically reduced. Flavour was not hugely improved, but the aftertaste was lessened and it didn't burn as much going down.
6 filters, the odour is down even more. Taste is much improved. Now comparable to a decent cheap vodka, probably a little better than regular Smirnoff. Goes down not too bad, aftertaste still not great.
10 filters. Odour is near gone. Tastes smooth. Would be undetectable mixed with grapefruit juice.
20 filters. SMOOTH. Goes down like water. Zero odour. Perfect. Easily as good as an upper end vodka like Canadian Iceberg, but not as delicate as the really pricy brands. Definitely a good taste. Pleasant enough to drink straight without shooting it.
Of course we kept a control sample. I did not fully appreciate how good the 20-filtered drink was until I tasted the control sample again. It was truly terrible. While I suggest doing this just to try it, I will not again put that stuff in my mouth unfiltered.
I have heard mixed reports about how well different vodkas turn out. Some are better than others, Medallion had tremendous benefit from the filtering. The taste of the original and final product are not even remotely close.
Also heard complaints about murky vodka. Our first filter result was slightly murky and blue/greyish from chemicals left in the filter. Repeated filtering made it disappear again. I can't help but wonder if those chemicals were doing me any physical harm, but they could not possibly be doing any worse than the original vodka anyways. It's all in the name of SCIENCE!
All in all, this experiment was fun and definitely worth trying. It takes long enough that I wouldn't expect it to be a decent timesaving measure. However, it was fun to do and we will probably repeat the experiment again next Friday with that godawful Russian Prince vodka.
The thing is, really pure Vodka is pretty much just alcohol and water. It doesn't really have a taste. OTher alcohols, not so much. Beer, whiskey, etc all have a lot of other stuff that gives them their flavour. It's fairly likely that the filter will remove a good bit of that, leaving you with something that it just kind of weak and not good at all.
In fact it would probably screw up good Vodkas. One of the things that makes Grey Goose, Kettle One, etc worth the money is their distinct and pleasing tastes. It's likely that this process would remove most of that.
I ran half of the completed product through a carbon filter, and it seemd to improve the smoothness. Maybe. We had a few merry evenings with the stuff, and no nasty hangovers.
I'll be kicking off the next batch soon. Long live SuperYeast!
After reading this site last week, myself and a couple of friends decided to take the "Brita Challenge". To my complete amazement it worked better than I ever could have hoped.
I hate vodka typically, and the 9-dollar "Kamchakta" vodka that we bought burned like a mofo, and smelled like ass. After filtering it several times, it loses all of those impurities (that some might call 'flavor'), and is much more palatable.
Our findings were that 4 filtrations were plenty, and that it took much less time than the other site claims. We were able to filter a 1.75 L bottle of vodka 6 times in well under an hour.
We surmise that if you stuck 3 or 4 filters together in one long pipe, you could have one hell of a filtration system, and do it quickly too. With a little bit of advertising on collegehumor.com, you could be a thousandare, easy!!
To recap:
1) Filter Cheap Vodka
2) ????
3) Profit!!!
Methanol makes you go blind and very likely dead (unless you only drink a tiny amount and get treated immediately), Ethanol gives you a hangover.
HAND.
Ahhhh!!!!!111oneone This is the exact same annoying thing as people thinking asians say "lice" instead of "rice"!
Well, some of them do. I should know, I'm married to one that has this problem and has worked hard to get rid of her accent.
It does depend on the Asian country, but you're also stereotyping and generalizing by lumping all "Asians" together. The Japanese language does not have either a proper "R" or a proper "L" sound - the language is just not set up that way - but all of the words that get romanized with r's in them both sound and are physically produced with an oral motion closer to what we make with an "L". When you say "arigato", for example, you pronounce it closer to a quick "ah-lee-gah-toh" than "ah-ree-gah-toh", the latter just sounding like a horrible American accent in Japanese. So yes, "rice" does sound like "lice" in English if a native Japanese person is not careful, especially considering that the modern Japanese word for "rice" is actually "raisu", which is just the English "rice" pronounced with Japanese pronunciation. Of course, most Japanese people know the deal with r's and l's, and they learn very early on that they need to be careful and have it drilled into them incessantly by their teachers - and that's probably one reason why you think the R/L thing is a misconception, because many of them do overcome it very early on. But it isn't a misconception, and not every Japanese person develops the right habits early in their English lessons.
Koreans, Chinese, probably most other Asian countries don't have this problem at all. But the Japanese do. It's not a myth.
I have no problem with people making fun of different countries' customs, but please, at least do it correctly.
Well, you could take your own advice. Asians don't all speak the same language, you know, so they don't all have the same accent. Japanese, Chinese and Korean are not even in the same language family (depending on which linguist you believe), just to use three examples. They're completely different languages that evolved from different sources (though there's also been some cross-pollenation over the years, and some, though clearly not a majority, of linguists do believe Korean and Japanese are both Altaic languages).
