Thread 21413673

Picked up a cheap still at a yard sale a couple months ago.
Been making gin, wondering what other white infused spirits are fun.
(Can't find molasses at a good price point so rum is out and I'm bored of vodka)

>>21413673 (OP)
over 10,000 people die every year in the US from home distilling overdoses or explosions, don't do this

>>21413741
OK fed

>>21413673 (OP)
over 10,000 people get incredibly drunk in the US from home distilling, this is based af

>>21413673 (OP)
>Can't find molasses at a good price point so rum is out
use fruit.

>>21413673 (OP)
It's so gay that alcohol is so heavily regulated in the United States just because of Prohibition and stupid college kids getting into car accidents

>>21414025
It's only illegal if they find out, anon

>>21414025
and mass methanol poisonings that happen all the time the world over from people not knowing what they're doing.
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_methanol_poisoning_incidents

>>21414042
OK fed

>>21413673 (OP)
Other white infused spirits? There's aquavit. You can make absinthe and skip the color-imparting second infusion for a white absinthe. Beyond that, you can infuse and re-distill pretty much whatever. The general term for this kind of liquor is "geist."

Oh, also, that graphic is wrong. The methanol in a pot still run is present throughout, but slightly enhanced in the tails. Foreshots are discarded because they contain a lot of headache-inducing rubbish like acetone and amyl acetate.

>>21414106
Methanol is more concentrated in the foreshots due to its lower boiling temp (65C vs ethanol's 78C).
>>21413673 (OP)
I recommend lemons

>>21414042
>Proof of the danger of methanol in home distilling
>Look inside
>Cases of adulteration and surrogate alcohol use

>>21414128
If you know nothing about physical chemistry, you should stop having loud opinions about it. You're wrong.

Also this misconception leads people to actually poison themselves with methanol. The (idiotic) thinking runs as follows: "If all the methanol is in the foreshots, then what's the harm in re-distilling denatured, industrial alcohol? I always take foreshots." Cue methanol poisoning, with the chain of causation beginning at a greater fool like him believing a lesser fool like you.

>>21414167
yes, it is the public's own retardation that it is being protected from

>>21414098
>>21413828

Fuck off, schizo. There aren't actually 'feds' on 4chan, and if they were they wouldn't gently nudge you out of doing crimes with suggestions of safety. You fucking conspiratard cunt.

>>21414461
There are literal whitepapers published by NGOs about botting and shill posting on 4chan for the explicit purpose of spreading demoralizing nonsense and making the site "less enjoyable for its users." Your dedication to being a credulous headass retard who sucks government dick doesn't change reality, and nobody is persuaded by your attempts to shame through counterfeit social signalling. "TV Man is disgusted with you — please feel bad for not swallowing propaganda nonsense." Kill yourself.

>>21414257
I'm not seeing how this has anything with distilling your own alcohol unless you're planning on adding industrial methanol to it or are just going to toss it and drink sterno.

>>21413673 (OP)
Can't you still use the foreshots as fuel/solvent/disinfectant? I'd keep them for that purpose if so

>>21413673 (OP)
If you can get juice for cheap, you should ferment it and make a brandy.

>>21414560
NTA but I macerate various herbs in them to use as fabric freshener/room deodorizer

>>21414254
I am a chemist you stupid fucking retard.

>>21414517
Distilled autism right here.

>>21414703
Bullshit. There are no chemists who've never heard of azeotropes and who think that the sequence that components boil out of complex solutions is simply determined by their individual boiling points.

>>21414813
I have never claimed so.
I said >>21414128
>Methanol is more concentrated in the foreshots
That is, when you are distilling a liquid that is composed of ethanol, methanol and other stuff, the foreshots will have a higher concentration of methanol than the rest of the distilate.
This means that when you discard the foreshots, the absolute amount of methanol in your distilate will be lower than if you discarded an equal amount of any other part of the distillate i.e. it is beneficial to discard the foreshots in order to lower the concentration of methanol in your distillate.

>>21415005
You're wrong. The methanol would probably be slightly concentrated in the foreshots if you were distilling an anhydrous mixture of alcohols. Distilling pure alcohol risks a deflagration, and it's never done on a home still. Ethanol forms a low-boiling azeotrope with water, and methanol is more polar than ethanol and wants to stay with the water in the still.

It might also be different if the still had a really tall reflux column with 10+ plates, but the infographic is titled "POT DISTILLING." On a pot still, or any compact home still, under realistic conditions, the methanol is slightly enhanced in the tails, not the foreshots.

>>>21414098
>>>21413828
<FED SPACE
>Fuck off, schizo. There aren't actually 'feds' on 4chan, and if they were they wouldn't gently nudge you out of doing crimes with suggestions of safety. You fucking conspiratard cunt.

Gin allows for a pretty broad range of ingredients, and many "modern" gins push the boundary of how little juniper one can include. I suggest making a fruity gin with whole juniper berries (they're less piney if you don't crush them) and various fruits in season.

Can I distill rose petals?

>>21418344
Yes. Many gins contain distillate of rose petals (e.g. Hendricks).

Also note that most backyard roses are not fragrant enough to make their use as an ingredient worthwhile. You need Rosa x centifolia roses or damask roses.

If I wanted to get into home distilling, what's a good, scientific book?

>>21418728
I'm unaware of anyone who has gotten into distilling by reading a book. People start either with local tradition or informal internet resources. It's easy to get started these days since you can just buy a cheap air still and go. Such equipment is good enough for, say, re-distilling vodka into gin or distilling a small batch of brandy / eau de vie from commercial wine or homemade fruit wine.

>>21418858
Reason why I asked, I want to get back into home brewing, there's pot and column still attachments for turnkey homebrew systems which have got way cheaper also. Wouldn't mind skipping the air still stage.

Brewing has The Complete Joy of Homebrewing which is a good primer to get up to speed quickly.