3 ms·

Under the same law, it's illegal to put your brew in the freezer to remove the water (freezing point of water is higher than that of ethanol). No chance of harm

Under the same law, it's illegal to put your brew in the freezer to remove the water (freezing point of water is higher than that of ethanol). No chance of harm in that process, yet still severely punished.

gallerytungsten 12y ago
In the case of freeze distillation, the punishment would be for evasion of (Federal and state) excise taxes, along with distillation without the proper permits. If some law enforcement agency busted your freezer, they'd probably come up with some other violations on top of those obvious ones. In reality, I think the likelihood of a "freezer bust" and consequent punishment is pretty low. Moonshine busts are generally carried out on the state level, and the typical charges are possession and transportation of untaxed spirits.
logfromblammo 12y ago
Actually, the chance of harm for frost distillation is slightly higher than steam distillation. The volatiles that are ordinarily removed from the distillate as "heads" and "tails" stay with the alcohol fraction instead. As frost distillation is the traditional process for going from hard cider to applejack, additional care must be taken in the fermentation step, because if the Saccharomyces are contaminated by bacteria that ferment sugars to acetone, butanols, propanols, or fusels, those contaminants will be present in the final product. They probably won't kill you, but your hangover is going to be terrible. In a clean, well-controlled fermentation vessel, as one might find in an open commercial operation, this is not a problem. But when the process is outlawed, and the producers have to hide, often in places that cannot be biologically sterilized, this problem could occur more often. But then again, it isn't really about public safety, but about people who want to control other people. Otherwise, the law would mandate adequate fire protection for steam distillers and establish upper limits on non-ethanol fermentation products in frost-distilled products. Either could address the safety concern without outright banning the practice.

gallerytungsten 12y ago

In the case of freeze distillation, the punishment would be for evasion of (Federal and state) excise taxes, along with distillation without the proper permits. If some law enforcement agency busted your freezer, they'd probably come up with some other violations on top of those obvious ones. In reality, I think the likelihood of a "freezer bust" and consequent punishment is pretty low. Moonshine busts are generally carried out on the state level, and the typical charges are possession and transportation of untaxed spirits.

logfromblammo 12y ago

Actually, the chance of harm for frost distillation is slightly higher than steam distillation. The volatiles that are ordinarily removed from the distillate as "heads" and "tails" stay with the alcohol fraction instead. As frost distillation is the traditional process for going from hard cider to applejack, additional care must be taken in the fermentation step, because if the Saccharomyces are contaminated by bacteria that ferment sugars to acetone, butanols, propanols, or fusels, those contaminants will be present in the final product. They probably won't kill you, but your hangover is going to be terrible. In a clean, well-controlled fermentation vessel, as one might find in an open commercial operation, this is not a problem. But when the process is outlawed, and the producers have to hide, often in places that cannot be biologically sterilized, this problem could occur more often. But then again, it isn't really about public safety, but about people who want to control other people. Otherwise, the law would mandate adequate fire protection for steam distillers and establish upper limits on non-ethanol fermentation products in frost-distilled products. Either could address the safety concern without outright banning the practice.