I have no problem with your general point and I'm sure you're right about the pronunciation of "vodka", I just think you're being a little hypocritical, calling somebody out for incorrectly over-generalizing when you're doing the exact same thing yourself.
Anhydrous ethanol used for industrial processes may be "spiked" (denatured) with methanol to discourage consumption but this is never the case with reagent grade "absolute" ethanol. When a chemist needs ethanol for an experiment and ONLY ethanol, that better be all that's in the bottle.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
Golden opportunity??
More like "golden SHOWER" opportunity! LOL!!!
I note that it's dated nearly five years ago. Good luck getting an actual email to someone working at a company. It's one-way communication, folks, a push medium. Damn kids these days and their outdated unidirectional media paradigms.
Still, props to the company and to the guy working for it for giving an actual response. And a helpful one, at that. Nifty!
--grendel drago
Laws do not persuade just because they threaten. --Seneca
I used to drink Wild Turkey a few years back, but stopped partially due to how harsh it was. (At least the cheapest version of it)
I found myself wondering if this method would work for that, or if it is better suited for something which is primarily water based, like vodka?
oops. linky
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
"Home Theater" magazine has a regular food and drink column, and one time they did a blind taste test of vodkas. To their shock and horror, cheap-ass Gordon's in the plastic jug came out on top of all the pricy vodkas. Armed with this knowledge and an empty Stoli bottle, I was able to fool a friend who was a vodka snob. He never knew his was drinking the cheap stuff.
"How perfectly Goddamn delightful it all is, to be sure" Charles Crumb
OMGLOL that is so funny I just spit Coke all over my keyboard!!!
I hate to burst your PC bubble, but sometimes, not only do they say it that way, they also spell it that way. Sorry. There are stereotypes, and then there's reality.
Filtering the water before making the coffee certainly does. I suspect that filtering after making the coffee would filter out a lot of good stuff.
That said, if you drink your coffee with milk or sugar it realy isn't going to be a noticible improvement
Substituting Beer for water.
It didn't go very well.
No, you can process methanol in the small amounts that you get it in liquor. Unfortuanetely, it metabolizes to formaldehyde and formic acid, which are among the major factors in hangovers.
6 02/educati on/ed3.htmlp /alt.support. disorders.neurological/messages/4240.html
See, for example:
http://www.studentbmj.com/back_issues/0
http://www.talkaboutsupport.com/grou
That's why it is hard to separate just by distilling.
Wow, these guys definitely deserve a nomination for an Ignobel Prize in Chemistry. This is exactly the sort of stuff our world needs: better living through chemistry.
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
The key to vodka, IMO, is getting it cold enough. Almost any vodka is perfectly good if it's cold. The only exception I've run into so far was Seagram's, which was just horrible, even mixed - let alone straight (which is how I generally prefer vodka).
Especially for the science nerd in all of us as we marvel at the totally clear liquid turning milky white as the water from melting ice mixes with the alcoholic beverage.
And then there's Suisse La Bleue absinthe, which also turns milky white when mixed with water (the milky effect is called louche). Absinthe remains banned in the U.S. due to the persistent myth that the wormwood in absinthe is poisonous and causes hallucinations. It doesn't, wormwood is not, nor ever was on any DEA controlled substance list. It's banned by the FDA, which prohibits the manufacture, import and resale of any foodstuffs that contain wormwood in the U.S. The FDA hangs on to the myth that one of the chemicals in wormwood, called thujone, is bad, nevermind there is thujone in spices such as sage and tarragon. At least the European Union is forward thinking, because as of this year, absinthe is once again legal all across the European Union, with Switzerland and it's much sought after clear absinthe called Suisse La Bleue (once produced in clandestine labs) being the most recent to re-legalize. For more info, go see La Fee Verte Absinthe House.
Here in the U.S., available anise based pastis such as Pernod, Ricard, Herbsaint and Absente all exhibit the same louche effect (albeit green, due to coloring in the liqueur)when mixed with water. The colder the water, the more pronounced the milkiness.
I see your Pearl and raise you a Tito's Vodka. Micro-batch pot distilled in Texas, this is some of the smoothest damn vodka I have ever had, and it is sometimes cheaper than Absolut. It comes in a regular glass bottle with a sticker that says "Tito's" -- no hand-painted anything, no fuss, just some of the best vodka you have ever tasted.
And it's distilled six times.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
From the guy who brought you the AK-47: Kalashnikov Vodka
a friend of mine recently put up a discussion of vodka on his lj, and it's worth a look
Vodka 101
Here's the short version:
1. Don't drink anything that comes in a plastic bottle
2. If you must drink domestic Vodka, make it Skyy
3. Priviet is awesome if you can find it, and not very expensive
Looks to me like Neurontin (gabapentin) 300mg Caps...
