/diy/ - Do It Yourself

Its a shit ton of work, and you have to make large batches at a time. Not to mention you could contaminate your batch with poison or blow yourself up.

The easiest thing would be to make wine then distill it.

SHERRY WINE

1½ cakes compressed yeast
3 lbs. seeded raisins
2 large white potatoes
2½ lbs. sugar
1 gal. boiled water 1
lb. whole wheat grains

Let water boil, then put aside to cool. Soak yeast in one and one-
half cups lukewarm water, stir until dissolved. Wash and peel
potatoes, run through meat grinder with raisins, add sugar, then
wheat. Mix well. Add dissolved yeast, then stir in gallon water.
Put in stone jar, cover and put aside three weeks, stirring every
day. Strain, bottle and cork same as blackberry wine.

I've noticed that grass clippings that shit in a pile start to smell like old beer. I wonder if they could be used to make a decent tasting alcohol

I've noticed that grass clippings that sit in a pile start to smell like old beer. I wonder if they could be used to make a decent tasting alcohol

Another day, another time I post this link. I should start charging a dollar for it.
http://www.homedistiller.org/

Apparently hard cider is somewhat easy to make, i hear

Mead is somewhat easy to make and can be adjusted to your liking by the addition of various fruits and spices ranging from maple syrup, cinnamon, orange peels and vanilla to various juices and even chili peppers.

For a tutorial on making it: http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Mead-Honey-Wine/ or http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Mead
For some local variants: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mead

Distillation is a bitch.

Start with beer or wine, then decide if you want to go from there.

I used a setup like the one in the picture to distill a bottle of whiskey i had lying around with cooking utensils i lying around.

It was easy. Just put it on the stove at a low temperature. If you're not sure what temperature do a test run with water and when it won't evaporate the water you'll have hit the mark.

It takes a while so if you're going to be distilling copious amounts of alcohol you'll need something more efficient.

>>111233
Only if you're a lazy incompetent cunt.

Pic related; it's everything you need to get started.

I've been stilling for years and I'm no genius. All you need is a moderate amount of alcoholism and a workspace and you'll be good to go. It's as safe as you want to make it - if you're capable of using a propane bbq you're capable of running a still.

That said, I can't be fucked with an exhaustive writeup when >>111162 has already posted the most important resource on the topic available on the web. When you've got a few batches under your belt you can download Rikus book about still design and start hanging around at the http://www.distilling.com/ forums to get a picture of how the little big guys do it.

Good luck! Don't listen to idiots and enjoy your drink.

>>111248
This is retarded and highly inefficient because there is only 1 theoretical plate. You will need to run multiple distillations to get anything close to hard alcohol.

>>111247
Much better design because of the packing. The packing gives multiple theoretical plates which makes it much more efficient.

Now I want to see someone do a DIY continuous distillation column with reboil and reflux.

>>111256
>Now I want to see someone do a DIY continuous distillation column with reboil and reflux.

You and everyone else.

As far as I know, the community has pretty much given up on that task. The best anyone has ever gotten was multiple 2" columns that are somehow equilibriated and run as one. Very difficult task in such a small system.

>>111258
Link to this?

I would think some educated moonshiner would have made a continuous distillation system that would fit in the back of a pickup.

>>111259
In the end it turns out to just work better if you batch it for the smaller-scale stuff.

Take a look at the yahoo distiller's group or the homedistiller.org forums. There are a number of threads about failed (but interesting nonetheless) attempts to continuously distill.

The essential problem is the expense and complicated nature of effective control systems. Just maintaining the proper charge in the boiler at the right temperature and %ABV is extremely difficult. Gravity-feed doesn't work. Ponder it for a while. It's a hard problem. You gotta realize that most continuous stills are the size of an oil refinery for a couple of reasons - the economy of scale, but also the chaotic complexity of these things are more easily managed at larger scales. Just making a wort gets really tricky because if you're not accounting for everything and making the wort the same each and every time it will fuck up the calibration of your still. That means rigorous control of whatever sugar/starch source you're using, active and accurate cooling of the fermenter, reliable water quality, accurate measurements with a refractometer, fanatical cleanliness, etc...

I've brewed wine once. It's quite easy, you just fill a large bucket with the ingredients and let it sit for 2 weeks or so. We got about 8% alcohol, and it was drinkable but really not super good.

reason it's vague is cuase it's usually info bootleggers start off when there starting off in small scale, can't just search it straight up to get good info.

Not OP here but I'm also interested in this, so I looked up some still designs and I came to two conclusions:

1. I don't know what the hell is going on with all the copper tubes and valves and things.
2. To build one of those things you apparently have to be a professional craftsman.

How doomed am I, and what are the chances that I'll ever hold a working still in my hands?

>>111248
Post pics of your still!

I once made a simple distiller from a 25 liter winemaking keg, a 300w warmer, and 5 metres of coppeer tubing. Made 95% alcohol with this baby

>>111322
looked like this

>>111307
Build a simple pot still then, don't fuck around with a reflux, VM or LM still until you have some clue what's going on.

Any dipshit can build a pot still.

>>111326
build one of these
>>111307
no particular skills required, cheap building cost, air cooled so no waterdamaging your home.

google "the spiral still", click first result