New to site - Sharing my Etoh THC oil method~

Ahhh, ok. I thought it was a little odd, since the nature of my post was how to run and make a distiller that could help folks in the Etoh process. It was never about the "best" way to make a concentrate. The fact is, everyone has their own taste/needs; very subjective...

I am learning about some incredibly creative methods of producing these concentrates that add art to science. While this is way beyond my scope, it is not out of my interest -- I find it fascinating.

The other thing that I found curious was the comment about spending $100+ in Everclear. Somehow he missed the point that you could reclaim 90% making a 4oz bud run cost approximately $6-$7 per run in Everclear.

If anyone wants to have a discussion on how to make your own Everclear, I am willing to offer some ideas. If you make your own, the same run would only cost about $1-$2--with the added bonus of some CO2 production to feed your plants.

definitely interested in making my own everclear type stuff... that stuff is kinda pricey and ive been needing a bottle! I have a feeling that making it isnt easier or cheap either though! but im curious as to see how its done please and thank you.

Well, to actually make the wash is cheap. The rub is...you have to make a still capable of producing it. I am away from home...but I will throw some ideas down and post them here when I get back.

Pyewacket said:

I am actually very interested in the CO2 method. I am not criticizing this method or any other method. I am comfortable with Etoh. Alcohol has a rather large history with man. The consequence of its consumption is well know from an industrial perspective(SDS), and a nutritional perspective. Meaning, we have clinical guidelines and nutritional guidelines that can help us make choices; in far greater detail than what the MSDS may or may not show alone. It is worth noting that the MSDS is designed for acute exposure, and that it is not designed to comment on chronic use...or use within nutritional context. It is a good way to understand acute exposure when something is spilled, or otherwise liberated in industry/environment. It is a good bit of information for the clinician (even the consumer) on this type of exposure, but it is not complete. I can give you the perspective of a health care professional, and a person that produces his own solvent.

1) As a health care professional, I have seen the real results of butane exposure. I have known one family in particular that lost their son as a result of huffing the solvent. I know Zero acceptable levels by which butane can be directly consumed from a nutritional perspective. Is it used as a solvent for biological use? Yes it has. Do I believe it can be used safely, probably...so long as care is taken to remove as much as feasibly possible. This is not my something I have experience with, so I would not be comfortable using it. Again, I am not criticizing anyone's methods. As a mater of fact, I have read some that appear to take great care in the removal of the solvent. Most appear to understand the consequences of liberating the solvent and take fire hazard and respiratory consequences serious during extraction.

2) Denatured alcohol. Ethanol with methyl alcohol added, or some other substance to make it unfit for consumption . Methanol is connected with a number of neurological ailments. While the MSDS does not paint a complete picture, clinically, a dozen milliliters of the stuff can cause blindness. A few dozen milliliters can be fatal. One byproduct of making ethanol is a small production of methanol. Care is taken to remove it, easy enough to do since it is a lighter distillate and can be removed at the beginning of production. From a distiller's perspective, great care is used to remove it. The government demands it to be incorporated into non-taxed alcohol so that you will not consume it; you will be forced to purchase the taxed version.

3) CO2 is consumed/created/inhaled within normal human physiology. It is made in perfusion in the body and exhaled out of your lungs every breath (waste product of cellular metabolism). However, read the MSDS and it will terrify you. I am talking about CO2 NOT monoxide. Yes, respiratory distress is a very real consequence of being exposed to it from an industrial standpoint. If it is liberated into the environment in perfusion, it can saturate your blood. CO2 has an incredible effect on the central nervous system in controlling respiration. Please, see hypercapnia for a clinical context. The fact is that nothing regulates respiration like CO2 levels, not even depleting oxygen levels. Can you extract safely in a well ventilated environment? I should think you could. You know more about this thn me.

4) Ethanol. MSDS is certainly scarey, industrial exposure absolutely. As part of the diet, we have a ton of research...because it is a part of many people's diet, and it has been for millennia. Used as a drug in moderation, medicine preparations, and other consumables is considered relatively safe. In moderation, some evidence suggests that it is reasonable and perhaps there are some positive health consequences to its consumption. Chronic abuse leads to a number of catastrophic ailments from liver toxicity to all sorts of end-organ diseases. Unfortunately, I have and many others have watched the abuse of this drug take the lives of patients and family members. When producing this oil, the amount consumed would be extremely low...certainly nothing as severe as the exposure you could accidentally experience using it as a solvent in industry. If I had to guess, your cherry-cordial chocolate would have more alcohol than the residual left in the oil; also found in plenty of other foods you eat on a regular basis - probably unknown - you consume daily. This solvent is also VERY dangerous to use if you allow it to escape into the environment, especially when using it at such a HIGH ABV. In terms of fire hazard, it is almost like cooking gasoline on your stove top. Letting explosive fumes fill your house is a recipe for disaster. Hence the use of a proper distiller -- and the main reason I thought I would share how I do it.

Humans are experimental by nature. We are omnivores, we are always faced with some sort of dilemma by which we consume. Even some of the foods that we think are safe but consume regularly, can cause problems: Check out the MSDS for vegetable oil. When considering medicine, alcohol or other drugs designed to produce some sort of non-physiologic effect or mimic a physiologic one...we rarely get to have our cake and eat it to. Sometimes it is about picking your poison -- or hopefully a less poisonous one.

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Wish the guide was written like this. My ADHD won't allow me to watch your video.

