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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
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.
In Soviet Russia, Vodka filters you!
"A Goddess rarely smiles for she is forced by others to be an island unto herself." - Zephiris
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.
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.
I poured in a Fat Tire and got a Bud Light. The second pass end up like a Corona, and I didn't have the heart to subject it to a third run.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
If you really want a double blind study mix Vladimir and Pepe Lopez Gold tequila.
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
Na' Vodka's kids stuff. If you are really serious about drinking yourself blind, get yourself a nice bottle of ARAK, and drink it in one sitting. A good bottle will be up to and around 70-80% alcohol. It's big in the middle east. They drink it on the weekends, the rest of the time... it's Window cleaner.
This signature has Super Cow Powers
Beer has been attacked from all sides of late, whether its MADD or Atkins. Need I remind you that it was "liquid bread" that built the pyamids, and that modern democracy was born in the pewter mugs of beer swilling patriots ?
As a homebrewer, I beg, nay, demand that you love and care for your beer as it is. There are many good homes where your unfiltered beer would be welcomed. If you are either unable or unwilling to support your beer, please, please send it to a good home with someone who will love and cherish your beer without questioning its color or purity. May I suggest the Hospice of St. Arnolds ?
007: "Who are you?"
Pussy: "My name is Pussy Galore."
007: "I must be dreaming..."
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
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.
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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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See, for example:
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http://www.talkaboutsupport.com/grou
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
No, by percentage of effect, its the impurities that give you the hangover.
Care to back that up? According to this ethanol causes dehydration, electrolyte imbalance and low blood sugar. Further, it states that pure ethanol can cause hangovers, and that it is unknown whether ethanol or the impurities have the greater effect.
That's why they are shooting for 100% pure, in theory no hangover...
Who is they? Care to back this up? You do realize that it's impossible to get 100% pure ethanol, right? Although one could probably produce 99.999% pure ethanol, as soon as the bottle was opened, it would begin absorbing water from the atmosphere until it reached the azeotropic composition, about 95% purity, if I remember correctly.