Bushcraft still?

[BushTucker]

I imagine this sort of comes under bushcraft skills, but, has anyone any info , tips, ideas blah blah blah on making and using an alcohol still. Quite fancy some of my own moonshine when next round a camp fire in the frost lol.

Cheers

Don

 

[British Red]

Don,

Distilation of alcohol without a customs and excise licence is illegal in the UK. In addition, distilation without a reasonable amount of knowledge can bring over the wrong elements leading to blindness and even death.

If you move to New Zealand however you wil be fine - its okay there and they even have stores specialising in home stills

Red

 

[Scots_Charles_River]

Heather Ale, google for recipe.

Nick

 

[BushTucker]

Thanks Red, maybe not such a good idea for a thread then after all.
Stick to my wine and ale then I think...

 

[rich59]

One could use a still if you were in a country it was allowed. The technique for avoiding methanol poisoning is simple enough I have read - just discard the first few mls of output (and the last I guess for the higher alcohols). But the web site I was reading made the point that the biggest problem with making your own spirits is plain ordinary and sometimes lethal alcohol (ethanol) poisoning.

I have to say it is pretty satisfying just making ordinary strength alcohol drinks.

 

[match]

The safest and easiest way to make a still is to use evaporation, rather than heat distillation (no risk of explosions), and to use a base fermented from pure cane sugar, rather than fruit or vegetables. (no risk of methanol poisoning).

first, you ferment the sugar to a strong 'wine' with a high-alcohol tolerant yeast. you then put the wine in a small bucket with a heater (e.g a fishtank heater) and putting this in a bigger sealed bucket. The alcohol evaporates more readily than the water, condenses on the inside of the bigger bucket and pools at the bottom. Its the same process as a solar still, used for collecting/purifying water in hot countries.

there are lots of details online here:

http://www.brewhaus.com/AmazingStill-Instructions.pdf

Remember that distilling is illegal in most of the world, including the UK!

 

[demographic]

The simplest way I remember reading about distilling spirits from wines was to use the freezer, freeze it then when its frozen chip it into little bits (maybe a food processer would help there) and bung it into a funnel with a filter to stop the ice getting through.

If I remember right you have to get rid of the first few percent (can't remember how many though) as thats the fusill oils bit that makes you go blind and gives you a worse than usual hangover and then the next how many percent are the spirit. If you allow it all to thaw out you end up with it being just the same wine as you started with.

My mother had (and I borrowed for ages so should still have it somewhere) a book called something like making wines beers and spirits but I can't find it

One of my grandfathers must have done it years before I was born and I still have his glass distilation thingamybob in the shed.
Edit, not sure but this title sounds about right from what I remember.

Oh and yes, its naughty, don't do it.. blah blah blah, slap on wrist for even mentioning the merest thought of it.

regards Scott

Oh and another thing, if you did live in new Zealand and it was legal you should be able to get some decent info HERE, but as you don't then don't.

 

[gregorach]

Distilation of alcohol without a customs and excise licence is illegal in the UK.

That's not what the owner of my local homebrew shop keeps telling me - he's got a lovely little reflux still on sale for £150 (apparently fully approved by HMRC), and keeps plying me with homemade "liqueurs" whenever I go in...

 

[filcon]

One ot the few good pieces of legislation from the EU is that you can distill alcohol for your own consumption .Don,t know the amount though , know you can make a small amount from the pressure cooker and brake pipes.

 

[hedgepig]

One ot the few good pieces of legislation from the EU is that you can distill alcohol for your own consumption .Don,t know the amount though , know you can make a small amount from the pressure cooker and brake pipes.

HMRC kept this bit of EU legislation quiet. Have you got a source for this. I'd be interested in looking at the details.

 

[fred gordon]

HMRC kept this bit of EU legislation quiet. Have you got a source for this. I'd be interested in looking at the details.

If this is true and it gets out next years Moot could be wonderful!!!!!!

 

[hedgepig]

If this is true and it gets out next years Moot could be wonderful!!!!!!

I think you might come unstuck with the " personal consumption" clause there

 

[nicodiemus]

The reflux still a lot of homebrew shops sell is perfectly legal. So long as you use a (at most) 14% wash made from a decent quality high purity yeast strain (You can buy a sachet suitable for 5 gallons of 14% wash for about 4 quid(!)), you will get decent results. The secret is to not attempt to distill the fermented vegetable matter from your (for example) blackcurrant fermentation.

And regardless of EU legislation, it is not legal in the UK to distill without a license from Her Majesty's Customs and Excise. If you do, they will follow you home and give you a bit of a seeing to.

This is what i've always been told anyway!

 

[Tadpole]

One ot the few good pieces of legislation from the EU is that you can distill alcohol for your own consumption .Don,t know the amount though , know you can make a small amount from the pressure cooker and brake pipes.

Can you point me to the law, that supports this, as I have failed to find it, even HM Customs and Excise, don't seem to know anything about it, they, foolishly it seems, are claiming that anyone without a licence, as required under the provisions of section 12 of the Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979, is breaking the law. they it seems think that It is illegal to manufacture spirits in the UK without a distiller's/ rectifier/compounder licence

 

[match]

Last time I looked into this, it was another one of those things where selling and owning distillation equipment was perfectly legal, but producing spirits with it was not. I've tried to have a quick look at the UK legal position, but I can't find any references to a change in the law, either UK or EU. If there are any references to this I'd be interested in looking up the exact legality of this.

 

[nicodiemus]

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channels...ntent&id=HMCE_CL_000245&propertyType=document

 

[gaspode]

have a look here .. purely for reference of course ...

http://www.homedistiller.org/ ..

 

[Sickboy]

This sounds like one of those, skunk seeds are legal but you can't grow them oddities that are rife in this countrys laws. Same with magic mushroom spore prints now

 

[nicodiemus]

The reasoning is the device is useful for things that don't require a license. i.e. distilling water, extracting essential oils, etc etc. I believe its even legal to *grow* magic mushrooms, just not to dry or eat them

 

[grebo247365]

Im sure shrooms were legal fresh in the uk till quite recently but the loopholes in the law have been tightened up to stop head shops selling them.
anyone wanting to distil alcohol should have a look at a product called EasyStill, its some kind of modified water purifier and costs 250 us dollars (130 quid?), I thought of getting one to make clean trangia fuel but the price is a bit steep for my pocket!