Fermentation is a natural process that can happen on its own. Imagine getting arrested for forgetting a bottle of unpasteurised applejuice. Distilling doesn't just happen.
@@MyTime1863issues arise with distillation due to the formation of methanol, acetalaldehyde, and highly flammable vapors. You can also get an ethanol license for racing fuel, just don't make it apple or strawberry flavored e90+...
You're spot on about the distillation, people who fuck it up will just die. The other reason is that fermentation sometimes just happens and it'd be stupid if people got arrested for letting their orange juice turn into a fruit wine or mead by mistake.
My guess is the frason why destilling is illegal is taxes. Spirits are probably taxed at a high rate and the government doesnt wan't to miss out on your hard earned money.
@@OneAngryVelociraptor I'm sure there's elements of both, but it's a legit concern. Methanol is easy to produce and difficult to remove during the distillation. Literally leaves you blind if it doesn't outright kill you
@@LifeEnemy Im not really.convinced that the goc cares about the health of so few people considering they don't even care about the health of the entire population.
@@OneAngryVelociraptor It's not that they care... but all regulations are written in the blood of the working class. Would bet money there's a story of some chud who sold homemade spirits and killed a bunch of people which led to mass outrage.
@@OneAngryVelociraptor Or maybe the reason dostilling is illegal is because it can poison people or explode if done wrong. You libertarian freaks are so obsessed woth taxes that it never crosses your mind that the government doesn't want unauthorized and accidental explosions going off in their own country.
The funny thing is, firearms cause the least of the deaths out of what the ATF has power over, yet they crack down on the “F” the most. They aren’t even allowed to create legislation around firearms, yet do so anyway and enforce their will by breaking into homes and sh*oting dogs
Nintendo wishes it was. Give it a couple years, their international corporate police will be kicking down your door for daring to post a five second clip of Mario :)
Don't forget the cat, car, goat, neighbors goat, that one stray hamster that visits you on Fridays, your mom, my mom, my mom's mom, her mom, and lastly but not the least of them all baby billy bob Thornton
If you WANTED to distill your mead or wine, but don't want to get a still and a charge, just use your freezer! You can concentrate alcohol to right up around 40% by freezing it, pouring out the remaining liquid, and repeating the process 2-3x. For me, this is the ONLY use I have for hard ciders.
@@finallife87 You don't typically, just trust that there will be enough dilution for it not to be an issue. Unlike a real still freeze distillation does not separate out the methanol, because there is no evaporation step.
in Germany you can distill all you want and even sell up to 300 liter, over 20.000 small scale distils are in southern Germany; for private use only up to 50 liters
As a Tennesseean, I can confirm nobody follows that distillation law in Tennessee💀 you can literally run down the road to a War vet’s house and get a gallon of lemon moonshine🤣
I used to get big batches from a fellow in North Eastern TN. He made every flavor you could imagine. I'm pretty sure he used Jolly Ranchers to make some of his.
no fuckin way, that sounds delicious. none of that here in cali but if i was able to connect with a moonshine distiller, i’d pay top dollar for some lemon moonshine and video of the process of my batch specifically
That was more about taxes. They started taxing whiskey, which in the rural parts of America was used as money. So they basically had an income tax before the rest of the country did, which was the real reason they rebelled. Not really anything to do with distilling
In parts of Alaska, there are "local option" laws that govern this activity. In my community, brewing, fermenting wine, and distilling alcohol for consumption are Class A felony manufacturing.
Here in Alberta Canada. For 1 adult per household you can produce 460L collectively of wines and beers. In order to sell them you need either class A to F depending on what you're producing and how your distribution works. Distilling license requires a course that usually only takes 5 months
Technically this actually isn't the atf s jurisdiction anymore the US had a whole new committee on alcohol and tobacco that is called the TTB. The atf now primarily deal w firearms so they made a committee dedicated to alcohol.
The reason why distilling is not allowed technically from the home is because of the big alcohol lobby, after prohibition was ended Anheuser-Busch took over the vast majority does alcohol distribution and even until this day for the most part you have to get your alcohol distributed by Anheuser-Busch or coolers Miller if you want to sell it.
Yeah no, distilling is illegal not only in the US, but in many other countries too. There are legitimate concerns that can be summed up by stating that many societies don't want blind impotent peasants constantly hammered.
Distillation *can* have harmful consequences if not done properly. The methanol (dangerous form alcohol that causes blindness and death) evaporates first, so your first bottle of spirits could be poisonous at it concentrates all that nastiness.
I really wish home distillation was made legal in the US. Hell, I’d be willing to pay and apply for a license and do a training course like I had to do for food handling to work in restaurants.
When I was a kid, my mom would often tell us about her childhood experiences, growing up in the mountains of, Virginia. Many of her friends had parents, or relatives, or neighbors, that were running working stills. Discretion was ALWAYS the rule, as they were all a bit paranoid about being arrested... and understandably so. My mom was new to the area, because her father's job moved them around. He was a mine safety inspector, and payroll handler, for the Westmoreland Coal Company. Always in a suit, carrying a concealed gun in a shoulder holster, and not really being a "church goer". A lot of folks there suspected him of being a revenuer. Even though he routinely denied it, and TOLD MANY of them what he did DO for a living! It didn't matter, at all. "You KNOW how them revenuers lie!" She told us about visiting one of her girl friends houses, one day. The girl's father picked them up at the school, and told my mom (she was ten years old then) that she would have to wear a bag over her head, while he drove, so that she wouldn't see how to get to their house. Why? Because, he had a working still, of course, 'though, he didn't tell her THAT. Her girl friend did, later on... secretly. She wore it, and he apologized to her for the necessity of it. She had to wear it again, when they drove her home, after supper. She said that it was almost two years before he finally lifted that rule with her, and trusted her to visit as she pleased. Apparently, by then, he was finally satisfied that my mom's father was NOT a federal agent, or an undercover cop. 😊
@horriblepancake No ones has attacked the us since 2001, which they did themselves. The only reason America has a military is to show power and steal resources.
In Texas there was a challenge to the prohibition on distilling. The government basically showed up to court and said homedistilling is illegal cause Congress has taxation powers on interstate commerce and that the ban makes collecting tax on distilled spirits easier. The home distillers association of america argued that the prohibition is illegal under the constitutions equal protection as beer and wine making at home is legal and interstate taxation of goods does not extend into your home if no sale is taking place... The court sided with the home distillers association.... It's currently awaiting government appeal...
@@Inkosi_uJabu_Ndlovu rewatch it and find out! Would've taken you like 30 seconds. It's because he mentions the ATF in the video, and just mentioning the alphabet boys gets people rightfully riled up
@@Littlefoot.Hey now, dont diss chegg. Being able to *actually* have answers with step by step reasoning for your textbook practice questions is a godsend for studying.
There's a few reasons for the distillation laws. Primarily, it's health and safety. Much higher risk of toxic contamination, as well as explosions. But it's also the difference in taxation of distilled beverages. There's a lot of tax revenue to be lost if people were allowed to self produce. Similar reasoning in why a lot of states require separate permits for a business to serve beer/wine and spirits.
I work at a Winery here in Iowa working in the vineyard most of the time. Occasionally I assist with processing and bottling wine and mead. The amount of stuff we have to do is crazy, and I find it impressive that some people can do it from home!
Honestly, I disagree here. Alcohol is a drug. The regulations allow us to make 100 gallons per year each (max 200 gallons per dwelling). That's 1.4 bottles of wine per day. The law allows us to, in one sitting, produce enough alcohol to last all but the most severe alcoholics longer than a year. The limit allows us to create enough to be MORE than self sufficient, while preventing so much of an excess that the only rational reason to be creating that much is to sell it without inspections... or to fuel a level of alcoholism that is a danger to others (and grounds for a 5150 and loss of second amendment rights). If it were about the money, they'd be taxing homebrew kits, yeast strains meant for alcohol, and would make it a licensing scheme.
@marcush4741 they do tax them. It's called sales tax. Yes it's less than a beer/wine tax, but they still make money off of you Liquor is not allowed to be distilled at home because they charge far more in taxes to sell liquor than they do beer or wine in the US- and therefore stand to lose a lot more money by letting you distill at home. Even something extremely safe like freeze jacking is still illegal... So no, safety is not and never was the concern
@@davidlane1248it’s a sales tax on the kit. Also, distilling produces methanol which is very toxic to humans. In the US, you can’t sell food without a permit, as well as an inspection from the health department of your kitchen and equipment and temperature logs. Why? So that the product you sell doesn’t get people sick or killed. And when it does happen, (and it happens) the restaurant is shut down, and the owner as well as the employees are held accountable. Why shouldn’t distilling be held to the same standards? The standard being that your product isn’t going to harm or kill anyone. Small amounts of Methanol will kill you. And who would be held accountable? Moonshiners avoid accountability and responsibility. That’s why it’s illegal to distill.