Of course there're more than just 1 kind of yellow capsule, it's what lept immediately into my mind though...
-tid242
With a few exceptions, secrecy is deeply incompatible with democracy and with science. --Carl Sagan
I believe that 100% ethanol (everclear) is usually cut with methanol since you can't distill alcohol ot 200 proof. If you want to drink alcohol, you're better off with 195 proof.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
Not really. At 95% ethanol / 5% water, the mixture forms an azeotrope which boils at 78 degrees and cannot be separated by distillation alone. You mix benzene to form a different azeotrope that allows for distilling away the water - but you get a little bit of benzene left over after all the water is gone, since benzene / ethanol will form an another azeotrope, although benzene concentration will be low enough for most cases. Now, anhydrous ethanol for laboratory use probably doesn't contain anything but few ppm of benzene. Industrial grade anhydrous ethanol will either be adultrated with methanol or a bittering agent to prevent people from buying gallons of ethanol and bootlegging them. AFAIK, injesting methanol will lead to blindness, where as benzene will damage liver. (ever read about moonshine causing blindness?)
Cut with benzene. Not methanol.
Benzene is worse, though there may not be much of it.
___
It's the end of my comment as I know it and I feel fine.
I'm suprised that after all this posts there's no mention of Satellite Vodka, the cheapest way to put yourself into orbit.
For basic ingredients you need human excrement and an old winter coat, the type used by building site workers, convicts and the military in Eastern Europe.
Usually the crap was collected in a hole in the ground. Put the coat in and let it rot for a few weeks. The process makes the polyethilene in the coat padding decompose into etylic alcohol. You can then collect it from the surface. Some filter it afterwards.
On building sites they used to use a porcelain toilet seat that was plugged and filled.
I dare you get a cheaper recipee than this.
gee, in the 80's absolut was considered one of the better vodkas.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.
For a vodkaphile on a budget nothing beats pearl vodka, it's smoother than Grey Goose and costs only ~$20/750ml. Hell I'm not on a budget anymore but I still see no reason to waste $30 per bottle =) Itgoest through A "five-time distillation and six-time filtration process" which makes it exceptionally smooth.
Five-time distillation?
Now, that's an outright lie if I've ever seen one.
1 Earth is warming, 2 It's us, 3 it's royally bad, 4 we need to take action NOW
Alas, these days its fomepizole, not ethanol.
I doubt the quality has changed dramatically since then; it's just that the market has evolved and moved on. I recall reading some article that said the vodka market was growing at 300% per year, and was by far the fastest growing sector of distilled liquors. It's no wonder Absolut has fallen behind the times.
moox. for a new generation.
The U.S. government, which as we all know, is always right, defines vodka in its regulations as "neutral spirits distilled from any material, at or above 190 proof, reduced to not more than 110 proof and not less than 80 proof and after such reduction in proof...(with vegetable charcoal for at least 8 hours)...as to be without distinctive character, aroma, or taste."
In other words, vodka has already been filtered far more effectively than a Brita could manage & there ain't a lick of difference between the cheapest swill on the market and the most expensive imported luxury "little water", other than the fact that the expensive stuff comes in a glass bottle (which I think would be less likely to impart flavor). When liquor comes off a column still that highly fractionated it has no distinctiveness, regardless whether it is made from rye and potatoes or from byproducts of oil refinery or wood pulp (which, BTW, does happen). Generally, at least in the U.S. market, vodka is subsequently cut with distilled water, which also lacks much character. Unless there is something seriously wrong with the manufacturer's equipment (in which case the taste is probably the least of your worries), vodka is vodka.
High end vodkas are a perfect example of a Veblen Good, a commodity whose demand increases as its prices increases because of the band wagon effect, snob appeal and people's erroneous assumption that if something is more expensive it must be better. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
Vodka is just an ethanol delivery vehicle. It is best consumed in large gulps straight out of the freezer, as it is in Russia, to minimize the nasty flavor inherent in ethanol and maximize its medicinal properties.
Unlike these folks, I have done double blind tests on repeated occasions with vodka and drinks made with vodka and NO ONE has ever been able to distinguish the Stoly from the 'Park & Shop' vodka. With one exception. We were making vodka & tonics once and a friend accidentally swallowed the lemon wedge in his haste to consume the vodka. He said that particular belt was somewhat less good, even though it was made from the expensive vodka.
Personally, my days of 'drinking-for-effect' are largely numbered (unless my liver enzyme levels decrease), so I stick to single malt Scotch whisky and an occasional Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster to clear the cobwebs out of my skull.
just some of the best vodka you have ever tasted
Indeed! I would describe it as having a delightful initial nose of ethanol, a pleasant burning as it goes down, and finishing smoothly with a subtle aftertaste of ethanol punctuated by a complex ethanol-infused bouquet.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
I love how out of puritanical fear that people will get drunk (and probably have sex) we put something that will instead make them blind or dead. What a country.
