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Open Source Distilling

opensourcedistilling.com

11–20 of 45 posts

Re: Open Source Distilling

#11
post #2

Definitely be careful before embarking on home distilling. In many parts of the world (and many parts of the US) it's pretty strictly illegal.

I don't agree with "strictly" illegal.

1 - it depends on what you're distilling.

https://www.distillate.org/laws/list

2 - while federally illegal to just get a still and start churning out spirits, ... https://www.ttb.gov/regulated-commodities/beverage-alcohol/d... a free permit and some paperwork (okay a lot of paperwork) lets you.

Disclaimer: I don't hold any licenses or permits related to alcohol, but as a holder of a half dozen other ones, I believe it would be surmountable to do this legally if you really want to.

Re: Open Source Distilling

#12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any such law displays a gross disrespect for basic freedoms. The more people that ignore it the better. You'd do as well to outlaw sewing your own clothes.

Distillation, when done improperly, can result in very toxic substances. It requires care and craft and since alcohol is not only a drug but a transformed product (like LSD or meth), it is perfectly fine that some state-level supervision apply: anything ranging from plain interdiction to controlled production. Note that the level of control usually depends on potential health issues and culture, it is not usually str…

People frequently get blind or just die from home made booze when distilling and not checking for methyl alcohol. Quite common on poor parts of the world but also ie eastern Europe and russia.

Re: Open Source Distilling

#13
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any such law displays a gross disrespect for basic freedoms. The more people that ignore it the better. You'd do as well to outlaw sewing your own clothes.

Distillation, when done improperly, can result in very toxic substances. It requires care and craft and since alcohol is not only a drug but a transformed product (like LSD or meth), it is perfectly fine that some state-level supervision apply: anything ranging from plain interdiction to controlled production. Note that the level of control usually depends on potential health issues and culture, it is not usually str…

By that logic it would be acceptable for the state to regulate all sorts of common culinary techniques. Note that those are regulated in a commercial setting. I'd have no objection to similar regulations pertaining to restaurants that wanted to serve alcohol that was distilled, brewed, or otherwise prepared on site. In that context it's equivalent to the regulations pertaining to the handling of raw meat.

Similarly, perhaps the state ought to regulate the use of refrigerators in a residential setting since various failure modes there can easily land you in the hospital.

Enough people have contracted botulism poisoning by storing chopped garlic under oil in their fridge that the FDA has a warning about it on their website. So I suppose that would also be acceptable to regulate? Or perhaps just cooking oil in general? After all, it's quite flammable and people commonly start house fires when frying things.

While we're at it, perhaps canning things at home ought to require a permit?

The standard that "thing could pose a hazard therefore regulation is acceptable" is far too broad a criteria as it applies to approximately everything that exists and entirely disregards individual freedoms.

> It requires care and craft

A fine whiskey? Sure. The equivalent of vodka? Don't be ridiculous.

> alcohol is not only a drug but a transformed product

It most certainly is not. Distillation concentrates something that is already there.

Alternatively, fried eggs are a transformed product but at that point the term as used is so absurdly broad as to be rendered entirely useless.

Re: Open Source Distilling

#14
post #12
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Distillation, when done improperly, can result in very toxic substances. It requires care and craft and since alcohol is not only a drug but a transformed product (like LSD or meth), it is perfectly fine that some state-level supervision apply: anything ranging from plain interdiction to controlled production. Note that the level of control usually depends on potential health issues and culture, it is not usually str…

People frequently get blind or just die from home made booze when distilling and not checking for methyl alcohol. Quite common on poor parts of the world but also ie eastern Europe and russia.

Misinformation. Unless you happen to own a GCMS you don't check for methanol. Rather you discard the heads and the tails from a fractioning still because that's where stuff that isn't ethanol comes out. In the modern era you'd use a digital thermometer for this task.

Someone suffering methanol poisoning from DIY distillation is equivalent to someone landing in the hospital after failing to cook his chicken all the way through. It's simple incompetence, likely due either to blatant disregard for safety or else to attempting to wing something based on only the most topical of knowledge.

