spirit base

[willike]

Hi ive started a spirit base alcotec 48 going like a trooper at moment,ive decided to do 8 kg of sugar for 5 days going for 20%.Am i right in thinking that once its done and ive used 24 hr alco klar i can then bottle and add my essences?

[darrenwest1]

i did not think that you could make base at that strengts without the use of a distiller

[willike]

on pack it says 6kg of sugar = 14% in 48 hrs or 8kg of sugar = 20% in 5 days i know its illegal to distill in U.K and wouldnt know where to start anyway lol.

[darrenwest1]

never had a go but i will be watching with interest

[willike]

yeah will keep you up to date got some nice essences to start of with.Ouzo,sour mash whisky,southern comfort and bannana.Dont mind if its only 20% if it tastes good.

[willike]

So the spirit base is ready had a sample before putting in finings and it nearly blew my head of lol.Ive had it clearing for about 7 hrs now and doing well using alcotec 24 hr alcoklar.top was clear enough to syphon of a bottle and i added bourban essence to it looks like old fashioned whiskey from the western movies .tastes great not sure on A.B.V dont wanna know or it might be illegal lol.(i have not distilled this).

[moobli]

i and a couple of others did the KILJU finnish suger wine using wine yeast and got nto about 20% abv
mixed it with all sorts and it went down a treat

[boingy]

They call 'em Turbo Yeasts and I think you can get a 23% one now.

[kay-jay]

on pack it says 6kg of sugar = 14% in 48 hrs or 8kg of sugar = 20% in 5 days i know its illegal to distill in U.K and wouldnt know where to start anyway lol.

my local hbs sells stills.....for ornamental purposes you understand! anything else would be illegal......but once its in your possession.....

KJ

[willike]

on pack it says 6kg of sugar = 14% in 48 hrs or 8kg of sugar = 20% in 5 days i know its illegal to distill in U.K and wouldnt know where to start anyway lol.

my local hbs sells stills.....for ornamental purposes you understand! anything else would be illegal......but once its in your possession.....

KJ

So does mine 149.99 for ornamental purposes of course

[scottmoss]

I've got a still for distilling water

[fatbloke]

To understand why distillation is licensable you should go to the HMRC website and read up the regulations - specifically in respect of excise duty charges. It's got bugger all to do with health and hygiene etc, it's purely about revenue protection.

Last time I looked (before the last "budget"), it seemed that it was £22.64 per 1% alcohol per 100 litres. So if "it" is made at industry standard strength i.e. 40% ABV, then just the excise duty on 100 litres is £905.60 - and because spirits are considered "Luxury food", they also attract 17.5% VAT.

If you look, next time you go to the local supermarket, specifically at the "Diageo" brands, you'll see that they're now selling theirs at 37.5% ABV - has the price gone down ? no, does the government benefit? no - so who does ? Well as Diageo are paying lower excise duty (100 litres at 37.5% ABV attracts an excise duty charge of £849) then I'll let you work it out. It might only seem like about £56 less, but when you're making 10's of thousands of litres a week, it's probably a nice little additional bonus for their chief exec...........

Personally "thieving b******s" comes to my mind.......

[jason123]

I thought distilling was only naughty if you get caught

[DrWorm]

I thought distilling was only naughty if you get caught

Or if you do it wrong and go blind or blow up your house.

Distilling in England... it is only legal to distill water. Spirits are so cheap to purchase if all you want is a nasty 40% liquid to smash your mind.

[Spud395]

I've read that you produce a certain amount of methanol (poisonous) from distilation and have to be very careful how to deal with it.