Build a Whisky Still

Step 5: Operation

Put your wash in the vat, close it, and gently heat it (over the stove, campfire, whatever - heat is heat). Watch the thermometer rise.

As previously mentioned, ethanol boils at 78^oC. When the thermometer reaches this point, and remains steady, it means that the vapours surrounding it, and passing down the condenser is mainly alcohol, with some water.

Catch what drips out of the end of the condenser - that is your distilled spirit.

Keep an eye on the temperature. If it starts to rise above 78^oC, the bulk of the water is starting to boil, and the vapours you collect will now be making your spirits weaker. You also run the risk of concentrating fusel alcohols in your sprits.

(Fusel alcohols look slightly oily when they drip. If the drips from your still start to look odd, stop the process and save what you have so far.)

How much can you expect to collect?

If you are starting with an alcoholic content of 5% ABV (as many reasonable bitters are), then you will get only around 5% of the volume you put in the vat. That is, one fluid once per pint of wash.

Comments

[techno guy]

So can you just directly burn whatever comes out as the final product?

[zhenpenthaye]

Rectifier: I'm not sure about what you call the "Acetone" coming out of the still after the main product:) Acetone has a boiling point of 58 degrees C, so you should have cleared all of it in the headings.

[brickb]

No plastics, no lead, no cadmium, chuck out the first 200ml, taste it, smell it . Use a reflux still. be safe have fun, REAEARCH!!!!

[Rectifier]

You didn't mention, but you want to discard the first 100ml (at least!) of your run. That will contain almost all the methanol/formaldehyde/acetaldehyde content and most of the ethyl acetate. This will cut down on that "moonshine smell" and greatly diminish the hangover. I segmented my runs into 500mL jars and blended based on smell/taste as well as %ABV as a guideline. That avoids contaminating a larger batch with rotten fusel oils, because a little of them go a long way! I generally pitched the first 250mL, kept a few litres to drink, and kept the rest to redistill when I got enough of them. I don't distill anymore because I now live in a small apartment. :( However, maybe I should have tried to write an instructable on it! I've built both a potstill (rum and whiskey), reflux column (neutral spirits, aka vodka, as a feedstock for gin) and a continuous-feed reflux column (an attempt to produce fuel - wasn't economical but sure was neat to run) Nah, too busy this week.

[Kiteman]

The presence of methanol etc in moonshine is a common (and largely American) myth.

Methanol is formed naturally by fermentation processes, but in incredibly small, trace amounts, well below levels where their effects can even be felt, let alone harmful. There is no formaldehyde, acetaldehyde or ethyl acetate formed in fermentation.

The myth hangs over from the days of prohibition, when unscrupulous "whisky" makers would add all sorts of unpleasant chemicals to try and disguise the alcohol content to the authorities, or make their product taste like "real" whisky, rum or whatever.

You will note that, although there have been illicit stills in the UK and Europe for as long as in the US (for as long as governments have tried to tax spirits), there are no associated stories of blindness etc caused by the strange things made in the still, because the illicit stills were not driven so far "underground" as they were in the US.

In fact, I was just recently reading about a distiller of illegal whisky who based himself in the slate mines of Honister Pass as a "front". His product was of such high quality that local dignitaries and police colluded to hide him and his activities from the Excise.

Modern instances of poisoning by non-ethanol compounds in illicit booze have been mis-reported as being from stills; they are from "punches", made up of fruit juices made intoxicating by the addition of cheap denatured alcohol, white spirits or antifreeze (do you remember the scandal involving french wines some years ago, where a vineyard had added antifreeze to its wines to make them palatable?).

[JakeNotCliff]

Methanol poisoning can easily be avoided here. Methanol boils at 64.7 °C, or 148.4 °F. Ethanol boils at 173 °F. Simply throw away any product that evaporates (and recondenses) before roughly 160°F. Doing so closer to 173°F will yield even purer shine, though you will have less product in the end. Also, promptly remove the wash from heat after the temperature rises above 200°F (after plateauing at 173ish°F for however long it takes to distill roughly 40% of the wash's original volume). Anything that evaporates at over 200°F is either water or toxic. Either way, it pollutes your shine and makes for a brutal hangover.

