Page 211 - The Lost Ways

As a word of advice, junk the first 5–10% of the condensate as this is likely to be a type of
alcohol known as methanol as well as mixes of other low boiling point chemicals. The
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alcohol you’re after is ethanol, which is the type of alcohol found in whiskey .

The Vat
This is used to place the fermented liquid in. It will be heated up, so it needs a lid. A
pressure cooker can be used, for example, but something that is metal and has a lid is the
basic requirement.

You’ll need a hole in the top of the lid to connect the next piece of equipment, the column.

You need to seal the connection between the column and the vat.

However, you also need to test the temperature since if it heats much above the boiling
point of ethanol (173°F), you will get too much water in the resultant captured
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condensate, so leave a small entry point for a thermometer .
The Column
When the liquid is heated, a mix of water and alcohol will be vaporized off. Alcohol (both
methanol and ethanol) has lower boiling points than water, but because they are soluble

in water, they often condense, containing some water.

The column helps by allowing the water to condense back down into the vat. The bigger
the surface area of the inside of the column, the better, so if you can hammer some tacks
or nails into the inside of the column, you should get better results.

The Condenser

This is a coil of wire. You usually use copper just because it’s easier to coil than other
metals and corrodes more slowly. The coil is immersed in cold water, and the heated
vapors pass through this coil and ultimately condense out to the vessel.

The Vessel
The vessel can be any container that is used to catch the condensate. Remember, you
may need to junk the first 5–10% of the captured condensate as this will contain the lower
boiling point, methanol.

58 It is often illegal to distil alcohol without a distiller’s license.
59 You don’t absolutely have to use a thermometer, but it does allow a greater accuracy. If you
don’t have one, you can guess the temperature by ensuring the liquid doesn’t boil too vigorously.

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