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Home distilling

Gren said:
I dont know about the legality of home brewing, but seeing as you can buy the things used to do it quite cheaply from Boots and Wilkinsons, I cant see it being against the law somehow!


Nor I would think is buying a huge marrow, cutting a small opening it the top and filling it with sugar, then reclosing the hole and letting it ferment and continuing the process for a few weeks against the law either.
If it were, sloe Gin would not exist.

Gren

You'll be pleased to know that home brewing of beer is not illegal, and that there is no duty charged on such beer either in the UK (s41 Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1981 - "The duty on beer produced in the United Kingdom shall not be chargeable on beer produced by a person who produces beer only for his domestic use"), or in the rest of the EU (I'm sure that it's somewhere in Directive 92/12EEC - it's nearly time for bo-bo's and I can't be arsed to look in my big purple book of law). However, I think that you'll find that making sloe gin doesn't involve fermenting marrows.

Milesy

The "antiquated legislation" - The Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 and Finance Act 1992 - is the current law of the land in relation to this aspect of excise law.

The Customs and Excise Management Act, The Hydrocarbon Oil Duties Act, & The Tobacco Products Duties Act all date from 1979. The most recent piece of Excise primary legislation is the Betting and Gaming Duties Act 1981.

And whilst "common sense and deduction (might) say otherwise in your mind" you're wrong. :twisted:
 
msr said:
Milesy said:
Home Distillation is not illegal because of tax reasons for the Goverment regardless of what some people may say.

References please.

From http://homedistiller.org/

I took the trouble to look this up a while ago in 'Halsbury's Laws of England' which is the legal encyclopaedia used by the courts and lawyers in general. It is very authoritative. Basically, the situation is this. You can't distill alcohol without a rectifier's licence (Alcoholic Liquor Duties Act 1979 s18(1)).

If you do and are caught you will be liable to pay the duty on the alcohol in the spirits you make (currently £19.56 per litre) and to pay a fine of whichever is the greater of £250 and 5% of the duty payable. (Finance Act 1994 s9(2)). Forget getting a license. There are rules about how large (or rather how small) the still can be which would render any home device unlawful and in any case you'd have to pay the duty which sort of defeats the object. As far as I can ascertain, you are not committing a criminal offence by distilling alcohol. All the above are civil matters. I assume that Customs and Excise would seize all your product and your equipment too.

In short, you might say that the consequences of a raid on a genuine hobby distiller making liquor for him or herself would be embarrassing but not necessarily disastrous. As for the likelihood of getting caught; well I have never heard of a case in my lifetime (I'm 47). My own guess is that the Customs an Excise are far too busy chasing drugs and liquor smugglers and dealing with VAT fraud to bother with a small time....... Hang on, there's someone at the door.


msr

May I, msr, refer you to s25(1) ALDA79 "Save as provided by or under this Act, any person who, otherwise than under and in accordance with an excise licence under this Act so authorising him - (a) manufactures spirits, whether by distillation of a fermented liquor or by any other process, or (b) uses a still for distilling, rectifying or compounding spirits; or (c) distils or has in his posession any low wines or feints; or (d) not being a vinegar maker, produces or makes or has in his posession any wort or wash fit for distillation , shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty of level 5 on the standard scale".

Additionally, ss170 & 170A CEMA79 have some very stern things to say about "Penalties for the fraudulent evasion of duty etc" and the "Offence of handling goods subject to unpaid excise duty" - These are criminal offences too.

Whilst s9 FA92 does indeed impose civil penalties in many of the excise regimes where criminality is not suspected, HMRC does carry a FOGB stick. s170CEMA79 offences carry penalties of up to 7 years in jail on indictment, a FOGB Fine, or, both.

