Distilling can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing, my main concern would be methanol which is generally why the head is discarded. The shit can permanently blind or even kill you. It is very easy to make though and is definitely something I would consider. I have already developed proficiency at making wine, beer, and even hard apple cider......it's not too many more steps to distilling. Of course if I was distilling for profit I probably wouldn't put to much effort into the wort, corn, sugar, and water would be it for the fermenting process.
FYI, methanol isn't concentrated in any portion of the distillate, it's found in all parts, heads tails and hearts. Secondly, unless drinking the equivalent predistillate would kill/blind you, it's near impossible for the final product to, since distillation doesn't make extra methanol, it only concentrates it. Lastly, methanol being associated with home distilled spirits is a holdover from Prohibition from when the Feds intentionally poisoned batches with methanol to scare people away from illegal liquor still operations.
I understand it has to do with temperature and that you can get most of the bad stuff out early as methanol and alcohol are released at different temps....or so I read somewhere long ago. It's been awhile since I went down the distilling rabbit hole, thanks. I also read that methanol is a pretty useful solvent (just don't drink it).
Distilling can be dangerous if you don't know what you are doing, my main concern would be methanol which is generally why the head is discarded. The shit can permanently blind or even kill you. It is very easy to make though and is definitely something I would consider. I have already developed proficiency at making wine, beer, and even hard apple cider......it's not too many more steps to distilling. Of course if I was distilling for profit I probably wouldn't put to much effort into the wort, corn, sugar, and water would be it for the fermenting process.
FYI, methanol isn't concentrated in any portion of the distillate, it's found in all parts, heads tails and hearts. Secondly, unless drinking the equivalent predistillate would kill/blind you, it's near impossible for the final product to, since distillation doesn't make extra methanol, it only concentrates it. Lastly, methanol being associated with home distilled spirits is a holdover from Prohibition from when the Feds intentionally poisoned batches with methanol to scare people away from illegal liquor still operations.
~10k more people murdered by their own government.
I understand it has to do with temperature and that you can get most of the bad stuff out early as methanol and alcohol are released at different temps....or so I read somewhere long ago. It's been awhile since I went down the distilling rabbit hole, thanks. I also read that methanol is a pretty useful solvent (just don't drink it).
That's called knowing the cuts. This is more a problem of sketchy business practices (adulteration) than it is an actual skill-based issue.