what s the main raw ingredient in vodka?

Answer 1

Water.

80 proof vodka is:
40% ethanol
59.something or other% water
0.something% various impurities (flavor and such)

As for the source of ethanol, I've seen vodka made from wheat, rye, potato, soy, and grapes.

Answer 2

Vodka can be made from ANY ferment-able matter. It must be distilled to +90% (ethanol) so it contains little to no flavor (neutral) then watered down to 40%. The most economical & popular are cane (or beet) sugar & grains (wheat, oats, rice, etc). Potato vodka (sadly) is very rare these days. Some vodka is a by-broduct of the bio-fuel industry. They might re-distill it & carbon filter to remove any unwanted flavor.


Edit: After thinking about this for a while & seeing a couple other correct answers, the true answer is WATER. Simply distilling to 40% would yield the most horrible tasting stuff. Pure water is added to 90-95% spirit. If a vodka has any character, the water is where it comes from.

Answer 3

The main raw ingredient is water. As well as the final drink being mainly water (usually 60% by volume) much more water than this is used during its production. Water will be mixed with the grain (usually malted barley) during mashing to convert its starch to sugars. Some water will be lost during this process by absorption into the grain and evaporation. This is then fermented to produce an alcoholic "beer" which then has to be distilled to increase the alcohol content i.e. effectively remove even more water.
It is generally estimated that it takes 5 pints of water to produce a pint of beer. Because of the distillation process it will take much more water than this to produce the same volume of vodka. So, by a large margin, water is the main raw ingredient of vodka (and beer).

Answer 4

Vodka is the dominant spirit of Eastern Europe. It is made by fermenting and then distilling the simple sugars from a mash of pale grain or vegetal matter. Vodka is produced from grain, potatoes, molasses, beets, and a variety of other plants. Rye and wheat are the classic grains for Vodka, with most of the best Russian Vodkas being made from wheat while in Poland they are mostly made from a rye mash. Swedish and Baltic distillers are partial to wheat mashes. Potatoes are looked down on by Russian distillers, but are held in high esteem by some of their Polish counterparts. Molasses, a sticky, sweet residue from sugar production, is widely used for inexpensive, mass-produced brands of Vodka. American distillers use the full range of base ingredients.

Distillation of Vodka
The choice of pot or column still has a fundamental effect on the final character of Vodka. All Vodka comes out of the still as a clear, colorless spirit, but Vodka from a pot still (the same sort used for Cognac and Scotch whisky) will contain some of the delicate aromatics, congeners, and flavor elements of the crop from which it was produced. Pot stills are relatively "inefficient," and the resulting spirit from the first distillation is usually redistilled (rectified) to increase the proof of the spirit. Vodka from a more "efficient" column still is usually a neutral, characterless spirit.

Except for a few minor styles, Vodka is not put in wooden casks or aged for an extensive period of time. It can, however, be flavored or colored with a wide variety of fruits, herbs, and spices.

Answer 5

There are only a few vodkas made with potatoes. Most are wheat, rye or other grains.

Answer 6

Potatoes.

Answer 7

Vodka was originally made with wheat in Russia(vodka in russian is water)....Poland and other European countries use potatos. Asian countries will use rice

Answer 8

Yup! Potatoes!

Answer 9

Ferented potato's

Answer 10

Corn, potatoes, molasses, barley, rye and wheat