They do that in Britain too; although here it has a lot more to do with the fact that spirits are taxed to the gills... quote:-
"The excise tax today, literally today, on a 70 cl bottle of Sainsbury's vodka in Aberdeen is 84 per cent."
Needless to say, you don't get charged that if you pop over to B&Q for some luridly-coloured purple alcohol.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
He's using his liver and pancreas to filter his vodka, so I wouldn't want to drink it after it's been through his filtration system. For you, it might be a golden opportunity, however. (Parent's emphasis)
Golden. Ho ho ho ho ho.... cough.
Seriously, I saw some stuff called "Bacardi Oro" in Asda yesterday, and I just figured out how they make it.
No, I won't be buying it anytime soon.
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
I guess the PUR rep did know a thing or two, since PUR does make a hand pump for desalinating sea water. PUR Desalinator
They mention that a couple lived for 66 days on a liferaft with one of these.
OMGLOL that is so funny I just spit Coke all over my keyboard!!!
Actually, the joke was already obvious in the original post. It appears that you, and the poster you replied to, were the only two people not to get it.
Exactly how does your friend know how it feels to have a clown raping his mouth?
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power
nt
The best vodka is home-made one. We russians call it 'samogon'. We use activated coal and some chemicals to filter samogon. Filtering cheap mass production vodka is much more complex process because sometimes cheap vodka is made of synthetic ethanol, which contains really weird byproducts (up to 1% of polyethylene!).
I believe that brita filters are more advanced devices than charcoal filters. I should try it with samogon.
Kudos, PUR.
You know that email was probably the easiest and cheapest way the company could have protected itself from a potential future lawsuit. By giving no response to the email it could have confirmed to some people that this wouldn't cause any major damage. Thus they will try it. Getting Sick or Dead. Thus Suing and/or Family Suing PUR for neglect to point out safety concerns of product.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Ethanol - Water mixture will exhibit an azeotrope, which means you cannot separate the two beyond 95 % purity (190 proof) without a special process. Look up azeotrope for more info...
From my understanding, there are two ways that you can get pure EtOh. One is to add a third chemical into the mix to break the azeotrope. Then you have to deal with triple species phase diagrams that make my head hurt. So, you end up with ethanol and benzene boiling off, then separate the benzene and ethanol in another process, but you always get stuck with a bit of what you are trying to separate.
The other way to get the last 5% of water out is to chemisorb the water out, if I remember correctly. Get something that selectively reacts with the water over the ethanol so soak the water out.
Actually, you may be able to selectively freeze the water out, but you may need really cold temps.
It is pretty useless from what I hear, as pure ethanol is pretty volatile, evaporating pretty quickly.
Stick with 190 proof everclear, it will hurt you plenty.
Disclaimer, separations and thermo are not my specialty, drink responsibly.
The actual distilation process of vodka relies heavily on industrial sized filtration... It seem pretty clear to me that cheaper brands are skimping on the filtration required, and yes, the premium brands do filter their vodka dozens of times, some even use reverse osmosis...
I learned all this thanks to a tour given to the hands on history show, which seems to be preoccupied with the history of distilation.. they've covered the history of vodka, irish wisky, tequilia, and beer... they've covered beer a couple of different ways as i've recalled..
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I tried this swill both room temperature & chilled and it sucked. Finally resorted to mixing with OJ. Definitely not shotworthy.
Urine is almost entirely water, with a little bit of other substances dissolved in it. I doubt it's ever more than 5% solutes by weight, in 95% water.
Close. As one would expect, it's variable, but urine can be up to about 96% water. When you drink an abundance of water, your kidneys are free to pass more diluted urine. When body water is at a premium, the kidneys conserve water by passing concentrated urine, which looks darker and more opaque. Completely transparent urine is sign that you're drinking enough water.
As noted byt the Accordian Guy, There are similar tricks with liquor. In the Ian Flemming novels, such as Moonraker James Bond had the habit of shaking pepper into his vodka shots. He'd picked it up from the Russians, who did it as a matter of safety rather than taste; the pepper dragged fusel oils left over from their crude distilling process down to the bottom of the glass.
For wine, apparently just decanting the whole bottle into another container improves the taste.
Today's vices may be tomorrow's virtues.
A friend and I were discussing this article a week ago and had some concerns that the resins used for ion exchange may be soluble in the alcohol.
So we asked a chemist. Here is his reply. Also, the Brita uses a small amount of a silver compound to inhibit biological acvitiy. We forgot to ask him about that.
