Begginner question, fake distill?

[nealbert]

I found this website and it had a fast way to make vodka. It had the standard way to make sugar vodka but they didn't distill it they just put it in the freezer and took out the ice.... wouldn't that leave a lot of the bad alcohol in there? also if that alcohol is in wine and beer is it that bad? or is it just worse becuase its in higher concentration in higher strength alcohols.

But I was thinking because I don't have a still yet and am kind of iffy about making one, but if I was to make one it would for sure be a pot still out of a pressure cooker.

What i was thinking about doing was just bringing the mixture just below the boiling point of the ethanol and above the methanol so that bad stuff will get out and just turn to gas.. obvously I would be doing that outside to ensure nothing stays in my house. but then I was thinking of doing the freezing and taking out the ice (which would just be water). I was wondering how bad would that taste? I kind of just want to do this to see if it works then get into doing the pot distilling.

[Dnderhead]

wont work, freeze distilling concentrates everything,,,even the headache,, and just letting it evaporate wont remove it either.

[kiwistiller]

I found this website and it had a fast way to make vodka. It had the standard way to make sugar vodka but they didn't distill it they just put it in the freezer and took out the ice.... wouldn't that leave a lot of the bad alcohol in there?

Oh, yes.

I don't have a still yet and am kind of iffy about making one

do it, you won't regret it. pressure cooker might not be the best though.

What i was thinking about doing was just bringing the mixture just below the boiling point of the ethanol and above the methanol so that bad stuff will get out and just turn to gas.. obvously I would be doing that outside to ensure nothing stays in my house. but then I was thinking of doing the freezing and taking out the ice (which would just be water). I was wondering how bad would that taste? I kind of just want to do this to see if it works then get into doing the pot distilling.

To be honest mate I wouldn't bother. what you're looking at will taste awful, not to mention it's probably going to be dangerous. and you won't be able to make cuts for the tails, meaning all the nasty oils will just be concentrated. You deserve to drink better (not that I know you, but everyone deserves better than that).

[Photonic]

Yep, when I was looking into distilling, I read about freeze-jacking and how some people only drink the output from a bottle of cider to work around the cuts issue, and also tried the "ice in a wok" method and soon realised that there was very little control over what I was making (not to mention that I managed to reduce a bottle of wine to a measly 30ml of God Knows What in a wok).

Sure, both will increase the alcohol percentage in your drink, but as others have said, they will also increase the concentration of things that you wouldn't want to drink either because of bad taste or toxicity.

[Hawke]

Freeze distilling will only get it to about 30%, before it won't freeze. It does leave all the nasties in there.
Open air heating will get rid of some of the heads, but leaves all the tails, along with boiling off some of the good alcohol.

All in all, it is an effort in futility.

As far as a still goes, anything under 20L is really just a toy.

[nealbert]

well thanks for all the input.. all that does make since and i knew the tails would be left in there I just thought it was the heads that was the bad part.. I'm in college and most people just buy whatever is cheapest anyways so I was thinking that might work for mixed drinks.. but o well maybe not..

I have been reading a lot of pot still designs out there and I think I get the jist of it.. but would like to find a decent one to make on a budget I've read some threads but I would like to know the cost of the total still and I've never done copper welding and I would rather have a SS than alum boiler, because I know alum when heated can release some bad stuff nothing horrible but not good for you.

I was thinking just a standard pot (nothing huge I don't really plan on making huge amounts, some input would be nice. also a good way to do it out of ss or maybe if I could just buy an old rig off of someone that has upgraded. that would be perfect because then I would know it works and using that for a while would really be easy to improve and build my own

[kiwistiller]

If you're at college, there are probably a few beer kegs floating around somewhere that would make a great boiler... and very practical size, with easy connections... alum is very bad, yes. it will corrode. if you want advice on costs and designs, you need to tell us what you want to make.

[nealbert]

uhh I was just thinkign somethign simple with a stainless steel boiler..
I really liked this design
http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4740" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

but I don't really know how much a ss boiler would cost and if I could get a ss pressure cooker or not I live in the US for pricing..

[rubber duck]

There are a lot of designs out there but constructing a realy good pot still isn't to hard.

Fist off don't use aluminum you might get half dozzen realy shity runs out of it and then it will corode out not to mention it will taint your booze. Oh and don't use plastic, rubber or brass that hasn't been de-leaded

What i would do is a use a keg if your in collage that shouldn't be to hard to find. I'm not saying steal one Im just saying. Then a simple copper head with a flange conection ( look up easy flange). If saudering copper is intimidateing talk to some friends im shure some one knows a retiered pipe fitter that would love to help you.

I use propain and wood to fire my rigs but if your indoors mabby electric would be best.

I think you should be able to set one up for less the 100 bucks. Go check out the scrap yards for pipe and parts. Just be carfull not to get any thing there that looks questionable. I think the last one I built was 50 bucks or so and that was a 15gallon still.

Its a fun hobby and building the still is almost as fun as distilling. good luck

[kiwistiller]

I'd add that a still that small isn't practical for anything other than learning - you'd be better off to get a part time job and buy alcohol I'd imagine...

[SMOKEU]

Buy a decent still. Yes, it's expensive. But think of it as an investment, not an expense. Save up a bit of money each week and after a while you'll be able to afford a good still. Don't fuck around with cheap shit and poison yourself, buy something good right from the start. You'll only need to use it 3 or 4 times before it pays itself off anyway.

[Umpa]

This is a distillation forum - so your going to get replies that suggest you buy or make a still, which might be illegal in your country. Concentration by freezing wont put any more of any thing that was not already in there to begin with. If your going to freeze lets say 6 pints of beer and make 1 pint of concentrate - your only getting the same nasties than you would if you drank six pints of beer, thus no harm would come to you. If you went on to drink 6 pints of concentrate, not only would you be very drunk but you would have consumed all the bad stuff from 36 pints of beer (ish) because your not going to get 100% efficiency and that's where issues arise.

BasicBrewing have done some very good netcasts and one touched on freezing beer - you might want to watch it

[Dnderhead]

most places increasing the alcohol in any manner is illegal . that includes jacking/freezing.