Is making my own spirits safe and legal?

The Still Spirits process involves the controlled manufacture of alcohol from a known mix of nutrients,  sugar and yeast. The distillate is then cleaned with activated carbon to remove unwanted flavours. Following the instructions will result in pure clean alcohol that in most cases has less byproducts than alcohol produced from more traditional sources. Home distilling is legal in New Zealand but not in most other countries. In most situations local authorities appear reluctant to move against citizens producing alcohol for their own use. However authorities in all countries take a very dim view of anyone producing alcohol for sale. 

Which type of still produces the most alcohol? Reflux or Pot Stills?

All stills collect alcohol from your wash at varying strengths. The total amount of alcohol collected is dependent on how much is present in your wash. Reflux Stills collect less in volume but this is much higher in alcohol strength. Alcohol should always be watered down to below 50%/V before filtering. After filtering, and watering down, the total amount of finished alcohol should be the same no matter which still you have used. The exception to this rule is the new Super Reflux still which sacrifices 5% quantity for higher quality.

General points on the quality of finished spirit?

1. Pot stills collect all the condensate from the boil and condense it. Reflux stills have a separate chamber which further purifies the condensate before it condenses it. This produces a distillate which is more concentrated and contains less impurities than pot stills and so it follows that they produce better quality spirit.
   
2. The degree of carbon treatment and type of carbon. Always use a reputable brand of carbon that has been designed specifically for the job. Any old carbon or charcoal will not do. Some distillers actually run the spirit through the filter twice or three times to improve its smoothness.
   
3. The type of wash used. It is essential to use a high quality yeast and nutrient to produce the wash and to maintain the correct fermentation temperatures. Distilling unwanted or excess beer, wine or other ingredients may cause equipment damage or failure as well as producing less than desirable or even poisonous by-products.
   
4. Aging. By storing some of the spirit you produce in glass in a cool dark place for a long period of time it will mellow. Some distillers age their spirit in oak barrels to imitate the commercial brands. This process may be imitated by the addition of oak chips or essences to the spirit. Age spirit in bulk for best results.
   
5. The percentage at which the alcohol is consumed. For best results do not drink the spirit at greater than 40% alcohol by volume.

Will I make methanol when I distill?

You may produce extremely small quantities of methanol when distilling Still Spirits Turbo products. These will be removed in the first portion of distillate which is separated and called the head. As we are only fermenting sugar with a known yeast and nutrient mix, the byproducts such as methanol are minimal. If you wish to distill other mixtures then methanol could be produced and could prove disastrous.

Why don't I have to age my spirit like commercial distilleries?

Over the ages distilleries have been positioned as a result of excess raw materials. The excess raw materials have usually been inexpensive or in some cases like Rum have been a waste product and costly to dispose off. These cheap raw materials have been converted into potable alcohol and aged to improve their smoothness, sometimes in oak barrels to also remove unwanted flavours and any unwanted alcohols. Raw spirit from some of these products can be undrinkable and even dangerous so ageing is necessary for many reasons. Making alcohol using pure sugar, Turbo Yeast, Still Spirit Carbons and drinkable water produces an extremely clean alcohol. We then add essences to the drink to copy your favourite tipple. 

Why is my spirit coming out of the still cloudy?

1. The wash has not been allowed to settle with excess sediment dropping to the bottom of the fermenter.
2. Fermentation temperature is too high causing the production of unwanted but harmless proteins.
3. The distilling equipment is dirty or faulty.
4. The wash is not fully fermented.
   

What measures can I take to guard against cloudy spirit?

The best method is to add some "distilling conditioner" to your wash in the still boiler before starting. This stops the excessive foaming in the boiler which is caused by high concentrations of proteins and unfermented sugars. Distilling conditioner allows distillation even if your wash has not fully fermented out.

Why is my yield of distilled spirits so low?

Your wash has most probably not fermented out properly. Always check your wash with a beer, wine and wash hydrometer before distilling. Check your still for any steam leaks. Make sure you are following the operating instructions.

Sediment forming in spirits after carbon filtration

This is a very rare occurance. The fine sediment is in fact mineral salts which originate within the activated carbon itself. When spirit runs over activated carbon which contains some mineral salts, some mineral salts can be absorbed into the spirit. Later, once the temperature has dropped, these mineral salts start to become insoluble in the spirit and after a few days a fine sediment appears in the spirit. This fine sediment (sometimes looks like a milky haze, other times it drops to the bottom of the bottle) is the mineral salts originally from the activated carbon. These mineral salts are absolutely 100% safe (in fact essential for life!) but you don't want them in your spirit.

Under certain circumstances, some of this residual mineral content gets dissolved into distillate spirit as the spirit flows over the activated carbon. Think of it this way, as the spirit passes through the activated carbon, the carbon absorbs the vast majority of 'volatiles' from the spirit and holds them within the internal pore structure - however, under certain circumstances, mineral salts contained within the carbon may pass into the spirit. Whether mineral salts do indeed get dissolved into the spirit depends upon 2 main variables:

1. The amount and types of mineral salts within the particular batch of carbon.
2. The pH and chelate chemical (eg organic acids like citrate are a chelating agent) content of the spirit.

Obviously, we have no control over 1. In a perfect world we would persuade the supplier to first wash with an inorganic acid like they currently do and then wash with organic acids to remove the remaining salt content. 

These mineral salts remain soluble in the spirit for some minutes / hours because the spirit temperature is warm and so has higher solubility. After the spirit has cooled, these mineral salts will begin to become insoluble. If you had a spectrophotometer to measure even the slightest haze, you would begin to 'see' the spirit 'go hazy' after just a few hours. To the naked eye, you will not start to see these solids until after 2 or 3 days (may be less or more depending upon the level of mineral salts present).