I read the link and I can't decide. The chemical species that do the ion exchange are bonded to a polymer support. It would depend on whether or not anything could be extracted from the polymer support by the ethanol. Often compounds added to the plastics (plastisizers) to give it specific characteristics are extracted. These would be selectively adsorbed by the carbon but??? Also any o-rings or seals (I've never seen a Brita filter pitcher) may be a problem with chemicals extracted by the ethanol. Ethanol is not particularly aggressive as a solvent (2-propanol, rubbing alcohol, is tremendously more of a problem for extracting things from plastics) so I doubt the people were poisoned at any level even measureable. Repeating the experiment I would just use activated carbon from the brewing website suggested in one of the comments. The possibility that the ion exchange resin is removing anything from a distilled product seems small. Unless someone has watered the vodka with hard, nasty tasting water the ion-exchange is pointless.
My friend points out that the water used to dilute barrel strength spirits is critical to flavor, so the IERs may have an effect.
Couldn't you absorb the last of the water with, I dunno, anydrous calcium chloride or something?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
In "Moonraker" (the book -- not sure about the movie), James Bond sprinkles cracked black pepper into his vodka. He explains that he picked up the habit while stationed in Russia. Cheap vodka contains nasty fusel oils, which lead to wicked hangovers. The pepper binds to the fusel oils, then falls to the bottom of the glass, resulting in a better grade of vodka.
I don't know if it's true or not, but Ian Fleming presents it in a confident offhand manner, so I'm guessing that there's something to it.
-kgj
-kgj
This is a Star Trek reference. Ergo, it is automatically funny.
1/3 of jokes get modded OT. If you get the joke, mod 1 in 3 insightful/interesting/underrated to restore karma balance.
No, by percentage of effect, its the impurities that give you the hangover.. That's why
they are shooting for 100% pure, in theory no hangover...
Wont work out in practice of course, but at least at that point, it WOULD be the alcohol and
not the impurities..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
costs only ~$20/750ml.
20 bucks for a fifth is cheap?!? I bought a 1.75 liter bottle of Vladimir just last night for 12 bucks. The stuff really isn't ANY where near as bad as these guys are trying to say it is, BTW.
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
At my previous job as a Network Administrator (Resident Computer Geek, sysop, Asshole, whatever names we get called in the office), we had one of those filtering, spring water cooler things. *I* used that for making coffee. Some people used the regular tap water. There was a huge difference in taste. And it's not that one person would put in more grinds than the other. People would ask me how many scoops to use to make a pot (and I usually make battery acid... :-) ), so people were making it the same way I do (oh, BTW, pack the grinds in the filter before making the coffee! Trust me!). I noticed a difference in tap vs. filtered just from the very first sip.
So, yes, filtered vs. tap DOES make a difference in your coffee. I understand this isn't EXACTLY what your musing about, but still. At home, I have a Culligan system in the kitchen. That makes DAMN good coffee too.
I'm not a prophet or a stone-age man,
I'm just a mortal with potential of a super man.
At the boat races in Washington state you could take a cooler, but not alcohol. They'd even sniff jello in search of jello shots. But we discovered livening up an orange with an injection of everclear would get by every time. But you had to be careful as it was possible to get totally plastered sitting there eating orange slices.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
Notice I said it was USP-grade ethanol, meaning the United States Pharmacopeia has certified it to be free of harmful impurities and safe for food or drug usage. Well...technically safe; the safety of consming absolute ethanol is debatable. Incidentally, 95% doesn't have the same weird oily/dessicating characteristics of absolute; it's already got that 5% water it desperately wants so it just burns like hellfire going down.
If you're interested, the chemistry behind it: the benzene forms an azeotrope with water that boils at a lower point than the 95-5 EtOH-water azeotrope, allowing the last traces of water to be distilled off. USP ethanol is usually dried out in other ways, like running it over drying salts or using molecular sieves to absorb the excess water....no benzene allowed.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
that's how they make USP "drinkable" absolute ethanol - soak up all 5% with salts (i think it's actually magnesium sulfide, but CaCl2 would work fine as well). yes, i am gonna beat this USP horse for the rest of the day :)
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. - Aldous Huxley
I've had Vitamin B that color.
It's a perfect time for being wasted.
A perfect time to watch the stars.
- Burden Brothers, "Beautiful Night"
Vodka is just ethtanol cut with water, carefull attention to distallation technics will lead to a purer, smoother product, up to a very well defined specific point. I just took a pretty good look at Tito's site, alot of what he says makes sense even if his terminology and a couple of his idea's is a bit whacked.
I kinda think that Tito's real advantage is his senses are a bit crossed, some people's olifactory sense get's crossed with their color sense, making them smell in color and they can detect very minute differences in odors that are completely beyong what most people can sense. Still he's not doing anything I can't with a gas-chromatagraph.
