Top 7 Distilling Safety Tips

Distilling can be very dangerous. Although it produces terrific results - essential oils, distilled water, moonshine, and other spirits - distilling involves several steps during which someone could get hurt. If you are thinking about distilling at home, you should consider the top ways to keep yourself safe.

1) Know the Law

If you are shopping through fine copper moonshine stills for sale, considering one to use to decorate your home, or to distill water or essential oils, there is no need for you to get a permit or register your moonshine still.

If you are considering purchasing a moonshine or whiskey still to produce your own fuel or to distill your own alcohol at home, read the federal laws and permits you will need to become a registered distiller. 

2) Temperature Control

Two essential factors affect the temperature control of your moonshine run: heat source and material of your moonshine still. Always use a heat supply you can easily control, and always choose a copper moonshine still with a lead-free solder. To assist you with temperature control, you can also get a handheld temperature scanner. 

It is important to monitor the temperature of the condenser as well as the onion head of the copper moonshine still - if the condenser overheats, flammable vapor can catch fire without you seeing it. Keep the condenser cool with frozen water bottles, ice packs, or a stream of cold water. If the condenser ever becomes warm to the touch, stop distilling immediately. 

3) Ventilation

Always distill moonshine outdoors. That’s the nicest way we can say it. If you’re distilling essential oils or water, you might consider distilling indoors, but you will want to make sure the room is well ventilated. However, distilling alcohol produces flammable gases, and ventilation is absolutely necessary. That’s why we recommend distilling alcohol outdoors, every time.

4) Fire Safety

Distilling uses a lot of heat, and things can go from “hot” to “on fire” very quickly, as many a moonshiner can tell you. And fires caused by alcohol vapor are not put out by water. Keep a fire extinguisher handy as well as other heat-protective gear like gloves and eye protection.

5) Don’t Drink and Distill

We know you enjoy a nice glass of whiskey or moonshine, but wait until after the fire is put out and all the hard work of collecting the best moonshine you can make yourself is completed, okay?

 

6)  Collect Your Moonshine in Glass or Copper, Small-Mouthed, Away from Heat

Tried and true, glass and copper can handle moonshine and won’t melt if something goes wrong. Don’t run your copper moonshine stills plans condenser into a plastic container, ever. 

If your collection jar has a small mouth, less alcohol vapor will escape. And the farther away you keep the collection cup from the heat, the better. In case something spills, or in case alcohol vapor escapes, decrease the chance of having a fire. 

7) Throw Out the Fore shots

Anything collected from your copper moonshine still before the onion bulb reaches 174 degrees Fahrenheit is dangerous to drink. Methanol is poisonous as well as one of the first alcohols to vaporize and condense in your collection cup during every moonshine run. The first 5% or so of your run is called the “fore shots” - it’s always garbage, and you should always throw it out.

Now that you know more about how to safely distill alcohol at home, consider whether you want to purchase one of the best copper moonshine stills for sale for decoration in your home, or a more practical use. If done safely, making moonshine at home can have benefits that will last you a lifetime.

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Know more about “Cuts” in Your Moonshine Run

There are many ways to distill moonshine, but true shiners know that it takes practice and patience to develop the knack for making the best moonshine. You won’t get it right the first time, or even the fifth, but with the right tricks, you’ll learn sooner rather than later what it takes to make a great tasting batch of moonshine that mixes well with other drinks or can be used in a variety of recipes.

Before you try distilling moonshine at home, make sure you are aware of the federal laws on home alcohol distillation. Know which permits you need before you begin.

What’s a “Cut”?

Putting your mash into your moonshine still, heating it, and distilling the alcohol out of it is called a “run.” When you’re distilling moonshine, you will separate the run into several containers. Each time you switch from one container to another is called a “cut.” But, you don’t cut whenever you feel like it, or based on the container size. There are specific reasons to cut your run, and the best moonshine distillers are the ones who cut at the right time.
The beginning of the run produces moonshine that is dangerous to drink, and the end of the run produces moonshine that isn't as tasty or high proof. The best moonshine is the stuff in the middle of the run.

Parts of the Run

1. Foreshots

There are several types of alcohol produced when making moonshine, and each type boils and condenses at a different temperature. One of the first alcohols to vaporize and then condense in your collection jar is methyl alcohol, also known as methanol.
Methanol is extremely dangerous for people to drink - it is even the reason that moonshine is rumored to make people “go blind.” Let’s be clear though: properly distilled and cut, moonshine is safe.
You will always throw away the fore shots from every moonshine run. A rule of thumb is to discard any moonshine in the collection jar when the mash temperature reaches 174 degrees Fahrenheit. Anything produced before that temperature is methanol.

Consider these general guidelines:

•  for a 1 gallon batch, discard the first shot glass of moonshine

•  for a 5 gallon batch, discard the first ⅓ pint of moonshine

•  for a 10 gallon batch, discard the first ¾ pint of moonshine

2.  Heads

The heads are not necessarily dangerous to drink, but they don’t taste as good or go down smoothly. Heads generally contain some undesirable chemicals, which is why people blame them for hangovers. Heads are generally 20-30% of your moonshine run. Set them aside for re-distillation later (“the feints”).