@@davidlane1248 The STATED reasons for banning home distillation without a license are its history of danger. Both as an extreme explosion risk and history of tampering, unsafe metal/material usage, and skimping on safety with inclusion of the heads, You can still get a distillation license at home. They require inspections of your setup equipment and location. Freeze jacking isnt "entirely safe", as you suggest. It concentrates methanol and acetaldehyde faster than ethanol. Both of these have serious health concerns, particularly when starting with fermentables, yeast strains, or conditions which create high levels of these byproducts.
@@Yomamakizmanuts actually thats a myth. even if you got pretty bad mash you wont get more than the legal limit of 7% methanol. youd have to destill idk fermented wood to get worse. the myth comes from prohibition where they used methanol to adulterate their moonshine to increase profits. so as long as you use stuff youd actually eat to destill you cannot produce a high enough methanol content to be below standard.
I grew up helping my dad make beer, we don't speak anymore, but last I heard, he was opening his own craft brewery. I'm proud of him, I just wish he'd talk to me
Hope all’s well for you and your dad. Maybe him being in the business will have some sort of “take over the family business” cliché happening in the future
@@jacksonbeeftown6908 I wouldn't mind doing that when I'm older and have my own family that I could bring with me, move back into my childhood town where it's at.
The rule is, I do whatever the hell I want and make however, much I want and it’s none of their business how much I make. If I’m not selling it, it is absolutely zero of their business.
Haven't looked into this myself. But I heard that distilling was a way for households to make fuel to power their homes and cars. They started the prohibition under the guise of conservative values, but it was to legally remove our independence from oil and coal which was sold to households, and not produced by households.
In some states like Arizona, it's perfectly leagal to make your own alcohol. You just can't sell it or distribute it to anyone that's underage. Also, if you do give it to someone, you have to inform them that you made it yourself so that they're aware and consenting and therefore you're not liable if they get sick.
It's federally illegal thus illegal in every state. Some states have signed legislation to basically set limits when and if it does become federally legal. So basically you are in a situation where the state may not specifically target you but if the feds get a hold of that information they will rain down on you like thunder from the gods. Anymore with the health and safety issues around alcohol and the support for pot I highly doubt you'll ever see it.
@@draconiumwolf8423 again. It isn't. Federally prohibited means illegal everywhere and the supremacy clause in the US constitution explicitly denies state sovereignty. The feds can and will come after you
You just can't distill anything. I however have a cheap "fuel alcohol" permit, and if a little bit of that accidentally falls into a charred new oak barrel for 5-7yrs, I'm sure my "lawnmower" will appreciate it.
You can make alcohol without a permit as long as you don’t sell it or don’t use a still to refine it as those require permits to operate for the purpose of producing alcohol (depending on the state).
Seriously. The last time I ever heard them regulating anything but firearms is when they bullied a moonshiner in his 60s into suicide because they just felt like it
@@NamelocTheBardOh I've heard them use Alcohol as an excuse before. Was it a lie? Probably. Did someone get shot? Also probably. They're feds, nobody is gonna stop them from whatever accusation they feel like that day
@@Fi6ment The baby lived. Unfortunately, Samuel Weaver, their mother, and their family dog Striker, died during the Seige on Ruby Ridge. Good news is Randy Weaver and his surviving family members, along with Randy's friend Kevin Harris, sued the FBI and won the lawsuit.
Even in Utah, one of the strictest states on alcohol, it’s perfectly legal and specified as being allowed to produce fermented alcohol up to 100 gallons if there’s one person over 21 in the house and up to 200 for 2+ people with specific and reasonable laws on transporting that alcohol. :)
I think the problems with distilling is that there was a time when you could use stilled alcohol as fuel. A bunch of people using their own fuel, means no tax revenue from selling that fuel to said people.
These laws do not apply outside the US. In UK you need a license to _sell_ alcohol. You can brew, ferment or distill anything you want, but your product needs to be passed for consumer safety if you plan to sell it and taxes on the product are applicable depending on the alcohol content.
@@yutube4130 that's not what I said. I meant to say that every time you visit a rural area you're bound to find someone making/who made pălincă/horilcă/ţuică out of most things growing in orchards 😅
Correction: You can legally ice distill, but you are not allowed to heat distill. On heat you are suppose to remove methanol "heads" that come out first due slightly lower boiling point and get rid of those, problem is to know when you have removed enough of the heads. Since people dont want to throw away or use as fuel their alcohol you are making to enjoy, many start to take batches too early so there is still dangerous amounts of methanol and since its concentrated into those batches, it can cause anything from blinding to other health issues including death, hence why hot distilling is so regulated. In ice distilling you are freezing the alcohol, or more even the water in it, in areas where there is less ethanol in, then pour ethanol methanol water mix to another container leaving just the ice that is water, then by repeating this you can remove water to make it stronger alcohol, but not separate methanol into dangerous concentrations. Ice distilling does produce strong alcohol, but down side is that you also get the methanol so getting drunk from it will cause harder hangover than hot distilled one. If you insist breaking the law and hot distilling, i would highly recommend least mixing the batches you want to keep for drinks, so methanol levels stay diluted enough not to cause harm, if and when you make a mistake leaving too much heads in kept pile.
Another tip: If you ever have reason to believe the ATF is mad at you, don't leave your animals outside in the front or back yards. Inside, and maybe with level III body armor on them.
This is Ivan. Ivan is a mannequin packed with 250 pounds of tannerite and wood screws. Ivan will not get on the ground. Ivan will not drop the gun. (There are several reasons this wouldn't work in real life. Just laugh at the meme and move on.)
Here in Tennessee you can do the whole shebang. You can own a still and everything and you can make as much as you want, but you can’t sell any of it. You can, however, give it away completely fine. You can also give it away and also be generously lent $20 from your friend
Most states DO NOT allow you to distill alcohol. But basically every state allows fermenting of beer and wine at home. With varying laws about how much and what you can do with it Several DO allow home distillation as well but it is less than 10 states
@@themistvawhich one is fun and which one is lame cuz guns are awesome, idiots (and the people who do tobacco) are not and when you put the two together you may get a recipient of a Darwin Award.
Methanol is exactly the reason why distilling without license is illegal. Back when moonshine was commonplace the amount of people going blind from Methanol poisoning was ludicrous to say the least. And during the prohibition this actually skyrocketed even higher cause now all alcohol was home brewed.
you're exactly right on the reason for distilling being illegal - in fact, through distilling you are basically guaranteed to produce methanol in lethal or at least permanent blindness inducing quantities. most states figure that it's impractical to make spirits at the volume appropriate for personal consumption, which is why they only give commercial licenses. whether or not that's actually the case is up for debate.
Distilling is illegal because of taxes. Originally farmers were tired of paying taxes on grain, so made it into moonshine because of lax taxes on distilled spirits, which led to making moonshine and not paying taxes on it to be illegal during the civil war. It's been illegal since then, but it later led the ATF and FDA to impose regulations on licencing to produce alcohol, which now makes it illegal to produce alcohol without the proper licencing, location, and equipment
Also, you can legally distribute your own brews, be it mead, wine, moonshine, etc, if you use the age old beautiful art of bartering. Had an associate who’d get two huge moonshiner jugs and would barter away the stuff at a farmers’ market. Head in with two jugs, walk out with crates of fresh produce, cuts of meat, etc.
@@TKDWILSON ... when making your own beverages it's only illegal to sell them. Consuming them with family and friends...giving some away to friends...not at all illegal. So it can easily be argued that it wasn't a sale...it was an exchanging of gifts. Since no actual currency changed hands it would be borderline impossible for them to prove it was a sale.
Aside from the risk in production, it can be used as too many things that would violate several regulations. Though I think corporations got around A LOT of that along time ago. Would be interesting to see if one could safetly distill if the rules stay the same.
i believe one of the reasons that distillation is illegal has to do with the concentrations that can be made with it, fermentation cant produce higher concentrations than 18ish% abv, because anything higher just kills off the bacteria producing the alcohol, whereas distillation can potentially produce up to 97% abv, which is not only lethally toxic in much smaller amounts, but is also much more flammable and potentially explosive
It's not illegal because of danger, but because some enforcement practices are left over from the prohibition era and Congress is too corrupt to repeal those rules .