There is no reason why you can't run some rot-gut vodka through a real fractional distilalation colume like every 1st semester organic student has used, and get a much better produce out than you put in. Filter it through some activated charcoal (ala water filter) you can tweak it even more. If it is still not smoother enough for you add a bit of food-grade gycerin like the mass-producer do.
I also believe that this is another spoiled rich-boy fad like Cigars, Scotch, Fine wine were before them. When you think about it Grey Goose is a French Vodka, French and Vodka to me that's an oxymoron.
Apocalypse Cancelled, Sorry, No Ticket Refunds
Ask any good vodka distiller that goes thru the purification process, why they are doing it...
There will be your answer. Need a name? Try Skye.. The stuff in the blue bottle.. There are more.
And yes I know it cant get to 100%, but 90+ is close enough to call it 100%. This isn't a chem. lab, its real life.
And if you noticed what I said a bit closer, I was talking that in today's percentages of alcohol / impurities its the impurities that are causing the hangover.. and that making it 100%, which isn't practical, but if done, in theory, it would then move any hangover to the responsibility of the remaining alcohol..
Never said it would stop them totally, just what their theory is, relative to the fact that most of the hangover IS caused by impurities..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
I fscked the girl in Hanson!!!
Forget Vodka, after you tryed Adsinth for the first time, you will never go back to vodka.., but you have to have the reals stuff 80%+ and distilled thought wormwood (give the hallucinagenic effects). And you have to use the heated suger as well --- http://www.alandia.de/absinth/index.php/cPath/29/X TCsid/3c2cde4737853a46dde750fbcfab597a
2 7
2 0
or with friends http://www.alandia.de/absinth/index.php/cPath/14_
or http://www.alandia.de/absinth/index.php/cPath/14_
http://www.beersquirrel.com/
So, "geek" now includes any drunken fratboy with nothing to do on a Friday night?
Makes no difference to me, as I never refer to myself as a geek anyway, but this is how generic and overused the term has become.
Living in Vermont has given us a really great (albiet extremely expensive) vodka - Vermont Gold. You guessed it, it's made from maple tree sap. It's about as smooth as anything you're ever going to drink.
Skyy Vodka advertises their filtration process:
"Vinquiry, an independent certified lab, concluded that SKYY has the fewest impurities among leading vodkas. Samples of SKYY, Absolut, Stolichnaya, Grey Goose, Smirnoff, Belvedere, and Ketel One were gathered in October 2002 from six major U.S. metropolitan areas. Using a precise Gas Chromatograph, the lab tested for the following impurities found in spirits: Methanol, Acetaldehyde, Ethyl Acetate and Fusel Oils."
http://www.conraddrinks.com/html/skyy_vodka.html
Skyy is pretty tasteless, but very "clean". I don't like it straight, but it's great with a club soda mixer. It might be a psychosomatic effect, but I never feel hungover after drinking Skyy.
- "When you want something with all your heart, the entire universe conspires to give it to you" -Paulo Coelho
The first issue of Cargo magazine was the last published taste test I saw. They drank it on the rocks and in a mixer or two, I forget the exacts.
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
Well you have to admit, she is rather mannish!
Not since Marie-Antoinette played milkmaid has looking simple and honest been so fake and complicated.
Off of my morning coffee.
From the article.
Seriously, is this guy for real?
Unlike vodka, which is supposed to be alcohol and water and nothing else, beer's flavor comes from all of the other things present in it. Filtering beer with a Brita would make things FAR worse.
Now, if you homebrew, filtering the water you use to brew with DOES make a lot of sense.
Also, in some situations, particulate filtering (NOT chemical filtering) in between primary and secondary fermentation stages can help too.
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
To improve the stuff some folks distill at home - "samogon". Why? I have no idea why, maybe someone has a degree in chemistry and can explain. Then they also add "activated carbon" to it to remove some of the smell, which is exactly the same as "brita filter", except they've been doing that back in the 80's, when Brita didn't exist.
>buy cheap vodka
-You have purchased the cheap vodka
>buy brita pitcher
-You have purchased the brita pitcher
>Pour cheap vodka into brita pitcher
-The gods of the mud hope this has some point...
>drink brita pitcher
-The vodka tastes only mildly cheap...
Tibbon
tibbon.com
Vodka is a special case because of the fact that it is water and alcohol and basically nothing else. (At least it's supposed to be.)
Other forms of alcohols are very different, and hence passing them through a Brita may change their taste significantly in undesired ways.
(for example, once it's brewed you can't do much for beer.)
retrorocket.o not found, launch anyway?
I like blues, but I want to know where not to drink the vodka.
