Bad batch, thinking about distilling...

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Status
Not open for further replies.

Mike-H

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 31, 2006
Messages
225
Reaction score
9
Location
Syracuse, NY
Has anyone ever distilled beer? I am thinking I can make an interesting alchohol by distilling my beer. If anyone has ever done this I would like to hear your results.
:mug: :mug:
 
Some types of whiskey are just distilled beer, minus the hops. They also keep the grains in the mash throughout the entire initial boil, fermentation and the boil for distillation. The collected runnings are then filtered and aged in oak barrels. It is the aging process that really gives whiskey its character. Which it is why it so difficult for home distillers to duplicate commercial spirits, not to mention that it is completely illegal in the United States to distill spirits for use as a beverage without a license.

John
 
The ATF's got some great information on distilling alcohol. Give them a quick call and they'll answer all your questions. Just give them your name and address, and I'm sure they'll send a bunch of guys right over to help you out. :D

Distilling is illegal in the United States (unless registered/licensed/taxpaying), just as an FYI.
 
jackle,

As the bird notes, technically, distilling is illegal. But I've heard you can get a stovetop still that poses very little danger to anyone, and unless you friggin advertise it, the chances of the Authoritaws finding out about it approach zero.

Yes, beer is distilled. Some of the best liquor I've ever had was some stuff that Castle Eggenberg made. They took their world-famous Samichlaus (14%) and their Urbock 23 (9%), and distilled them. They ended up completely clear, and both of them had unbelievably distinct chocolate characteristics. F'n delicious! :ban:

But, ahem, yeah, it's illegal. And we wouldn't want to do anything illegal, would we? I mean, the government is just looking out for our best interests, after all. That's why marijuana is illegal, cuz it's bad, mmkay? :p
 
Ok, I agree with you it is illegal, however, I did a "science" experiment on my beer and produced pretty pure alchohol within 10 minutes (between my first post and this post) using some "stuff around the kitchen". Here are my results....

I ended up with nearly completely clear liquor.
I took a small taste and dumped it out, it didnt taste quite like whiskey to me, I was also hoping for some body to it, but it looked more like vodka or rubbing alchohol.
I probably wont be doing this again as i'm scared to drink it :)


If you too wish to do a "science" experiment really simple and safe it can be done like this, WARNING, to not do this for anything else than for scientific purposes. Dispose of the results after you are done!

1 Boiling pot
1 Pint of your brew
1 Kitchen Wok or other curvatured metal thing that can sit atop the boiling pot
1 Tray ice cubes
3 cups of water
1 stove burner
1 Cofee Mug
1 Golf ball

1. Pour beer into boiling pot
2. Place golf ball in cofee mug
3. Put cofee mug in the center of the boiling pot
4. Put ice cubes in wok
5. put water in wok
6. place wok on top of boiling pot
7. boil on low-medium, lift wok every minute or so to check status
8. When you have a thin layer of clear liquid in the cofee cup, stop, this is only an experiment.
9. Taste clear liquid, throw materials away.
 
Is the golf ball just a weight, or does it add certain flavor characteristics?

What about the stories you hear of people going blind from "bathtub gin?" What causes that?
 
lol, it is just a weight to keep the cofee cup from moving around :)

Sean said:
Is the golf ball just a weight, or does it add certain flavor characteristics?

What about the stories you hear of people going blind from "bathtub gin?" What causes that?
 
Bathtub Gin is when people mix stuff from the hardware store instead of grain alchohol. Methyl alchohol is the bad stuff that you dont want. Back in history, people would mix whatever they could to make alchohol, they indeed mixed methyl instead of grain. Although your beer contains trace amounts of methyl, it is made of grain. There is small concern that the initial alchohol will be methyl alchohol as it is the first to boil, SO, if you are doing this to a whole keg of beer and you are drinking the first shot, it may indeed be mostly methyl. As the rest of the alchohol is distilled, you dilute the methyl.

Simply put, you are not drinking anything that is not already in your SINGLE GLASS OF BEER. You are not adding chemicals, nor are you causing any chemical reaction. Your only concern would be if you did this on a LARGE scale, you would not want to drink the initial droppings as it is likely to be undiluted Methyl.
 
How do you think they make the corn alcohol they add to gasoline? They make a 10% beer then distill it. That's all it is...plus they add some gas to it so the workers don't drink it.

I've been reading some people have been allowed to distill alcohol when using it as an experimental fuel source.

Check into under those premises.:D
 
homebrewer_99 said:
How do you think they make the corn alcohol they add to gasoline? They make a 10% beer then distill it. That's all it is...plus they add some gas to it so the workers don't drink it.

I've been reading some people have been allowed to distill alcohol when using it as an experimental fuel source.