You can buy 95% ABV drinkin' alcohol as well as all manner of flammable and poisonous products including 99% isopropyl alcohol, I don't think that is the issue
In the UK, you are allowed to homebrew an unlimited amount, But you are NOT allowed to sell it without informing HMRC as there is a tax to it. Distillation of spirit is Legal in the UK, but ONLY with a licence from the government.
The distilling is definitely the methanol, doesn't take much in a drink to kill someone or permanently injure them and they won't know until it's too late many times.
The only way you'd get methanol poisoning from a moonshine is if you distilled hard cider and made sure to drink only the first ounce. Methanol is produced from the fermentation of pectin, which is a protein present in fruits and particularly abundant in apples. Even then, ethanol acts as methanol's antipoison. As long as there's much more ethanol, you could drink a deadly amount of methanol and still be fine. If it wasn't the case, an undistilled product would be as dangerous. Distillation only concentrates the methanol. The "moonshine makes you blind" thing came from the prohibition when moonshiners used to cut their booze with store-bought methanol. Same short term buzz, terrible long term effects. What really makes moonshine dangerous is when people half-ass it. Car radiators are generally soldered with lead, which WILL seep into the alcohol. Also, measuring the alcohol content os extremely easy and fast, not doing it and going to the hospital because you thought your 70% shine was 25% is really dumb. I still understand why it's illegal but it's also really safe when you take the time to learn how to do it well.
As long as you're either in a very well ventilated area (read outside) or use a heat source other than an open flame, you're safe. I can't talk for illegal commercial operations that deal with huge volumes, but if you only distill a few gallons, there's not much fire risks.
@@tjoloiI made alcohol with 100% apple juice with pulp and drank the whole jug and it 100% made some methanol because it made we way number and drunker than the same size of normal no pulp apple juice. It also smelled like mash when normal sugar-water juice smells much less pungent.
Don’t worry, the ATF doesn’t deal with alcohol or tobacco, but you better not shave 1/16th of an inch too much off of a shotgun barrel or you can expect a dead dog
In some states you can distill alcohol for personal consumption without any risk of prosecution and it’s only once you sell it that you’re breaking the law
These are USA laws, in Europe you can do WHATEVER at home and no one will bat an eye, even producing commercial level of alcohol, both fermentation and distilling. you just can’t sell without a proper business permit and without having an inspector checking out everything is up to industry standard and health regulations
Distilling can be done a few ways. Freeze distilling is one such way that is the safest since you can just sit out your wine and let the water freeze naturally or in the freezer. Apple jack is a spirit made through such a way. Our forefathers had barrels of apple cider out side and this happened and so it's something natural that can happen as well
Freeze distillation of hard cider also concentrates the fusil oils, methanol, acetone and other things that occur in the fermentation process. Basically the foreshots, heads and tails of normal distillation, all the stuff I would run my lawnmower on when I was distilling. Drink a couple glasses and you'll really regret it in the morning. I know from experience! However if you live in the right climate, freeze concentration of your filtered mash works great, just double the volume of your foreshots and extend your heads collection a bit.
Methanol is almost always produced when fermenting. The danger with distilling is that if ur distillate is at the wrong temperature, u won't get the pure ethanol that u want for spirits, but instead a different form of alcohol that is extremely poisonous or other toxic compounds. Distillation is just the process of boiling a solution at certain temperatures to then condense to get the pure form of. In the case of making spirits, it's ethanol. Now, the reason y the government doesn't want u to distill alcohol at home is bc they get an extra tax from the sale of spirits and they don't want to miss out on that money by u selling ur own spirits without paying the tax or the license so that they know ur selling spirits so that they can force u to pay the tax. Safety is just an added bonus for them to legitimize their ban.
Fermentation has a near 0 percent chance of causing an explosion meanwhile distilling is a whole nother game . If i was a leader of a place id make it legal at home but mandatory training first and random 2 year interval inspection of equipment / set up so the lead solder days are in the past and no one gets shrapneled to death
In my country making your own wine, especially if you live outside of the city, is pretty common. Older genetations in Moldova produce wine yearly, and they often sell it to neighbors, acquaintances and give them as gifts to friends and family. Some ppl produce colossal amounts of wine, but it isn't regulated in any kind of manner by authorities, as it is an integral part of our culture. There hasn't been an issue so far, so if it's not broken, don't fix it i guess
Doesn't surprise me at all, Moldova is known for making good wine, they used to sell to Russia before the war with Ukraine. It was actually a huge blow to their market when they stopped doing that (I am Romanian).
Great example of a community regulated good, no problems because 1. everyone knows how to make it right and 2. if someone did give out bad wine everyone would make sure they know not to do that again if you catch my drift lol
@@silasstryder "community regulated good" lmfao there's no such thing. If someone did make a bad batch of wine that poisoned people, it would be big government kicking their door in, not "the community." No one "catches your drift," by the way, because your "drift" is childish and has zero basis in reality.
@@Abcdefg-tf7cu I didn't mean poisoned I meant tasted bad, and you're the one getting hung up about this like a 12 year old girl, calling me childish, grow the fuck up dude
Like a lot of people have mentioned yes distilling doesn’t just happen happen(usually) but it’s also a holdover law from prohibition era and is designed to limit moonshine without a permit because some of the alcohol that would be made one shot would kill a man
I had a buddy who's uncle made amazing shine. He had mules who would rotate out and buy the ingredients from a supplier store (think costco but specifically for resturants and the food industry) had the set up in his garage. Didn't sell to anyone who wasn't in his circle. Best lemon liquor I've ever had was his shine. It was smooth. Started tart finished sweet. Good times.
Atf is corrupt. Making and selling alchol isna constitutionally protected human right. The atf needs to learn about the prohibition. Mass produce, or dont. Do small hufher quality etc. 100 gallons is a lot and you cant legally sell it but you can gift things 😂😂😂. I gift you you gift me you see
I've read that in Tennessee that we can sell 150 bottles or gallons before licensing, and heath certs are required. I don't sell mine, I gift them. Same with honey. I know it's 150 gallons, and my kitchen must meet specific building codes and certified annually.
When distilling you have a flame and inflammable alcohol vapor in close proximity and you can cause an explosion. That’s one big reason why the atf can get involved but making poison is frowned upon as well.
Still classified as distribution. Now if he "gifted" you those eggs at around the same time you "gifted" him some of your homebrew, well that's an entirely different matter (don't get greedy though).
of the Revised Code, "sale" and "sell" include exchange, barter, gift, offer for sale, sale, distribution and delivery of any kind, and the transfer of title or possession of beer and intoxicating liquor either by constructive or actual delivery by any means or devices whatever, including the sale of beer or intoxicating liquor by means of a controlled access alcohol and beverage cabinet pursuant to section 4301.21 of the Revised Code
@yapflipthegrunt4687 Ooh, I wish mine took 15 minutes. It had a parental lock on it (and I'm slow and clumsy) so mind took about an hour. Well worth it though.
Distilling laws vary by state but being widely illegal you wonder why it's so easy to get the equipment. Distilling is also extremely dangerous for multiple reasons, from fire risk to methanol poisoning, distilling is a complicated process
@@hanzzel6086 Taxes are used to build society but it is also important to question why a person may question it on certain circumstances .Take away the set sanitation and safety standards because the person study and have knowledge about alcohol and its mechanics. That same person want to make extra money on the side but altas they can't because the government wants to tax their product. The goverment cannot tax a small/personal business therefore one could agure they made it illegal because they cannot tax or set the same standards on someone's personal products. So yeah, if the government doesn't make money then it won't support it.
That was my thought. Whiskey was a main export back in the 1700s, as a way to preserve and export the wheat crop. So I would guess historical taxation would be the main reason for those laws. (Also, the methanol pointed out up thread.)
In Chicago, people who live in small apartments don't use a still. They use the freezer. When you freeze wine, you can remove the ice, which will be mostly water. Alcohol doesn't freeze at the same temperature, so it will remain liquid. It won't be as strong as distilled liquor but it will be very strong wine.
