How to Do These Things

Many hobbyists have taken on brewing their own beer and wine at home. Yet many still dream of boasting their own home-distilled brandy or whiskey. If you are one of them, you may want to move to New Zealand, Austria, or Italy as it is legal to distill your own alcohol in these countries. Distillation per s� is not illegal in the United States. However, it is against the law to use it to make your own alcohol.

Distillation is the physical process of separating a chemical mixture into its component substances. The mixtures used in creating alcoholic beverages are fermented solutions, which are combinations of water and other chemical substances.

During the distillation process, a solution is slowly heated up. The substance with the lowest boiling point evaporates first, leaving the others behind. The vapor is condensed in a condenser where it turns back to liquid. The process simply separated the solution into its separate substances. It did not create new chemical substances. This is how brandy is made from wine and whiskey from beer.

Required Materials

• 1-gallon cooking pot
• mixing bowl with round bottom
• 8 ounce drinking glass
• magnet (to keep the collection glass from moving around the pot)
• small weight (to keep the round bottom bowl in place)
• cooking thermometer
• half gallon red table wine
• ice cubes
• proof hydrometer or Customs House Hydrometer (optional)

Steps to Build a Still

1. Set the large pot on the stove or burner securely. Pour 2 quarts of the red table wine into the pot. Set the 8 ounce collection glass at the center of the pot. Put the magnet in the collection glass to hold it in place once the liquid starts to heat up.
2. Turn on the stove or burner on high. Using the thermometer, wait for the liquid to reach 120 �F. Turn the stove or burner to low once the liquid has reached this temperature. Take care to slowly raise the temperature at this point.
3. Fill the small rounded bowl with a few ice cubes. Set this on top of the pot. Make sure that the bowl completely seals the pot. Add the weight to the bowl to better seal in the alcohol vapor.
4. Slowly bring up the temperature of the pot over the course of half an hour. Don�t let the wine boil. As the wine slowly heats up, its specific compounds will start to boil off at different temperatures. Methyl alcohol evaporates at 148.5 � F; ethyl alcohol evaporates at 173� F; and water boils at 212� F. Alcohol will turn into vapor, rise up, and hit the bowl filled with ice cubes. Once it reaches the bowl, the vapor will slowly condense back to liquid and drip down into the collection glass.
5. Turn off the heat as the water reaches its boiling point of 212� F. Remove the collection glass and discard the wine. There should be about 2 to 4 ounces of water for every 2 quarts of wine processed. Use the hydrometer to test the proof of the alcohol.
6. Take note that the alcohol created in this procedure is not for consumption and that it is illegal in most countries to create alcohol with a still.