Home Distiller

Hello,
I am fairly new to this hobby... I've made homebrews several years ago, so I had some idea how fermentation works and such. I just happened to stumble upon making moonshine surfing youtube videos. Me and my buddy said this looks easy enough and decided we would try it. Made a still out of an old stainless pot and a 15' piece of copper tubing coiled in a bucket of ice (sealed with flour paste). Mixed up a batch of sugar, water, cornmeal, and yeast. Waited for fermentation to complete and ran it... Of course we tossed the first few ounces of methanol, now I know as "foreshots", but ended up with a barely drinkable spirit. I started doing some more research and found this forum and realized there is a science and art to distilling. Determined to distill a better product, I bought a reflux tower and a sanke keg. Started making sugar washes using turbo yeast, ended up with a 80% distillate, diluted to 40% and added essence. Wow! I was shocked how good it was. I am using up my last turbo now and eager to try some of the "tried and true recipes" found here. I am starting to make proper cuts and other techniques for making good alcohol, thanks to the advice from the experienced distillers at this forum... lots of great reading. Thanks!

Welcome to the forum Hillfixit, I also decided to build but I do a lot of research before starting most projects and am glad I stumbled onto this site. It saved me a lot of money and time doing it right the first time. Nothing replaces experience however and so now that you have some of it behind you send us some plans on your build and there are plenty here to help you along

Welcome, hillfixit, from a fellow Pacific NW'er. So much good and interesting information on this site, take care you don't get a cerebral meltdown! btw, Roger Miller still rules. Good to know there are still some folks out there who remember some of the oldies and goodies!