@@mtnbkr5478it's actually called fractional distillation, so yes, it is distillation. Applejack, one of the first American spirits, was traditionally produced this way (the method is also called "jacking")
@@wyssmaster just because 'distillation' is in the name doesn't make it distillation. It would have been faster to look up the definition than to argue with me about it.
@@mtnbkr5478 it actually does. Distillation is the process of removing certain things (like water) from a solution to make it more concentrated or pure. It's possible to produce spirits that are as high as 80 proof with fractional distillation, which is what most spirits are sold at.
@@wyssmaster If that's what you want to believe, it's obviously not worth the tremendous amount of effort it would take me in order to convince you otherwise. For those reading the comments however, the literal definition of distillation can be found on the internet or in a dictionary; it's always best to not trust strangers arguing on the internet, because one of them will be incorrect.
The distilled goods has a different tax on it. The government doesn't want you skipping out on its fair share. You can actually distill you have to go thru the paperwork and then get a tax stamp on it and buy it back.
OMFG! Is the phone spying on me visually?? I was just watching The Andy Griffith Show, and Barney was drinking hard cider from a big jug EXACTLY like this one LMAO
DO NOT SELL YOUR HOMEMADE BATCHES, but… you can give them to your friends and accept tips for the services like bottling, delivering, pouring etc. as long as it’s not for the product itself.
It's also probably a case of certain anti-distillation laws still being on the books despite the repealing of Prohibition. You have to be a certified business with an officially jumped-through-all-the-legal-hoops license to be able to distill alcohol for consumption, which is the only way to get around those laws...which conveniently include rules & regulations about not producing & selling the poisonous version of spirits of alcohol. (One boils off at a lower temperature than the next, and another at a higher temperature still. I watched a short video on how difficult it was to distill whiskey from beer in the early days of thermometers and scientific experiments without killing the imbibers.)
Distilling btw is illegal for tax purposes, not any sense of danger, hence why it’s legal on the state level in West Virginia and Missouri and being federally overturned in texas
Fermentation is a natural process that can happen on its own. Imagine getting arrested for forgetting a bottle of unpasteurised applejuice. Distilling doesn't just happen.
Okay yes but here a vary specific situation food cooked with a wine base. Some people think that's how distilling was figured out.
@@scaryhatguy4214 you would have to capture the vapor, otherwise you are the alcohol would just escape
@ArchibaldMeatpantshe's not wrong at all, distillation is the gathering of more volatile vapours, seperating and condensing them back in liquids.
@@garethkalum8297thank you, I've seen a few people confuse distillation with something like evaporation like in a balsamic reduction.
@@MyTime1863issues arise with distillation due to the formation of methanol, acetalaldehyde, and highly flammable vapors.
You can also get an ethanol license for racing fuel, just don't make it apple or strawberry flavored e90+...
You don’t sell it. You give it as a gift then they give you a gift of a large sum of money because we’re all friends here.
That is some gourmet mafia shit I just read
Just how our honorable politicians
Sounds like some failed court defenses
This is the best comment I've read today
That no longer works please stay in school. That is the legal definition of tax evasion and it is a federal crime😊
You're spot on about the distillation, people who fuck it up will just die. The other reason is that fermentation sometimes just happens and it'd be stupid if people got arrested for letting their orange juice turn into a fruit wine or mead by mistake.
My guess is the frason why destilling is illegal is taxes. Spirits are probably taxed at a high rate and the government doesnt wan't to miss out on your hard earned money.
@@OneAngryVelociraptor I'm sure there's elements of both, but it's a legit concern. Methanol is easy to produce and difficult to remove during the distillation. Literally leaves you blind if it doesn't outright kill you
@@LifeEnemy Im not really.convinced that the goc cares about the health of so few people considering they don't even care about the health of the entire population.
@@OneAngryVelociraptor It's not that they care... but all regulations are written in the blood of the working class. Would bet money there's a story of some chud who sold homemade spirits and killed a bunch of people which led to mass outrage.
@@OneAngryVelociraptor Or maybe the reason dostilling is illegal is because it can poison people or explode if done wrong. You libertarian freaks are so obsessed woth taxes that it never crosses your mind that the government doesn't want unauthorized and accidental explosions going off in their own country.
For a second I forgot what the “A” in ATF stood for and thought he was making machine guns in his basement.
Yes, officer, here's the guy that bought 2 tons worth of fruit & chemicals to make machine guns at home!
Der Büro von Alkohol, Tabak, Feurwaffen und Bööm Bööm
The funny thing is, firearms cause the least of the deaths out of what the ATF has power over, yet they crack down on the “F” the most.
They aren’t even allowed to create legislation around firearms, yet do so anyway and enforce their will by breaking into homes and sh*oting dogs
If homebrewing is illegal, i'm gonna hide my wii.
Lol
Same, I thought this short was about making your own SNES cartridges at home
and i gotta hide my ds
Nintendo wishes it was. Give it a couple years, their international corporate police will be kicking down your door for daring to post a five second clip of Mario :)
@@banned7times im gonna hide your ⚰️
Anything legal up in the mountains.
💀
nah, its just illegal to be caught.
Its not the black market it, its the open market. Agorism wins again
It's not illegal if they aint gonna catch you
what happens in the mountains, stays in the mountains.
“Are you selling home brewed alcohol?”
“Are those Level 4 plates?”
Lol, I got the reference.
BASED
Ah yes, RussianBadger.
"is that your dog"
*magdumps your dog"
@@dragonborne089real
"I think TikTok has something against strawberries."
**trumpets start playing**
Yeah, avoiding a visit from the ATF is pretty important if you love your wife, kid, or dog.
Dont forget your neighbors when they get the wrong house.
Not just kids. Babies and fish tanks too.
Don't forget the cat, car, goat, neighbors goat, that one stray hamster that visits you on Fridays, your mom, my mom, my mom's mom, her mom, and lastly but not the least of them all baby billy bob Thornton
Look what happened to Randy Weaver. If you don't know, Google "Ruby Ridge", you will hate the ATF and FBI even more.
No it's a confrontation you wanna avoid, if they show up to your house laugh and close the door they literally can't do anything
If the ATF comes to my door, all I gotta care about is hiding my pets
?
@@JIMMY.HAYES. Its a bit of a meme, but the ATF are well known for shooting people's dogs when conducting a raid.
@@raharu64 oh shit, thanks I didn't really understand the joke🤝
I'd be more concerned about having a place to hide my pets.
Based uncle Ted pfp
If you WANTED to distill your mead or wine, but don't want to get a still and a charge, just use your freezer! You can concentrate alcohol to right up around 40% by freezing it, pouring out the remaining liquid, and repeating the process 2-3x. For me, this is the ONLY use I have for hard ciders.
Fun fact: this process of concentration of alcohol is called "jacking". It is where we get applejack from.
how hard is to remove the heads using that method?
@@finallife87 You don't typically, just trust that there will be enough dilution for it not to be an issue. Unlike a real still freeze distillation does not separate out the methanol, because there is no evaporation step.
in Germany you can distill all you want and even sell up to 300 liter, over 20.000 small scale distils are in southern Germany; for private use only up to 50 liters
"only up to 50 liters" How many days would that amount of alcohol last in the hands of the average German? 👀
As a Tennesseean, I can confirm nobody follows that distillation law in Tennessee💀 you can literally run down the road to a War vet’s house and get a gallon of lemon moonshine🤣
I used to get big batches from a fellow in North Eastern TN. He made every flavor you could imagine. I'm pretty sure he used Jolly Ranchers to make some of his.
Lemon moonshine, count me in im coming, last time i went to USA i got to try it and lets me say i loved it
It's legal to distill 200 gallons a year in my state of Missouri😎
Lemon moonshine sounds tasty
no fuckin way, that sounds delicious. none of that here in cali but if i was able to connect with a moonshine distiller, i’d pay top dollar for some lemon moonshine and video of the process of my batch specifically
The distilling issues are really old issues that can be traced back to the Whiskey Rebellion. Fascinating story.
Wow cool stuff
the more you know
Interesting. I would’ve guessed it was based off Prohibition.
It isn’t illegal in Australia
That was more about taxes. They started taxing whiskey, which in the rural parts of America was used as money. So they basically had an income tax before the rest of the country did, which was the real reason they rebelled. Not really anything to do with distilling
In parts of Alaska, there are "local option" laws that govern this activity. In my community, brewing, fermenting wine, and distilling alcohol for consumption are Class A felony manufacturing.
Government shouldn't decide what you can make for your own consumption imho.
