I have all that stuff... copper- pressure cooker wood for fire..But no directions.
Here is a starting point, lots of good info out there, just be aware that ANY alcohol still requires a permit.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNq28DDjlA0
I thought as long as you didnt try and sell it it was okay to home brew? Is that just wine and beer?
what about fuel additive
Anyone ever made a mead?
Yep, it takes a really really long to ferment unless you add some yeast booster
for a fuel additive you still need a permit. there are two classes of permits and they are free. The permit you get depends on whether you are making alcohol for fuel for yourself or as a major source for gasahol. ANY alcohol made for fuel MUST contain a small percentage of gasoline to render it poisonous for consumption. You can get a distillers license for potable alcohol, but you are required to pay tax on each gallon of alcohol produced. Much more stringent oversight and requirements as a distiller of begerages. You can make beer or wine, fermented consumables without a license, but as soon as you start distilling it you come under a whole different set of rules and liabilities. I suspect that making as little as a gallon of shine would get you significant time in the gray bar hotel if caught. I had an uncle who was a moonshiner and was caught at his still in 1956. He escaped from the agents and was later arrested, but a jury of his peers (customers) found him innocent. After discussing his future life expectancy should he be caught at a still again, he elected to get out of the business. I had a chance to sample some of his wares 11 years after that, some that had been stored underground and was still quite potent. What ever you do, never have any lead exposed to your alcohol, that is what makes it deadly. Uncle's still was all copper with hammered joints, no solder. You could use silver solder to make your coil and boiler with no problem. If you have access to a tig welder, copper tigs just fine and using solid copper house wire as filler works great. Most all of my copper art work has some tigged components. Edited to add that the distillers license is not free for consubables..
Agree to all the above. With one exception. If you buy wine that has been taxed, and distill it into Brandy, Its kinda legal. Taxes have been paid, but the distillation clause kind of puts it in a gray area.
You can buy a little glass distiller that runs from canned heat that will do one bottle of wine at a time. I can't see big brother getting all offended about one bottle.
Probably not, but with our current overlords, any excuse might be what they were looking for. I would be distilling my own brandy in a heartbeat if it was legal. How would your brandy distillation taste were that to happen?