I think I can generally get the idea. Distilling is a process I always wanted to try. I have thought it to be a superior process.

I can relate to the ADHD issues. I had/have significant challenges with it myself. I failed High School miserably because of it. However, I find that those that have this are able to focus with amazing intensity on things they have a driving interest in; almost to the point of obsession. The problem, it can be tough to initially connect with the subject.

I suggest to use the videos as a reference only(pause/skip etc...) if you decide to connect with the subject of home distillation. I wish I had the skill to index the video in segments....maybe I will work on that.

In a couple days I will post some basic information about the topic...history of distillation from my perspective, as well as specifics pertaining to the different types of distillers that one can construct. I will relate this back to the concentric design featured in the video...how to modify it to make 95.5ABV. I will also include a recipe to make a wash that has served me well in my production of alcohol.

I appreciate your candidness, I am interested but perhaps your right. Not interested enough to the point to watch a still movie. However that did not stop me from researching distilling and learning more about it. Cannabis fusions period are something of great interest and I am always trying to learn more.

I'm not bagging on you're video, I believe that it is probably better for most folks as the "new age" is upon us. I just need to be able to see things as an overview. That allows me to learn quicker and assign other thought processes to specific sentences you would say. That's how I come up with my methods, its everyone in the community's method evaluated and trial'd to learn its effect then chopped/screwed to meet established community standards then modified more to meet mine.

I'm the type who wants the meat first then to learn the details of how you made it after. Perhaps that's why I've been called the story killer, lol.

I do look forward to seeing more updates on your method. Thanks for sharing.

Perhaps that's why I've been called the story killer

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Lol funny

Since you are interested enough to begin the research, it is obvious to me that the opposite is true.

I think I will have time on Wednesday to add some thoughts to this discussion. Here is a primitive outline…helps me organize my noodle:


1)A brief history of distilling. Focus on the methods used. Pot distillation -vs- Column/Fraction/Reflux. Explain the difference. Why you can distill using a pot still with only the moonlight; near complete darkness in fact. Zero need for a thermometer using a pot still

2) Pot distillation method. Misconceptions about controlling the temperature. Discuss mixture/azeotrope --

3) The need for a thermometer/placement for a reflux column; much different than simple pot still mode

4) Overview of the 3 main types of reflux columns

5) In-depth discussion on the liquid management style of column distillation

6) Explain the use of a parrot

7) Explain the need for an alcometer

8.) Define stripping run

9) Define spirit run

10) Define cuts -- Quick discussion on making proper cuts using a reflux distiller

11) Review of the concentric distiller's anatomy and function as a pot still (what you see in the video). Simple steps in modifying the concentric distiller to allow liquid management reflux

12) What a wash is compared to a mash.

13) Sugar wash recipe and fermentation steps

14) Steps in running a stripping run

15) Steps in running a spirit run with the concentric still to produce 95.5ABV

16) Issues with storing high ABV alcohol

17) Misc. things to improve success



I am going to have to break things apart in sections. I will try to finish 1-4 on Wednesday. I am sure I will change things around a bit...

+rep to ya man. Nice to see real info on here instead of the drama and dyna-gro whores

Although there is a significant amount of science involved in the distillation of alcohol, the process is simple enough that it has been produced from rudimentary vessels for centuries. There is even evidence to suggest that it has been done for millenniums. It is not a far stretch to imagine how the basic idea came about. It probably occurred to our ancestors that when they cooked/boiled a fermented wash beer/wine that something magical happened. I would think just the smell of the vapors and how the vapors condense, feel, and taste was an "Ahhh Haaa!" moment. I am certainly not and anthropologist, but in my mind it is reasonable to think that these cultures immediately understood the value in that discovery. And of course, alcohol in spirit form has had uses in tinctures, medicine, perfumes, analgesic, and not to mention direct consumption the moment it started being collected.


Everyone comes to these types of discussions from different understandings and experiences. I think its important to comment on the history of distilling in the United States. This is not really a history lesson but a way to comment on the state of home distilling and the illegality of running a still in this country; also, I happen to live in the U.S.


The United States has a very interesting history with alcohol. We have all been taught that the settlers of the nation left to escape religious persecution and to have better opportunities in the new world. We also know how early Americans felt about taxation without representation...taxation in general. It is no wonder that distillation spread easily across the Americas once free of taxation. In fact, some of our first presidents had their own whiskey and brandy recipes and methods for distillation.

Of course this would not last long, as temperance societies would form and the first whiskey tax would be levied in the states in 1791. Flash forward a number of years, and with great protest, the tax was repealed. Flash forward another decade and we would once again levy taxes against spirits to pay for the war of 1812.

Some considered these taxes as a way to impose temperance. In reality, taxes would increase on the purchase of alcohol to the extent that it became a very real and important way our government raises revenue; not just federal taxes, state taxes as well. However, temperance teachings won out and alcohol was prohibited by the 18th Amendment in 1920. Moonshine as a very real underground industry was born in the United States…




The word Moonshine conjures images of illicit activities happening during the wee hours of the night. Whatever the exact origins of the word, that is precisely what happened across the U.S. during the time of prohibition. Many of the Irish and Scottish families that at some point had immigrated to the U.S., took traditional distilling methods that they learned from the old country. They would become part of the very profitable underground moonshine trade.