Here in Alberta Canada. For 1 adult per household you can produce 460L collectively of wines and beers. In order to sell them you need either class A to F depending on what you're producing and how your distribution works. Distilling license requires a course that usually only takes 5 months
"Open up, it's ATF!"
"Fuck off, it's Europe!"
Selling home made alchool is income
Lmao I completely read this in Nadja’s voice from what we do in the shadows
It's the same rules in Europe tho
😂
@@insane7718 but tax free until a certain threshold.
Its very strange to see the ATF actually doing something that isn't just the F part
Oh the crack down on tobacco too. It's pretty common even today for people to make a ton of money selling untaxed cigarettes.
Technically this actually isn't the atf s jurisdiction anymore the US had a whole new committee on alcohol and tobacco that is called the TTB. The atf now primarily deal w firearms so they made a committee dedicated to alcohol.
@@gavinlee6196so the ATF the Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms agency no longer deals with two-thirds of their name
@@gavinlee6196well that’s dumb maybe they should make it to wear they don’t use unconstitutional rules
@@es4152Like which one?
The reason why distilling is not allowed technically from the home is because of the big alcohol lobby, after prohibition was ended Anheuser-Busch took over the vast majority does alcohol distribution and even until this day for the most part you have to get your alcohol distributed by Anheuser-Busch or coolers Miller if you want to sell it.
Yeah no, distilling is illegal not only in the US, but in many other countries too.
There are legitimate concerns that can be summed up by stating that many societies don't want blind impotent peasants constantly hammered.
Distillation *can* have harmful consequences if not done properly. The methanol (dangerous form alcohol that causes blindness and death) evaporates first, so your first bottle of spirits could be poisonous at it concentrates all that nastiness.
I really wish home distillation was made legal in the US. Hell, I’d be willing to pay and apply for a license and do a training course like I had to do for food handling to work in restaurants.
tax man would lose money which is why its illegal
It depends on the state whether it's legal or not. In my state, NC, it's legal with a permit, which is easy to get.
When I was a kid, my mom would often tell us about her childhood experiences, growing up in the mountains of, Virginia.
Many of her friends had parents, or relatives, or neighbors, that were running working stills. Discretion was ALWAYS the rule, as they were all a bit paranoid about being arrested... and understandably so.
My mom was new to the area, because her father's job moved them around. He was a mine safety inspector, and payroll handler, for the Westmoreland Coal Company. Always in a suit, carrying a concealed gun in a shoulder holster, and not really being a "church goer". A lot of folks there suspected him of being a revenuer. Even though he routinely denied it, and TOLD MANY of them what he did DO for a living! It didn't matter, at all. "You KNOW how them revenuers lie!"
She told us about visiting one of her girl friends houses, one day. The girl's father picked them up at the school, and told my mom (she was ten years old then) that she would have to wear a bag over her head, while he drove, so that she wouldn't see how to get to their house. Why? Because, he had a working still, of course, 'though, he didn't tell her THAT. Her girl friend did, later on... secretly.
She wore it, and he apologized to her for the necessity of it. She had to wear it again, when they drove her home, after supper. She said that it was almost two years before he finally lifted that rule with her, and trusted her to visit as she pleased.
Apparently, by then, he was finally satisfied that my mom's father was NOT a federal agent, or an undercover cop. 😊
That… is just terrifying. The possibilities of what could have happened is so beyond scary.😨 Why would she agree to that!?!?!?!
@@brie-hf9dfcomments like this just depress me. Please, go outside
@@brie-hf9df you stupid or dumb? Visiting a trusted family is fine
why do people always try and find the worst possible outcome of a mostly innocent story@@brie-hf9df
@alst4817 I feel like being blind folded whenever you goto your friends house is something to be rightfully scared of
The government doesn't like non-taxable activities
Only when the plebs do it. Most multimillion dollar companies don't pay a baby's diaper in taxes and the government loves them more than anything.
I mean, the government is funded by tax money so reasonable.
This is the biggest problem if they don’t get their share it’s illeagle
It’s time they gave everyone a share of all the money made at liquor stores and bars. Hmmm that’s would make them rethink
@horriblepancake No ones has attacked the us since 2001, which they did themselves. The only reason America has a military is to show power and steal resources.
prisoner: what are you in for?
alcohol brewer: i distilled alcohol..
Distillation can allow you to produce your own fuel for Diesel engines.
You can also distill water and essential oils which are also completely legal
Quick tip: you can brew just about anything if you don’t get caught
My meth dealer said the same thing!
You can steal pretty much anything if you don't get caught 😊
Says the dope cooker hiding in a abandoned trailer with a few beakers a small boiling flask and a hot plate 😅😅
at least you didn't see my dried mushroom stash @@robbydelzell9492
@@andynonymous6769 See, that's where he went wrong. He was a dealer, creating an opening for getting caught
This implies that Stardew Valley straight up just doesn’t have an ATF
As far as I know stardew valley doesn't take place in the USA but in the fictional ferngail republic
they're also at war with another country so they probably have bigger problems
Lucky
The valley is in Russia, they wouldn't care lol
How would imagine that Farmers and the character don't really have to deal with them
Completly leagal in Australia for anyone wondering, with no restrictions as long as its not for commercial use
In Texas there was a challenge to the prohibition on distilling. The government basically showed up to court and said homedistilling is illegal cause Congress has taxation powers on interstate commerce and that the ban makes collecting tax on distilled spirits easier.
The home distillers association of america argued that the prohibition is illegal under the constitutions equal protection as beer and wine making at home is legal and interstate taxation of goods does not extend into your home if no sale is taking place... The court sided with the home distillers association....
It's currently awaiting government appeal...
If the ATF comes to me, I'm just gonna hide my dogs so they aren't "neutralized"
But how is this a comment for this short
@@Inkosi_uJabu_Ndlovu rewatch it and find out! Would've taken you like 30 seconds.
It's because he mentions the ATF in the video, and just mentioning the alphabet boys gets people rightfully riled up
@@Littlefoot.Hey now, dont diss chegg.
Being able to *actually* have answers with step by step reasoning for your textbook practice questions is a godsend for studying.
You definitely don’t want the ATF “knocking” on your door. Seeing as their idea of “knocking” is shooting into your home.
Hide you're pets
and killing you dog who just wanted some loves
Then shoot back. Breanna taylor boyfriend got away with it
@@mac76311Breanna Taylor didn't.
@YSRTheWave well no shit
There's a few reasons for the distillation laws. Primarily, it's health and safety. Much higher risk of toxic contamination, as well as explosions. But it's also the difference in taxation of distilled beverages. There's a lot of tax revenue to be lost if people were allowed to self produce. Similar reasoning in why a lot of states require separate permits for a business to serve beer/wine and spirits.
I work at a Winery here in Iowa working in the vineyard most of the time. Occasionally I assist with processing and bottling wine and mead. The amount of stuff we have to do is crazy, and I find it impressive that some people can do it from home!
They don't care about the danger. They want those taxes!
Honestly, I disagree here.
Alcohol is a drug. The regulations allow us to make 100 gallons per year each (max 200 gallons per dwelling). That's 1.4 bottles of wine per day.
The law allows us to, in one sitting, produce enough alcohol to last all but the most severe alcoholics longer than a year.
The limit allows us to create enough to be MORE than self sufficient, while preventing so much of an excess that the only rational reason to be creating that much is to sell it without inspections... or to fuel a level of alcoholism that is a danger to others (and grounds for a 5150 and loss of second amendment rights).
If it were about the money, they'd be taxing homebrew kits, yeast strains meant for alcohol, and would make it a licensing scheme.
@marcush4741 they do tax them. It's called sales tax. Yes it's less than a beer/wine tax, but they still make money off of you
Liquor is not allowed to be distilled at home because they charge far more in taxes to sell liquor than they do beer or wine in the US- and therefore stand to lose a lot more money by letting you distill at home. Even something extremely safe like freeze jacking is still illegal... So no, safety is not and never was the concern
@@davidlane1248it’s a sales tax on the kit.
Also, distilling produces methanol which is very toxic to humans. In the US, you can’t sell food without a permit, as well as an inspection from the health department of your kitchen and equipment and temperature logs. Why? So that the product you sell doesn’t get people sick or killed. And when it does happen, (and it happens) the restaurant is shut down, and the owner as well as the employees are held accountable.
Why shouldn’t distilling be held to the same standards? The standard being that your product isn’t going to harm or kill anyone. Small amounts of Methanol will kill you. And who would be held accountable?
