Useful item

[Sweetbriar]

I saw this on Chapomatic's blog. Useful?

http://www.brewhaus.com/EasyStill.htm

[brewmonkey]

They are cool but they are also illegal.

[HOLLiS]

Originally Posted by brewmonkey

They are cool but they are also illegal.

Can you expand on that. Is the equipment illegal, or the process, or both. I know you can by fractional distillation equipment with no problems. This unit seems like this is what it is. I was thinking it is illegal to distill?

Thanks

[brewmonkey]

Originally Posted by HOLLiS

Can you expand on that. Is the equipment illegal, or the process, or both. I know you can by fractional distillation equipment with no problems. This unit seems like this is what it is. I was thinking it is illegal to distill?

Thanks

It is illegal to distill aclohol is what I should have said. However if you purchase a piece of equipment like that you are asking for trouble. While it CAN distill water it is clearly not what it is intended for according to the website. Not worth the trouble they can bring. You will have to check from State to State to see what they say on the equipment itself but at the Federal Level it is illegal to distill and the time you can get for even having something small is the same as if you were truly bootlegging.

As well for those who are not familiar with distillation they can very easily hurt themselves, possibly kill themselves. Many people do not realize that the first runnings from any still are pure Methyl Alcohol which is toxic. It can do far more then blind you.

Stills can be a dangerous thing even in the proper hands. The pressure put on some of them through the process can cause explosions as well you are working with highly flammable vapors.

[Dan]

If I were you I'd listen to Brewmonkey as he knows this stuff inside and out...here's the legal side from ATF:

Spirits
You cannot produce spirits for beverage purposes without paying taxes and without prior approval of paperwork to operate a distilled spirits plant. [See 26 U.S.C. 5601 & 5602 for some of the criminal penalties.] There are numerous requirements that must be met that make it impractical to produce spirits for personal or beverage use. Some of these requirements are paying special tax, filing an extensive application, filing a bond, providing adequate equipment to measure spirits, providing suitable tanks and pipelines, providing a separate building (other than a dwelling) and maintaining detailed records, and filing reports. All of these requirements are listed in 27 CFR Part 19.

Spirits may be produced for nonbeverage purposes for fuel use only without payment of tax, but you also must file an application, receive ATF's approval, and follow requirements, such as construction, use, records and reports.

[HOLLiS]

Brewmonkey and Dan thank you for the information.