The business of illegal spirits thrived through the 20's and the first part of the 30's. Until prohibition ended in 1933. The black market had the rug pulled out from under it and collapsed. Some of us continue to carry on the tradition. We try to study how the old timers have done it, and we try to improve the safety aspects of running a still. As a throw back to prohibition, home distilling has remained illegal. If you plan to construct something to separate alcohol, you are breaking the law in the U.S.



A little comment on the good ol' days of prohibition.



We can learn A LOT from the good ol' boys in the mountains of Appalachia, and other such places across the U.S. during prohibition. Some of their techniques were questionable, and greed would be too tempting for a portion. Because of this, moonshine has a stigma attached to it. Less than savory methods were used to produce alcohol for sale. They would take cheaper forms of alcohol and blend it with their product; these alcohols were toxic. To make things worse, some of the still construction techniques used were questionable. Many used old vehicle radiators for condensers/plumbing. They would also use lead solder further toxifying the spirit. People did get sick, and it is easy to point the finger at moonshine itself. However, it was poor techniques used, creating what could be a very dangerous product indeed. Keep this in mind: When distilling, one is SIMPLY separating constituents within the wash you have starting with. Distilling creates NOTHING. It only distills what is already there. As a result of government propaganda and people's greed, many folks to this day believe that, if you run a homemade still, you will go blind, or get very sick; a properly made and operated still can cause no such thing! I know I am preaching to the choir on the government propaganda thing…



Don't get me wrong. Plenty of proper methods were used by some of the less greedy. Some wonderful techniques were modified from traditional methods and were cultivated. Here is a video of a man that I find fascinating. I also believe that a lot of the proper methods of home distilling have been derived from people like him.

[video=youtube;hXkoc5-9a-Y]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXkoc5-9a-Y[/video]



Wow, long winded to get to this point, but I think you should know what you are getting into.

It is as simple as heading to the hills:




I am amazed that you can take a few well crafted items and head to the hills. With no access to electricity and only fresh water flowing from the streams. You will fuel your still with what you cut from the land, and you produce an amazing product. You can rely on your sense of taste, smell, and touch to produce the spirit. You do not need a precise control of heat. Therefore, you do not need a thermometer for a basic pot still. These folks made their moonshine mostly at night. They did not want to risk getting caught. I would suggest most of them would need no other light source than the glow coming from their boiler fire.


Pot Still

I was operating my still as a pot still in the video. This is a whiskey/brandy still. Great at providing flavor to the finished product. Produces approximately 65%ABV from a single run from a wash. Can not produce high ABV alcohol without many distillations.


A pot still is a distilling apparatus in a very direct way. Applying heat to a boiler containing a mash or a wash (A solution of alcohol and water -- basically, fermented sugars), that will boil -- turning liquid into gas vapors. Vapors will rise up and follow the path created by the plumbing. The pot still is constructed so that the vapors are directed toward a condenser, through this plumbing, and allowed to be condensed back into liquid. There is not much more to it. The basic pot still that these old moonshiners would use contained at least: A boiler, lyne arm (carries the vapors up and out of the boiler), a worm (coiled copper tube condenser) , and a flake stand (positions the worm, submerging the worm in water). They needed cool water to flood the flake-stand and cover the coil so that the vapors are cooled within the worm, and a collection vessel to collect the liquid distillate. This entire system works because alcohol has a lower boiling point. Applying heat will cause vapors that, at lower temperatures will contain more alcohol with certain proportions to water. There is a reason I did not say that alcohol boils off first -- because it is not entirely true.


I understand my distiller does not look like the above, but it is a pot still nonetheless. Just more compact.

Why Alcohol does not boil off first in a pure sense, and why you can NOT control the temperature of your boiling wash.


Let's get a basic understanding of the wash that you will be boiling. In its basic form, a wash is fermented sugar -- the end result -- a solution of alcohol and water. A mixture. We can call this mixture an azeotrope. It is important to understand that this azeotrope has properties SPECIFIC to this mixture alone. We know that alcohol at sea level boils at 173.4 degrees F. We also know that water boils at 212 degrees F. I know, you are thinking to yourself: "Why not just keep your temperatures at 173.4F and boil off all the alcohol?". Many new to distilling conjure up sophisticated ways of doing so. It simply does not work that way. This azeotrope you spent fermenting/creating has its OWN physical properties/specific boiling temperature. This is based on the amount of alcohol to water ratio that you have created. It is dependent on the recipe you used and the resultant alcohol to water ratio. Most washes are between 6-14%Alcohol by volume (ABV). Think of it this way… The more alcohol you have in your wash the lower the temperature the solution will boil. If for example you have a significant amount of alcohol in solution, the boiling temperature might be 187F. If you do not apply enough heat to reach the 187F, you will not boil the wash. If you do not boil the wash, you will not produce vapors and you will have zero distillate output.


So for their first run, many newcomers turn on the burner and begin applying heat. They make the foolish decision and put a thermometer in their boiler and they watch the temperature rise. They watch the temps reach 173.4 and wait with anticipation…NOTHING. They panic and shut the distiller down. They simply have not reached the temperatures specific to their mixture (did not reach 187F) so no distillate output was achieved.


The first mistake the individual made was using a thermometer in a pot still. There is simply no need. Remember the moonshine story, these folks distilled in darkness…they couldn't even see to read a thermometer even if they had one. You can believe they had no idea what an azeotrope was; they would think it was crazy even mentioning it. The only thing that is important in running a pot still is how much heat you apply. Bring the temperature up to boiling, whatever "azeotrope??" blah blah blah, just collect. If you want to collect things faster…turn up the heat. Slower…reduce the heat.