Moonshiners avoid accountability and responsibility. That’s why it’s illegal to distill.
@@davidlane1248 The STATED reasons for banning home distillation without a license are its history of danger. Both as an extreme explosion risk and history of tampering, unsafe metal/material usage, and skimping on safety with inclusion of the heads, You can still get a distillation license at home. They require inspections of your setup equipment and location.
Freeze jacking isnt "entirely safe", as you suggest. It concentrates methanol and acetaldehyde faster than ethanol. Both of these have serious health concerns, particularly when starting with fermentables, yeast strains, or conditions which create high levels of these byproducts.
@@Yomamakizmanuts actually thats a myth. even if you got pretty bad mash you wont get more than the legal limit of 7% methanol. youd have to destill idk fermented wood to get worse. the myth comes from prohibition where they used methanol to adulterate their moonshine to increase profits. so as long as you use stuff youd actually eat to destill you cannot produce a high enough methanol content to be below standard.
I grew up helping my dad make beer, we don't speak anymore, but last I heard, he was opening his own craft brewery. I'm proud of him, I just wish he'd talk to me
I'm sorry about you and your dad.💕
This is very sad 😢
Hope all’s well for you and your dad. Maybe him being in the business will have some sort of “take over the family business” cliché happening in the future
@@jacksonbeeftown6908 I wouldn't mind doing that when I'm older and have my own family that I could bring with me, move back into my childhood town where it's at.
oh
The rule is, I do whatever the hell I want and make however, much I want and it’s none of their business how much I make. If I’m not selling it, it is absolutely zero of their business.
you'd hope but governments love control and abusing the populace.
Haven't looked into this myself. But I heard that distilling was a way for households to make fuel to power their homes and cars. They started the prohibition under the guise of conservative values, but it was to legally remove our independence from oil and coal which was sold to households, and not produced by households.
In some states like Arizona, it's perfectly leagal to make your own alcohol. You just can't sell it or distribute it to anyone that's underage. Also, if you do give it to someone, you have to inform them that you made it yourself so that they're aware and consenting and therefore you're not liable if they get sick.
Its perfectly legal in Ohio.
It's federally illegal thus illegal in every state. Some states have signed legislation to basically set limits when and if it does become federally legal. So basically you are in a situation where the state may not specifically target you but if the feds get a hold of that information they will rain down on you like thunder from the gods.
Anymore with the health and safety issues around alcohol and the support for pot I highly doubt you'll ever see it.
Ah, nice to know that it's legal in my state to create my own alcohol. Awesome!
@@draconiumwolf8423 again. It isn't. Federally prohibited means illegal everywhere and the supremacy clause in the US constitution explicitly denies state sovereignty. The feds can and will come after you
Wait, you're not liable if they get sick?
You just can't distill anything.
I however have a cheap "fuel alcohol" permit, and if a little bit of that accidentally falls into a charred new oak barrel for 5-7yrs, I'm sure my "lawnmower" will appreciate it.
Man of class, make sure it’s charcoal filtered.
Lol this is how people go blind from methanol poisoning. Careful friend.
Yeah wouldnt want any bits of anything getting into the carburetor.
@@b-ballfanatic7988 why?
I think you might need to touch some grass.
In Colorado the limit for fermented substances is 200 gallons... its legal to trade for stuff like food and items, but not money.
You can make alcohol without a permit as long as you don’t sell it or don’t use a still to refine it as those require permits to operate for the purpose of producing alcohol (depending on the state).
Lets be honest, if the ATF is knocking on your door, they're probably not there about alcohol or tobacco.
Seriously.
The last time I ever heard them regulating anything but firearms is when they bullied a moonshiner in his 60s into suicide because they just felt like it
@@NamelocTheBardOh I've heard them use Alcohol as an excuse before.
Was it a lie? Probably. Did someone get shot? Also probably.
They're feds, nobody is gonna stop them from whatever accusation they feel like that day
@@NamelocTheBardI know who u talking about rip him
@@NamelocTheBardRIP to Ol' Popcorn.
You mean they're there for the party?
Bro tip: Don't let your wife answer the door if the ATF knocks, especially if she is holding your infant baby.
also make sure your dog is hidden in the attic before that front door opens.
why? any explanation?
@@animecutscenes3414 ATF and U.S Federal Marshals sniped Randy Weaver's unarmed wife while she was holding their baby.
@@ShyGuySkaii don’t even wanna ask but was the baby ok? :(
@@Fi6ment The baby lived. Unfortunately, Samuel Weaver, their mother, and their family dog Striker, died during the Seige on Ruby Ridge. Good news is Randy Weaver and his surviving family members, along with Randy's friend Kevin Harris, sued the FBI and won the lawsuit.
Even in Utah, one of the strictest states on alcohol, it’s perfectly legal and specified as being allowed to produce fermented alcohol up to 100 gallons if there’s one person over 21 in the house and up to 200 for 2+ people with specific and reasonable laws on transporting that alcohol. :)
I think the problems with distilling is that there was a time when you could use stilled alcohol as fuel. A bunch of people using their own fuel, means no tax revenue from selling that fuel to said people.
Good to know. Anyway, I am launching my business selling paper towels for 20-30 dollars a piece. Each purchase comes with a bottle of mead.
im pretty sure you can just sell mead if you make a bussiness
Or just, make your own company and sell the mead by itself lol
@@walmartiancheese4922youd have to get a license then lmao
@@nonelast4152ok then get a license and stary a business
@@nonelast4152Not that hard to get if you are persistent…
These laws do not apply outside the US.
In UK you need a license to _sell_ alcohol.
You can brew, ferment or distill anything you want, but your product needs to be passed for consumer safety if you plan to sell it and taxes on the product are applicable depending on the alcohol content.
Ted👍
I'm pretty sure it's the same in Romania.😅
@@MarcelaElviraTimis everything is free in Romania if you leave it outside
@@yutube4130 that's not what I said. I meant to say that every time you visit a rural area you're bound to find someone making/who made pălincă/horilcă/ţuică out of most things growing in orchards 😅
@@MarcelaElviraTimis I'm just joking lol
Correction: You can legally ice distill, but you are not allowed to heat distill. On heat you are suppose to remove methanol "heads" that come out first due slightly lower boiling point and get rid of those, problem is to know when you have removed enough of the heads. Since people dont want to throw away or use as fuel their alcohol you are making to enjoy, many start to take batches too early so there is still dangerous amounts of methanol and since its concentrated into those batches, it can cause anything from blinding to other health issues including death, hence why hot distilling is so regulated.
In ice distilling you are freezing the alcohol, or more even the water in it, in areas where there is less ethanol in, then pour ethanol methanol water mix to another container leaving just the ice that is water, then by repeating this you can remove water to make it stronger alcohol, but not separate methanol into dangerous concentrations. Ice distilling does produce strong alcohol, but down side is that you also get the methanol so getting drunk from it will cause harder hangover than hot distilled one.
If you insist breaking the law and hot distilling, i would highly recommend least mixing the batches you want to keep for drinks, so methanol levels stay diluted enough not to cause harm, if and when you make a mistake leaving too much heads in kept pile.
As a retro gamer whos favorite console is the wii im shaking rn
Another tip: If you ever have reason to believe the ATF is mad at you, don't leave your animals outside in the front or back yards. Inside, and maybe with level III body armor on them.
Cops don’t shoot people’s dogs challenge (difficulty: impossible)
Also don’t let your wife stand near the doors, especially if she’s holding your infant daughter.
Carefull If you're black as well
@@52flyingbicyclesThat’s why police are heroes
This is Ivan. Ivan is a mannequin packed with 250 pounds of tannerite and wood screws.
Ivan will not get on the ground.
Ivan will not drop the gun.
(There are several reasons this wouldn't work in real life. Just laugh at the meme and move on.)
Here in Tennessee you can do the whole shebang. You can own a still and everything and you can make as much as you want, but you can’t sell any of it. You can, however, give it away completely fine. You can also give it away and also be generously lent $20 from your friend
Corn won’t grow at all on Rocky Top, got to get their corn from a jar. ;)
No you sell them a $20 stick of gum and then unrelatedly give them some brew.
Thats how they sell w3ed in DC. You buy a "digital NFT" and they gift you a 8th or whatever your getting. @@yohef4537
@@SunyJimis that a song reference? I feel like that's something that would be referenced in an old bluegrass song.
