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According to the organoleptic properties, vodka must, at a minimum, meet the following requirements:
Appearance – transparent liquid without foreign inclusions and sediment;
Color – colorless;
Taste and aroma – have a soft, inherent vodka taste and a characteristic vodka aroma without foreign smell and taste.
Hard water, when mixed with alcohol, produces turbidity as a result of the precipitation of hardness salts, poorly soluble in water-alcohol solutions, which can serve as a text for identifying counterfeit vodkas.
According to the physical and chemical indicators, vodka must meet the requirements for the following indicators:
Strength
Alkalinity
Mass concentration of acetaldehyde
Mass of concentration fusel oil (1-propanol, 2-propanol, 1-butanol, isobutyl and isoamyl alcohols)
Mass concentration of esters (methyl acetate, ethyl acetate)
Volume fraction of methyl alcohol
Alcohol impurities are formed mainly during fermentation, impurities may also appear during distillation and rectification.
Up to 50 different substances have been found in raw alcohol, which can be divided into four main groups by chemical nature: alcohols, aldehydes, esters and acids. The nature of the impurities contained in alcohol and their quantity depend on:
the type of raw material and its quality;
the method of work adopted at the plant;
the equipment on which the work is carried out.
Fusel oil is formed as a by-product of alcoholic fermentation. The main components of fusel oil are higher alcohols: isoamyl, isobutyl and others.
Some types of ethyl alcohol impurities are formed during the process of water-heat treatment of raw materials, and their quantity depends on the severity of this treatment, i.e. on the temperature and duration of treatment. These include methyl alcohol, products of the terpene series.
The most common means and methods of vodka falsification are: full or partial replacement of drinking alcohol with cheaper technical alcohol; use of water that does not meet the technology requirements; dilution with water.
Aroma and taste that are not inherent in vodka, foreign foreign taste may be associated with the use of low-quality alcohol and its surrogates, poor processing with activated carbon. Insufficient transparency of vodka may be associated with the use of hard or poorly filtered water.
The presence of a number of foreign impurities is associated with the use of non-food alcohol: acetone is a sign of synthetic alcohol; increased content of ether, crotonaldehyde, sulfur compounds is observed in vodka prepared from technical hydrolysis alcohol.
In taste, this is manifested by the presence of burning tones, the presence of a sharp unpleasant odor. If the volume fraction of fusel oils contained in vodka exceeds 0.1%, then when rubbing it between your palms, a specific odor appears. Pure vodka does not have such a smell.
“Wagner” vodka was tested in a laboratory testing center for organoleptic and physical-chemical properties in accordance with regulatory requirements and was recognized as the best..