3. Hearts

The hearts are the best portion of the moonshine run. As basically pure ethanol, they’re the best smelling and best tasting moonshine out of the run. The hearts account for 30-40% of the moonshine run, but the real amount is determined by the expertise of the moonshiner. It takes skill to know when to cut between the heads and hearts, and between the hearts and tails.

4. Tails

The tail-end of your moonshine run will contain some alcohol, but also a lot of water and other by-products that don’t add to the flavor or potency of your moonshine. They make up 20-30% of the moonshine run, and should also be set aside with the heads for another later distillation (“the feints”).

5. Ending the Run

When your moonshine stills has produced all it can for that run, the temperature in the onion head will suddenly drop, and the condenser will stop dripping moonshine. Turn off your heat and wait for the copper moonshine still to cool before cleaning thoroughly.

The “Feints”

Take the heads and tails (“the feints”) you saved, and mix them into the wash of your next moonshine run. Or, if you collect enough feints, you might run an all-feints wash, called “the queen’s share.” Throw out the fore shots in a queen’s share run, just to be safe.

Tips for the Best Moonshine Cuts

Experienced moonshiners say that it is always better to cut too soon than too late, except in the case of the fore shots. It’s better to cut those late and throw out some of the heads.

Cutting the heads too soon and having some hearts mixed with the heads won’t be a big deal. Neither will cutting the tails too soon and having some hearts mixed with the tails. It’s much better than having heads or tails mixed in with the hearts of your moonshine batch.

Making the best moonshine takes skill, practice, and a fine sense of timing. Moonshine Stills distilling has long been both a science, and an art.

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Choosing Whiskey Stills With Their Different Sizes

What size do whiskey stills come in?  

Alcohol yield is a tricky thing, influenced by many factors. To distill alcohol or moonshine, you begin by making a mash out of a grain, sugar or yeast (or both), and water. There’s no standard size containers for making mash - moonshiners use all types of equipment - but most distillers prefer to standardize their measurements somewhat.

Most recipes for whiskey mash measure the ingredients in gallons, and once the alcohol wash has been extracted from the mash, it will probably be measured in gallons too. The best one-piece copper whiskey stills are available in standard 1 gallon, 2.5 gallon, 5 gallon, and 10 gallon sizes. There are, of course, larger whiskey stills for sale, but something that big is really only necessary for commercial distillers. 

Influences on alcohol yield

Alcohol by volume

The biggest factors that influence the alcohol yield after distillation come from the wash’s starting alcohol by volume. The alcohol by volume of the wash is determined by the ingredients and process you use for your mash. Using distiller’s yeast instead of regular bread yeast often produces an alcohol wash with a higher alcohol by volume; so does having the right proportion of ferment able sugar in the mash. Generally, more sugar is better, but too much is just waste.

Choosing a copper whiskey still

Copper is the best material for a moonshine or whiskey still, and will help you produce the best alcohol yield. Because alcohol boils at a lower temperature than water, temperature control is key to distilling the best moonshine and whiskey. Copper is known to heat evenly and has been used in kitchenware and stills for centuries. Distillers like copper for the precise control it gives them over their distilling temperature.

    

End of a run

Most moonshiners also don’t get every last drop out of a run. It’s common to get about 85 - 90% out of every run - meaning that getting the last 10 - 15% or so of alcohol out of your whiskey still is difficult, and often not worth it. That “bottom of the barrel” stuff isn't the best from the run. So, you can expect that each run will have some wash left at the end.

Final Answer: how much alcohol will I get out of my whiskey still?

Considering variations, a standard run will yield about:

3 - 6 cups of alcohol from a 1 gallon copper still
.5 - 1 gallon of alcohol from a 2.5 gallon copper still
1 - 2 gallons of alcohol from a 5 gallon copper still
2 - 5 gallons of alcohol from a 10 gallon copper still

Whether you’re looking at producing small quantities or large, making alcohol at home is about convenience and availability. Purchasing multiple sizes of a copper whiskey still design that you like makes it easy to always have access to the size still you need, when you need it.
 

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How much whiskey will my whiskey still make ?

Whiskey stills for sale come in different sizes, and depending on what you want to make, you need different sizes for different products. Is a 1 gallon copper still too small? How many runs** will you need to do in a 2.5 gallon copper still to make as much alcohol as you need? When choosing a whiskey still, think about how much alcohol you want to yield, so you can purchase the size that’s right for you.

**Each distillation of alcohol wash in a full whiskey or moonshine still is called a “run.”

First, we want to remind you that US law requires all home alcohol distillers obtain a Federal Fuel Permit - and this is for alcohol that will be used for fuel, not for drinking. For personal consumption or to sell whiskey that you distill yourself, check out the requirements for a Federal Spirit Distiller’s permit.

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