@@kevinmencer3782 Rocky top you'll always be home sweet home to meeee Good Ole Rocky Top Rocky Top Tennessee.
Most states DO NOT allow you to distill alcohol. But basically every state allows fermenting of beer and wine at home. With varying laws about how much and what you can do with it
Several DO allow home distillation as well but it is less than 10 states
*correction* They will take you take you to prison, if you get caught making alcohol...
The ATF will probably be at my house for one of the other letters anyway
I see your profile picture and understand lol.
Is it the fun one or the lame one
I completely forgot that alcohol was atf shit I thought he was playing
Imagine the ATF kicks in your door for tobacco😂
@@themistvawhich one is fun and which one is lame cuz guns are awesome, idiots (and the people who do tobacco) are not and when you put the two together you may get a recipient of a Darwin Award.
Step one, make whatever you want.
Step two, literally just don’t tell anyone and drink it.
yes!
Step zero, be mindful of methanol and take care
@@TheHighLemonnever drink your first batch.. :P
This just made me realise my RA in college was definitely illegally selling her combucha she was making in our shared kitchen...
Methanol is exactly the reason why distilling without license is illegal. Back when moonshine was commonplace the amount of people going blind from Methanol poisoning was ludicrous to say the least. And during the prohibition this actually skyrocketed even higher cause now all alcohol was home brewed.
The ATF on their way to my house because they found out I made Automatic Transmission Fluid illegally:
Red dye number 3 and glycerin
You better hide your dog if the atf is watching you 😂
I was looking for this comment
Yeah
you're exactly right on the reason for distilling being illegal - in fact, through distilling you are basically guaranteed to produce methanol in lethal or at least permanent blindness inducing quantities. most states figure that it's impractical to make spirits at the volume appropriate for personal consumption, which is why they only give commercial licenses. whether or not that's actually the case is up for debate.
Distilling is illegal because of taxes. Originally farmers were tired of paying taxes on grain, so made it into moonshine because of lax taxes on distilled spirits, which led to making moonshine and not paying taxes on it to be illegal during the civil war. It's been illegal since then, but it later led the ATF and FDA to impose regulations on licencing to produce alcohol, which now makes it illegal to produce alcohol without the proper licencing, location, and equipment
Also, you can legally distribute your own brews, be it mead, wine, moonshine, etc, if you use the age old beautiful art of bartering. Had an associate who’d get two huge moonshiner jugs and would barter away the stuff at a farmers’ market. Head in with two jugs, walk out with crates of fresh produce, cuts of meat, etc.
Big brain
thats actually so smart wtf
The old fashioned way
I don't think it would be technically legal, because it'd be the same as selling, doubt they'd go after you though.
@@TKDWILSON ... when making your own beverages it's only illegal to sell them. Consuming them with family and friends...giving some away to friends...not at all illegal. So it can easily be argued that it wasn't a sale...it was an exchanging of gifts. Since no actual currency changed hands it would be borderline impossible for them to prove it was a sale.
Just remember. The ATF is an extension of the IRS. All they care about is uncle same getting your dollar
They used to be part, and now they’re part of the DoJ
If you think about it, that's also partially why NASCAR exists today.
Aside from the risk in production, it can be used as too many things that would violate several regulations. Though I think corporations got around A LOT of that along time ago. Would be interesting to see if one could safetly distill if the rules stay the same.
i believe one of the reasons that distillation is illegal has to do with the concentrations that can be made with it, fermentation cant produce higher concentrations than 18ish% abv, because anything higher just kills off the bacteria producing the alcohol, whereas distillation can potentially produce up to 97% abv, which is not only lethally toxic in much smaller amounts, but is also much more flammable and potentially explosive
It's not illegal because of danger, but because some enforcement practices are left over from the prohibition era and Congress is too corrupt to repeal those rules .
@@johndododoe1411 Why not both? Prohibition laws that are still in place because they make sense from a safety standpoint in hindsight?
the part with the methanol is also true. people can become blind if they drink that@@johndododoe1411
@@johndododoe1411It's illegal in many other countries as well
You can buy 95% ABV drinkin' alcohol as well as all manner of flammable and poisonous products including 99% isopropyl alcohol, I don't think that is the issue
You MUST buy the corporate poison
Instead of drinking the homemade poison? 🤨
In the UK, you are allowed to homebrew an unlimited amount, But you are NOT allowed to sell it without informing HMRC as there is a tax to it. Distillation of spirit is Legal in the UK, but ONLY with a licence from the government.
You hit the nail on the head. Methanol poisoning is the only reason distilling is illegal
No, it’s because the government wants taxes
The distilling is definitely the methanol, doesn't take much in a drink to kill someone or permanently injure them and they won't know until it's too late many times.
Explosions and fires are equally important.
The only way you'd get methanol poisoning from a moonshine is if you distilled hard cider and made sure to drink only the first ounce.
Methanol is produced from the fermentation of pectin, which is a protein present in fruits and particularly abundant in apples.
Even then, ethanol acts as methanol's antipoison. As long as there's much more ethanol, you could drink a deadly amount of methanol and still be fine. If it wasn't the case, an undistilled product would be as dangerous. Distillation only concentrates the methanol.
The "moonshine makes you blind" thing came from the prohibition when moonshiners used to cut their booze with store-bought methanol. Same short term buzz, terrible long term effects.
What really makes moonshine dangerous is when people half-ass it. Car radiators are generally soldered with lead, which WILL seep into the alcohol. Also, measuring the alcohol content os extremely easy and fast, not doing it and going to the hospital because you thought your 70% shine was 25% is really dumb.
I still understand why it's illegal but it's also really safe when you take the time to learn how to do it well.
@@tjoloi Doesn't change the fire/explosion risk.
As long as you're either in a very well ventilated area (read outside) or use a heat source other than an open flame, you're safe.
I can't talk for illegal commercial operations that deal with huge volumes, but if you only distill a few gallons, there's not much fire risks.
@@tjoloiI made alcohol with 100% apple juice with pulp and drank the whole jug and it 100% made some methanol because it made we way number and drunker than the same size of normal no pulp apple juice. It also smelled like mash when normal sugar-water juice smells much less pungent.
Don’t worry, the ATF doesn’t deal with alcohol or tobacco, but you better not shave 1/16th of an inch too much off of a shotgun barrel or you can expect a dead dog
Accurate💀💀
In some states you can distill alcohol for personal consumption without any risk of prosecution and it’s only once you sell it that you’re breaking the law
These are USA laws, in Europe you can do WHATEVER at home and no one will bat an eye, even producing commercial level of alcohol, both fermentation and distilling. you just can’t sell without a proper business permit and without having an inspector checking out everything is up to industry standard and health regulations
Distilling can be done a few ways. Freeze distilling is one such way that is the safest since you can just sit out your wine and let the water freeze naturally or in the freezer. Apple jack is a spirit made through such a way. Our forefathers had barrels of apple cider out side and this happened and so it's something natural that can happen as well
Freeze distillation of hard cider also concentrates the fusil oils, methanol, acetone and other things that occur in the fermentation process. Basically the foreshots, heads and tails of normal distillation, all the stuff I would run my lawnmower on when I was distilling. Drink a couple glasses and you'll really regret it in the morning. I know from experience! However if you live in the right climate, freeze concentration of your filtered mash works great, just double the volume of your foreshots and extend your heads collection a bit.
Cool comment, and reply! This is the added content I was looking for. 😁
Apple jack is slow poison due to the methanol that stays in it after freeze distillation.
I always forget the ATF has other duties other than making my life miserable
It's in the name lol. Alcohol. Tobacco. Firearms. The 3 greatest American commodities
@@-pyrosef- I know but you hardly hear about the ATF doing anything other than trying to make me a felon for what's in my safe lol
Methanol is almost always produced when fermenting. The danger with distilling is that if ur distillate is at the wrong temperature, u won't get the pure ethanol that u want for spirits, but instead a different form of alcohol that is extremely poisonous or other toxic compounds. Distillation is just the process of boiling a solution at certain temperatures to then condense to get the pure form of. In the case of making spirits, it's ethanol. Now, the reason y the government doesn't want u to distill alcohol at home is bc they get an extra tax from the sale of spirits and they don't want to miss out on that money by u selling ur own spirits without paying the tax or the license so that they know ur selling spirits so that they can force u to pay the tax. Safety is just an added bonus for them to legitimize their ban.
Fermentation has a near 0 percent chance of causing an explosion meanwhile distilling is a whole nother game .