You CAN NOT control temperatures directly on a pot still. You CAN NOT. You can simply push more heat in…boil more of the alcohol off…and WATCH the temperatures rise as your mixture changes. As you continue to boil more alcohol off, your ratio of alcohol to water changes (you will always be depleting the alcohol as you boil it off). Keep running the still, and you will eventually boil off all of the alcohol; your temperatures will eventually come very close to 212F.


It is important to understand what a pot still is. We will eventually talk about making HIGH ABV (95.5%) alcohol, but we need to understand the pot still so we can understand the reflux still.

Reflux still



This still is a vodka still. Does not produce much flavor as it produces a cleaner/higher ABV alcohol. This still is capable of producing 95.5%ABV. This is how you can produce your own solvent.



A reflux still or fractional column distiller is another still that can be constructed. This still will allow for the collection of distillate up to a max of 95.63%ABV. This is a very high ABV for sure, but it is not 100%. Know that for normal distillation methods it is not possible to collect anything higher than that. This has to do with the azeotropic properties of the solution 95.63% alcohol to 4.37% water. The physical property of this azeotrope is actually MORE volatile than ethanol alone; hence, no ability to separate any further through typical distillation methods. Counter-intuitive and not important that you understand that concept…just know you can’t get better than 95.63% using a reflux column.


The concept behind a fractional column is stacking the lighter vapors and keeping those at the top of the column. These columns are tall. It is essentially performing many MANY distillations on a single run allowing for the take-off at the top. Within this long column you are creating a temperature gradient. We have discussed that the purer form of alcohol, containing much less water, will have a temperature of 173.4F. You simply have to design a way to draw the distillate that has formed from that low temperature. In other words, you collect the distillate that has formed from the lower temperature vapors. You can accomplish this a couple ways with the refluxing mechanism as the primary control.


Refluxing is allowing the formed distillate to be re-introduced back into the column. Meaning, you do not collect the distillate like you do on a pot still. You have to have a valve, allowing the closing of the take-off and recycle/refluxing the distillate back into the column. As you reflux the distillate back into the column/boiler, you stack your vapors in the column; we call this balancing. When the reflux column is in balance, you will have the cooler vapors at the top. You can then crack open the valve and start to draw from the well of distillate that has formed from those lower temperatures. You do this slowly allowing for some reflux to always occur. Imagine the still sending some of the distillate refluxing at all times while you draw only enough as to not disrupt the balance.


The balance is monitored by temperature. SO, for a reflux still you MUST have a thermometer; much different than a pot still. That thermometer must be at the very top where you will be drawing the distillate. Your goal is to try to keep the temperature at 173.4ish. If you can accomplish this, your take-off will be 95.5ish% ABV. If your take-off is too fast, you will be allowing for heavier/higher boiling point vapors to reach to top…your ABV will drop (less alcohol by volume). You will close the valve allowing for a slower take-off and your ABV should rise as you bring the still back into balance. We will talk about the importance of an alcometer and a parrot later.

The second method used in conjunction with the reflux valve is packing the column. This allows for hot surfaces areas of the packing to constantly re-vaporize/re-distill the distillate; this aids in the stacking. The packing you stuff into your column is usually either copper, or stainless steel scrubbers; although many other safe non-synthetic substances can be used. Yes, just those metal things that you scrub your pots and pans with. They MUST be stainless steel or copper…You can get them in the states at the dollar store 3 for a buck.

The above reflux still that I have been describing is called a liquid management (LM) still. In other words, you use the liquid distillate to reflux back into the boiler to accomplish the vapor stacking. The other two main home distilling reflux columns are coolant management and vapor management distillers. We are going to be connecting with this concept through the distiller I have shown in the video(concentric) and discuss how this is easily modified from a pot still to a liquid management distiller. So logically, our focus with be on liquid management distillation.


This is the same pot still in the video (modified to reflux). If you look close at the top of the column, you will notice a needle valve (that is your reflux control). Close the valve all the way, and distillate recycles back into the column. Some people must let their distller reflux like this(full reflux) for a half an hour or more before vapors stack and the still is in balance. You can also see the thermometer place just under the valve on the top of the packed column. The theremometer will read 173.4F and you know that it is in balance and what you draw off is going to be 95.5%ABV. If the temps rises, you are out of balance and you will need to close the valve some and reflux more. The column has pipe insulation around it.

Ok, that is some of the basics...when I have time...I will get into the meat of things in subsequent posts.

I wanna make moonshine!!! Holy shit! You, good sir, are a plethora of information! I enjoy reading what you have to say, and I really enjoy all the side info you include

WOW what a post. it must have taken 2 hours to write that, thank you very much.

That post sir, was awesome!

Over the past few days I've been watching Moonshiner's

[video=youtube;D5gdcJnuI4I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5gdcJnuI4I[/video]

It's just interesting shit watching Jim Tom.

Yeah, that guy is something else. I think I wouldn't mind having a chat with him...but maybe for only a couple hours. He is a very random fella lol.

I have watched a couple episodes of that show. It is entertaining, but they don't really show how to properly do things... -- It's T.V. after all. I did watch one episode where Jim Tom free-hand solders a copper boiler, thought that was neat.

Time to take things down from the hills.

