How to distill your hooch

Okay, so now you've got your hooch but you're looking for something a bit stronger. There are so many steps to getting that yellowish 35 proof stuff you've got there to this crystal clear 190 proof stuff I'm sipping on over here that this guide couldn't hope to cover everything. What I hope to do however is to give you the basics. After reading this you will know enough to get started and to intelligently seek good sources of additional information. If you haven't got any hooch please read my proceeding article, 'how to make alcohol'.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Things You’ll Need:

• distillation apparatus (a still, see links below)
• a themometer (most decent stills have one built in or included. sometimes you buy them separately but they can be inserted into a rubber bung at the top of the column.
• activated carbon
• z carbon filter or some other purification system (if you're only making a little a water purifying water bottle or a brita pitcher will work)
• alcometer
• graduated cylinder
• tubing (for connecting cooling water)
• a heat source. I've found a gas stove provides a nice, steady source. I've never had any problems with this but as you are just starting, I'd suggest a source with no open flames like a hot plate. Jus

1. Pour your clear hooch from the last article into the base of the still making sure not to fill it more than 3/4 full.
2. how to connect the tubes to your still assemble your still, place it on the heat source and connect it to the faucet. The diagram at left shows how to connect the tubes. If the cost of a nice still is too much for you, the are a number of online sources that will tell you how to make your own. These designs go from very simple to very complex.
3. Turn on the faucet and the heat source. The flow of cooling water shouldn't be too fast, just a trickle will do. Also resist the urge to crank up the heat to get the alcohol boiling. Slow and steady wins the race. Depending on how much you are trying to distill this could take hours. I once had one go for nearly twelve (or maybe it just seemed like twelve).
4. capture the first little bit of fluid that drips from the still. This is called the 'heads'. It consists of fusel oil, by products and higher alcohols formed in the fermentation process. Throw these out, they'll mess up your booze.
5. calibrate the process. The perfect distillation will occur one to two tenths of a degree centigrade under the boiling point of alcohol (78 degrees C). Try to keep the thermometer at 78oC and definitely under 80oC. This is the hard part. I suggest turning the heat down slightly until the temp drops then turning the water down until the temp rises. repeat this process until you get to a baseline amount of water/heat then use the water to control the temp.
6. You will know that distillation has finished when either the temperature rises to 90 or it drops and the still stops dripping. If the later occurs it is because you managed to calibrate the thing perfectly in the last step.
7. Now that you have your booze you should purify it if you don't want a splitting headache. The purification process is a pain. The easiest way I have found (especially if you don't have that much to purify) is to dilute the alcohol to 80 - 90 proof (this is where your alcometer and graduated cylinder come in) and keep running it through a Brita pitcher until it tastes good. Those water purifiers also use carbon filtration systems. its the same thing that big distilleries use except on a much smaller scale. Otherwise you will need to dilute and use the Z carbon filtration system (which come with instructions) or about ten feet of chemical tolerant tubing and five pounds of activated carbon. perhaps I'll write another how to just for purification; leave a message if you'd be interested in something like that.
8. Very easy to talk to if you hate things. After purification you can either use the 80 to 90 proof stuff like you would vodka. Depending on how many times you ran it through the process it should taste pretty good. Or if you are so inclined you can run it through the distillation process again (it'll be much faster this time as you will be starting off with something that is higher proof). Hell only knows why you'd want it that strong though.

Tips & Warnings

• This stuff won't make you go blind! Moonshine blindness was a result of the ethanol (grain alcohol) being cut with methanol (wood alcohol) to make it go further. Methanol tastes like Ethanol but it has selective action on the optic nerve and can cause blindness. Moral: Never trust mountain people, or the toothless, or people from the south, or celebrities for that matter!
• There is a great amount of danger in drinking extremely high proof alcohol! Only engage in this practice if you are extremely stupid.
• Speaking of Stupidity, don't touch the still when it is in operation. It's hot, fool.