You are soon to learn that people have been trying to ferment everything for millenia.
Starchy grains work OK if you let them sprout, that's the starches being converted into sugars.
The time depends a little bit on the temperature. The "yeastie-beasties" don't want to work in the cold.
Like making bread in a cold room with cold flour.
From small fruit/berries, I'll say at 25C, it should finish fermenting in a week.
I've never done the freezer trick, JamPan will know.
I wanted to learn to make a respectable red wine from good wine grapes. I did that.
Distillation: water boils at 100C. Drinkable alcohol, ethanol, boils at approximately 72C.
So, simmering hot is plenty. How will you catch and condense the alcohol vapors?
Here, there are brewing clubs and hobby brewing stores of supplies and recipe instruction books.
You must have such places all over Britain.
But distillation, even for private consumption, is illegal in Canada. Very popular, when you learn where to look.
Have fun. It's a very interestiung process to learn to be able to do.
So you screw up a batch. Look at the store prices for fruit vinegars (eg strawberry). Sell it.
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