Hi all. Never posted here before. I started off making beer, but found wine
so much more interesting.

Anyhow, I was wondering if anybody has an opinion on this. I was thinking of
experimenting in freeze distilling, probably with a bottle of my plum wine.

Firstly, I've heard that freeze distilling is a bit of a grey area in
winemaking. Some say illegal, some say kind of legal, others legal. I'm in
the UK, does anyone know if I'm legal

Secondly, I'm a bit worried about certain toxins. I've read that some
toxins, some "bad" alcohols, remain in freeze distilled wines, whereas
pot-distilled wines remove them. Should I be worried about these toxins? Are
they in suitable levels to be harmful?

Sorry if I'm posting this to the wrong group, but I couldn't find a
distillery newsgroup. If anyone could help me in my "plum port" experiment
it'd be greatly appreciated

Many thanks
Paul

http://www.wikinfo.org/wiki.php?title=Ethanol

there's some interesting info on this site just about distilling in
general and there's mention of the legality of it all. I'm not sure if
it's referring to wine and beer, but it was interesting all the same.

rec.crafts.distilling

Don't know about the legality in the UK...although i think I read once
that it was illegal....I could be wrong though.

And yes, all the methanol and fuseul alcohols will be left in
there...but you are not going to get a really high proof "applejacking"
your wine.

Right. So although all the methanol and fusels will be in there, they wont
be enough to injure me. Certainly reassuring *g*
Besides, I'd only be planning to freeze 4 litres of it, I'd be lucky if I
got a shot glass of the stuff *l*

Thanks for your help, peoples

"Droopy" > wrote in message
ups.com...
> rec.crafts.distilling
>
> Don't know about the legality in the UK...although i think I read once
> that it was illegal....I could be wrong though.
>
> And yes, all the methanol and fuseul alcohols will be left in
> there...but you are not going to get a really high proof "applejacking"
> your wine.
>

Nash, you will get 1/3 to 1/2 your original volume back.

I don't know that I would say the concentrations of fusel oils and
other alcohols are not enough to hurt you in freeze distilling. In
heat distilling these are called the heads and tails and both are not
used.

I just don't know but would advise caution. It is illegal in the US to
distill for consumption without a license (often several), not sure
about the UK either.

A couple of years ago I read that the only place in the world it's
legal to do home distilling is New Zealand. In researching it I
noticed that New Zealand was the only source for home distilling
supplies, so it's a fair assumption that it was accurate (at that
time).

In the USA the penalties can include confiscation of real estate, e.g.
the BATF can take your home. I think it has something to do with
taxes -- governments get really testy if they fail to collect taxes!
:-)

OTOH, freeze distilling takes no special equipment and as long as
you're not selling it or transporting large quantities the chances of
getting caught are fairly slim.

I'd be more concerned that the resulting product might be dangerous.
Try checking your local library for information regarding the dangers
of freeze distillation and the penalties for it.



On Thu, 01 Dec 2005 18:26:05 GMT, "Overfiend" >
wrote:

>Hi all. Never posted here before. I started off making beer, but found wine
>so much more interesting.
>
>Anyhow, I was wondering if anybody has an opinion on this. I was thinking of
>experimenting in freeze distilling, probably with a bottle of my plum wine.
>
>Firstly, I've heard that freeze distilling is a bit of a grey area in
>winemaking. Some say illegal, some say kind of legal, others legal. I'm in
>the UK, does anyone know if I'm legal
>
>Secondly, I'm a bit worried about certain toxins. I've read that some
>toxins, some "bad" alcohols, remain in freeze distilled wines, whereas
>pot-distilled wines remove them. Should I be worried about these toxins? Are
>they in suitable levels to be harmful?
>
>Sorry if I'm posting this to the wrong group, but I couldn't find a
>distillery newsgroup. If anyone could help me in my "plum port" experiment
>it'd be greatly appreciated
>
>Many thanks
>Paul
>

iv heard that the fusels will float on top of the distillate although
difficult to see it and so what u want is to take away the liquid below
this, leaving some with the fusels so as to take as little of the
fusels as possible. having never distilled by any method i cannot
comment asto whether fusels really will appear as this thin oil layer

raindog wrote:
> iv heard that the fusels will float on top of the distillate although
> difficult to see it and so what u want is to take away the liquid below
> this, leaving some with the fusels so as to take as little of the
> fusels as possible. having never distilled by any method i cannot
> comment asto whether fusels really will appear as this thin oil layer

I would doubt it. Maybe in a pure alcohol environment with different
alcohols in it, but since the majority of the liquid is water, my guess
is it would be pretty homogenous.

Andy