Check into under those premises.:D
this is true but they want to produce Methyl and ethanol not ethyl. That crap smells really bad.
 
rod said:
as previously stated illegal in north america use at you own risk
but good info here www.homedistiller.org


As I've posted elsewhere, this site is VERY GOOD b/c it breaks down the basics and everything you'll need to know if you were looking to distill - including how not to go blind. This is definitely the site I'd use if I - er, if a friend of mine - wanted to do some home 'stilling.
 
Trick is to throw away the first bit of distillation. The nasty alcohols like methyl have a lower evaporation point than good ol' ethanol. You can buy a tabletop water distiller I've heard that works quite well.

Best is to hold the beer, etc. at a temp just below ethanols evap. point and throw out what condenses. Then raise the temp and you should have pure booze.
 
Distilling is only illegal in the US if you get caught.

I met a guy several months ago who says he distills his beer when ever he doesn't have a good batch, and he said it works well. I had previously heard that you never want to add hops to anything being distilled, but did not ask bring up the subject.
 
NotionCommotion said:
Distilling is only illegal in the US if you get caught.

Would that logic apply to rape, murder and theft as well?

John
 
johnsma22 said:
Would that logic apply to rape, murder and theft as well?

John

That's hardly an analogy. The only reason home distilling is illegal is because if it was legal, the government would lose billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

What you are comparing it to are crimes against humanity.
 
Dave R said:
That's hardly an analogy. The only reason home distilling is illegal is because if it was legal, the government would lose billions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

What you are comparing it to are crimes against humanity.

So what are you are telling me? Is it that crimes that don't hurt anyone are really only crimes if you get caught? Or are you saying that we should only obey laws that we agree with?

I was not making an analogy. I was simply pointing out the obvious flaw in his logic. You are arguing semantics.

John
 
Ease up there a little John... jeez

Yeah, stilling is illegal - whether you get caught or not - but that doesn't mean somebody's an evil person if they do it. Rape, murder, etc. are illegal, too, but rapists and murderers ARE evil people because of what they do.:off:

To get back to the subject at hand, has anyone heard any negative effects of distilling a bad batch. In particular, do the hops or any of the products of "bad fermentation" (like from wild yeast strains or bacteria) produce any nasties that you wouldn't want to distill and drink (other than the methanol which has already been covered)?
 
johnsma22 said:
So what are you are telling me? Is it that crimes that don't hurt anyone are really only crimes if you get caught? Or are you saying that we should only obey laws that we agree with?

I was not making an analogy. I was simply pointing out the obvious flaw in his logic. You are arguing semantics.

John

????Where did you read into my statement that... "Is it that crimes that don't hurt anyone are really only crimes if you get caught? Or are you saying that we should only obey laws that we agree with?"

I only stated that the government made it illegal to distill alcohol because they would lose a substantial amount of income from the lost taxes.

People HAVE gotten hurt, even killed from distilling alcohol. No one knows because all the accidents are not reported because it's ...cough, cough...illegal to do it.

Yes, please lighten up, John. Focus' point is right on.
 
johnsma22 said:
Would that logic apply to rape, murder and theft as well?

John


Well If distilling is harming others, then perhaps. Some laws are just stupid you know. Though some people seem to NEED to be constantly governed.


"It's only cheating if you get caught...heh heh."

-George Walker Bush, Yale University
 
i have "heard" that you can distill a bad batch of beer to high proof ethanol(vodka) using a reflux still which strips out all flavours but if you use a pot still for a flavoured spirit such as whiskey, the hops spoil it.
 
This thread is chock full of mis-information. In New Zealand they legalized home distilling in 1996 and in the 18 years it has been legal, there is not 1 single case of poisoning or damage to persons or property from operation of a home still. The government would not lose "billions of dollars" or even millions. Look at the alcoholic beverage sales in NZ since legalization... it increased profits of commercial operations. All this info is available through the google machine.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm terrified of other people reading it and getting completely incorrect advice. I am, by no means, advocating participation in an illegal activity. I'm just trying to prevent people from learning false information. As soon as hobby distilling is legalized, hopefully HBT will allow an additional category for those wishing to discuss it. It will be happening within a year.
 
This thread is chock full of mis-information. In New Zealand they legalized home distilling in 1996 and in the 18 years it has been legal, there is not 1 single case of poisoning or damage to persons or property from operation of a home still. The government would not lose "billions of dollars" or even millions. Look at the alcoholic beverage sales in NZ since legalization... it increased profits of commercial operations. All this info is available through the google machine.

I know this is an old thread, but I'm terrified of other people reading it and getting completely incorrect advice. I am, by no means, advocating participation in an illegal activity. I'm just trying to prevent people from learning false information. As soon as hobby distilling is legalized, hopefully HBT will allow an additional category for those wishing to discuss it. It will be happening within a year.
What makes you so sure? This is really the only thing holding me back from doing it.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top