I completely agree. The whole "super-premium" spirits division is completely ridiculous. Vodka should never be over $20/L especially since Vodka, by definition, should have almost no taste or odor (besides the alcohol itself). You're gonna have flavored vodkas of course (the Van Gogh Dutch Chocolate I like, although there are stranger offerings.
A good Scotch is worth $50+. I don't think people can really distinguish a $50 from a $20 vodka. It's all marketing directed at those that want to seem connoiseurs at glitzy and overrated martini bars. It is the next fad, and it's idiotic.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
This is a honest question. I really am this dumb when it comes to chemistry.
If I used whiskey or brandy and ran it through a Brita filter, what would I end up with? Would I get a clear colorless liquid or would I get filtered whiskey or brandy?
My brother worked in a bottling company for a short time where they "made" different flavored alcohols. Everything they made was really distilled grain alcohol mixted with various flavorings and water. They made things like peppermint schnapps, blackberry brandy, cheap vodka and so on. The lesson he passed along was that vodka or at least the cheap stuff, is really just grain alcohol and water - it is no longer made from potatoes. The cheap whiskey's aren't aged, just flavored and if you look closely, you will see that it doesn't say aged anywhere on the bottle!
Ahhhh!!!!!111oneone This is the exact same annoying thing as people thinking asians say "lice" instead of "rice"!
Now that I've calmed myself, I must inform as many as possible that it is the exact opposite. The Russian language does NOT have a true W sound, and they would NOT pronounce it "wadka". "Vodka" is exactly how it is truly pronounced.
I have no problem with people making fun of different countries' customs, but please, at least do it correctly.
On a similar note, can anyone tell me why many/most/nearly all Germans replace v-sounds with w-sounds when they speak English, despite having every reason to do the exact opposite?
http://www.thewineclip.com/
The guy flipping you off in this picture then tells you that you are blind drunk and have no taste left. He's substituted gasoline without telling you.
I've gotten similar results from two hours of drinking. Fast food suddenly tastes good and vodka goes down like water. I have not tried gasoline and don't recommend it as it might just kill you. Still, I suspect it will do it's damage without you being able to appreciate all of the warnings your tounge, nose and other senses try to send your brain. If you are lucky, you vomit. It's really frightening when you wake up the next day and remember some of what you did.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Let me know if you have to buy another $15 filter to do the second bottle. If you do, I think I'll just spend the $15 on a better bottle of Vodka.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
What a lovely thread full of Intersting and /. is something :)
Informative posts. Ain't
3.243F6A8885A308D313
Supposing a Brita filter is $7 each, and you get one use then it would be $17 to filter the 1.75 of cheap shit as compared to $18 to buy the Fin. That's actually slightly more than 2x the Vodka for slightly less than half the price.
It's something I'm tempted to try out of curiosity. Not like they did with a continual drinking thing. It really doesn't take a lot of alcohol to screw up your taste, but just filter it, then drink. I know what cheap Vodka tastes like. If there's a dramatic change, I'll notice.
Still the best way would be to do a chemical comparison. Who knows, I'm sure the CEs at work have a mass spec somewhere, maybe they'll think this is amusing and do an analysis for me.
For some reason, even normal unflavoured vodka has an aroma for me :( It might be placebo or something, but the aroma is why I prefer Polar Ice (go canucks! :) to Absolut, not because it scored better or worse on some test. So, while I agree that there's a lot of marketing going on, and that vodka is the _current_ fad (even teen chick lit does it! see Gossip Girl), I believe that many people would be able to distinguish their favourite vodka from another one.
Try Corewar @ www.koth.org - rec.games.corewar
That might be true. But if you put an overrated Vodka (say, Belvedere or Grey Goose) next to a good but cheap vodka (Svedka, for example) some people won't be able to tell the difference but will gladly pony up another $4 for the "upscale" martini.
Personally, I like Svedka, Three Olives, Tito's, and Stoli Oranj, but I am not a big vodka drinker. I will go through two handles of whisk(e)y before a smaller vodka bottle is even dented.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Which is another reason I'd want to actually get it chemicaly tested. However you can have very smooth 80 proof stuff. The Finlandia vodka I keep carrying on about is one such alcohol. It's possible that the alcohol passes as readily as water, it's a fairly small molecule and the filters in the Brita aren't all that great.
All vodka should be good cold. If it's not, you're probably got it confused with your experiments in drinking urine.
Good vokda is the stuff that tastes good at room temperature. Which is how you're 'supposed' to drink it. (Technically, I think it should be 'chilled'.)
But, hey, they're not the boss of you. If you like vodka cold, then buy the cheap ass stuff. You'll never be able to tell.
Well, not the really cheap stuff. Never purchase alcohol cheaper than bottled water, that's my motto. Also never purchase it in a homemade bottle. Or anything that isn't clearly identified as a traditional liquour, like 'hill lightning', 'thirst remover' or 'zima'.
