In case you were wondering....

[snuffy]

Production of distilled spirits for
personal use.

Frequently, TTB receives
questions from the general public asking
whether the law allows for the
production of distilled spirits in the
home for personal use. Under Federal
law (26 U.S.C. 5171), distilled spirits
may only be produced at a registered
distilled spirits plant. Therefore, we
propose to add a new section to subpart
C, which will explain that a person may
not distill spirits at home for personal
use. This new section is found in the
proposed regulation at § 19.51.

[big worm]

what! thats absurd

[trthskr4]

Everybody in the US write your congressman/woman and demand that they not add this explanation into the USC. That way we can all claim ignorance of the legalese language.

[rad14701]

Doesn't really matter, trthskr4... We all break laws every day that we don't even know exist... Unfortunately, it's gonna be a hard sell to convince the government that common folk are capable of safely distilling ethanol at home... I'm hoping that it may eventually happen, however... People do more dangerous things in the privacy of their own homes, legally...

[trthskr4]

I am curious as to how beer and wine making ever got legalised. What would have to happen on a similar basis for distillation? I know this has probably been hashed out several times on the forum but as it is a desire for the majority of the forum I think it's worth revisiting from time to time.

[zymos]

A law to require the government to remind you about an existing law?

Your tax dollars at work!

[big worm]

and tax dollars are why you will never and i repete NEVER EVER be allowed to distill at home....its like $24 tax per proof gal. and no tax man ain't gonna slaughter the "golden goose" because you can do it without killing yourself or others......just be thankfull beer and wine don't get taxed like likker...or they would be forced to protect you from that aswell ..yall think about it...

[Hack]

[rant]I really don't think the tax man would lose that much money if some form of small volume home distillation were legalized and I don't think that the commercial distilleries would notice much difference either. Your average joe isn't going to go out and try stillin just because it's legal. He's still going to pay for the convenience of having someone else make it for him. I'd guess that for the most part, the type of person curious enough to try distilling for themself is going to be doing it whether it's legal or not. Think about all the work that goes into learning how to produce something drinkable, and once you learn that, how much ongoing work there is to produce spirits. Most people can't be bothered. Most people aren't like us here and we're already circumventing the tax man.[/rant]

I'll just take the soap box with me as I leave...

[HookLine]

Wot Hack sed.

Just like with home beer brewing and wine making, there will never be enough people who take up distilling to make a serious dent in commercial sales. Didn't happen in New Zealand when they went legal, in fact spirits sales actually rose a little bit (IIRC).

[Hawke]

They are actually loosing money by not making it legal. When they made home brewing legal there were cries from the big companies that sales would drop, tax man cried they would loose tax money. Instead, we have hundreds of micro-breweries that are paying taxes. One of the more notables to hit the big time is Samual Adams, Jim started out as a home brewer.

[snuffy]

How did the Kiwis do it?

[Husker]

NOTE folks, since the big "change" man was elected in the US, it is "possible" that we will see home distillation legalizede. The last time a socialist was in office (Clinton was far from a socialist), we ended up getting beer and wine home production legalized. It is actually very possible we will see the same thing happen.

In the last half decade, there has been a true EXPLOSION of information about distillation. Yes, there has been a lot of CRAP information (just look at u-tube, and site like still-drinking to find out all you need to make great desolate). However, there are also wonderful sites (and books). Sites like this, like tasty lime, like the home site, etc. There is LOTS of info to help keep the truely crafty DIY person safe, and allow them to in short time, make a decent product.

However, bottom line on the govt, will not be harmed. Just like beer/wine. All of the chicken little squawking about losing money was just that. The govt lost NOTHING.

Now, if there is laws put in to make home distillation legal, do not expect it to be legal everywhere right away. There are federal laws, but also, state/county/city/coventent laws that also keep distillation from being done. We in the US can already get a 10k proof gallon "license" for free, but it is only for fuel. However, it is still a license. If we do get the ability to home distill for personal use, expect a small annual amount to be legal (like 25 proof gallons or less, and possibly tiny boilers). What we may end up with is something like a set of "tax stamps". Something like you buy a book of 25 stamps for 25 proof gallons. Then when you produce, you take your book of stamps, and what you have produced, down to the court house (or some other regulation office), and the stamp(s) used get canceled, and affixed to your product bottle. Note, I am just thinking outloud, but something like this might be a way to get things started, and then later try to drop the regs on "checking in" the produced product, once the govt finds out that revenues have not fallen, and that tracking the few 1000's of people doing this costs too much, and they are actually losing revenue.

Sale of product (which can get into gray areas, such as even having ppl over for drinks), will be strictly forbidden. There will most likely be laws still on the books, that will be usable against moonshining/bootlegging for commercial gains. The govt certainly does not want mass production, without getting its cut (govt is our best example of organized crime, aka the mob).

I could be totally wrong. It might be that the big O actually cracks down on home distillers, to try to get more revenue. Time will tell.

H.