Re: Open Source Distilling

#15
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Distillation, when done improperly, can result in very toxic substances. It requires care and craft and since alcohol is not only a drug but a transformed product (like LSD or meth), it is perfectly fine that some state-level supervision apply: anything ranging from plain interdiction to controlled production. Note that the level of control usually depends on potential health issues and culture, it is not usually str…

By that logic it would be acceptable for the state to regulate all sorts of common culinary techniques. Note that those are regulated in a commercial setting. I'd have no objection to similar regulations pertaining to restaurants that wanted to serve alcohol that was distilled, brewed, or otherwise prepared on site. In that context it's equivalent to the regulations pertaining to the handling of raw meat. Similarly,…

The pure process of Distillation does the concentration of something that is already there. But is it always pure when amateurs do it? Can you guarrantee that nothing goes wrong, that the product is tested for contaminations every time?

Re: Open Source Distilling

#16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic it would be acceptable for the state to regulate all sorts of common culinary techniques. Note that those are regulated in a commercial setting. I'd have no objection to similar regulations pertaining to restaurants that wanted to serve alcohol that was distilled, brewed, or otherwise prepared on site. In that context it's equivalent to the regulations pertaining to the handling of raw meat. Similarly,…

The pure process of Distillation does the concentration of something that is already there. But is it always pure when amateurs do it? Can you guarrantee that nothing goes wrong, that the product is tested for contaminations every time?

Do you swab your pan fried chicken and culture to test for salmonella after cooking it? Or do you just follow the recipe and basic food safety guidelines? Perhaps you judge doneness by a combination of fillet thickness and cook time? Or perhaps you go to the trouble of using a digital thermometer just to be safe?

Re: Open Source Distilling

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By that logic it would be acceptable for the state to regulate all sorts of common culinary techniques. Note that those are regulated in a commercial setting. I'd have no objection to similar regulations pertaining to restaurants that wanted to serve alcohol that was distilled, brewed, or otherwise prepared on site. In that context it's equivalent to the regulations pertaining to the handling of raw meat. Similarly,…

The pure process of Distillation does the concentration of something that is already there. But is it always pure when amateurs do it? Can you guarrantee that nothing goes wrong, that the product is tested for contaminations every time?

Why does that matter if it is not for commercial distribution?

Re: Open Source Distilling

#18
> For example, I think a lot of us don’t want to sit in front of a still for 30 minutes waiting for it to come up to temperature at the beginning of a distilling day.

Idk, I find driving a still to be pleasurable. To each their own.

Hot ethanol seems to have the refractive index to make it sparkle like a diamond. I recommend trying distilling if you like to brew things. It's a fun hobby.

Re: Open Source Distilling

#19
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People frequently get blind or just die from home made booze when distilling and not checking for methyl alcohol. Quite common on poor parts of the world but also ie eastern Europe and russia.

Misinformation. Unless you happen to own a GCMS you don't check for methanol. Rather you discard the heads and the tails from a fractioning still because that's where stuff that isn't ethanol comes out. In the modern era you'd use a digital thermometer for this task. Someone suffering methanol poisoning from DIY distillation is equivalent to someone landing in the hospital after failing to cook his chicken all the wa…

Isn't the remedy for methanol ingestion... Ethanol? Just keep drinking?

I have two distillers and I've never distilled alcohol. I do distill water in my eletric one. I turn it on and leave the condenser part off until bubbles form, I blow the steam off to ensure it steams again, place the top on, set the timer for 3 hours and shut it off then. The pre-boil ostensibly let's the petroleum and the like escape, and the stopping before dry prevents anything with a higher phase temp than water from distilling.

I use it for coffee machine, kettle, and ice machine, just to cut down on maintenance.

Ten years ago I bought 3 copper five gallon distillers, and gave two to my in-laws and kept one for myself. I tried to distill water in it but it was not coming out clean, so I packed it away till I had time to use it outside on a propane burner after purging it with alcohol or some non-copper eating acid.

Re: Open Source Distilling

#20
post #10
post #9

[flagged]

You aren’t the only one. I wonder how distillation of LLMs is done, didn’t research it and hoped this might be a solution. Well, it might be a solution but one that come with more hallucinations.

It's the same process as regular training, but instead of a single token for your cost function, it's top-k logits.
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