Home Distillation...Who does it and how ?

[xcvator]

As you know I am a law abiding citizen that hates a drink  but a neighbor at a camp gave me a sample of stuff he distilled from sugar and water, bunged in an addative flavouring  and geeze it was gooooooooood 
so now my interest has been aroused in this sort of thing  just never knew that distilled water could taste so good.
So, you guys out there that distill your own ah, water, can you give me some pointers on what to get,and where, and what not to get, what have you stuffed up and what really works for you
 

[robbo1172]

I'm also interested. I'd like to know rough setup costs.

Robbo


rockfactor.com.au

[GeoffA]

https://nationalhomebrew.com.au/spirits-topics/legal

Just saying......

[dales133]

Get superyeast from a home brew shop and mix it with water and sugar,ferment for a couple of days then run through an air still (evaporative water purifier).
Then you need to filter it or it tastes like bad sake.
You can get air stills out of china on ebay for 50 bucks or so.
Thats where i got mine

[xcvator]

https://nationalhomebrew.com.au/spirits-topics/legal

Just saying......

Nothing wrong with distilling water mate, and thanks for the link 

[listo]

I bought a "still spirits turbo500" from a brew shop in Strathpine for $700, but they're cheaper now. It's pretty time consuming but if you drink a bit, it'll make your money back.
The only reason I got mine was, I went form $45 per 1125 bundy to $70. Then I got into it a bit & bought extra buckets, a capper & bottle tree & went into beer too.
For the price of 8kg of sugar, a packet of turbo yeast, a bit of electricity & your time, you will get between 3.5 - 4.3 liters of alcohol ranging from 92-96% alcohol. With cooking off & cleaning, it takes me about 5 hours. I do cuts myself, I only get about 2.1-2.4 but the product is a lot smoother to drink & the difference is amazing. If you do get into it, send me a pm & I can explain it better, or even google it, but you won't be disappointed.
It's very rewarding when it works, but can be very disheartening when it doesn't. I haven't done it for a couple of months, but am just getting back into it myself.
I'm far from being a great brewer, but it'll be a good one to master if I can stay patient.
I hope that gives you something to go off.

[Bad Scott]

I have hear beer is more of a time bomb with exploding bottles for that extra kick than spirits.

[listo]

If you get your sugar right for the secondary fermentation, there's stuff all risk. I've only lost three... All in one hit while experimenting on making a lime fusion beer. I haven't had success yet.

[tk421]

Apparently the first two days of beer making are the same asking whiskey. Who knew?

And if you didn't want to make vodka, I definitely wouldn't do this: http://m.wikihow.com/Make-Vodka

[Troopy_03]

With beer, get yourself a few post mix kegs and keg it. Much better tasting beer and no washing bottles out. Also do double batches in a big fermenter. It is much better for temp stability and much more consistent brews. But the big thing is cleanliness. Sterilise everything you use and wash everything better than you would doing the dishes for the mrs  . OK well that is probably a difficult comparison for most of us, just was it really really clean lol

[scblack]

I home brew beer, and have kegs for dispensing. Good, quality, easy beer.

If you bottle, the only reason for exploding bottles is because you have bottled the beer before primary fermentation has ceased. So holding off a few days (or I go up to two/three weeks) before bottling will mean no bottle bombs. The sugar added at bottling should not create bombs.

As Troopy says, cleanliness is the most important factor. Followed by temperature control and using a quality yeast.

[Onion]

+1 scblack. I home brew beer too. Never had a bottle explode. I usually leave them 2x weeks. I have a fresh wort based Hefeweizen blurbling behind me as I type this 

[speewa158]

Bootlegin Bath Tub Gin Swillers                   

[listo]

Just out of interest for myself, in reference to exploding bottles. If I haven't waited long enough, is there a reason why it was only the three that I experimented with & not all 60?
Not trying to be smart about it, I'm interested to know & learn more about brewing too.

[xcvator]

In my original post I wasn't referring to beer  though it has a similar effect 

[listo]

Haha, I gave you all I know about spirits, which wasn't much...
It is worth the investment though & it'd be pretty cool at meets where there were a few Brewers together to share their drops & try others to see what works.

[Hefty]

Just out of interest for myself, in reference to exploding bottles. If I haven't waited long enough, is there a reason why it was only the three that I experimented with & not all 60?
Not trying to be smart about it, I'm interested to know & learn more about brewing too.

There are a lot of variables (amount of unconsumed sugar, possible infection from something missed in sterilisation, age and condition of bottles, user error in priming, etc) but the two times I had bottle bombs both involved a few sitting right in the middle of a batch where I presume one set off the others that went off. Why did the first bottle go off? Not sure with the first time. The second time I managed to trace back to bulk priming (instead of priming each bottle with a small measure of sugar, make a solution of sugar water at the correct ratio to prime the whole batch, mix it through and then bottle). The process itself is sound (I have done it successfully many times since)...my mixing wasn't

Apart from that, my best inference would be: sugar unconsumed by the yeast will be denser and sink to the bottom so if you bottle with a bottling valve off your tap, there will be more sugar in the first bottle or so than others.

It's a non-issue for me now because I've moved on to kegs but when I do bottle, it's either in PET bottles with a carbonator cap for a party/camping trip or into champagne bottles to store long term. They can hold a far higher pressure and can be capped the same way as stubbies and tallies as long as you get a slightly bigger capping bell and bottle caps.

Hope this helps!
Cheers!
Jono.

[Nifty1]

It's actually illegal even to own a still with a capacity greater than (I think) 5 litres, let alone use it, so you need a mate who has one. Basically you turn 8 kg of sugar into a low grade alcohol, then distil that to a better grade, and dilute it so you end up with what is essentially vodka. There are any number of essences which will turn that into a spirit or liqueur of your choice. $750 will see you on your way, and you can end up with a good finished product for as little as $5 a litre for vodka or $20 for rum, gin etc. that will usually be a bit closer to 50% than the usual 37, though you have total control over that. But I certainly could not condone any illegal behaviour.

[Troopy_03]

It's actually illegal even to own a still with a capacity greater than (I think) 5 litres, let alone use it, so you need a mate who has one. Basically you turn 8 kg of sugar into a low grade alcohol, then distil that to a better grade, and dilute it so you end up with what is essentially vodka. There are any number of essences which will turn that into a spirit or liqueur of your choice. $750 will see you on your way, and you can end up with a good finished product for as little as $5 a litre for vodka or $20 for rum, gin etc. that will usually be a bit closer to 50% than the usual 37, though you have total control over that. But I certainly could not condone any illegal behaviour.

From National Homebrew website
In Australia, it is legal to own a still of up to 5 L capacity for the sole purpose of manufacturing essential oils and for distilling water. Any still of over 5 L capacity is required to be registered with the ATO, even if it is to be used for the sole purpose of distilling water or essential oils