On Tue, 10 Aug 2010 22:46:50 +1000, atec77 > wrote:

>On 10/08/2010 10:34 PM, James Silverton wrote:
>> sharkman wrote on Tue, 10 Aug 2010 08:27:04 -0400:
>>

>Good vodka is double distilled and multi filtered through activated
>charcol , the charcol in effect polishes the molecule and it is smoother
>in the mouth , potatoe vodka is lab grade thats drinkable but not nice
> making your own is cheap and easy needing only a little grain , yeast
>and raw sugar

Um, "lab grade". I was a chemist and did a lot of ordering of
reagents, including undenatured ethanol. "Purified", technical grade,
reagent grade, ultrapure/instrument grade for assays, U.S.P. ethanol
per the United States Pharmacopaeia, but I never found *anything* sold
as "lab grade". Also, never found "vodka" offered by any reagent
supplier.

Also, much industrial ethanol is not made from grains or potatoes, but
from ethylene. It is not for drinking.

Charcoal filtering, by its nature, removes certain polarized molecules
that are not desirable in the final product. Acetic acid and
Acetaldehyde come to mind. Unfortunately, it also removes some
desirable esters, tending to make the final product without character.
Try a rye based vodka. You should be able to detect a faint "nose" of
the original grain. Potato vodkas also have a faint "nose", and, as I
posted, a vague sweetness that some people don't like. I find it goes
perfectly well with vermouth in martinis, and, frozen, sips well with
smorgasbords and zakuski.

Technically, you could make vodka from plums or apples or pears or
apricots, but the amount of characteristic esters of these fruits is
not easy to eliminate, so you wind up with stuff closer to
BarakPalinka (Hungarian Apricot "Brandy"), Kirsch, and Slivovitz.

Grains like wheat and roots like potatoes or sugar beets lack most of
these esters and are more economical to use with "vodka" is the object
as opposed to a fruit brandy. You could argue the corn based "white
lightnin" is a vodka also, but I don't know anyone who would mistake
that old popskull drink with other vodkas. <G>

HTH

Alex, who polishes *his* molecules with TurtleWax.