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Making Alcohol.

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Making alcohol is an easy process and with all the fruit that grows in our gardens its inexpensive to produce reasonable quality wines, and spirits, but please note: home distilling is illegal in most Countries

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Basically to make wine you need to mix your fruit with yeast. Some people add sugar, others let the yeast eat the natural fruit sugars.

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Wine is simply grapes or other fruit whose natural sugars are eaten by yeast.

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When this process happens, alcohol is made and a gas, carbon dioxide, bubbles from the wine.

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Wine is simply fruit juice that has yeast added and it ferments over time.

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Once upon a time, the naturally occurring yeast in the air which would accumulate on the fruit skins was sufficient to start the fermentation.

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I tried this using a plastic container and crushed grapes. Sure enough after the fourth day yeast started accumulating.

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I left it for a week and added it to a pulped fruit mix. The results were a drinkable white wine.

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However, winemakers generally use shop bought yeasts so they get consistent and predictable results.

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Making Vodka requires one more step - distillation.

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Distillation is simply the process of concentrating alcohol.

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Once the wine has been fermented, it's put into a still where the alcohol is concentrated, the still boils the wine into a vapour, it is this vapour that is collected and condensed back into a liquid, usually at around 55 degrees proof.

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Please note: Distilling is illegal to do in the home in most Countries, certainly those in Europe.

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There are many good reasons for this, safety being one of them.

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Over the last few years distilling has become a lot easier. Okay, here in Bulgaria you can take your wine to the local distillery, but there is now a machine that lets you distill at home.

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Disclaimer:

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Although SmartStill is perfectly suited for home distillation of alcohol, you must only do so in countries where it is legal.

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You must further obtain all necessary permits or licenses and pay all alcohol duties required.

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The "smartstill" is normally available on EBay at around £175.00

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Click here to visit the Smartstill Site