This would be hard to lug it up there in the first place. This is a plated vodka still. Similar in many ways to our reflux LM still. We do not have to get as fancy as this, but you would have to admit that it is a bit more sophisticated than the moonshine pot still. It would be very hard to run this thing in the dark.

Just to recap a few things. A pot still or whiskey still is capable of distilling a 10-14%ABV wash to not much more than a 65%ABV output at the peak. This is fine for your basic whiskey or brandy run, but it is not what we are after. We need a distiller capable of a 95.5 output -- to be usable for our purposes.

Enter: The liquid management reflux still.

Before we talk about the details of operating this still, let's cover some terminology.

Wash: This is a sugar based fermentation. A wash consists of water, sugar, yeast, and yeast nutrients. Grain based starches/sugar are not used in a wash. Just to clarify, you can add grains and other things to a wash for flavor -- only for flavor. In fact, a very common thing to do is add a bunch of corn/grain to a sugar wash and make a faux whiskey. At the end of the day, the yeast is feasting on the sugar…not the grain. I will provide a good sugar wash recipe that will produce clean solvent.

Mash: A mash is similar to a wash in that you are feeding yeast sugar. The difference is that you are physically mashing (yes, like potatoes) a grain. The sugar is locked into the grain in starch form, physically mashing is not enough to liberate the sugar. An enzyme (malt) is added at exact temperatures to convert the start into something simple enough for the yeast to consume. It is a long drawn out process that produces wonderful flavors. This is not something we desire to do when making a clean high ABV alcohol.

Pot still mode: Running a reflux still in a de-tuned fashion so that it runs as a pot still. You remove the packing and open the valve all the way. Most reflux still are capable of operating just fine as a pot still. In fact, the concentric still starts life out as a pot still and is easily modified by adding a column and a valve.

Stripping run: This is running a pot still (de-tuned reflux still) in efforts to collect as much alcohol from the wash. Running things hard and fast and separating as much alcohol as can be reasonable achieved. No care is taking to make cuts…see below. You collect everything until you have depleted all the alcohol and will be making cuts during the spirit run. I am starting a stripping run today. I will post some pictures on my next post.

Low wines: What is collected from the stripping run. You run your wash through the stripping run hard and fast, and the distillate that is being collected is called low wines. Low wines usually end up being between 30%-%40ABV. I have been fermenting 4X6.5gallons of wash the past week. That will fill my boiler twice. I will run my boiler as fast as I can collecting maybe 8ish gallons of low wines. I will save those 8 gallons, on Sunday I will charge my boiler with it, pack my column and reflux it for a high ABV spirit run.

Spirit run: Usually the final distilling run. As the name implies, this is the collection of the actual spirit you desire. Producing 95.5%ABV is the desired product for our purposes. We will do a stripping run first, load the low wines into the reflux still's boiler. We will collect slowly within proper reflux and packing to achieve our goal. We will making proper cuts…see below.

Alcometer or Alcoholmeter or Proof-talles alcometer/hydrometer: Usually a glass bulb that has been designed/weighted within a relationship to the specific gravity of water. Alcohol has a lower specific gravity, so when the solution contains more alcohol…the alcometer will sink. A measurement is taken at the bottom of the meniscus -- this is measuring the %ABV of your distillate.

Parrot: The anatomy of this device: A beak, body, and a tale. Sounds like a bird? It does resemble one I suppose. Your alcometer is placed in the body of the parrot. Distillate runs from your take-off and is collected in the tale of the device. Designed to flow from the bottom up of the parrot's body and causing the alcometer to float. Distillate fills the body and over-flows down into the beak of the device. Your collection vessel is positioned under the beak. A crucial device to build. Reading the alcometer is easy in a parrot, the distillate overflows and you simply read it at the level of the overflow. This allows you to measure the percentage of alcohol on the fly.


First Picture: I made this parrot out of a few things. I was in the dog house for a while over this; stole this weird bell (base of parrot) thing from my wife...chopped it up and soldered it in place. The tube body of this parrot is a spear from a keg. The beak is supported by a humming bird brass thingy that was attached to the bell. The tail of the parrot is a crazy winding length of 3/8 copper tube that feeds distillate to the bottom of the parrot. Follow the tail up to the funnel, the distillate will drip into the top funnel...it will flow down to the base...fill up the body...float the alcometer that is inside (alcometer not shown)...the distillate will over flow and and full up that second funnel that the beak is draining...collection vessel is centered under the beak. There are much simpler ways to make a parrot.

The second picture is a parrot in action, you can see the distillate overflowing.

Foreshots: Undesirable first distillate that comes out of your still. This contains undesirables, including an increased amount of methanol. Yes, you bet…toxic wood alcohol that is not fit for consumption. REMEMBER, when distilling, you do not create anything. That must mean that these bad volatiles are in your wash to begin with; yes indeed. Not just methanol, an entire spectrum of bad constituents are present. Why do you think you have the WORST headaches/hangovers when you consume cheap wine? You guessed it, it contains all that nasty stuff since there is no way to separate. However, in distillation we can separate this nasty stuff out…see cuts below.

Heads: As you pull product off and you have cleared the foreshots, you will continue to notice some interesting chemical aromas from your distillate. The smell of acetone and other volatiles have a butter/sweet/chemical odor. Heads are not desirable for most, so they are removed in the cuts process…see cuts below.