Re-filtering through activated carbon will not help, but 're-filtering' through an ordinary wine filter or even a coffee filter, say 1 week after the filtering through carbon would remove the insoluble mineral salts and hence solve the problem. But spirit should be stored cold (not frozen) during this week to ensure anything that is going to become insoluble, does become insoluble). If the spirit is left for long enough (3 or 4 weeks?), it should be easy to pour off the bright spirit from a white sediment at the bottom of the bottle. 

This problem is likely to be influenced by certain environmental conditions like temperature and water quality.

My Pot Still Condensor does not appear to be working properly

Not a lot can go wrong with this condenser other than the hoses being put on the wrong way around. It is important to have the water flow in from the bottom and the over flow to come out from the top. That way the condenser jacket fills with water. If the hoses are on the wrong way around then the water will take the quickest route and will not fill the entire jacket. This will reduce the efficiency of the cooling and could result in some alcohol lost in steam from the still.

Water flow.
The water flow required with a Pot Still is very high. Typically 2 – 3 litres per minute. This is required because the condenser is not very efficient. In warmer climates where the cold water is above 20^o C. it may be necessary to fit a cooling coil to the water inlet tube and to immerse this in a tank with ice added to bring the temperature of the incoming water down.

I have discoloured spirit

New condensers can sometimes produce discoloured spirit the first or second time that they are used. All condensers are acid washed to remove welding flux etc. after manufacture but problems can still arise.

Yellow spirit can also be produced if too much spirit has been collected on the previous run. Byproducts build up inside the condenser and are flushed out with the next run. The carbon treatment should remove this but redistilling gives the customer peace of mind. Clean the condenser before use.

Dark bits or "floaters" in the spirit

This is more common in the Pot Still than the Reflux but can happen in both. It is almost always caused by collecting too much spirit. This usually shows up the next time the still is run.  To fix this problem clean the condenser as below and only collect the recommended amount.

How to clean the condenser

Soak in white vinegar or Coca-Cola. Rinse it with a weak solution of dishwashing liquid and water then wash any residue off after treatment with plenty of clean water. This treatment should clean the condenser then start the oxidation process again which hardens the surface of the copper.

I get blue spirit fomr my still

Blue spirit can be caused by a reaction from certain washes containing excessive amounts of nutrients, and the copper in the condenser. As some washes have an imbalance of nutrients, certain by products like ammonia and Acetic acid can form in the wash in large quantities. This is then distilled and attacks the copper. This is extremely uncommon when using Still Spirits Turbo products. Do not add more than one sachet per 25litre brew.

What do I do if my cold tap water is aboce 20oC?

When this happens you will need to run more than 400 mls of water per minute through your Reflux condenser. In your Reflux still instructions it tells you to run water at 400 mls per minute. This relies on the tap water being below 20o C. If you are in a warmer climate like Australia you may need to increase your water flow but this creates a problem with the efficiency of the condenser and excessive use of water. To overcome this problem, cut the hose that feeds water to your condenser from the tap and fit a 2 metre coil of copper tube in between the cut sections. Submerse this copper coil in chilled water. Keep the chilled water cool by adding 2 litres of ice from an ice cream container or similar which has been filled with water and prefrozen.

Why does the spirit drip through the continuous filter so slowly?

This may be caused by the following.

1. Too much high activity carbon has passed down the tube to the black cartridge after the tap has been turned on. Helpful Hint: Put a 25 mm spacer under the continuous filter, at the front where the hose exits to the continuous filter. This will tilt the container back, and ensure that the High Activity Carbon settles to the back of the filter. This will avoid any carbon from settling over the outlet to the filter cartridge which could block it.
2. It is important to let most of the High Activity Carbon settle before opening the tap and letting the spirit flow through to the filter cartridge. This takes 24 hours. If you open the valve too soon then too much carbon may flow down the tube and clog the filter paper making the process go much slower.
3. The Filter Cartridge may have been overfilled with Finishing Carbon. As the carbon reacts with the spirit it expands and heats up. Always leave a 10 mm gap for expansion.
4. Temperature: The filter system operates best at normal room temperature. As the spirit cools down it becomes thicker. As a result, in winter the whole process slows down. Try heating your spirit before adding it to the reservior or putting the Continuous Filter in a warm place.
5. Too many filter papers or the wrong type of filter paper.
6. A dirty or clogged tube, tap or cartridge. The whole Continuous Filter should be rinsed thoroughly after every use.
7. Impatience: Remember that the Continuous Filter is removing unwanted impurities from your spirit. Trying to speed things up too much will effect the quality of your spirit.

Why does the spirit drip through the Continous Filter too fast?

If the spirit runs through too quickly it is usually due to the filter paper not sitting correctly. This can occur when the continuous filter has not been cleaned properly after use. Always ensure all Finishing Carbon is cleaned out of the cartridge. The filter paper can also be dislodged by the spirit reacting with the Finishing Carbon. Simply repack the cartridge using the same carbon and paper. Helpful Hint: The carbons are designed to work in tandem. When you open the tap and start the flow of spirit to the filter cartridge, some of the HA Carbon comes down with the spirit. This forms a coating on the filter paper which then filters out any more carbon. If you reset the filter and don't have sufficient HA Carbon on the paper then the filter paper may not work correctly. To remedy this simply ensure some of the HA Carbon is mixed into the first lot of spirit that comes down the tube. Also ensure that you use Still Spirits HA Carbon as your first treatment in the Continuous Filter.

Why does my filtered spirit have a grey tint or sediment after filtering?

Some traces of carbon have come through the filter. Run your spirit through the finishing carbon again making sure the filter paper is properly positioned.