If corporations are people, aren't stockholders guilty of slavery?
Am I the only one that actually clicked that link in hopes that such a page would actually exist.
:-(
I'll go back to sleep now.
- shazow
If you are looking for the pure taste of ethanol and water, and nothing else, vodka shouldn't be made from biological materials.
In fact, you can create a very drinkable beverage from cheap laboratory alcohol (96%, the rest being water) and purified water. This mixture is quite odor- and tasteless, apart from the typical ethanol taste and odor.
Oddly, in most countries law requires that liqour is produced from alcohol obtained trough fermentation and distillation after that.
Industrially, ethanol is produced from the addition of water to ethene - a much more efficient, cheap and clean process. I believe we should adopt this route for liquour too. Ethanol sythesized from the ethene/water process costs less than $1 per litre - not counting taxes. After some basic purification, the end product is free from all toxic compounds found in liquour - including nasties such as methanol, propanol or formaldehyde.
Nothing new most spirits are filtered through some type of activated carbon to clean them up . .
.What makes it good is the downstream processing like distillation processes and filtration processes .
Even spirt Ive made in a small 20 liter still that produces 5 liters of spirit cleans up well if I use good carbon and filter it a slow rate
Why did'nt they do gas cromotography to test the vodka ? like us profesionals do when we test our own grog and Where thier tasters trained vodka judges?.
If you really wanna hack vodka look here
<URL:http://www.spiritsunlimited.co.nz/>
Most vokda is made with some form of cheap fermantable like grain,beets,or sugar basicaly if thier is a surpluss of a fermentable and its cheap you can make vodka out of it
On a comercial level they use even ferment milk derived whey to produce the vodka wash and they distill the vodka from that.
Would it be possible to distil vodka to be more potent using a common household humidifier?
For shipwreck situations, the Maria Telkes still is a floating equivalent, and of course you've got water water everywhere if you need to use it.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
But most of those other rich-boy snobbery fads you're disparaging really _do_ have a basis for telling the fancy stuff from the cheaper stuff. Wines have a huge range of differences between them, and Scotch is more subtle but still extremely varied, and both of them take a long time to mature, unlike vodka and other moonshine which are quick industrial products. Cigars are annoying enough that I won't comment much, though second-hand smoke from cheap cigars is usually even nastier than from good cigars.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Obviously things like scotch and good brandies that develop from soaking ethanol in different kinds of wood take a lot longer to develop, and there's enough evaporation loss that the cost of a long-aged product reflects a lot more raw material than end product.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
There are some US states with silly prohibition laws which appear to ban 192-proof ethanol, so you can't get real Everclear here. The company sells a 151-proof clear grain alcohol, which is not really the same thing.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Sounds awful - but burning it would have at least been an honorable disposal method :-)
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Stolichnaya is not pricy nor especially good vodka, even absolut is better. That gordon's is as good as or better than stoli does not really surprise me.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Just go to your local laboratory supply, (and if you can still order it), order a 5 gallon container of "Food Grade Ethanol". Cut it by volume 50% with water. Take one of the halves you just made and cut that again with Orange Juice 50%. Instant Screwdriver party...(we used to do that all the time in college, and it's CHEAP!!!)
Who cares about the ozone layer?...thanks to CFC's I can write my name......IN CHEESE!!!
...What the hell is WRONG with internet people?!?!
Or grandparent's testors were already sloshed :)
Sorry, distillation alone doesn't remove organics. Reverse-osmosis water is so good at being a solvent, it will rip soluables (including volatile organic chemicals, CO2, etc.) right from water. You leave it standing long enough, and it will gain so much CO2 that its pH will drop to 4 or 5.
When making vodka or any other distilled spirits, the idea is to *recapture* *good* aromatics and leave the bad aromatics behind.
My informal, unscientific 6 time filtration made C$17.99 Potters vodka taste smoother, perhaps equivalient to a C$30 vodka. Worth the effort. From reading above, it would seem the filter is not good for more than filtering a couple bottles. Cost of disposable filters and pitcher makes it a close call, price-wise. Has that nice 'home brew' touch to it, tho. Be forwarned: run some water thru the filter a few times to get rid of the particles in the new filter.
Somehow that reminds me of the Buck Cake storyline of Ghastly's Ghastly Webcomic. Long story short, one of the main characters receives an accidental (perhaps) gift of a bukkake video from his brother who (supposedly) thought it was a cooking video.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
^_^ Yeah, I remember that book. In that story, they took a few wrong turns in the desert and cannabilized their car for materials after it broke down. Fun stuff.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
You are a very subtle troll, and I will not respond to you...
d'oh!
first of all you have been drinking way to much of that stuff because a fifth is not 750ml
try some good vodka first, then compare. hell even that smirnoff tripple distilled is an improvement.