Fahryt is using the cold knife blade to fractionally-crystalize out the water and (water-soluble) fragrances.
(Personally, I don't think that method will work well, but that's just a gut feeling.)
It actually works pretty fine, given slow enough pour, long enough surface and cold enough temperature. There's a reason alcohol (methanol) was made into antifreeze, and in fact apple jack (hard cider) was made by this freezing method. Just like when you freeze sugar water, the sugar would be squeezed out from the resulting ice because ice is (mainly) a pure crystal, meaning it will only accept water molecules to continue growing, and thus pushes the impurities out.
Supercooling the liquid would give you a better chance of this stunt succeeding, but that's just extra step.
It actually works pretty fine, given slow enough pour, long enough surface and cold enough temperature. There's a reason alcohol (methanol) was made into antifreeze, and in fact apple jack (hard cider) was made by this freezing method. Just like when you freeze sugar water, the sugar would be squeezed out from the resulting ice because ice is (mainly) a pure crystal, meaning it will only accept water molecules to continue growing, and thus pushes the impurities out.
The problem is that fractional crystallization does well in removing water (that is fine to drink) but not the other stuff that you don't want to drink like fragrances, plant extracts (hormones and enzymes, usually, for plant tonics), methanol (if cheap 'grade' of denatured alcohol, not supposed to be used in cosmetics but still common in some places), and other nasty and potentially poisonous stuff. Fractional crystallization actually concentrates all those undesirable stuff. Which is why applejack and other freeze 'distilled' liquors have higher levels of MeOH (note that MeOH also forms naturally during brewing, form pectins), causing more severe hangover symptoms. (Under certain conditions they can even have enough MeOH to be dangerous).
This is assuming you are freezing them in a closed or semi-closed container (such that evaporation is negligible) like for making applejack. And that ethanol levels in the tonic is even diluted enough in the first place that it can be concentrated. Otherwise it won't even freeze. IIRC at -30 degrees Celsius you can only concentrate a Water/EtOH mixture to around ~23% w/w or so. So, yeah, it's impractical, especially since most cosmetics/extracts that need to use alcohol to dissolve the active ingredients usually use far more concentrated EtOH/water solutions (>40%, I'll say). Unless it's one of those naturopathic 'homeopathic dilution' snake oils where they just mix whatever they want.
Of course, maybe in Russia you're forced to use lower concentrations of EtOH, to dissuade people from drinking it. I dunno.
The above assumes you're using a (semi)closed container where the alcohol can't evaporate much. If you're pouring dribbling tiny amounts of it down a knife blade exposed to the cold dry Siberian wind, you get a lot of evaporation losses. And the more volatile components (e.g. ethanol) will evaporate preferentially. In essence this fractional evaporation works works at cross purposes with the fractional crystallization you're trying to do.
So, yeah, assuming the temp is even cold enough to concentrate the tonic further, you're better off just letting it freeze into a slush in a plastic bag and then cutting a hole to let it drip melt instead (like how the liquid portion of your slushie gets sweeter over time, and vice versa for the ice portion).
Rathurue said:
Supercooling the liquid would give you a better chance of this stunt succeeding, but that's just extra step.
This is even worse; you'll end up with a bunch of tiny dendritic (treelike) ice crystals that wind up trapping the 'mother liquor' you need, which is again counterproductive. You'll likely end up with, well, hard slush stuck to the knife. Or maybe soft slush tumbling into the glass tumbler. Like how you make a DIY slushie without a dedicated machine by pouring supercooled (in the freezer) coke/soda/beer. (yes, these 'slushify' easier due to the gas bubbles, but even distilled water can work.)
Crystallization can't be done too quickly if you actually want to purify stuff.
Of course, the above are just my gut feeling based on personal experience in chemistry (no modeling, data, math, etc. in this particular case). Maybe this technique actually can work under those conditions, or maybe people just do it for placebo effect, or maybe this is just something Misumi-sensei cooked up.
The problem is that fractional crystallization does well in removing water (that is fine to drink) but not the other stuff that you don't want to drink like fragrances, plant extracts (hormones and enzymes, usually, for plant tonics), methanol (if cheap 'grade' of denatured alcohol, not supposed to be used in cosmetics but still common in some places), and other nasty and potentially poisonous stuff. Fractional crystallization actually concentrates all those undesirable stuff. Which is why applejack and other freeze 'distilled' liquors have higher levels of MeOH (note that MeOH also forms naturally during brewing, form pectins), causing more severe hangover symptoms. (Under certain conditions they can even have enough MeOH to be dangerous).
This is assuming you are freezing them in a closed or semi-closed container (such that evaporation is negligible) like for making applejack. And that ethanol levels in the tonic is even diluted enough in the first place that it can be concentrated. Otherwise it won't even freeze. IIRC at -30 degrees Celsius you can only concentrate a Water/EtOH mixture to around ~23% w/w or so. So, yeah, it's impractical, especially since most cosmetics/extracts that need to use alcohol to dissolve the active ingredients usually use far more concentrated EtOH/water solutions (>40%, I'll say). Unless it's one of those naturopathic 'homeopathic dilution' snake oils where they just mix whatever they want.
Of course, maybe in Russia you're forced to use lower concentrations of EtOH, to dissuade people from drinking it. I dunno.
The above assumes you're using a (semi)closed container where the alcohol can't evaporate much. If you're pouring dribbling tiny amounts of it down a knife blade exposed to the cold dry Siberian wind, you get a lot of evaporation losses. And the more volatile components (e.g. ethanol) will evaporate preferentially. In essence this fractional evaporation works works at cross purposes with the fractional crystallization you're trying to do.
So, yeah, assuming the temp is even cold enough to concentrate the tonic further, you're better off just letting it freeze into a slush in a plastic bag and then cutting a hole to let it drip melt instead (like how the liquid portion of your slushie gets sweeter over time, and vice versa for the ice portion).
This is even worse; you'll end up with a bunch of tiny dendritic (treelike) ice crystals that wind up trapping the 'mother liquor' you need, which is again counterproductive. You'll likely end up with, well, hard slush stuck to the knife. Or maybe soft slush tumbling into the glass tumbler. Like how you make a DIY slushie without a dedicated machine by pouring supercooled (in the freezer) coke/soda/beer. (yes, these 'slushify' easier due to the gas bubbles, but even distilled water can work.)
Crystallization can't be done too quickly if you actually want to purify stuff.
Of course, the above are just my gut feeling based on personal experience in chemistry (no modeling, data, math, etc. in this particular case). Maybe this technique actually can work under those conditions, or maybe people just do it for placebo effect, or maybe this is just something Misumi-sensei cooked up.
Well done, Tiny One!
With this, we can make alcohol!
I've brought over some hair tonic.
A Taste of the Liquor from the Motherland
First you head out to the cold outdoors.Then hold a knife above the decanter, with the blade pointing down.Dribble juuusta tiny smidgen of hair tonic on top,You don't have to do that even; I have alcohol here.and the water and fragrances will freeze when they touch the knife,allowing only alcohol to flow down into the decanter.
Voilà!
Here, it's wine I made, properly brewed from hair tonic.
Is it good?
This is HAIR TONIC!
We drink them warm instead of chilled in Japan, yeah.
Presumably meaning sake (traditionally served warm), and not, well, hair tonic.
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