Vodka

VODKA, strong alcoholic beverages that are aqueous solutions of ethyl alcohol, either in pure form or with the addition of flavoring and aromatic substances. Depending on the raw materials, alcohol content, corresponding impurities, and method of preparation, the strength and taste properties of vodkas vary. The main representative of V. in our country is ordinary monopoly grain wine, which is essentially a 40% (by volume) aqueous solution of pure ethyl alcohol (again released in 1925 in the USSR by state factories of 'Centrospirt'). The production of grain V. consists of three separate stages: 1) rectification of raw alcohol to remove organic compounds that increase the toxicity of alcohol and give it an unpleasant taste and odor; 2) treatment of water intended for diluting alcohol to remove alkaline-earth salts, which, if present in significant quantities in water, may precipitate after some time in the vodka and make it cloudy; 3) mixing alcohol and water in defined proportions and filtering this mixture. - Rectification of raw alcohol, obtained by distillation of fermented saccharified starchy products (grain crops, potatoes, corn, etc.), is carried out by fractional distillation in special rectification apparatus-columns. During this process, harmful impurities are removed from ethyl alcohol: aldehydes, esters, 'fusel oil' and furfural. To purify water from alkaline-earth salts, water, before mixing with alcohol, is treated with caustic alkali [Ca(OH)₂ + NaOH] in vats and then with soda (Na₂CO₃). Caustic alkalis convert soluble bicarbonates of alkaline earths into insoluble carbonates, and soda converts calcium sulfate into insoluble carbonate; these carbonates are then filtered out. Based on preliminary analysis of water, the required amount of reagents for water correction is determined to avoid their excess in V. Then the rectified alcohol and corrected water are mixed in vats in the required proportion and this so-called _; sorting is passed through sand filters to obtain ready-made transparent V. According to the official method, to improve the taste of V., in former times V. was also passed through special filters with well-burned charcoal (birch or, worse, linden, spruce and alder). Charcoal adsorbs organic compounds present in vodka in almost undetectable quantities, making it less pleasant in taste. At present, taste correction is done by adding sugar in very small quantities (4-16 g) per 10 l of wine. Since the beginning of 1928, another type of monopoly wine has been introduced - 'table grain wine', which differs from 'grain wine' in that it is prepared without sugar and to improve the taste it is infused with so-called activated charcoal in vats; the adsorbing action of such charcoal proves sufficient already in the amount of 8 g per 10 l of wine. For the production of monopoly wine, alcohols distilled from potatoes, molasses, corn, rye and other grain crops are officially permitted, meeting the following requirements: strength in volume percent should be at least 95; per absolute alcohol the following is allowed: content of aldehydes not more than 0.002%, fusel oils - 0.003% and esters not more than 50 mg per 1 l, furfural should not be present at all. For grain wine 'Centrospirt' the following requirements are made: alcohol content should be 40 volume % with a deviation of ± 0.2%; mineral residue should not exceed 0.07%; alkalinity should be within 200-500 mg per 1 l of wine; per absolute alcohol aldehydes should not exceed 0.002%, and fusel oils - 0.003%. Esters should not be more than 50 mg per liter. When standing, the wine should not precipitate or become cloudy.--Almost identical in composition and widely spread in our country is 'grape V.', which is an aqueous solution of rectified alcohol from grapes, without the addition of flavoring and aromatic substances. It is produced in our country, mainly in the Central Asian republics, in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In addition to simple 'grain wine' and simple grape vodka, V. of special preparation are also quite widespread, containing, in addition to alcohol, various flavoring and aromatic substances. They are prepared by infusing spicy plants in an aqueous-alcoholic solution or dissolving in it various essential oils, extracts, essences, etc. They bear various names, depending on the substances contained in them (e.g., bitter orange, oak, anise and many others). According to data from the San.-Hyg. Institute of NKZdr., the number of plants used for this purpose in our country is more than 100. According to chemical composition, some V. of USSR production of 1927-28 contain alcohol within 35.7-40.1 volume %; in a liter of wine are contained: complex esters (per abs. alcohol) - from 8.6 to 356.4 mg; aldehydes (per abs. alcohol) - from 0 to 0.0125%; fusel oils (per absolute alcohol) - traces, up to 0.003%; dense residue - 0.127 to 1.835; sugar - 0 to 1.539; ash - 0.083 to 0.650; alkalinity, expressed in sodium bicarbonate, - 86-840 mg. . The physiological and pathological effects of vodkas are determined primarily by ethyl alcohol (the effect of alcohol on the body and its various systems - see Alcoholism), and then by impurities encountered in it. The toxic effect of V. increases in the case of consuming poorly purified alcohol, the components of which, as has been undoubtedly proven by numerous studies on animals, themselves and in mixture with alcohol possess significantly greater toxicity than pure ethyl alcohol. The relative toxicity of various organic compounds encountered in alcohol, according to Prof. Khlopin, based on data of Geoffroy, is represented by the following figures, taking the toxicity of ethyl alcohol as unity: toxicity of methyl alcohol - 0.5; acetone - 2.2; propyl alcohol - 3.5; isobutyl alcohol - 8.0; aldehyde - 10.0; amyl alcohol - 19.0; furfural - 3.08. According to some authors, toxic are also the volatile nitrogenous bases of alcohol with the character of ptomaines, the exact nature of which has not yet been clarified. In addition to by-products of fermentation, among harmful impurities in V. there are sometimes small amounts of copper, lead and tin, which are extracted from distillation apparatuses, apparently by acetic acid formed during fermentation of the mash; in view of their small quantity, only lead is of practical sanitary interest, the presence of which is unacceptable even in traces. In 1927, NKZdr. of RSFSR published 'Rules on the production of vodka products, grape vodka and cognac' (Bulletin of NKZdr., No. 23, M., 1927), according to which only pure rectified alcohol meeting the requirements of NKFS USSR is permitted for their production; alcohol content in grape vodka, tinctures and liqueurs should not exceed 40 volume %; the production of vodka products from raw alcohol, as well as the use of substances harmful to health for giving taste, color and aroma, artificial chemical preparations and essences, glycerin, colors not listed in the nomenclature of NKZdr., and artificial sweet chemical preparations without nutritional properties, are considered falsification, and the guilty are subject to criminal liability. Among the varieties of V. are numerous types of strong alcoholic beverages of cottage production, which have great sanitary interest, such as our 'samogon', 'kumyushka' of Votyaks, Chinese 'hanshin' and others. Some authors (Windish and others) include in vodkas generally strong alcoholic beverages, namely: rum, cognac, liqueurs, cordials, punch, grog, fruit vodkas, etc.--In sanitary research of vodka, the following determinations are made: strength is established, for which vodka is distilled on ⁴/s of the taken amount, the distillation is brought to the original volume, and in it alcohol is determined in volume % using a metal alcoholometer (or pycnometrically) according to special tables; in the distillate, fusel oils are determined colorimetrically by the method of Komarovskiy and aldehydes by the method of Möller. Alkalinity is determined in V. with preliminary heating, with a reflux condenser to remove CO₂, titration with acid, with methyl-orange indicator; esters are determined by saponification with decinormal alkali. Determination of sugar, ash, heavy metals, etc. is carried out by generally accepted methods.