The Russians and Ukrainians have always liked making their own vodka.
The method is safe so long as certain elementary precautions are taken and can, with care, be adapted to make rum, calvados, slivovitz or any other spirit.
Precautions
The main precaution is that everything must be filtered before distillation, which should be done on a gentle heat. There should be no wood, leaves, twigs, fruit skins, husks of grain or anything of that nature in the wort to be distilled. All these things are made of cellulose, which can produce the highly toxic methanol when distilled. IF IN DOUBT, DON’T! This is a particular danger when making fruit brandies. The ‘eau de vie’ produced on French farms, where twigs, leaves and grape skins are fermented can sometimes turn out to be ‘eau de mort’ for this reason.
Method (to produce about 70cl of 45 – 50% vodka)
Take about 2lb sugar, two quartered lemons, 1/4 loaf of brown bread (for the yeast to feed on), yeast and nutrient. Put in a gallon fermenting jar with a fermentation trap and fill with warm water to within 8cm of the top. Allow to ferment for two -three weeks, by which time the specific gravity should be below 1.010. (Use a hydrometer.) Then you can distill this wort using the equipment illustrated. It is an ordinary double boiling pan used for steaming. Therefore it is not illegal to possess it – I also use it for making Christmas Puddings. (Thanks to the EU, the law is now a grey area if the capacity of one’s still is 3 litres or less and the result is for private use and not for sale.)
I use an inverted wok lid filled with cold water and ice as the condenser on the top. I have put a brass bolt through the lid where the handle should normally be. The wort goes in the bottom container, and a jug to collect the distillate in the top container. Heat it gently and be patient, or the distillate will have an unpleasant yeasty flavour. You should get about half a litre of 60%+ alcohol. The flavour will be greatly improved if you store it for a week or two over charcoal. I STRONGLY RECOMMEND THAT YOU THEN DILUTE THIS UP TO 70CL WITH STILL MINERAL WATER. There is a way of determining the strength by calculating the specific gravity, but you would need good quality electronic kitchen scales.
Flavouring
I like the Ukrainian method, which is to slit a hot! red chilli pepper and put it into the bottle. After two days the flavour will be strong and very hot. Serve very chilled with borshch and rye bread.
Adding assorted herbs, especially CARAWAY seeds will produce something like the traditional akvavit. Using a molasses – brown sugar mixture will yield a white rum, which can be coloured and flavoured by storing over winemakers’ oak chippings and adding caramel.