A family member got me this for the holiday, /diy/. I have my gallon of shitty beer fermenting in my closet, but I'm not particularly a beer drinker. I see how all of the parts are reuseable (Probably to sell more of their beer making refills)but I was thinking something a bit different.
What else would I need to convert this into a still for gin?
>>922923
Sorry, doesn't have to be expressley for gin.
>>922923
Brewing and distilling are two totally separate things that take totally different equipment, and distilling at home isn't recommended for two reasons: One, if you fuck up you can blow your house off it's foundation, and two, if you do it wrong you can literally poison yourself to death.
Yeah^^ that's right (sorry I'm kind of new) you can google the differences and probably learn both processes pretty easily.
>>922923
I found this guy. He seems to know his shit.
https://www.youtube.com/user/wcemichael/featured
>>923072
>literally poison yourself to death
Methanol is always the first liquid coming out of your still. Taste it. If it has a burning sensation on your tongue, spit it out. Once the burning sensation stops, no more methanol. That means no blindness or death from your shine.
>>923272
Ever tried a shot of Everclear or something similar? Burns like a motherfucker, and is 95% ethanol, the rest is water.
OP, don't kill yourself. Yes methanol comes out first, but I doubt a taste test is the best way to avoid destroying your liver and eyes.
>>923072
Atf please.
>>922923
I'd be more worried about how hard it is to make gin, particularly good gin. There's like 11 herbs and spices and shit.
You'd be using the beer kit to make your mash which is fine I guess, but it might not be enough mash to bother distilling.
Also the beer kit is totally unsuitable to turn into a still. Aren't they usually plastic? You need to put it over a fire and boil off the alcohol but not the water
>What else would I need to convert this into a still for gin?
pretty much everything.
>>923072
>One, if you fuck up you can blow your house off it's foundation,
Same is true of a malfuctioning stove or dryer.
>and two, if you do it wrong you can literally poison yourself to death.
There is not enough methanol in a gin mash to even be remotely worried about methanol poisoning. Distilling does not magically create methanol, it will just concentrate it. Which means that whatever methanol from the mash will carry over. The common way to reduce methanol is to remove the heads, but it is totally unnecessary and is really done to improve taste.
Step aside for someone educated in these matters to intervene:
Gin is frequently made from grain spirits. It's not flavored whiskey.
Places like Bombay Sapphire will distill the spirit through a basked filled with the botanicals such that the alcohol vapors pass over the material and picks up flavor compounds.
Other places will simply steep their botanicals in a spirit. This can be achieved with neutral grain spirits of ~190 proof, and then diluted, or with a vodka of ~90 proof. Filtration follows the steeping to remove particulate matter.
Gin kits are sold which contain a small vial of botanicals and a flip top bottle. You supply the vodka. If you don't have a still, your best bet is to purchase a bottle of medium quality vodka.
Recipes are available if you want to use google. Any questions just ask.
OP you can not make spirits, but you can make all sorts of other mildly alcoholic refreshing beverages. You could make a fizzy, alcoholic fruit punch, pear cider, peach cider, apple cider, root beer etc. etc.
>>923072
It's a still, not a meth lab. It's not going to magically blow up with the fury of 10 thousand Indian buttholes. And you're supposed to throw away the first 5-10%, because it's methanol, and the last 5-10% because it isn't ethanol.