[Rishnai]

It was not a myth during Prohibition, as you point out. It still isn't a myth nowadays with unscrupulous moonshiners. Denatured alcohols are so much cheaper, so cutting the product would not suprise me. Even if they're not cutting, but aren't throwing out the heads, either, it wouldn't be fun to drink. There's one guy I met on a road trip once whose 'shine I wouldn't even be willing to pour in my tank, let alone drink. I made a point of getting the heck out of there and avoiding him! If I were to even consider drinking moonshine, I'd want to make sure I really know and trust the guy who made it. Too many ways to screw up, even if you're well-intentioned. Like using anything galvanized. Heating that stuff for soldering or welding is not fun, and quite bad for you if you inhale too much. I wouldn't want to try ingesting it...

[RFilyaw]

You're absolutely right about the true nature of poisoning, that is, using crap like denatured alcohol (purposely poisoned for legal reasons) and antifreeze to get a legal, yet illegal buzz. The fact of the matter is that as soon as the fermentation process is complete, you have beer/wine. Everything is in there, both the ethanol and the non-ethanol. distilling it doesn't change the chemical makeup, it simply separates the alcohol from the non-alcohol.

[Rectifier]

Also, those other compounds are present in fermentation. Just here is a link to an abstract describing a solution to the problem of ethyl acetate as a fermentation byproduct:

http://aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/68/6/2651

"Ethyl acetate is the most abundant ester produced by yeasts and is particularly difficult to separate from ethanol by distillation"

[Kiteman]

However, if you read the paper further, the high levels of ethyl acetate are produced by fermentation of sugars by genetically-modified E.Coli bacteria.

The clue is in the title: Decreasing the Level of Ethyl Acetate in Ethanolic Fermentation Broths of Escherichia coli KO11 by Expression of Pseudomonas putida estZ Esterase

The paper also states that ...many of these products are desirable as organoleptic agents and congeners in beverage alcohols....

[Rectifier]

True that nobody gets methanol poisoning anymore - however, it's also true that any fermented mash will contain a very small percentage of methanol created by pectin fermentation. This methanol is present mainly in undistilled fruit spirits - I think red wine is particularly high in it. This methanol will be concentrated in the "foreshots", or first ~100ml of an ordinary potstill batch, along with other compounds of lower boiling points. If you've ever sniffed foreshots, you know they contain many things that are NOT ethanol and even slightly tempting to drink. What little methanol is in the mash will not end up in the "moonshine", but it will end up in the "foreshots". This is why good moonshine contains so little methanol - it has been separated and thrown away by the distiller!

[Kiteman]

I've just thought - we may be at odds over volume - I've been discussing small-volume distillation (a gallon or two of wash, down to a half-bottle equivalent of spirits). Are you talking about large volumes (barrels)? BTW - Distilled French brandy has up to 750mg methanol per 100ml pure ethanol. Scotch whisky contains up to 26mg/100ml Plenty of safety margin on the whisky, yes?

[Rectifier]

Not barrels, but a bit larger - I'm talking about 20L of wash here, that's the largest capacity still I ran (a potstill made of an old corny keg with a heating element brazed into the base, and a liebeg condenser arm). I would tend to run off about a gallon jug of 60% product per batch, at a cost of about $3/gallon for rum (the easiest wash by far, molasses and sugar) - which was then watered down to 40%, yielding about a gallon and a half drinkable product.

I did a few whiskey batches but the effort in making a wash is so much higher, and aging time so much longer to get good whiskey, that I did mostly rum.

I never stilled for anyone but myself (and friends, not like anyone can drink a gallon of rum to themself!), but figured that controlling a larger still would be easier and less work per liter of booze (and it is, due to higher thermal mass and greater volumes involved). Also, I'll admit to having been ...a bit of a drunk at a few times in the past.

I agree that whiskey is very safe, as are rum, vodka and gin (oh, I would love to make gin!) and for that matter most of the "ordinary" spirits.

WRT brandy though - When I was doing research on methanol before getting into the hobby (seems we all have to do it to feel safe) - the only recorded cases of beverage alcohol methanol poisoning NOT involving adulteration of spirits were involving homemade brandy (particularly plum brandy), so it may be a genuine risk to make your own brandy.

This discussion is making me want to fire up one of my stills again. It's a real shame - I now share a 450sq ft apartment with my girlfriend while going to school - and there is no room for buckets of wash and huge kettles. :(

[Rectifier]

By the way, if anyone is wondering, I talk openly about this because I am not in the USA. It... may not be a good idea for people there to openly chat about personal distilling.

