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February/March 2013
http://www.motherearthnews.com/do-it-yourself/home-distilling-zm0z13fmzmat.aspx
By William Rubel
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Well into the 1800s, homes in both Europe and North America had a still room where the woman of the house
used a pot still to transform herbs and flowers into medicines and perfumes. Farms also had equipment for
distilling fermented grain into liquor, or fruit wine into eau de vie.
Even today, it is impossible to travel in much of the European countryside without being welcomed with shots of
home-distilled spirits, including plum brandy or eau de vie, called slivovitz in Eastern Europe and mirabelle in
France.
I got my start in DIY distilling thanks to the mirabelle plum tree that rains fruit in my backyard in June. I eat plums
every day for weeksI make tarts, I make plum jam, I make wineyet from this single tree the plums keep
falling. So I started making wine that I could distill into plum eau de vie. Plums are the fruit of choice throughout
Europe for home distillation. They are easy to ferment into wine and to make into an evocatively perfumed
alcohol. I suggest you start with them.
Home distilling is a safe hobby that enables you to interact with your fruit harvests in new ways. Distilling
produces a beverage that is warming and adds a wonderful dimension to socializing. For step-by-step
instructions, visit the article Step-by-Step Home Distilling.
Home-Distilling Revival
These days, theres a revival of the distilling traditions that Prohibition suppressed. This revival includes a
burgeoning world of small, licensed distillers; farm-based distillers rounding out the economics of farming by
making fruit- or grain-based alcohols; and avid hobbyists who regularly share their experiences and help each
other out with technical information on online home-distilling boards (see Additional Resources, at the end of
this article for more information).
In the United States, the growth of the Temperance movement in the 19th century culminated in Prohibition in
1919, which criminalized alcoholic beverage production. Distilling went underground, and poor quality and
poisonous distillations of wood alcohol (methanol) severely damaged the reputation of home-distilled alcohols.
Even today, online home-distilling sites frequently warn of the dangers of distilling. In fact, in making fruit
brandies, there are no risks. You can drink the wine that goes into the pot still without danger. Distillation doesnt
add compounds; it removes them.
Because the distilling tradition was so badly interrupted in the United States, and what survived remained such a
secretive affair, it can be helpful to look to Europe, where long-standing distilling traditions remain strong.
Villagers throughout Europe routinely produce eau de vie for personal consumption.
In European countries, orchardists distill fruit that is otherwise unsalable, producing revenue from what would
have become compost. Mobile distillers travel from farm to farm.
Plums will naturally make a wine in the range of 5 to 6 percent alcohol. If you add sugar to double that alcohol
percentage, youll get twice the volume of alcohol out of your still, but with a diluted flavor. Your eau de vie will
still be aromatic if distilled from higher-alcohol wines, but not as aromatic as from a wine lower in alcohol.
Plums, apples and pears are classified as high-sugar fruits that ferment to the alcohol content of beer, which is
enough for a good eau de vie. If you want to make an eau de vie from low-sugar fruitssuch as blackberries
or raspberrieson a home scale, the most practical way to do so is to add sugar when you make the wine,
aiming for 5 to 6 percent alcohol. If you are working from a published recipe, this probably means cutting the
sugar in half.
In the United States, laws that have discouraged commercial distilling since the repeal of Prohibition are easing,
and obtaining a state-issued permit for small-scale distilleries is getting easier.
Some U.S. states and Canadian provinces now make it easier for farmers to produce and sell alcohol at their
farms. For example, Washington state now licenses craft distillers for $100 per year, and allows them to produce
up to 20,000 gallons of alcohol a year and to offer tastings and sales on premises.
This takes place within the context of the general revival of interest in craft-food production and sale of local
products. It is increasingly true that if a local farm produces an item, well buy it.
To distill, you use the simplest of all stillsthe pot stillto clarify and amplify the plumminess of plum or the
peariness of pear. The alembic style, an ancient type of pot still, is the still of choice for all distillers where taste
matters.
Pot stills contain five parts: the pot, the lid, and the tube that carries the steam from the pot into the coil in the
condenser.
Pot stills work with just the right amount of inefficiency. Super-efficient stills, such as the reflux and condenser
stills, can strip out all impurities to isolate the ethanolwhich is the tasteless, odorless psychoactive alcohol
whose percentage is listed on beer, wine, and spirit bottles. Tasteless and odorless is what vodka distillers are
after. But the essence of a ripe piece of fruit is its taste and odor, so you dont want to strip those compounds
through over-efficiency.
There are three secrets to success: start with a low-alcohol fruit wine (about 5 percent), run your still as slowly as
possible, and let your senses be your guide.
Home distilling requires no technical equipment besides the stillnot even a thermometer. All you need are
your senses and the concept that an eau de vie is like a poem written to honor the summer fruit.
The distilling run is divided into three groups: heads, hearts and tails. The heads is measured in tablespoons from
a small still. The first compounds to vaporize from the wine are acetone (yes, nail polish remover), methyl alcohol
and other compounds with lower boiling points than water.
There isnt a clear dividing line, but as soon as you stop smelling acetone, you are into the hearts. (Some people
save the heads and tails to re-distill with the next batch.) Start collecting the hearts in a clean container. The
hearts run goes on for a long time. At some point the smell and taste begin to change for the worse. Also, what
comes out may no longer be clear. I collect my still runs in a series of jars to minimize the risk of contaminating a
big jar of lovely hearts with the tails. To monitor whats coming out of the still, periodically smell and taste. Stop
the run as soon as youre no longer happy with the tastethats when youve entered the tails. Keep what you
like, toss the rest.
Choosing a Still
I recommend stills of two sizes. Use a small still first because it lets you work out your technique. Buy a bottle of
wine, pour it into the still along with freshly grated orange peel, seal the seams with a paste made of flour and
water, put water into the condenser, turn on the heat under the potand youll be up and running.
Id buy a 2-liter still, at about $170 with shipping. A 2-liter still is also the size youd want to distill herbs and
flowers (although you cant use the same still for both).
If making 5 gallons of a fruit wine seems doable to you, then youll need a 25-liter copper alembic pot still. The
cost, including shipping, will be about $500. You can also find instructions on how to make your own sun-
powered still in How to Make a Solar Still.
The fresh fruit brandy will be clear and hot, with some harshness. It will soften with age as some compounds
vaporize.
Offering visitors a small glass of homemade fruit brandy is an old custom that many people are reviving. Lets
hope home-distilled eau de vie will once again be the way to welcome guests.
Read more: Learn the ancient craft of home distilling and make eau de vie with these easy and safe directions
in Step-by-Step Home Distilling.
Additional Resources
Interested in trying your hand at this ancient art? Learn more about home distilling with these resources.
Online forums
Artisan Distiller
With some areas for beginners, this board also attracts more experienced and skilled home distillers.
Books
The Home Distillers Workbook: Your Guide to Making Moonshine, Whisky, Vodka, Rum and So Much
More! by Jeff King
Destilarias Eau-de-Vie
Reflux Stills
Mile Hi Stills
Food writer William Rubel lives in Santa Cruz, Calif. He is co-founder of Stone Soup, the magazine by
children, and the author of The Magic of Fire and Bread: A Global History.