Hearts: Once you have cleared heads, you will start collecting the purer form of alcohol. This will have the least chemical smell/flavor. It has a faint/clean alcohol taste and odor. This is the lions share of what you will be collecting and using. For the production of 95.5, this is what we are after.

Tails: At the end of hearts you will notice the smell changes. Most describe it as a wet-cardboard smell. We have not very much use for this. In fact, in producing 95.5ABV we do not want to run into this at all. Tails suggest that you are running out of alcohol and you are bringing over more water based constituents. For making solvent, you do not want water anyway...you should be shutting your still down before you run into the tails. In other words, we want the highest ABV possible and there will be very little water anyway. I would like to add, tails are essential if you are going for flavor. So you will find that most whiskey, brandy, and rum makers value these constituents above all else. The mastery of making a flavored products is understand cuts well. When to collect and when to stop collecting the tails is an art.

Cuts: When making spirits it is important to include and exclude portions of the collecting distillate. When making a flavored spirit like whiskey, the smell, taste, and texture of the distillate all come into play when making this decision. You can well imagine how important making cuts are in that process. Most home distillers collect in small jars, they will label them with the ABV in each jar and the number them in chronological order. They will dilute each one, and they will smell and taste each one. They will then decide which jars they want to keep. The next step for them is to blend, in efforts to achieve the desired flavor. FOR US though, it is MUCH easier-- Review the definitions above: Foreshots, Heads, Hearts, and tails. These are the order by which you will be collecting. Depending on the wash, you will be tossing out the foreshots (several hundred milliliters usually). Heads are questionable, they smell like acetone and I save them for utility things around the house. Hearts are what you will be saving and using as your solvent. Tails, I toss those out.

The next post will be discussing how these terms all comes together in running the still. I will show you some photos of one of my larger stills. I am doing a stripping run tomorrow, and a spirit run a day or two after.

Stripping run

As stated in my previous post, a stripping run is fast without any care of cuts. Crank up the heat and let it rip. This is our first step in producing high ABV alcohol. We call the collected distillate "low wines".


Why even bother? Why not run a spirit run directly? With the still I am about ready to show you, it is possible to charge it with your wash and run it in full reflux mode and collect 95.5%ABV; many people do this. I choose to run stripping runs for a couple reasons: I usually ferment with two fermenters at a time, and I feed my plants the CO2 in the process. This allows me to charge my still -- strip the run -- and save the low wines. I repeat the process two more times. This gets me through the flowering stages of my plants, and when I have collected the low wines from all 3 runs…it fills my boiler perfectly. The other reason, I feel I get a better product with the still being easier and faster to run this way.


Running this as a pot still -- de-tuned without packing.

This is the distiller I will be using. It is very similar to the concentric still. It uses a different condenser. See below:


3/8" copper tube. Coiled and inserted into the top of the still head. Vent holes are cut in the top cap to make it safe.


Here is a crappy drawing of the above still head. Ignore the T fitting and subsequent condenser. That is a modification I may or may not make; gives the still a dual function LM/VM. This is my design -- I really wanted a way to center the distillate down the middle of the packing -- helps increase the ABV on spirit runs. I can pull 95.5ABV effortlessly. I am obsessive and try a bunch of tricks and tweaks constantly; never ending process.

Let's charge the still. I use a racking cane to siphon off my wash into my boiler. You do not want to overfill your still. The boiler in this case is a 15.5gallon keg. Two of these blue fermenters introduce roughly 12.5 gallons of wash; that is pushing it, but it does work well with a sugar wash.


Two of these blue fermenters fill the keg to capacity. We will strip the first two, and just follow with the last two.


The keg in this case is modified a bit. The great thing about using a keg as a boiler, it has a standard 2" ferrule that tri-clamps directly onto a ferruled end at the bottom of your column. I drilled a 1" hole at the bottom, and soldered a female fitting that a standard water heater element (220v 5400watt) screws right in. I soldered a utility box and ran my electrical lines to a homemade controller. The controller cost roughly $60 to make with a SSR switch and a potentiometer. Many home distillers have similar set-ups, as it is safe and easy to control your heat. Although this is a monster still compared to the small 1" concentric, the concentric will perform nicely on smaller boilers. The stripping run only requires a pot still after all, reflux and column are not needed. When I show you the spirit run, I will comment on the modifications you can make to it to allow it to reflux.


Couple things to note. There is a secondary condenser called a Liebig. That is the extension feeding distillate into the parrot. Although not entirely necessary, it is there to cool the distillate a bit to make the alcometer read more accurately; alcometers are usually tuned to 60degrees F.



The keg is full, slid in place, and the column is clamped onto the keg. I crank up the heat. In about 1 hour the wash will begin to boil. The column will stay cool until it boils and the vapors climb up to the condenser.

Turn the condenser's water on before boil. As soon as the vapors condense, the distillate well fills and the take-off begins.




With the valve WIDE open. A nice fast flow of distillate is being collected. This particular run takes about 2.5hours once up to temperature. I use my parrot to keep track of the ABV. At the start of this run the ABV is relatively high. Around 65-70%ABV. We will continue with the heat up to max, and we will see the ABV drop off as the run progresses.


I removed the proof-tralles alcometer so you could get a view of it. Distillate has filled the parrot. We are now able to read the ABV on the fly. Notice how high the ABV is reading. I did not turn on the secondary condenser so the actual reading would be about %70ABV if sufficiently cool (60degF).