Edit to add, and yes HMRC would confiscate the still, seize any spirit, and generally make life miserable. I refer you to the estimable/excrable programme produced by the Bee Bee Cee in the 1980's called "The Duty Men" where a still was seized by the then Belfast Criminal Investigation Unit of HMCE after a period of covert observation, in which they managed to avoid treading on the toes of (perm any from as many) Green Army/THEM/14 Int/Provos/Stickies/UDA/UVF/Red Hand Commando/The Brownies/The Wood Craft Folk
 
The homebrew shop I use sells a home still. Asked the woman what it was for, she came over all shifty and said "distilling flower essences for perfume. And stuff". They also sell bags of activated charcoal, good for filtering the fusel oil out. You really dont want high concentrations of that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusel_alcohol

Theres also Turbo yeast etc

I used to know a bloke down in Gloucester who had a still in a mine, made very convincing calvados tyle stuff, he used to filter his through a tank of fullers earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullers_earth

Very useful stuff, can also be used to take the red out of red diesel. Not the same tank as you use for purifying poteen obviously
 
salforddude said:
I used to know a bloke down in Gloucester , he used to filter his through a tank of fullers earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullers_earth

Very useful stuff, can also be used to take the red out of red diesel. Not the same tank as you use for purifying poteen obviously

And, if you're caught you'll lose your vehicle and be assessed for the duty evaded (there's more than one marker in Marked Gas Oil). And I can imagine that the Adj/RSM will be mightily impressed too.
 
I realise theres more than one marker. Fullers earth just takes the red out. which is what I said. Also, since the thread is about home distilling activities I assumed that evading the governments wholly excessive tax loading on certain things might not be too far from peoples minds.
 
I'm not making judgements, merely pointing out what the law says; and the consequences of failing to obey the law.

As for the "wholly excessive tax loading on certain things" where would you prefer that they levied indirect taxes? (given that Dir/92/12/EC (Article 3) and Dir/2003/96 (Article 1) require that excise duties are levied on booze and fags (92/12) and energy products (2003/96)?)

Edited to add: "Evasion is illegal, avoidance - whilst questionable/immoral isn't.
 
commented on so that I get email updates on this thread

having said that, marrow rum is a doddle, but I am too pissed to remember how I made it
 
salforddude said:
The homebrew shop I use sells a home still. Asked the woman what it was for, she came over all shifty and said "distilling flower essences for perfume. And stuff". They also sell bags of activated charcoal, good for filtering the fusel oil out. You really dont want high concentrations of that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusel_alcohol

Theres also Turbo yeast etc

I used to know a bloke down in Gloucester who had a still in a mine, made very convincing calvados tyle stuff, he used to filter his through a tank of fullers earth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fullers_earth

Very useful stuff, can also be used to take the red out of red diesel. Not the same tank as you use for purifying poteen obviously

When I was a boy (rural area) there were fairly regular incidents (involving extensive burns) as people tried to get the red right out of the diesel.................And you never saw a farmer with a petrol car.

I think these days the concessions the revenue have made mean that you are very nearly as well buying an old diesel car and putting a dollop of (I think) white spirit into vegetable oil. I think you can use a couple of thousand litres a year, and who could keep track?
 
I have met a guy who had a legal home still he used for giving lectiures on whisky. He had to jump through a good few hoops but he is legal and I have seen the still operating and tasted the product. Good evening that was.
 
I have brought this thread back to life because of the continued talk of minimum pricing on alcohol. Most of the comments on this thread regarding home distillation making methanol and making you go blind is so much Government bullshit, continually pushed out to prevent those that know little about chemistry having a go.

Home distillation, even with a grain wash produces so little methanol that its not worth talking about. Home distillation does, on the other hand produce a drink that is superior in every way to the shop bought muck that is sold as acceptable. This is because only the 'hearts' are kept, unlike commercial operations when a large quantity of the tails (the part that ensures you get a sore head) is also included. A gentleman I know puts his clean spirit into demijohns with two to three small sticks of charred sherry barrel staves and his product has been compared to 8 and 12 year old single cask whisky after only eight weeks. As an added bonus, if you overindulge you will have a large thirst in the morning but no headache!

Economically a kilo of sugar produces just over half a litre of 94 -95% AbV (alcohol by volume); when cut 40 /60 or 50 /50 with water gives over a litre of good quality alcohol for just over the price of a kilo of sugar.

The ONLY reason home distillation is illegal is because of Government protectionism. They do not want to lose the revenue that spirits earn them. In a similar vein, I once had a Chief Constable tell me that no Government would fully legalise marijuana as it was too easy to grow and it would be impossible for the Government to raise revenue on it.

For those with real interest in the process may I direct you to the following site:
Home Distillation of Alcohol
 
Are they many distillers amongst members ? have been practising this hobby for the past few years. I first started using a pot still first and when I mastered the pot still I then invested in a T500 still from Still Spirits a couple of years ago, anyone else practising this hobby ?
 
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