[TheForge] blacksmiths and beer

[dann]

Before distillation became feasible,  those in the  North Countries  would 
use freezing temperatures to concentrate alcohol in their beers.    That is 
probably the most legal avenue for those that wish to "enrich"  a  real 
"ice beer".

Back in the 1960s, we  brewed a "beer"  in high school  chemistry, 
and  then distilled it to grain alcohol  using glass tubing and  rubber 
tubing.  The  rubber tubing added a nasty flavor, so that none were 
inclined to add it to their cola.   Professor cautioned us "not to try this 
at home".   He went on to explain that  the copper boilers / tubing and 
lead solder  joints common on home distilling apparatus  tended to add 
additional hazards to  drinking of home made spirits.

Even in home made wines and beer, there will be small amounts of other non- 
ethanol  by products made during the fermentation process, that one  would 
not  want to concentrate via distillation.   This  is  probably 
another  good  reason that distillation process  be regulated.

In college,  I took an interest and learned  enough about the process to 
know that home distillation is a risky venture:  Fractional 
Distillation   means that you want to  only capture the distillate in a 
narrow temperature range, discarding all distillates that come off before 
(lower temps ) and after  (higher temps ) the vapor  ethanol 
temperature.  Those of us that have tasted  rough tasting '"fire water" 
like Mescal, and moonshine  have tasted the bitter fusols  that a poor 
distillation process can add.  A careful fractional distillation yields 
less, but a  purer product.