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If you're reading this, I assume you are interested in the theoretical transformation of a relatively weak alcoholic mixture into a relatively strong alcoholic mixture. That is, the distillation of whisky.
If you don't know about the early stages of whisky distillation, here is a quick round-up:
Take some grain, and allow it to sprout. Just as it starts to sprout, quickly kill it by drying. It is now a "malted grain". Mix the malted grain with hot water and stir until you get bored - you are dissolving the sugars from the grain into the water. Filter out the solids, and add yeast. Keep the mixture slightly warm (and sealed from the air) until the yeast has turned the sugar into alcohol. You now have a wash that is ready to be distilled. Apparently, the wash has a strength and taste similar to beer, so maybe you would like to start there.
Distillation is the process of separating a mixture of liquids with different boiling points. In this case, we're trying to separate ethanol (alcohol) from water. Pure ethanol boils at 78.4oC, and pure water boils at 100oC, so heating the wash will make the ethanol boil off first.
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A still has three separate parts - something to heat the liquid, something to help water vapours condense before they escape the apparatus and something to cool and trap the alcoholic vapours.
I will refer to these parts as the vat, column and condenser. You also need a thermometer with a scale that goes to at least +100oC.
Legal point: It is illegal to manufacture spirits in the UK without a distiller's licence which is required under the provisions of section 12 of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 and this includes manufacture for "own/domestic use". For this reason, my images are a mixture of diagrams and stock photos. This goes against the usual practice here, but I kind of want to keep my job, and if I did it for real, images posted here can (in a UK court of law) be used as evidence against me. Before constructing your still, you must check local licensing laws to ensure you are not committing an offence, or obtain a distiller's license.
Since this is more a guide to function than form, you may choose to use different materials to those suggested, such as paying out for all-copper fittings. This is by no means an exhaustive tutorial, so if you are planning to produce quality drinking-spirits on a regular basis (as opposed to something merely flammable), you may even want to invest in a purpose-built still. Just remember (again) that, in the majority of countries where you can read this Instructable, you need to check the legality of distilling alcoholic beverages for personal use.
I will refer to these parts as the vat, column and condenser. You also need a thermometer with a scale that goes to at least +100oC.
Legal point: It is illegal to manufacture spirits in the UK without a distiller's licence which is required under the provisions of section 12 of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 and this includes manufacture for "own/domestic use". For this reason, my images are a mixture of diagrams and stock photos. This goes against the usual practice here, but I kind of want to keep my job, and if I did it for real, images posted here can (in a UK court of law) be used as evidence against me. Before constructing your still, you must check local licensing laws to ensure you are not committing an offence, or obtain a distiller's license.
Since this is more a guide to function than form, you may choose to use different materials to those suggested, such as paying out for all-copper fittings. This is by no means an exhaustive tutorial, so if you are planning to produce quality drinking-spirits on a regular basis (as opposed to something merely flammable), you may even want to invest in a purpose-built still. Just remember (again) that, in the majority of countries where you can read this Instructable, you need to check the legality of distilling alcoholic beverages for personal use.
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A distillery was built a couple of hours drive from me -they could not, under UK law, call the stuff they sold "whisky" until it had been in barrels for five years. Before that, it was "distilled spirits".
a note of caution
One brance of my family tree was in the Appalachian mountains of Virginia, US. They were not well liked by revenuers but they were by their customers. Some people thought it was okay to use just anything to distil spirits. Its not. For fuel use its probably fine but if anyone on here is planning on drinking anything then please read the following.
The stills built by my ancestors were all copper, assembled with fold joints, copper rivets and sealed with a paste made from corn starch, flour and cat tail fluff. The still was heated slowly to cure the paste and no solder was ever used on any of the connections. Where possible the copper was formed to a tight joint that really didn't need much help in sealing.
heated alcohol can and will disolve lead out of solder or even eventually from harder alloys. Do a search on pewter's contribution to lead poisoning in history.
Heat, steam, and alcohol vapour can leach out undesireable substances from materials not suited to distillation. Not all epoxies are chemically inert when set and may result in a contaminated end product. Even chemically inert epoxies may become chemically active if the user exceeds the epoxy's heat limitations.
Some brass contains small amounts of lead, especially brass which comes from certain asian countries and therfore should not be used for standard food or beverage containers much less under the conditions encountered during distillation.
I count most of you folks as friends I'd like to keep all of you around as long as possible :p
Note to HG341, lead free solder is not safe for this application either. It will react the same as steel does.
And note on another side: medical treatment for anti-freeze poisoning is pure ETOH (aka ethanol) intravenously given only under strict medical supervision and monitoring.
Also, I see a lot of comments about solder & flux, etc... What about welding? I work with a bunch of PED welders that would give me a hand...
please let me know the whole process & quantity ratio of sugar, water, yeast etc for 40 litre.
Mail at sirnava@gmail.com
Thanks
When first using my still, how do I calibrate the amount of methanol that will come off before I reach the ethanol? Thanks for your help.
There were still Coors stains on the ceiling in my room when my parents sold the house.
(Wort is part of the beer-brewing process.)
Still pots don't explode! tell that to the 5 Eastern Europeans recently killed in Boston Lincs.
Your picture of the pressure cooker seems to show the safety valve which you say don't bother if it gets blocked - Whereas in a perfect world the system isn't pressurised there are circumstances where it might be and so the safety valve is a good - Ummm -Safety feature.
I have 'heard' you can distil alcohol in the freezer freezing the water and then pour off the Alcohol. You could do this in a PET soda bottle. There are Turbo yeasts that produce higher levels of alcohol.