Making Vodka - Advice Anyone

[quick308]

brewing your own beer or spirits is legal as long as you don't sell it or provide it to minors.

Owning a still is illegal, and if you get caught with one in your possession, you can get fined if not more.

Go for it, i know plenty of people that brew their own alcohol, everything from A-Z he does, and has never had a problem as he doesn't advertise it or brag about it or hand it out to everyone.

Funny thing is you can buy everything you need to brew beer at your local Kmart store, they don't have any restrictions as to what age you need to be to buy equipment as far as i know. I knew kids that used to buy it, never heard of anyone being asked for id.

 

[CSP]

Funny thing is you can buy everything you need to brew beer at your local Kmart store, they don't have any restrictions as to what age you need to be to buy equipment as far as i know. I knew kids that used to buy it, never heard of anyone being asked for id.

Of course. And that's because it's not alcoholic until AFTER the fermentation process is complete. Even when you mix up a batch of home brew it's not alcoholic. You could drink all 20 litres and not blow 0.00001. But after you add the yeast and let it ferment, it becomes alcoholic.

 

[dirt drifter]

quite a few blokes i used to work with had their own stills for brewing rum. none of them ever sold it, it was only for themselves. none of them ever got done for it but then again they were (mostly) law abiding citizens who dont get visits from the police.

with practice its possible to brew a pretty good drop, apparently u wake up pretty healthy the next day because the home brew isnt full of the additives/preservatives etc that the stuff u buy at the bottleo is full of. so they all reckon anyway

 

[soop]

Its illegal to distil spirits because its highly volatile.

 

[Troy711]

I'm stinging for a beer now...

 

[sleepa]

As far as I am aware it is legal to own a still, as you can use it to de-still water, but it is illegal to use it to de-still alcohol.

Also legal to brew beer, I have done it a few times but you have to wait a year for it to taste nice.

 

[trentvy]

can we get back on topic. Im interested to hear about spirit making

 

[moose man]

Most of what comes out of a still is unsafe to drink. Ethanol is drinking alcohol, Methanol will literally make you blind. The difference between these two chemicals is 2 or 3 degrees in your still. Breweries use very precise temperatures to distill the correct type, and have chemists testing all the time.

Legal or illegal? Who cares. I'd rather not lose my sight.

 

[Deutscher]

Most of what comes out of a still is unsafe to drink. Ethanol is drinking alcohol, Methanol will literally make you blind. The difference between these two chemicals is 2 or 3 degrees in your still. Breweries use very precise temperatures to distill the correct type, and have chemists testing all the time.

Legal or illegal? Who cares. I'd rather not lose my sight.

simple (but effective) rule of thumb for this is to throw away the first 50 mL you collect (per 20 L mash used) for a reflux still. If using a potstill, make it more like 100-200 mL. Do this, and you have removed all the hazardous foreshots, including the methanol.

Methanol : usual fatal dose 100-250 mL

According to Wheeler & Willmotts "Spirits unlimited

Home distilled spirit (untreated): methanol 0.0067%, ethanol 99.632%, fusils 0.361%
Commercial vodka: methanol 0.013%, ethanol 99.507%, fusils 0.48%
Poor quality home distilled spirit : methanol 0.0186%, ethanol 98.453%, and fusils 1.528%

 

[quick308]

Of course. And that's because it's not alcoholic until AFTER the fermentation process is complete. Even when you mix up a batch of home brew it's not alcoholic. You could drink all 20 litres and not blow 0.00001. But after you add the yeast and let it ferment, it becomes alcoholic.

I know this because i brew beer, I've been doing it from a young age because my dad used to do it as well, so it was a bit of a father and son hobby. The reason why i was unsure is because it's pretty obvious what you intend on making if you buy a beer kit, all the yeast and other ingredients are provided in the kit, you just need sugar and water. How is this any different from giving an underage person a packet of rollies with some tally-Ho's, you've given him everything he needs to make a cigarette, he just hasn't assembled it yet.