Home Distiller

Hello, I would love some help. I live in CA and have a lot to lose. I bought a flute online and a pot still. My bad. I would now like to dispose of it. What is the best way. I received a letter for the TTB and I am sure they would like to take care of some folks in the Western US. I have a few thoughts.

Option 1: Drill holes, take pictures, throw in trash.
Option 2: Call the TTB and ask to take it to them for disposal. Risky??
Option3: Take to a salvage yard, take pictures?

Anyone have any advice. I obviously have a lot to lose and the $4k I spent is worth writing off over having my house threatened or having my family scared to answer the door.

Anyone with law experience or experience in CA would be great.

Thanks,
Sandiego

We have an advertisement section. Put it on there and sell it dont destroy it. Make it an anomous sale.

I am certainly no expert but It has to be on your premises to be a threat , correct? could you put it in storage or move it to a different location? Then if they came and searched your house there would be no evidence and you could say you sent it to the scrap yard. I for one could not destroy that investment. Heck I would even go as far as to pack in in plastic and put it in a box and bury it in the yard somewhere.

Hide it out somewhere and later dispose it by wearing it out . I wouldn't get all frantic and start trashing prime goods . Neither would I contact them . You do that and they win ..............................

What do you have? I might be interested and can legally own it. Pm me with some details.

I would first research your state. To see if it is indeed illegal to own a still? Good research. Including any local governments. If there is no distilled spirits on the property. And no fermented wash ready to cook. Then the only thing you have to worry about. Is the legalities of owning the still. Which can be used for many other things besides alcohol. Water and or essential oils are other uses for a still. Preparing your family for a sanitary water shortage. Is not illegal. They will need something to show that you have, had, or will used it to produce something illegally.

I would get rid of any homemade spirits before I would dispose of a still costing that much.

But none of us here are lawyers that can give you good legal advice. So its up to you to get good info for yourself.

6 plate 4 inch Hillbilly finished Vodka still, 2 sections of extra 2 plates each for a total of 10 plates. I have 24 inches (2 12 inch sections 4 inch copper with Sanitary fittings of extra sections) filled with porcelain rings and copper Mesh.)

I have a 3 inch pot still, 26 gallon boiler, 13 gallon boiler. HS 5500 burner electric heating element unit. and lots of extras. Lot of Santitary Fittings. Also have an extra parrot for the pot still made by Hillybilly stills.

All these items can be seen on the Hillbilly Website where I purchased them. All less one year old exactly. Everything is copper and stainless.

A little over-reaction, I think. Box it up and put your hobby on hold for as long as it takes for you to see how things will shake out in regards to what the TTB is really up to. Put it in a box and store it somewhere off of your property, with someone that you trust, maybe an out-or-state relative or something like that. Put an ad on Craigslist, take a few calls, then put *SOLD* on the ad, save a local copy of the ad on your computer.

If the TTB or some other outfit shows up at your door (extremely unlikely) asking about it, tell them somebody came and paid cash for it and you have no idea who it was. You are under no obligation to keep a record of who you sold it to, as you are not a business that manufactures stills. No physical evidence of a still(or hooch) on your property, you tell them that you didn't know it was illegal when you bought it, got nervous about it when you found out it was, and sold it, ...."Thanks for stopping by fellas!"

I seriously doubt that anything will ever come of their letter campaign, it's simply scare tactics in my opinion.

Don't sell, don't tell(except to tell anyone that knew about your little hobby that you quit doing it), and don't be up to any other illegal activities that could get you investigated and have a search warrant served on your ass.

Here is a LINK to pertinent info about California and still possession. Can't vouch for its accuracy, but from what I can gather, as long as no home-made hooch or distillable mash/beer is found on the property where a still is found, it is perfectly legal to own one as long as it is registered with the CA ABC.

Would suggest getting the Federal fuel permit if you qualify for the criteria (separate building from the residence, the required distance from the residence, etc., etc.) and get busy making some denatured stuff to keep around for effect. ....but then you open yourself up to unannounced visits to check out your operation and conduct searches of your property.

If'n it were me, I'd just store it off location, and deny having it if anyone asks about it. ...wait it out.

Also, if you look at my posts, you can see pictures and proof of the age of the equipment.

So if I buy a still from hillbilly stills it gets reported, Who does it get reported to in canada? I wanted a hillbilly flute, but with out the head aches.

If you sell the still, it is best to sell it to someone that can legally own it. They will likely ask who you sold it to and may not be happy with "I don't know".

Get a permit to produce alcohol for fuel.

The still is legal to posses if you can show it obviously isn't/can't be used for producing alcohol. Saying that it is used for distilling water may be a hard sell. Maybe you could turn it into a lamp. Drill some holes, wire it up and get a nice lamp shade. It's punk art, and can't be used to make anything but light. Get rid of the other accouterments associated with distilling.

Hay SanDiegoShiner do you have this available on another site?

Truckinbutch wrote:Hide it out somewhere and later dispose it by wearing it out .

+1

Makes I laugh!

WARNING: Do not think that the question in this post provides a way to get around the TTB! Please read Rad's below posts for additional information.

