How to Build A Home Distiller

Building your own distiller is not very difficult. With a little patience you can be on your way to making your own distilled spirits in no time.

I built my first whisky still out of a 5 Gallon Stainless Steel Stock Pot, some 1" and 1/2" copper tubing, binder clips and vice grips. Yes I know that sounds like a back woods, poor mans way of building a small whisky still but I didn't have a lot of money to spend and it was the most affordable way for to built it at the time.

To make a long story short I cut and fit everything together. I used a single electric burner that I could plug into the wall and all of this I set up on my carport. I made my whisky mash, which took about 9 days to ferment and when came time to distill the mash I was excited. So, I read all of the information I could about temperatures regarding boiling alcohol and water. Once I learned the proper temperature to boil my mash I was off to distill my moonshine.

Well, although I thought I had built the perfect homemade whisky still I had not taken in account how long it would take to run my still. I had 5 gallons of mash and it took me over 13 hours to run that small amount through my make shift moonshine still. It was frustrating because I had already waited almost two weeks to be able to distill and 13 hours was a lot more time than I was willing to invest in distilling alcohol. I do have a life outside of making whisky so I didn't want to waste time.

I decided to mark this experience down as a failure and move on to a better way of making whisky. I began researching whisky stills that were made by professional builders. I found a still maker online named hillbilly stills. I had him make me a 13 gallon stainless steel milk jug still. It took him a few weeks to build it, but once I received the finished product I was more than amazed. Here is a picture of my 13 gallon pot still. ---->

If you are going to become a home distiller than I highly recommend purchasing an already built, professional quality moonshine still. Don't waste your time and money on building your own unless you are a skilled tradesman specializing in metal fabrication. Invest in a whisky still that will work constantly for you and will bring you moonshine enjoyment for years to come. Listed below are a few items I recommend for becoming a moonshine maker. These items will be life savers. Cheers!

• Professionally Built 8 Gallon Moonshine Still 
• An Awesome Ferment Bucket
• The Single Burner I Use For My Boiler 

And if you are a total newbie in distilling alcohol, I suggest reading the best moonshine making guide on the planet, written by Brian Davis. Brian is a world renowned distiller of spirits and he teaches you with step by step instructions through his book "How To Make Whisky: A Step By Step Guide To Making Whisky". I learned everything I know about ingredients, nutrition, and fermentation through Brian's book. Even if you "think" you know what you're doing you need this book because I assure you there is some things in this book that you do not know. Cheers and good luck on your moonshine making at home.

Remember, distilling alcohol is not legal in most areas of the US without having the proper permits. Be sure to check out your local laws regarding distillation before you begin.

Plan On Making Moonshine At Home? - From The Brew Guru

If you plan on making moonshine at home then there are a few things you need to know. Like, how to not blow yourself up! Just kidding. No really, you can blow yourself up making moonshine so be very careful and wear fire retardant gear. And a helmet.

All joking aside, making moonshine at home is actually not that hard. You need just 3 things. And one of those things is distilling equipment. Before you do anything else, you must have an apparatus that you can distill alcohol in. Back in the day, these were called Whisky Stills, or Moonshine Stills.
I prefer to call them Moonshine Stills because it sounds cool.

Anyway, There are literally hundreds of options when it comes to what type of still you use. For example, you might only plan on making moonshine for just personal use. So in that case, you wouldn't need a very big still. Probably a stovetop moonshine still would work for low volume production. I would suggest a Small Moonshine Still around 2 to 3 gallons or so. Or you can also find 5 gallon and 8 gallon moonshine stills. The size depends on how much moonshine you plan to make.

Now, for those Go Big, or Go Home kind of folks, I would suggest a more interesting size. Maybe Like this 13 Gallon Moonshine Distiller! I personally have not tried one this size. I use a 5 gallon stainless steel distiller, but I own distill alcohol once a year as a hobby. Regardless of which size you choose you will be able to distill as much, or as little moonshine as you want. Smaller sizes will just take longer.

Here are a few of the recommended items you need to begin your home distilling journey:

• Big Mouth Bubbler® Plastic - 6.5 Gallon PET Plastic Carboy Fermentor for Home Brewing and Wine Making
• Twin Bubble Airlock and Carboy Bung (Pack of 2)

There are several things you can also find that will make your life a lot easier when distilling moonshine. I will explain more in another post.

Brew Your Own Beer At Home - From The Brew Guru

If you want to brew your own beer at home, it's probably more simple than you think.

Often times your own home brew will taste better than any other beer you can purchase from your local store. Cheaper too! Here's how I started making my own beer at home.

I had a friend of mine bring over some home brewed beer that he had made in his own kitchen. It wasn't bad, but it was good either. Honestly, it was horrible. I asked him how he made his beer and he said he read some book that he bought at a local book store and tried one of the recipes. I spit it out almost as soon as it hit my lips. It tasted like dirty gym sock soaked in burnt plastic. I made it my mission that day to learn how to make home brewed beer and do it the right way.

So I started searching online and offline for instructions on how to make home brewed beer. I actually began by making distilled alcohol just to see if I could do. But that's another story that I will focus on in a later post. I purchased a few online e-books and tried to brew my own beer using the instructions in the books. John Palmer's book, How to Brew: Everything You Need To Know To Brew Beer Right The First Time, was the first place I started because it came highly recommended by a few brewing websites I searched through. The way John explains things about brewing beer and the ingredients he uses really sparked my interest even further. I brewed my first home brew using his instructions and IT TASTED GREAT!
 
Brewing home made beer is a great hobby. Even if you don't get it right the 1st, 2nd or even the 3rd time. If you are just looking to get started brewing quickly then I suggest purchasing a brewing kit. Here is one I bought online recently and so far it's my favorite brewing kit. This has everything you need to get started and the beer tastes excellent. Brewing Kit Here.