Purify My Alcohol?

[CornStar]

So I read on a thread
somewhere ...
that you could buy cheap alcohol (possibly vodka, i dunno)
and run it thru a water filter (like a Brita)
and it would improve the taste/smoothness?
I have no clue.
Just wondering if this is legit
Thanks for your input!
:)

[JezebelinHell]

Mythbusters tried this out and found that after a whole bunch of purification cycles you could actually drastically approve the taste of crappy vodka, but the cost of purchasing all the required filters was more than the cost of good vodka, and it took forever.

[phil]

> drastically approve the taste of crappy vodka

I'm Adam Savage, and I approve this vodka.

[CornStar]

thank you mythbusters ...
unfortunately im sure their purification methods out-do my brita water filter.
o well
thanks for the info

[fenwick]

After the first serving - the taste buds are shot anyway - why bother?

Besides, anything wet on the playa - tastes good - even bad cheap vodka....

[JezebelinHell]

They actually used Britta water filters, so their methods would be the same as yours. I think they went through a handful of filters per bottle of vodka though.

[chiefdanfox]

So I read on a thread
somewhere ...
that you could buy cheap alcohol (possibly vodka, i dunno)
and run it thru a water filter (like a Brita)
and it would improve the taste/smoothness?
I have no clue.
Just wondering if this is legit
Thanks for your input!

or you could actually become the filter, and be one with the input crappy vodka, and the essential vodka-sense, and also the final vodka betrayal. You could be one with the three faces of vodka; like a vodka Janus, if you will.

[Captain Goddammit]

I was gonna offer to filter your vodka.

[Isotopia]

I'm Adam Savage, and I approve this vodka.

We will serve no vodka before it's sold.

[CapSmashy]

You are up ther ein the land of Crater Lakes Vodka goodness.

[ZaphodBurner]

So I read on a thread
somewhere ...
that you could buy cheap alcohol (possibly vodka, i dunno)
and run it thru a water filter (like a Brita)
and it would improve the taste/smoothness?
I have no clue.
Just wondering if this is legit
Thanks for your input!

Yeah, it works. Actually, the cheaper the alcohol the more dramatic the improvement. I've only heard it done with vodka.

One factor, as somebody else mentioned here, is that after the first taste of vodka your taste buds are numbed and you can't taste as much for awhile. So if you're doing a taste test between two or three samples, by the second or third sample you've nuked much of your ability to tell the difference.

Regardless, the more impurities you can get out of the alcohol, the lesser your chance of a hangover or sickness (assuming you don't dehydrate or poison yourself.)

[Ugly Dougly]

To purify hard liquor, you'd want to remove the fusel alcohols.
I don't see how any filter would help with this. Maybe set up a solar still.

[capjbadger]

OR....

Buy good booze!

BTW, it's not going to help your hangover. hangover is 95% simple dehydration. 2 waters for every alcohol and you'll be fine.

Badger

[JezebelinHell]

Carbohydrates and sugars are also really good, if you can remember to consume them before bed. The best hangover-prevention bedtime snack is milk and cookies. No joke. Plenty of water of course too.

[Marscrumbs]

Activated carbon/charcoal filtration? Isn't that how they filter
Vodka commericiallY. So why not. Alternative is triple distillation.

[capjbadger]

Activated carbon/charcoal filtration? Isn't that how they filter
Vodka commericiallY. So why not. Alternative is triple distillation.

Why not? Because filtering your own costs more that the extra cost of buying good stuff in the first place.

Badger

[JezebelinHell]

Yeah, what he said. Either buy good vodka, or grimace and drink cheap vodka. Call me lame and girly but I think most vodka tastes like rubbing alcohol anyway. I stay away from the gut-rot shit in plastic jugs, but I'm fine with all the mid-level semi-respectible booze.

[ZaphodBurner]

OR....

Buy good booze!

BTW, it's not going to help your hangover. hangover is 95% simple dehydration. 2 waters for every alcohol and you'll be fine.

Badger

That's an excellent rule of thumb, but some hangover elements have to do with unfiltered toxins. They cause headaches and nausea, which unfortunately are the same symptoms as dehydration, and usually accompany it.

An extreme example of this would be drinking undistilled versus distilled absinthe. Drinking the extra water not only rehydrates the system, it also helps flush the toxins so no matter what, drinking water is the key.

-c

[capjbadger]

OR....

Buy good booze!

BTW, it's not going to help your hangover. hangover is 95% simple dehydration. 2 waters for every alcohol and you'll be fine.

Badger

That's an excellent rule of thumb, but some hangover elements have to do with unfiltered toxins. They cause headaches and nausea, which unfortunately are the same symptoms as dehydration, and usually accompany it.

An extreme example of this would be drinking undistilled versus distilled absinthe. Drinking the extra water not only rehydrates the system, it also helps flush the toxins so no matter what, drinking water is the key.

-c

You pick up a lot of "drinking wisdom" when you have worked ren faires for as long as I have.
Yep yep. Water it the key. Hell, out on the playa where you are losing tons of water already, better make that 4 waters to every alcohol.

Another little ditty to help keep you from getting sick:
"Beer before Liquor, never been sicker.
Liquor before Beer, have no fear."
YMMV on that one. Never seemed to matter to my stomach, but then I'm an odd duck.

And make sure you have solid food before you go drinking. Drinking on an empty stomach is just asking for a bad night...

Badger

[mojo]

Crappy vodka - so just drink the fuckin' tequila.

[zabsinth]

i've done one side-by-side taste test - $8 vodka run through a britta filter once.


there's a clear and obvious difference.

but if you're planning to mix drinks, just get some everclear and distilled water.

or better yet, everclear and ???