ENRICHING THE ALCOHOL CONCENTRATION OF ALCOHOLIC FERMENTATION

Alcoholic beverages produced by fermentation are common among many countries throughout the world. The various types of alcoholic beverages produced by various countries are more a reflection of the differences in the type of carbon substrate used in the fermentation rather than the differences in the biochemistry of the alcoholic fermentation itself. Thus it’s not surprising that different names are given to different alcoholic fermentation from sake, tuak, arak, wine, toddy to even beers among others
Of course some of these alcoholic drinks are expensive while there are others which are cheap. This depends to a degree on the characteristics of the fermentation process and its products. Not withstanding that, all these alcoholic beverages are characterized often by the concentration of their alcohol or to be more precise its ethanol content.
It is a fact that refined alcoholic drinkers go for more than just the alcohol content but for the bouquet and other characteristics while the more hardened alcohol drinkers will go for alcoholic drinks which are very high in their alcohol content.
If we go to the hypermarkets or shops selling these alcoholic drinks we generally see a range of alcohol concentration. Beers are about 4% alcohol and wine can go higher.
Whiskies, rums and gins will have alcohol content that can send you into state of comatose or drunken stupor if you a first time alcoholic drinker
It is not uncommon to see people with problems or facing hardships will try to find solace in these drinks. The stronger the drink in terms of alcohol the better it is for them. But in reality the alcoholic drinks will never solve their real problems…..! It is not uncommon therefore to see these drunkards making a fool of themselves under the control of alcohol. But on the positive side there are many who claim chilli crabs tastes fantastic with alcohol!
Due to the search for higher alcohol content drinks many attempt to increase the alcohol content by trying to remove or reduce the water content of the alcoholic drink.
There are basically two methods to do this. In both methods you do need to appreciate some understanding of chemistry on the topics of miscibility and boiling points and freezing points
First method is by distillation. The distillation process has been used since ancient times to produce alcoholic drinks with a higher alcohol content. In distillation process the fermented solution is heated to certain temperature to form vapour. The vapour having higher content is cooled with higher enrichment of alcohol.
The second method is by controlled freezing of the fermentation products. As ice is solidifying, the concentration of alcohol in solution will remain higher
It should be warned here that these processes might be illegal in certain countries. So please check your laws



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