My son got it in his head wants to try making his own whiskey or bourbon? Which would involve building a small home use still.
I said got to be someone in TMan crowd doing it or knows how to do it. So I shall ask.
Anyone got a small home built still that has worked for them. Pictures and plans for one? Maybe point me to a website that is legitimate information.
PM me if you don't want your babies picture out on board.

Seriously looking for solid info.

Mac

If you want to be legal make sure you know your state regs on that type of stuff.

Can not distill for consumption legally any state without a bunch of government hoops and $$

I'll pm you later when I get home

you need a pot with a lid and a coil coming off of it down hill to a thumper which is a container with an in and an out in the top of it and some line coming from there to your jar.

you can buy elite home kits that are pricey or make one.

the trick is controlling the heat so the alcohol evaporates (lower temp) and not the water (higher temp).

I assume you have seen the last dang run of licker on youtube. Check it out.

The magnum all in one moonshine kit for around $400 bucks would be the way I would go if I needed another one. Mine is homemade out of an old 10 gallon pop keg.
Make sure you buy one that holds at least 5 gallons. You'll probably be fermenting in 5 gallon buckets or carboys you will need a 5 gallon one to distill at least one small batch.
Just Google "Magnum all in one moonshine kit". This can be used on your stovetop and is easily stored and cleaned.

Long, long time ago, helped my grandmother make some cheap wine from concord grapes. Used to make beer. Never tried to make shine.

For those of you what do, what is the fuel? Sugar to shine? Or going to the trouble of grinding corn, wheat, rye, etc, and then aging it in barrels? Something to give a buzz or something nice to sip?

Head of the household can legally make 200 gallons of wine or beer. It’s illegal under Federal Law
to distill alcoholic spirits.

I have heard freeze distilling is illegal too but it depends on who you ask what answers you get.

Yeah, illegal as heck....but, check out the sites from New Zealand, they sell kits, or used to, out of modified pressure cookers. You don't want to call it a still, but an herbal essential oil reduction devise, lol.

My grandfather built stills for his brother in law during prohibition. He refused to make a bigger one said it was too dangerous, but the BIL found a guy and promptly blew himself up.

Homedistiller.org

It's illegal here so I wouldn't do it but if I did want to do it on a small cheap scale I would go to savers and buy a pressure cooker for 10 dollars and add copper tubing to the pressure relief valve port...

Well I ain't looking to do anything illegal don't need the hassle. I guess I confused the wine beer thing with just same as any booze. Thought a guy Could make some for personal use.
I guess I stick to eating my corn off cob or canning it lol..

Mac

It's illegal federally. That said, you can buy premade stills quite reasonably on Ebay and other online sources. I would have someone who is NOT planning to use it do the buying and have it shipped somewhere it won't be used. But, if you're looking for cheaper yet.. google Pressure Canner Stills.



10lbs sugar to 25lbs whole kernel corn is a good starting place.

Using a Mirro canner, brilliant!!!

its hand sanitizer......

What I remember from making beer is the malted grain has to be heated to something like 180*F to crack the two sugar molecule into a single sugar molecule that yeast can actually ferment. At same time you added the hops. Once that cooled, you pitched the yeast, then let it ferment flat. Saved the part on top and that was your beer.

Shine would be something similar, except instead of drinking the "wort" as is, you concentrate the ethanol by boiling it (distilling it) off. At that point, not sure if it really matters if you started with cane sugar, corn sugar, corn meal, rye, barley, taters, turnips or anything that has enough sugar to ferment into alcohol. May be what happens next that matters. The aging process.....where and how.

BTW, there is a HUGE 70M gallon moonshine still about 10 miles from our farm. I thought they only sold it as automotive fuel, but now find out it is used all over the place, including to drink. Didn't know they could do that. When going to gas stations, they spike it with gasoline to poison it to drink before it leaves the plant.

The YouTube channel ‘Barley and Hops Brewing’ has about every video you need. The gentleman covers all aspects. There is also a video he posted that includes directions for homemade cleaner. Might save you some cash.

I think the OP just misspoke; he really meant to say he is hoping to distill alcohol for use as fuel. Right?
I believe that is perfectly legal.

More importantly, check the Federal reg's!

Popcorn Sutton, on YewToob.

I just got my medical distilling card, so I'm legal,lol

Home distilling is 100% illegal in any amount. PERIOD! There are no loopholes for "amount" In fact, if you posted pictures here of s still, I would advise you to take them down. It is a FELONY. You are not even allowed to distill wood alcohol without a federal license. You would be dealing with the ATF here and you know all about how those Jack Booted Thugs operate.

Does he plan to age his shine in whit oak barrels to make bourbon?

Distill right in front of the barn here. People drive by and wave. Illegal or not, never had a problem or know anybody that has. At least 6 people I know distill. Been doing it around 30 years. I guess if some jerk called you in you'd find out what would happen. Been making wine since I was a teenager. All our "old" wine or something we don't like goes into the still. We call it wineshine. My buddies in Canada make wine then take the spent pressings and sugar and water them back up. They then ferment this and distill. They called it grappa

You are incorrect, you just cannot distill spirits without the license. There are far more things to distill then liquor that you would drink and there is an entire forum dedicated to distilling that is excellent. I don't speak for them, but federal agencies are not going to waste time and money busting young gary who is age 23 who is distilling raccoon (This word is unacceptable on Trapperman), deer meat and rotten tree bark in his moms basement. However if young gary was distilling say corn liquor and was then selling or attempting to sell it, they would most definitely use time and money to arrest young gary.