[RFilyaw]

It's true that the heads and tails (that is, typically methanol and acetone, respectively) will come significantly at the beginning and end of distillation when using batches that start out at approximately 10 gallons or so. At the beginning of the process, the temperature is below 78 degrees where methanol evaporates. It has a much stronger odor than ethanol, so when you stop smelling it, you can throw out what you've collected (but why? Makes great lighter fluid) and only keep what comes after that. Then the temperature levels out at 78 degrees, the evap. point of ethanol. Once a pungent smell has begun to arise again, you've reached your acetone stage, which has a higher evaporation temperature. At this point you can stop, since there's no good liquor left to be had. You can also pat yourself on the back for having a hangover-free spirit. Of course, this is how I understand it, and how it has been practiced, in the past.

[greatpen]

(removed by author or community request)

[Kiteman]

Agreed, but the iffy stuff in a still's make-up doesn't travel with the vapour - at worst, it will run back down the column into the wash, which you're going to throw away.

[RFilyaw]

I agree with that, but at the same time, you're never sure what chemical reactions might happen in stuff like that. You could end up with liquid Sarin gas or something, but I digress. Lead will never bond to any element to be light enough to make it all the way up the stack and into your drink. Other than that, just make sure you wash the hell out of whatever you're using, and you should be fine. Another good idea for a ready-made boiler is a water heater. They sell 12 gallon ones for about $200. (then again, they ALL seem like they're $200. All the way from like 6 gallons to 40)

[triggernum5]

Another way to look at it is distilling is an art.. You gotta take pride in your rig.. Sure an educated person could logically assess the risks of lead, but $5 worth of foodsafe solder/flux eliminates that need.. Also, heavy metals that travel back to the boiler can easily end up on the output side if the still is tilted etc.. Somebody too lazy to get proper materials is probably also too lazy to clean.. Lastly, these things will catalyze undesirable reactions in the boiler.. Sarin is doubtful, but I can tell from the flavor of the distillate if say an Aluminum boiler was used.. Oh, and some recipes like rum actually use boiler remains in the next fermentation for extra body.. Can't do that with a toxic still.. On that note, you can squeeze a few extra % out of the distillate by adding a bunch of salt to the boiler before distilling.. Doesn't add much harm to a well built still, but not good if you're reusing the backset..

[Kiteman]

Fit it with an immersion=heater, it's an electric still!

_{And you could fit a third tap in the kitchen - Hot, Cold and Malt}

[triggernum5]

If using an immersion heater it is CRITICAL that you monitor the liquid level.. Out of water their surface gets hot enough to ignite vapors.. But with that precaution its pretty ideal..

[Kiteman]

You could fit a ball-cock to top up the tank with tap-water as the level dropped. Or you could calculate the volume that would have gone when the distillation was complete, and set up a simple switch to cut power to the element at that point.

[triggernum5]

The fillup idea is idiotic (no offense) You'd dilute your wash.. Continuous flow stills do exist, but batch mode are by far superior for the hobbyist.. Sensor switches are tricky in an environment that vapour-laden as well, but could be engineered trustworthy with excessive testing.. I'd have trouble trusting a float mechanism in such a gunky environment.. Actually, since you'd have your heater inside, you could rig up a bathroom scale to trip it off safely.. But you shouldn't leave a still unattended anyway.. And as Uncle Jesse once said.. "Being around a still without a shotgun at your side, just ain't right..":)

[Kiteman]

Hey, it was just blue-sky.

[triggernum5]

Everybody brain farts.. Once I was annoyed at the constant need to empty a dehumidifier, and I actually ran the idea of evaprating it through my head for a few seconds before I smacked myself..:)

[RFilyaw]

Ah you just gave me an idea. That would make a cool automatic waterer for any kind of pet. Just run some kind of line from the reservoir to their dish. It beats anything I've seen on the market, so far. To the researchmobile!

[weesuzi]

Calf drinking troughs have a float switch are wall mountable and would be suitable for a large dog.
Looky here
http://www.rebuildings.co.uk/watering-systems/

[Kiteman]

Hmm..

If I had a cat or dog, and if Kitewife would let me (she won't), a small hole drilled in the reservoir of our tumble-dryer could provide pets with a regularly-refreshed reservoir of clean water.

However

It does eventually become unhealthy to drink distilled water and nothing else, as the purity slows osmosis, making it harder for Fido to absorb digested food, especially minerals.

(Apparently)