Distilling for short and long term prepping

[Spots]

*Note - distilling any amount of alcohol for consumption is illegal on a federal level without proper permits. This post is for educational purposes and discussion only. All activities are conducted legally and safely*

 

If you haven't ever considered it a small still could be a life saver in a grid down situation. Using white table sugar, corn, mollases or any other edible sugar source can be turned into high proof alcohol suitable for drinking, disinfectant, small engine fuel, fire starter etc. The exact same still setup can be used to distill water for purification, distill essential oils,  etc. Its a worthwhile skill to learn and the entry cost for a small, sub 10 gallon still with all the parts needed is usually less than $500. Just something to consider to help your preps. 

 

Edited November 21, 2021 by Spots

[Sleep profit]

To bad Popcorn Sutton not around he had the skill 

[Sunfish]

Education and Information wise you have to have a warm place for the mash to work and when it stops working you either run it or add more sugar. You also need to make a trap of sorts with a bottom valve that goes between the cooker and the cooling coil otherwise if you get to really cooking the mash you will puke it and your whiskey will be milky    

[Spots]

2 minutes ago, Sunfish said:

Education and Information wise you have to have a warm place for the mash to work and when it stops working you either run it or add more sugar. You also need to make a trap of sorts with a bottom valve that goes between the cooker and the cooling coil otherwise if you get to really cooking the mash you will puke it and your whiskey will be milky    

I use a water bed heater wrapped around my mash barrel in the off season to keep it up to working temp. Ive never had an issue with milky whiskey but I run a thump keg which serves to help up the proof and works as a slobber box. 

[ReeferMac]

Nice setup!

I've been seriously toying with this idea for about a year now.... 

Agreed, in a dystopian future, it could be more than valuable. If nothing else, it's fun! I started looking into homebrewing beer, then looked at wine... But it's a whole lot of work, and frankly these smaller breweries do such a fine job even at 2 bucks a can, not worth the work?

I saw a stainless steel setup at a local homebrew store for about 400 bucks. I'm tempted, but.. there's so much more to making good hooch than just collecting the parts? Have a book, lots of online material, but like reloading I wanna watch it once before committing, LOL! 

I thought I saw a place in Knox offering classes, but haven't been able to circle back to find it?