Lets not fear monger here, we can distill tons of things that are no consumable but are useful for lures and baits. There are actually many useful reasons to own a still and it's my opinion as long as every American trapper and Canadian trapper are not breaking the law, they should own one as well.

I think the only thing you can legally distill sans permits is essential oils.

According to the show Moonshiners, cracked corn is the way to go.

Well, that depends on what type of person you are, but you can always ask if you wish. I view things not listed as illegal or specifically mentioned as indeed.....legal.

Guess I wouldn't want get busted for just distilling my tap water. LMAO Walmart get upset because not buying a jug to fill the humidifier and steam iron. Rat me out to federallies.. I hate paying for water like that and I don't want a water softener. Maybe make my own with flowers machine like two old ladies on Mayberry had.
I probably broke child labor law wasn't more than 8 when used to roll cigarettes for my old man. I got to where could knock out a pack pretty quick. Still got the old roller to do it and hasn't been used since. I remember sneaking Margarine in to WI from Iowa. Called it Oleo put the case in trunk with coat over it. Be sure to drive extras careful so didn't get stop at state line. LOL!
If I decide to make a still I will just keep it with a freinds meth lab. They never find that. LMFAO....
Such a crazy world we live in...

Mac

I was talking about Alcohol. I didn't think I needed to state that, being so blatantly obvious. I suppose I was wrong.

There is no federal prohibition against owning a still. There are several "legal purposes" where distilling is legit... Water, essential oils, etc... The only prohibition concerns alcoholic spirits.

You can also apply for a fuel alcohol permit. Pretty inexpensive permit. I don't know all the rules and regulations but I wouldn't run a fuel still if I didn't own an E85 vehicle.

Mike

Stills need to be registered with the feds. I would assume the ATF. Obviously, you can get permits and such. Heck you can make booze with the correct permits. However, that's not really the discussion. We're talking about making spirits in the garage. Not becoming a full-fledged distillery.

Depending on how your individual state legislates beer and wine, you need nothing but equipment. The other part is that I can buy 1000 stills and none of them need to be registered. Distilled water, vinegar, essential oils, heck you can even do other stuff and a still is never required to be registered ever. The only time registration is required is when distilled spirits are being produced, however it has never hurt anything to be safe and ask questions.

Looks like a lot of the permit process for am alcohol distillery is safety snd inspection stuff. There was a lot of bad spirits back in the late 1800s. Not that alcohol distilling isnt exactly the safest thing in the world if you dont know ehat you're doing. The boy with the bad mustache/beard from Moonshiners kept trying new ways to get himself hurt or caught on fire.

Sent you a pm.

AGAIN WE ARE TALKING ABOUT SPIRITS DO YOU UNDERSTAND THAT???????????????????

Actually, it's more about the taxes, as usual, follow the money. However, you have 3 parts to the batch. The head, the heart and the tail. They head is what will come out of the still before the alcohol evaporated. The head is all the bad stuff, like acetone for one. That's what makes you blind. The heart is the good part, that the alcohol that you can drink. That happens at a certain temperature. After that is the tail, which is mostly water. Most save and re distill that.

I would not pay any mind to anything on a tv show. TV is just lies for entertainment to sell advertising. Always amazed at how many adults haven’t figured that out yet

Jimmy crack corn, and i don't care...until ol Corn Pop shows up! Lol

Yip, all about the money. With an additional 87000 IRS agents, they ain't goin' to miss much.

Even before the heads is something worse that is absolute poison. It is called the foreshots.

I used to work in the food and beverage industry, so, I know a bit about the process. As such I posted a bit of information in response to some dangerous misinformation on a thread on here many years ago. Soon after I got a PM from a retired ATF agent who was a member. I needed to promise to keep my big fat mouth shut.

Keep that in mind before sharing information that might tend to incriminate yourself.

Taxes are a given.

If you want to make alcohol for personal use drinking, medical disinfectant, or fuel do it. Before prohibition many farms had a still and would run motors off of them. Gas stations were far away as well as doctors. It was part of being self-sufficient.

If your not selling it or bragging you will have nothing to worry about.

I’m pretty sure they have a huge still about 1 mile from me right on the highway. It’s supposed to be a corn ethanol plant, but I think they’re just using that as a cover.

And the taxes are based on your percent of pure ethanol so 50% vodka would get taxed more than 35% brandy. That is why the feds want meticulous records of each and every batch if you were licensed. Serious coin and book keeping to be had to be legit.

One of the first push-backs against the federal government was the early 1790s "Whiskey Rebellion". Old Geo Washington had to do some common folk stomping to get it under the control. Its been a low intensity guerilla warfare on the people making untaxed hootch ever since ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion

Still requires a lot of paperwork and licensing and it gets expensive so unless your doing it on a larger scale it probably won’t save you any money

A farmer friend looked into it a few years ago and came to the conclusion It was cheaper to buy it then make it

I know a few that would argue that with you after being busted for doing just that, hasn’t been a still busted around here that I know of for some time but there have been several that I k ow of that have and I am not talking for profit ones either but the small personal ones for home consumption or use

Have been a few big ones busted though

Pretty sure it is NOT illegal to own a still just illegal to use it for alcohol distillation unless licensed.
You can buy still all over the internet and they will work with you for discrete ordering and shipping. The bigger more well known makers do not report your order to the feds.