I run my still until I my alcometer reads just under 10%ABV. I do not find it worth chasing the last bit in the keg…it doesn't amount to much.



This batch I was able to collect around 4 gallons of approximately 40%ABV low wines. Always collect your distillate in either a glass or stainless steel pot. This is about average for my runs. What I mean to say is: As I collect all the distillate from 70%ABV down through %10ABV, the resulting low wines are usually between 35%-40%ABV. This is a good ABV to charge your still for the spirit run.


Now I repeat what I just did for the final two fermenters and strip away.

Shut down the still and turn the water off -- cover your low wines until you are ready for the spirit run. Once cool, I like to prepare the still by making sure everything is clean and ready for the spirit run.

Spirit run

This is the final step in the process of making 95.5%ABV. Various tricks/tweaks can be used to ensure the highest ABV possible, but most can reach 95.5 with the correct column height, packing, and reflux ratio.

As stated in a previous post, the concept is simple. You must create a temperature gradient so that the very top of the column is as close to azeotrope temperature as possible. This is accomplished by packing the long column with stainless steel scrubbers.


As boiling temperatures are reached, the vapors will travel up the column and begin to slow down as it makes contact to the many surfaces on the scrubbers. The still is designed with a valve, and distillate is allowed to form from the condenser and fall back down through the packing. As it does this, the hot surface of the steel re-vaporizes the distillate and the vapors mix, rise, and fall back down again. This occurs over and over again leading to stacking. As this temperature gradient is being established, the hotter temperatures remain closest to the boiler and the cooler distillate temperatures balance at the top. When temperatures at the top hit close to azeotrope 173F, you have a balanced still.


Charge the boiler

Continuing where we left off. I have roughly 8gallons of low wines that I have collected from the stripping run. The distillate turned out to be 35%ABV. The boiler is charged with these low wines.

Time to stuff packing in the column. These must be copper or stainless steel. I pack the column moderately tight. You should still be able to blow through the packing relatively easy. If not, you have packed it too tight.


Attach the column to the boiler and place the still head. Turn the needle valve closed.


Once everything is in place, turn on the heat. Make sure to turn on your cooling before boiling occurs.

When boiling occurs, temps will rise quickly as the vapors hit the thermometer at the top of the column. Keep the valve closed. You are looking to see that the temperature remains stable -again- reaching approximately 173-174degrees F.



Most folks allow the distillate to stack in the column for up to 1/2 hour before they open the valve.

Something to note. You have to be careful not to push too much heat into the boiler. The packed column can become flooded; it can not drain through the packing fast enough. If this happens, the distillate can flood and back up into the condenser not only throwing your still out of balance, but it can cause a dangerous mess as distillate will cough out of the top of the still.

Once you have the still in balance, crack open the needle valve and begin collecting distillate slowly.


If the still looks to be in balance, crack the valve a bit more. Your goal is to not throw the still out of balance. If the temperature rises, you are drawing distillate too fast. You will need to slow the take-off by closing the valve a bit.

This still is stable, so for most of the run you should not have to futz with much. However, you should never leave the still unattended and should always have your eye on the temperature and the ABV.

Toward the end of the run, you will notice that you will have to close the valve considerable. You will not be able to keep the still in balance unless you drastically reduced your take-off. It will become so slow that you will be forced to end your run.

Temp is rising, and I have the needle open a tiny crack...it is just dripping out. If I open it up any more, the temperature will rise even higher...We are at the end of the run.


This run I collected just under 2gallons of 95.5% ABV after I removed the foreshot and heads.

Always keep track of your volumes. I have a very scientific way of doing this.




A comment on cuts

We mentioned that cuts are important when running a still. The first distillate is not fit for consumption. It is easy once you have some experience running a still in reflux mode. This is in great contrast to the cuts that must be made when producing a whiskey, rum, or brandy. Since we are making a neutral with no flavor, we just want to make sure we separate out the nasty volatiles; we are only concerned with collecting a clean product-- not making a world class whiskey.

When you begin to draw off distillate, you will notices a buttery sweet smell. It will smell like nail-polish remover…because… it essentially is. Take your time for the first part of the run. You will notice that, over the length of the first part of the run (1/2 gallon in this case), the odor begins to dissipate. It will start to smell like a good quality vodka…a slight alcohol odor. In this run, I made no distinction between foreshots and heads. I collect the acetone smelling distillate (foreshots + heads together) in a SEPARATE container; not to become part of the solvent. In this run, I collected 1/2 gallon of foreshots and heads that I will use to start my barbeque--I will not consume this product.

There is no need to get more sophisticated. Just be conservative, separating out as much of the bad stuff as you can.

What does it cost?

First, here is the recipe

For each 6.5 gallon blue fermentor, I use:

2 cans of tomato paste
3tablespoons of bakers yeast - yep…regular bread yeast.
10lbs of sugar
Enough water to reach 6.5gallons in the fermentor

I boil 3gallons of the water for each fermentor and use it to melt the sugar and tomato paste. I make sure I stir enough to completely bring the sugar into solution. I fill the fermentor the rest of the way with cool water. This should bring the temperature low enough that it is safe to pitch in the yeast. You should not pitch yeast if the temperature is above 90DegF. I connect the airlock and try to keep the ambient temperature around 75-80degrees. This should ferment in about 1week-10days in that temperature range. You could add other yeast nutrients, invert the sugar, and increase the temps a bit for a faster ferment. I feel you get a better product if you let the fermentation take their time.

