From Ingredient to Bottle: The Journey of Our Florena Vodka

In this article we are going to describe the production of our award-winning vodka Florena

Curve.  It is organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, corn-based and extremely smooth vodka.

Distillation

It all starts with distillation.  We use stainless steel still machine, with 4 copper bubble plates.  It took us quite some time to figure out the correct setting of the temperature inside the still in order to be able to carefully separate heads, hearts and tails. 

We don’t want any heads in our product because heads contain acetone, formaldehyde and other dangerous components.  Tails are rich in heavier alcohol compounds such as oils.  For vodka production we want only hearts, the cleanest and most desirable spirit, rich in ethanol. 

It is relatively easy to identify the heads as they are very smelly.  It is much harder to determine when hearts turn into tails.  Smell of tails is barely noticeable – tasting a small sample would be the best idea.

Watering

The ABV (alcohol by volume) produced by still is much higher than 40%.  As a matter of fact, according to TTB regulations, distillate must have an ABV of at least 95% to be able to be used to make vodka.  To turn the distillate (called GNS or grain neutral spirit) into vodka, we need to water it down to 40%.  And, since 60% of the vodka is water, our water should be of the highest possible quality.

To achieve cleanest water, we use RO (reverse osmosis method) with UV (ultra-violet) sterilization.  RO filters out chemicals, dissolved solids and other particles.  UV light kills bacteria, viruses and other microbes.  We measure suspended particles for every batch of our vodka.  To give a comparison, tap water will often have more than 100 particles per million, bottled water will have 30 or so, and our water for vodka will have 1 or 2 particles per million.

Filtering

We always filter our vodka before bottling.  There are a couple of important considerations.

First is the filtering material.  We have tried several exotic ones including sand and volcanic rocks.  However, we have found that the best one is coconut shell granular activated carbon charcoal.

Second is the filtering parameters.  There are 3 of them: temperature of the vodka, speed of flow through the filter, and finally, amount of filtering material per volume of vodka to filter.

While we consider our filtering parameters a commercial secret, here is a hint.  Lower temperature, slower speed and excessive amount of filtering material will result in better filtering.  If you are not happy with the smoothness of the product, filter twice and compare the quality.  If you notice any difference, then the filtering parameters are incorrect.

Another hint would be to use a fiber filter after the carbon.  A fiber filter is not enough to clean the vodka, but it is good to catch small pieces of carbon.

Mixing

Always mix the contents of the container right before bottling.  The reason is very simple.  It is because ethanol is lighter than water and wants to concentrate on the top of the container.  The difference could be significant.  In our smaller, 300-liter containers, the ABV at the top could be 42%, while ABV at the bottom could be 38%.  Mixing ensures an equal distribution of ethanol and water within the container.

Bottling

The final stage is bottling.  With the following procedure, we can make about a pallet of Florena Curve within 4 hours.  Our bottling consists of 5 stations, typically, with one person per station.  Prior to bottling, we have to bring the pallet with empty bottles and prepare a pallet for final product.  We also connect the container with vodka to the filling station and either gravity feed or use a pump to fill the bottle filler.

The first station is washing - we wash bottles thoroughly from inside, 12 bottles at a time (case).  The second station is filling - our filler fills up to 4 bottles at the same time and automatically stops when bottles have 750ml of liquid inside.  The third station is corking – we use standard t-corks.  The fourth station would be capsuling – when a person applies an aluminum tin using a spinner.  The fifth station typically would be for labeling, but since Florena Curve bottle has a pre-printed silk screen label, the person on this station will put 12 bottles into the box, seal the box and stack the box onto the pallet. 

At this point, the product is ready to be shipped to a distributor.  However, if the product needs to stay in your warehouse for a while, you have to ensure that cases are stored upright in a cool place.  Excessive temperatures may cause thermal expansion to the point that vodka could push the cork out the bottle.

Result

The result of the above process is Florena Curve, the vodka that won medals in every competition we sent it to.  It was awarded silver medals in USA Spirits Ratings, gold medals in Los Angeles International Spirits competition and gold medals in New York International Spirits competition.