If i was a leader of a place id make it legal at home but mandatory training first and random 2 year interval inspection of equipment / set up so the lead solder days are in the past and no one gets shrapneled to death
More and more degrading the 4th amendment as when its done at home its not a bussiness
Just make sure your dog doesn’t answer the door from now on
Or your wife, and 14 year old son
@@ness1278 I forgot about that
In my country making your own wine, especially if you live outside of the city, is pretty common. Older genetations in Moldova produce wine yearly, and they often sell it to neighbors, acquaintances and give them as gifts to friends and family. Some ppl produce colossal amounts of wine, but it isn't regulated in any kind of manner by authorities, as it is an integral part of our culture. There hasn't been an issue so far, so if it's not broken, don't fix it i guess
Doesn't surprise me at all, Moldova is known for making good wine, they used to sell to Russia before the war with Ukraine. It was actually a huge blow to their market when they stopped doing that (I am Romanian).
Great example of a community regulated good, no problems because 1. everyone knows how to make it right and 2. if someone did give out bad wine everyone would make sure they know not to do that again if you catch my drift lol
here in portugal my family also makes their own wine. i have to admit though it's dog water
@@silasstryder "community regulated good" lmfao there's no such thing. If someone did make a bad batch of wine that poisoned people, it would be big government kicking their door in, not "the community." No one "catches your drift," by the way, because your "drift" is childish and has zero basis in reality.
@@Abcdefg-tf7cu I didn't mean poisoned I meant tasted bad, and you're the one getting hung up about this like a 12 year old girl, calling me childish, grow the fuck up dude
Your guess is spot on. They outlawed home distilling because bad moonshine was seriously messing people up during the prohibition era
Like a lot of people have mentioned yes distilling doesn’t just happen happen(usually) but it’s also a holdover law from prohibition era and is designed to limit moonshine without a permit because some of the alcohol that would be made one shot would kill a man
I had a buddy who's uncle made amazing shine. He had mules who would rotate out and buy the ingredients from a supplier store (think costco but specifically for resturants and the food industry) had the set up in his garage. Didn't sell to anyone who wasn't in his circle. Best lemon liquor I've ever had was his shine. It was smooth. Started tart finished sweet. Good times.
He sounds like a world champion
The ATF will just change a "rule" if they have a oroblem with you.
Atf is corrupt. Making and selling alchol isna constitutionally protected human right. The atf needs to learn about the prohibition. Mass produce, or dont. Do small hufher quality etc. 100 gallons is a lot and you cant legally sell it but you can gift things 😂😂😂. I gift you you gift me you see
Much like the pirates they emulate, those are more like 'guidelines' to them
Gun owners :"first time?"
I've read that in Tennessee that we can sell 150 bottles or gallons before licensing, and heath certs are required. I don't sell mine, I gift them. Same with honey. I know it's 150 gallons, and my kitchen must meet specific building codes and certified annually.
When distilling you have a flame and inflammable alcohol vapor in close proximity and you can cause an explosion. That’s one big reason why the atf can get involved but making poison is frowned upon as well.
I don’t sell, I just barter.
"I didnt sell the beer I gave some to john down the street as thanks for the eggs from his chickens"
Still classified as distribution. Now if he "gifted" you those eggs at around the same time you "gifted" him some of your homebrew, well that's an entirely different matter (don't get greedy though).
Hahaha
Thats engaging in commerce which isn't legal lmao
of the Revised Code, "sale" and "sell" include exchange, barter, gift, offer for sale, sale, distribution and delivery of any kind, and the transfer of title or possession of beer and intoxicating liquor either by constructive or actual delivery by any means or devices whatever, including the sale of beer or intoxicating liquor by means of a controlled access alcohol and beverage cabinet pursuant to section 4301.21 of the Revised Code
Instructions unclear: I homebrewed my 3DS
lmao
That kind of alcohol is just as delightful 😂
Run Nintendo‘s coming for you
It's surprisingly easy to hack your 3DS in less than 15 minutes.
@yapflipthegrunt4687 Ooh, I wish mine took 15 minutes. It had a parental lock on it (and I'm slow and clumsy) so mind took about an hour. Well worth it though.
Distilling laws vary by state but being widely illegal you wonder why it's so easy to get the equipment. Distilling is also extremely dangerous for multiple reasons, from fire risk to methanol poisoning, distilling is a complicated process
Distillation ban was just deemed unconstitutional in federal court!
They don't want you selling your own alcohol because they can't tax it. Always remember, it's illegal when they can't steal from you
Taxs ain't theft. Afterall, they are what pays for your roads and other infrastructure.
@@hanzzel6086some taxes arent theft. Others are.
@@hanzzel6086
Taxes are used to build society but it is also important to question why a person may question it on certain circumstances .Take away the set sanitation and safety standards because the person study and have knowledge about alcohol and its mechanics. That same person want to make extra money on the side but altas they can't because the government wants to tax their product. The goverment cannot tax a small/personal business therefore one could agure they made it illegal because they cannot tax or set the same standards on someone's personal products. So yeah, if the government doesn't make money then it won't support it.
That was my thought. Whiskey was a main export back in the 1700s, as a way to preserve and export the wheat crop. So I would guess historical taxation would be the main reason for those laws. (Also, the methanol pointed out up thread.)
Well that and also making your own Alcohol especially when distilling might literally make you blind if you fuck it up.
ATF: OH MY GOD IS THAT A SAUERKRAUT!?
Also distilling equipment can be high pressure and explode with a bit more force than what can happen with Wine or Mead.
Distilling is also legal at home for personal consumption. It just depends on your state law. The main issue is that the govt wants to tax it.
In Chicago, people who live in small apartments don't use a still. They use the freezer. When you freeze wine, you can remove the ice, which will be mostly water. Alcohol doesn't freeze at the same temperature, so it will remain liquid. It won't be as strong as distilled liquor but it will be very strong wine.
Freeze concentrating isn't distilling. I've even read letters from the ATF stating that they have no interest in Waco'ing anyone over it.
@@mtnbkr5478it's actually called fractional distillation, so yes, it is distillation. Applejack, one of the first American spirits, was traditionally produced this way (the method is also called "jacking")
@@wyssmaster just because 'distillation' is in the name doesn't make it distillation. It would have been faster to look up the definition than to argue with me about it.
@@mtnbkr5478 it actually does. Distillation is the process of removing certain things (like water) from a solution to make it more concentrated or pure. It's possible to produce spirits that are as high as 80 proof with fractional distillation, which is what most spirits are sold at.
@@wyssmaster If that's what you want to believe, it's obviously not worth the tremendous amount of effort it would take me in order to convince you otherwise. For those reading the comments however, the literal definition of distillation can be found on the internet or in a dictionary; it's always best to not trust strangers arguing on the internet, because one of them will be incorrect.
"distilling is illegal"
The entire south: laughs in moonshine
Why are they in the moonshine
The distilled goods has a different tax on it. The government doesn't want you skipping out on its fair share. You can actually distill you have to go thru the paperwork and then get a tax stamp on it and buy it back.
OMFG! Is the phone spying on me visually?? I was just watching The Andy Griffith Show, and Barney was drinking hard cider from a big jug EXACTLY like this one LMAO
DO NOT SELL YOUR HOMEMADE BATCHES, but… you can give them to your friends and accept tips for the services like bottling, delivering, pouring etc. as long as it’s not for the product itself.
This! 🙏💯
Product: 12 bottles homemade aged wine
Price: absolutely FREE 👏
Shipping and handling: $1300
The law: this is fine 🙂
@@rainbow_vaderthis is the way.
Ah yes it’ll be $50 delivery fee and to bottle another $20. Thank you!
Some states in Appalachia and the South allow distilling as long as you don't sell it.
true
Well yeah, moonshine is to big of a part of life there
It's also probably a case of certain anti-distillation laws still being on the books despite the repealing of Prohibition. You have to be a certified business with an officially jumped-through-all-the-legal-hoops license to be able to distill alcohol for consumption, which is the only way to get around those laws...which conveniently include rules & regulations about not producing & selling the poisonous version of spirits of alcohol. (One boils off at a lower temperature than the next, and another at a higher temperature still. I watched a short video on how difficult it was to distill whiskey from beer in the early days of thermometers and scientific experiments without killing the imbibers.)
Distilling btw is illegal for tax purposes, not any sense of danger, hence why it’s legal on the state level in West Virginia and Missouri and being federally overturned in texas