[TheForge] blacksmiths and beer

[Phlip]

Andy Vida skrev:

> As far as I know, owning a still to distill water is also illegal.
> Just how stupid can stupid get?

No it isn't. There are any number of substances which it is legal to
distill, water, vinegar and essential oils being amongst them (understanding
that there may be some state laws somewhere that I'm unaware of).

The laws specificly address potable (drinkable or grain) alcohol.

There are also other things which it is illegal for a private individual to
produce, various recreational drugs among them, but distillation is NOT an
accidental process, as it can be with fermentation (have you looked in the
back of your refrigerator lately? ;-) Instead, it requires care and
concentration, and a peculiar , fussy, and unmistakable arrangement of
equipment..

As I said, I don't particularly agree with the laws in many cases- beyond
"Thou shalt not steal from, harrass, injure or kill other folks, or stick
your nose in ther business" everything else, pretty much, that is on the
books is a waste of a sane person's time. But, as idealistic as I can be,
I'm practical enough to realize that it is necessary to know and understand
the laws relating to activities that you're interested in involving yourself
in.

As a sidenote, much of the strictness on the distilling laws was caused
during Prohibition, when the creators of bathtub gin and the incompetent
unlawful distillers poisoned relatively large numbers of people because they
used unsafe practices, including using lead solder in their stillds, and
producing poisonous alcohols such as wood alcohol. It's not just the Blue
Noses causing the problem.

Phlip