If you are worried about U.S. distributors sending serial numbers and addresses to the TTB, can you avoid that by buying from a distributor outside of the U.S? Better yet, can U.S. distributors circumvent the TTB by moving their shipping operations offshore? I believe many distributors are selling equipment made in China; can they ship directly from China to their customers and thus circumvent the TTB?

lampshade wrote:If you are worried about U.S. distributors sending serial numbers and addresses to the TTB, can you avoid that by buying from a distributor outside of the U.S? Better yet, can U.S. distributors circumvent the TTB by moving their shipping operations offshore? I believe many distributors are selling equipment made in China; can they ship directly from China to their customers and thus circumvent the TTB?

Whether drop-shipped or not the distributor still has sales records and those are what the TTB is after, regardless of whether the product passes directly through the distributor or is drop shipped... You'd have to buy foreign and get it through customs to circumvent the government, and that can lead to unexpected issues in and of itself...

Could you take the time to explain that Rad, getting a still through customs over there?

InglisHill wrote:Could you take the time to explain that Rad, getting a still through customs over there?

Over here, not over there... US Customs...

I think by over there, he means US Customs.

Tokoroa_Shiner wrote:I think by over there, he means US Customs.

Over here is US customs... Over there is China...

Somebody at the TTB is going to get promoted based on the tizzy they stirred up with that letter. I read that they have 65 agents, and sent out 90,000 letters. No way that this was anything more than an attempt to throw a scare into the hobby community, and it worked!
but nothing has changed. They had your name before they sent the letter, they have it now. And you knew they had your name, you just chose to ignore it until you got a letter

A wee bit of arrogance over here then isn't there.

I will refrain from asking you simple questions in the future Rad, you have displayed thus far a singular incapacity to answer them. Perhaps if I posted a new build with some rubber in it you would feel more at home.

InglisHill wrote:A wee bit of arrogance over here then isn't there.

I will refrain from asking you simple questions in the future Rad, you have displayed thus far a singular incapacity to answer them. Perhaps if I posted a new build with some rubber in it you would feel more at home.

I'm fairly certain the question was answered... Pretty simple, really...

The question was answered. But with the incorrect answer as I think the question was misunderstood. With InglisHill being in New Zealand. And the content of the question. Over there means in the US. As you said getting it through US Customs can lead to unexpected issues, he was wanting to know what those issues would be. For example. Here in NZ, if you purchase something of a high cost/value. Before it is released to you by customs we are requires to pay them GST (15% of total cost) before it can come into "the New Zealand side" of customs.

Bingo Shiner.

Perhaps I was being too convoluted in my delivery and shall in this instance rephrase my question to Rad.

Rad, you said that, and I paraphrase your words here, someone trying to import a still into America comes with its own set of problems. Could you please elaborate on what those problems may be?

I have used the search function, which was not availiable at the time, and know that you display a wealth of knowledge concerning everything to do with home distilling. I remember you saying that everything anyone needs to know is written here someplace (there I go paraphrasing you again) and that until just recently you have read every single thread, because that was your job. This really makes you the most qualified of people to answer this.

I thank you in advance for your time and effort and I know you put great amounts of both into the site because I see you warning new members of all sorts of pitfalls all the time. I am sorry to distract you with such a dull question but I am very interested in the answer.

BTW, very good point Bob.

InglisHill wrote:Rad, you said that, and I paraphrase your words here, someone trying to import a still into America comes with its own set of problems. Could you please elaborate on what those problems may be?

The risk would be that US Customs has the right to inspect any package entering the country and could question the receipt of a complete still... Not that it happens all that often, but it could just like the TTB nosing about distributor records... While the risk may be minimal, it still exists...

These days US customs tend to be very suspicious of anything that comes from China. Due to the perception that they are not observing US patents. So if an individual orders a still from China you may have a higher likelihood that your stuff is going to be inspected. If they ask you to explain what you are going to do with a big milk can you better have a good explanation.

@the OP, don't sell your still man. Knowing just a few things will make this an easy battle to win. First off it is your responsibility to keep everything distilling related out of sight from a public place. Read into that and think about it. I used to know a judge who told me something I'll never forget. "The fourth amendment won't pull the curtains for ya." This means to me that if your property is not fenced and locked you should go look through all your windows and make dann sure you can't see anything illegal. Then walk inside and enjoy your freedoms. Second thing is NEVER CONSENT TO UNWARRANTED SEARCHES. If they have a warrant you should not resist, but are under no obligation to assist or provide information to anyone. If the ttb, atf, or anyone else came to my door that didn't look right through the peep hole I wouldn't even open it. If someone enters a building on your property without your consent, and they have never been there before I'd treat them like a burglar because that's what they are.

Read up and know your rights. Don't let this letter intimidate you. Those that came before us fought and died so we would not have to bow down to an oppressive government. No matter what you own your rights are the most valuable thing you have next to your family. Don't give them up for anybody.

Thanks, Rad, for putting the kibosh on my post. If you hadn't, somebody might have acted on my question and gotten himself into a world of hurt.

I want tad to what bob said and add this 65 agent 90,000 letters and a gov't that is under severe budget constraints. These letters are a low cost way to scare some folks into shitting themselves and maybe out the squeeze in a couple of internet sellers. It's cheap passive enforcement.