The dangers of home brewed liquor

Nowadays, many people are afraid of drinking fake wine and start to learn how to make wine by themselves. However, there are many harmful substances in the liquor they brew themselves. Some of them are brought in from the raw materials, and some are harmful substances produced during the fermentation process. Like many fermented items, formaldehyde is also produced during the fermentation process of liquor. If these harmful substances are not handled, they will

Harm to our body, today let us look at the dangers of homemade liquor.

In the production of liquor, some harmful impurities are bound to be produced. Some are brought in by the raw materials, and some are produced during the fermentation process. For these harmful substances, measures must be taken to reduce their content in the liquor.

(1) Fusel oil

Fusel oil is one of the aromatic components of wine, but if its content is too high, it will be toxic to people. Its poisoning and anesthetic effects are stronger than ethanol. It can cause congestion of the nervous system and headaches. Its toxicity increases with the increase of molecular weight. Fusel oil oxidizes slower in the body than ethanol and stays in the body longer.

The main components of fusel oil are isoamyl alcohol, pentanol, isobutanol, propanol, etc., among which isobutanol and isoamyl alcohol are more toxic. When the protein content in the raw materials is high, the fusel oil content in the wine is also high. The boiling point of fusel oil is generally higher than that of ethanol (the boiling point of ethanol is 78°C, that of propanol is 97°C, and that of isoamyl alcohol is 131°C). When distilling liquor, the temperature should be controlled, and the head and tail should be cut off to reduce the fusel oil content in the finished liquor.

(ii) Aldehydes

Aldehydes in wine are oxides of alcohols of corresponding molecular size and are also produced during the fermentation process of liquor. Low-boiling-point aldehydes include formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, etc., and high-boiling-point aldehydes include furfural, butyraldehyde, valeraldehyde, hexanal, etc. Aldehydes are more toxic than alcohols, and the most toxic one is formaldehyde, which is about 30 times more toxic than methanol. It is a protoplasmic poison that can cause protein coagulation. 10 grams of formaldehyde can kill a person. In the event of acute poisoning, symptoms such as coughing, chest pain, burning sensation, dizziness, loss of consciousness and vomiting may occur.

Furfural is also toxic to the human body. When husks, corn cobs and bran are used as auxiliary materials, the content of furfural and other aldehydes in the distilled liquor is relatively high.

In order to reduce the aldehyde content in liquor production, less rice bran and rice husk should be used, or the auxiliary materials should be steamed in advance. When distilling wine, strictly control the flow temperature of the wine and cut off the head and tail to reduce the total aldehyde content in the wine.

(III) Methanol

When liquor is brewed with raw materials rich in pectin, it will contain a large amount of methanol. Methanol is highly toxic to the human body, and 4 to 10 grams can cause serious poisoning. In particular, methanol's oxides, formic acid and formaldehyde, are more toxic than methanol. Formic acid is 6 times more toxic than methanol, while formaldehyde is 30 times more toxic than methanol. If you drink too much liquor, methanol will accumulate in the body and is not easily excreted. Its metabolic products in the body are formic acid and formaldehyde, so even a very small amount of methanol can cause chronic poisoning. In the event of acute poisoning, symptoms such as headache, nausea, stomach pain, blurred vision, etc. may appear. If the condition continues to develop, breathing difficulties, paralysis of the respiratory center, coma, and even death may occur. The main symptoms of chronic poisoning are mucosal irritation, dizziness, drowsiness, headache, digestive disorders, blurred vision and tinnitus, even leading to blindness.

The amount of methanol produced is closely related to the raw materials used in making liquor. In order to reduce the methanol content of liquor, the following measures can be taken:

(1) Choose overripe or rotten fruits, potatoes and wild plants (such as acorns) as raw materials. They have a high pectin content. If these raw materials are used to make wine, the methanol content will be high. You should choose fruit

Use raw materials with less pectin to make wine in order to reduce the methanol content.

(2) When using black koji as a saccharifying agent, the methanol content of the finished wine is also high because black koji contains more pectinase. If Huangqu is used as a saccharifying agent, the methanol content of the finished wine will be low because it contains less pectinase.

(3) Taking advantage of the fact that methanol is easy to separate when the alcohol concentration is high, the alcohol concentration can be increased by increasing the number of tower plates or the reflux ratio, thereby extracting methanol from the alcohol. During distillation, if the reflux ratio is controlled at 1:10-1:20, methanol can be separated. For example, if the white wine contains 0.18-0.2% methanol, the methanol content can be reduced to below 0.12% by distilling out 3% of the alcohol. A methanol distillation tower may also be provided to remove methanol.

(IV) Lead

Lead is a highly toxic heavy metal. Even 0.04 grams of lead can cause acute poisoning, and 20 grams can be fatal. Acute poisoning caused by lead through alcohol is relatively rare, and it is mainly chronic cumulative poisoning. If a person consumes 10 mg of lead per day, poisoning can occur in a short period of time. Current regulations stipulate that the maximum amount of lead that can enter the human body within 24 hours is 0.2-0.25 mg. As the amount of lead entering the human body increases, headaches, dizziness, memory loss, poor sleep, weakened hand grip, anemia, abdominal distension and constipation may occur.

The lead contained in liquor mainly comes from the dissolution of lead in the distiller, condensation duct and liquor storage container. The higher the lead content of the above utensils and the higher the acidity of the wine, the greater the lead dissolution of the utensils.

In order to reduce the lead content of liquor, try to use lead-free metals to hold liquor or make utensils and equipment. At the same time, production management should be strengthened to avoid contamination by acid-producing bacteria, because the higher the acidity of the wine, the greater the corrosion effect of lead. For liquor with too high lead content, gypsum or bran can be used for lead removal, so that the lead salt [Pb(CH3COO)2] in the liquor will agglomerate and precipitate together. Add 0.2% gypsum or bran to the liquor, stir evenly, let it stand for 1 hour and then filter it with multiple layers of flannel cloth. This can remove the lead in the liquor, but this treatment will affect the flavor of the liquor and it will need to be seasoned again.

(V) Cyanide

The cyanide in liquor mainly comes from raw materials, such as cassava, wild plants, etc., which are hydrolyzed to produce hydrogen cyanide during the liquor-making process. In mild cases of poisoning, symptoms include drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, and shortness of breath. In more serious cases, the patient may have difficulty breathing, whole body convulsions, and coma, and die within a few minutes to two hours.

Removal method: The raw materials should be pre-processed and fully soaked in water, and as much steam as possible should be exhausted during cooking. The raw materials can also be dried in the sun to eliminate most of the cyanide. You can also add about 2% black koji to the raw materials, maintain about 40% moisture, stir evenly at about 50°C, pile up and keep warm for 12 hours, then steam for 45 minutes to expel hydrogen cyanide. The raw materials are crushed finely and the removal effect is better.