I've a simple basic query..

[AshB]

Hello everybody,

This is my first post on this fantastic forum and I'm not very sure if I'm posting in the correct place.

I'd like to congratulate the community on the sheer amount of effort put into developing recipes, designs of the stills and fine tuning fractional distillation.

I've a simple basic query....

Why go to all the trouble of fermenting sugar washes, if you are interested in ~95% alcohol. Why not distill the abundantly and cheaply available denatured spirit. Are the denaturants impossible to get rid of even with bokas

BTW, I don' t have the luxury of selecting between various strains of yeasts or malts but have access to unlimited volumes of denatured alcohol

[ipee7ABV]

once its denatured it is just poison. don't do it.

[heartcut]

If it's denatured with methanol (the usual method), no reason not to do it. You'll get around 20% fores and heads and a bunch of ethanol. Worked in a lab when I was young, that's all I'm saying. Check the ingredients (and boiling points) carefully, there's some dangerous variations.

[Hearts_On_Fire]

They denature alcohol in such a way that it takes a lot of trouble (energy & resources) to remove the poison from the ethanol. It's like breaking into a fort nox to steal a bag of quarters. They do this on purpose to stop people from extracting alcohol.

[HolyBear]

Simply put,.. Because its a hobby... That's like saying, why not drink commercial swill...

[AshB]

Come on ipee7ABV, HOF, stop being naive...

Wacabi1, my hobby is enjoying my drink which is cheap to make, doesn't involve unnecessary labour and doesn't give me a bad hangover the next day.

Anything that doesn't pass these conditions, i'd try to avoid amap. so buying booze from a store(expensive), grain recipes(labour) and drinking commercial swill(hangover) are the options i TRY to avoid, and end up buying from the store

So, if i simply cannot fractionate the denatured spirit, then only, i'll consider doing a sugar wash fermentation. But I'm still not convinced that it cannot be done.

Thanks HeartCut for your encouraging reply, The alcohol which is available to me is denatured either with acetone or methanol.

Probably I should've posted in some other place as i'm quite surprised by the response I expected a straight answer like HeartCut's from other seniors as well who are very active on the forum...

[DHS]

During prohibition many types of alcohol were denatured. The reason for this was to prevent people from distilling these denatured products into drinkable likker. The process used garunteed a toxic end product, if distilled. Alot of people died because of this government safegaurd. Never distil denatured alcohol.

[Prairiepiss]

Do you know why its not talked about around here? Because it not a good idea at all. You don't know what was used to denature it. There was a post not to long ago on a news story where they busted some guys making and selling counterfeit vodka. They were redistilling denatured alcohols. And making people sick. If I remember correctly. Some died.

I'm not sure you are on the same page as many of us are. I'm not in this to make the cheapest alcohol I can make. I'm in this hobby to make the best alcohol I can. If it happens to be cheaper then store bought. That's just an added bonus.

Using a sugar wash I can make a fifth of alcohol for around $3. Is that not cheap enough for you?

It's just a bad idea. That could make you and others you share with very sick. And stuff like this is one of the reasons we can't get it legalized.

If you are going to partake in this hobby please do it safely. Not just for you. But for others around you.

[Angel_Kefka]

The chemicals used to denature alcohol are used specifically because they are nearly impossible to separate from ethanol completely. It's a bad idea to try.

[toast860]

i dont understand what makes u think that would be a good idea at all.. im new and that sounds dumber then icefishing.

[Richard7]

This is the result of distilling denatured. I don't think this article covers what they did but when it was current in the news I checked it out, they were distilling denatured. http://homedistiller.org/forum/viewtopi ... 44&t=31816

[buckwild1]

IDK why you would even want to. part of the hobby is the tastes you will get from the different ferments you make. For me I look forward to graduating to all grain ferments, as I think this is how its meant to be.....

[2_Smithereenz]

Do you know why its not talked about around here? Because it not a good idea at all. You don't know what was used to denature it. There was a post not to long ago on a news story where they busted some guys making and selling counterfeit vodka. They were redistilling denatured alcohols. And making people sick. If I remember correctly. Some died.

I'm not sure you are on the same page as many of us are. I'm not in this to make the cheapest alcohol I can make. I'm in this hobby to make the best alcohol I can. If it happens to be cheaper then store bought. That's just an added bonus.

Using a sugar wash I can make a fifth of alcohol for around $3. Is that not cheap enough for you?

It's just a bad idea. That could make you and others you share with very sick. And stuff like this is one of the reasons we can't get it legalized.

If you are going to partake in this hobby please do it safely. Not just for you. But for others around you.

That's exacly what I'm in this for. Just made my first batch of wash, glad to be here.

[HolyBear]

"I'm not sure you are on the same page as many of us are. I'm not in this to make the cheapest alcohol I can make. I'm in this hobby to make the best alcohol's I can. If it happens to be cheaper then store bought. That's just an added bonus." Mr P

Amen Brother, that's what I was trying to say...