As I have mentioned before, I have a system with these fermentors. I use a tube/hub system and pipe in the CO2 that is being created to my grow room. In a typical grow, I will run 3 sets of two fermentors for my autos. I will collect just under 3gallons of 95.5.



Here is a video of the airlock blurping away:
[video=youtube;PAfZZPFtm0M]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAfZZPFtm0M[/video]

I ran 4 fermentors so that is 40lbs of sugar = $16.00 at Costco
8 cans of tomato paste= $4.00
1jar of yeast =$3.00

$23dollars for 2 gallons of 95.5% alcohol. I did not include electricity and water cost…shouldn't be more than a couple bucks.


That is about it for now. I will add to this, if something crosses my mind. I hope some found it interesting. Either way, it is never a bad thing to think outside the box a bit.

damn that is one hell of a post, you should consider posting that info on another site... that kind of info and write up shouldnt go wasted. not many here will put it to use and only a few hundred see it... something like that that deserves tens of thousands of views.. im sure theres guys out there that would kill for that write up and have been searching for info like that for ages!!!!

anyways, I got a question. I figure you do a lot of straining.... what is the best way to strain alcohol... winterized alcohol to be exact loaded with plant waxes?

the unbleached coffee filter clogs up pretty quickly with the white plant waxes, and seems to take forever, it also soaks upwards on the filter, and im un able to reclaim that wasted, precious oil. what do you do???

ive read to never fill the filter past the half ways point, and never to force or encourage it to drain... let it do it naturally, no squeezing or jumping it up and down like its a bubble bag full of water and hash bouncing through the screen.

this is bragging oil so I am trying to get it as smooth, and tasty as possible.

also wondering what the absolute best way to evap it would be?? I want it to retain its original taste... im not a fan of the way alcohol made oils taste. I hope this stuff still tastes like the bud!

I have no problem posting here. I posted some of these ideas on one other site...

I have taken a lot of info from Rollitup, so I just contribute what I can. Even if there are only a select few that are interested, it was worth it to post I hope. I am helping some individuals in a more direct way. I am thankful that these forums allow me to post a ton of photos, videos etc. This has allowed these individuals a way to access this information in a more organized fashion...vs...cryptic emails. In fact, I am gifting the still in the video to a very good friend and plan to head down to his house the middle of the month to get it operational. He has been reading this thread along with two other good friends and it has helped immensely.

As far as filtering, the video was a bit misleading. I have made 5 of these:


Cheap Ikea stainless bowl with copper tubes soldered to help the solution vent, and it also lifts the coffee filter up in three places allowing for a faster straining.

I have a fetish for 1/2 gallon pickle jars (vlasic). I have well over a dozen of them. I set up 4-5 pickle jars with these odd funnels on top. Fill each one about 3/4 of the way. Still slow, but 5 times faster than a single filter. I do have some wasted, but the fact that the solution is very VERY dilute -- even wasting a gram or two of the solution each filter wouldn't really amount to much loss.

I use this mainly for sub-lingual drops. However, I am moving my wife over to a vaporizer. It has worked very well and it does have the flavor of bud -- maybe a hint of throat burn on exhale -- probably caused by a slight amount of alcohol left; since moving into the world of vaping, I am going to have to experiment with this. I would imagine you have a much more sophisticated palate when it comes to these sorts of things-- you are far more of an expert...

Some things I might try as we move more into vaping this oil:

1) Filtering the solution once and then putting it back into the freezer for a day or two -- filter a second time -- see if there are more precipitates to filter out after that.
2) Construct a vegetable oil bath with a controller attached to a thermostat. Like a double boiler, using vegi oil instead of water, so that I could set the temp to 240degreesF. This should help the purging process a lot. I could probably do this with a large stainless chafing dish. Either install a water heater 1300Watt element, or thermocouple controlled hotplate. Float the stainless bowl that contains the THC oil on vegetable oil bath--for as long as it takes. You would re-use the vegi oil indefinitely. Some of those induction hotplates have precise temperature control so it might be a simple process of getting one and associating it with the oil bath concept.

This is a huge learning process for me, so I am going to bow down to the experts for most of this. I do intend to read more on some of the nuances and experiment. My grow room is full, so I should have an opportunity to try again in 4 weeks.

And a thanks to you Vacupurge and others for your encouragement. I enjoy reading your posts on a variety of subjects, thanks for the solid info.

I have been giving things some thought. A week ago I processed my bud (7.5oz) and did a first coffee filtering of the mixture. I put the filtered mixture back into the freezer for the entire week. This morning I pulled out the solution and noticed a reasonable amount of white sediment at the bottoms of my jars. I carefully poured the top liquid off...the sediment started to swirl, and I left about 3/4 of a cup at the bottom of each of my containers. I set up several filters and began by filtering the sediment from each of my 3 containers...started these first because I knew it would take a while. In the other filters, I filtered the rest of the bulk of mixture. So, everything got filtered a second time. Here is a photo of some of the sediment. You can see brown sediment but there is a lot of white sediment you cant see.



I did not anticipate there would be this much left in solution after the first filtration; since it was reasonably clear. Thanks folks for leading me to this, I think it is going to make a big difference in the quality of my product. Excited to see the results. The still is running now. On a side note, the still's temp is running .2 degF hotter. This could be good news as it might mean that the strain I grew has a higher THC content...or I somehow pulled more out~