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No. If you're making whisky, rum or vodka, etc. you will not need to add sugar to the product. However, if you're making a regular liqueur, you will need to add sugar (not the same quantity for each liqueur). Of course, if you're making a cream liqueur, then you'll also have to add cream to make the liqueur.

All bottles of essences have mixing directions on the label. In addition, we will soon be making available our online "Mixing Wizard" to guide you through the mixing process.

No!

It can certainly distill alcohol but it is designed to efficiently produce pure water. Thus, there is no reflux and the quality of alcohol will be significantly degraded.

That depends on the particular characteristics of the specific carbon. Generally, hard carbons, such as those made from stone coal or coconut shells, can be re-activated and this allows them to be used over and over. That helps to keeps costs down.

Softer carbons, such as those made from peat or wood are not suitable for re-activation as the granules would become pulverised during the re-activation process.

The answer depends upon your location and what is being distilled. Generally, distilling water or extracting essential oils by distillation is unregulated.

Some countries permit the home distillation of alcohol for liquor without a licence. In Canada it is not permitted. Some countries permit home distillation by licensed operators for the production of alcohol as a fuel.

Frankly, we cannot answer that question. In Canada, each province or territory makes its own legislation regarding liquor in addition to federal legislation. No two provinces are alike. We have not researched the requirements in the various jurisdictions. We have no information on the requirements in other countries.

Firstly, follow the instructions that came with the yeast!!!

Then, make sure that the fermenting mash is at the correct temperature. The yeast becomes intolerant of alcohol at higher temperatures. At low temperatures, the fermentation will be exceedingly slow, or may even stop.

Fermentation should be done in a primary fementer that seals with a rubber gasket and is fitted with an airlock. In the presence of oxygen, yeast will multiply rapidly but will produce very little alcohol. If oxygen is excluded, the yeast will convert the sugar into alcohol. So, if you want to make alcohol, don't peek! Don't open the lid until fermentation is complete

Yes!!! Very, very different. 

Click on "Turbo Yeasts" on the left side of this page to get more information.

Yes! There are several advantages...... some that are not so obvious.

Until you've tried it, you may be surprised to find that your home-made liquor is probably better than what you presently buy in a liquor store!

You will save money! You can make your own liquor for a small fraction of the price you pay in a liquor store.

Unless you live in a large metropolitan area, your liquor store probably doesn't carry the wide selection of liquors that you can make with our Prestige essences.

Making your own liquor not only saves you money but is a fascinating and fun hobby.

You can make professional-quality liqueurs from your very first attempt. We supply European Connection Liqueur Kits that are used to make the alcohol base. If you follow the simple instructions, add water and sugar, you'll have an unflavored liqueur base of 20+% alcohol, ready for you to add your favorite essence, sugar and, if required, cream.

Voila! Your home-made liqueurs will be as good as commercial liqueurs, perhaps even better!

None at all if you're making liquor from the "base" that you've produced by fermentation.

If you make liquor by illicit distillation, you risk legal penalties.

No. If you're making whisky, rum or vodka, etc. you will not need to add sugar to the product. However, if you're making a regular liqueur, you will need to add sugar (not the same quantity for each liqueur). Of course, if you're making a cream liqueur, then you'll also have to add cream to make the liqueur.

All bottles of essences have mixing directions on the label. In addition, we will soon be making available our online "Mixing Wizard" to guide you through the mixing process.

No. The product is ready for immediate consumption but it will improve if kept for 24 hours. or longer.

Liquor store prices (in Canada) for liqueurs are usually $18 to $26 (plus taxes) per bottle.

Using our European Connection Liqueur Kit and Prestige essences, it will cost between $3.50 and $5.25 per bottle to make your own liqueurs.

Makes you think, doesn't it?

An alcoholmeter is an instrument based on the same principle as an hydrometer but the scale shows percentage alcohol and not Specific Gravity.

It reads correctly ONLY when used in a mixture of pure water and pure alcohol.

If used with the wash resulting from fermentation, it will NOT read correctly as there are other substances in the wash (unfermented sugar, yeast nutrients, etc.) that will cause the density of the wash to be elevated and the percentage alcohol shown on the alcoholmeter will be below the actual percentage alcohol of the wash.

That's Methyl Alcohol (Methanol) and is not to be consumed.

That's Ethyl Alcohol (Ethanol).

Once fermentation is completed (no more bubbling), you should allow the wash to clear, then siphon off the clear liquid and discard the sediment (lees).
The clear wash can be kept indefinitely if a sealed bottle. You can remove just the quantity you want and add any of our essences.

Each bottle of essence is sufficient to flavor one bottle (750ml / 26 fl oz) of liquor.

The answer depends on the degree of contamination before filtration begins.

We supply all of our activated carbons in bags that contain 1.7 litres. This is the quantity required to fill our Industrial Quality filter.

We recommend that you do NOT collect all of the filtrate in one large container. Instead, collect the filtrate in a series of sequentially-numbered plastic pop bottles. When filtration is completed, use bottle # 1 as your control and compare others with it. When you determine a drop-off in quality, that will indicate that the carbon was then saturated with impurities. Any alcohol of a poor quality can be added to the next batch for filtration.

That depends on the particular characteristics of the specific carbon. Generally, hard carbons, such as those made from stone coal or coconut shells, can be re-activated and this allows them to be used over and over. That helps to keeps costs down.

Softer carbons, such as those made from peat or wood are not suitable for re-activation as the granules would become pulverised during the re-activation process.

The used carbon (must be a hard carbon such as stone coal) is boiled in water for 15 - 20 minutes until it no longer smells. It is then drained in a very fine sieve and then dried on a roasting pan or dish.

Once dry, the carbon is heated in an electric (not gas) oven and held at 150 C (300 F) for 2 - 3 hours. Once it cools, it is ready for re-use. During re-activation, flammable vapors and unpleasant smells will be driven out of the carbon. Be sure that no source of ignition is present. Open the windows and use an exhaust fan, if available.

Generally, water filters are not ideal for filtering alcohol. They rely on the pressure of the water supply to force the water through activated carbon but, unless you have a means of pressurizing your alcohol through the filter, it will not be very effective.

The abreviation "cl" and "dl" stand for centilitre and decilitre respectively. Although Canada is (nominally) metricated, those particular measurements are not used but the litre and millilitre are commonly used.

1 Litre (L) = 1000 millilitres (ml)

1 centilitre (cl) = 10 millilitres (ml)

1 decilitre (dl) = 100 millilitres (ml)

A more comprehensive set of conversion tables will be added to our website in the near future.

No! Wine filters using filter pads to remove solids from the wine but they are NOT suitable for removing odors and flavors.

Add 20 - 25 litres of water to the kettle.

Attach the column, but do not fill the column with Raschig rings.

Insert the bung with thermometer.

Connect the cold water supply to the inlet at the bottom of the condenser. 

Connect a discharge hose to the warm water outlet at the top of the condenser and lead the discharged water to a drain.

Turn your heat-source to high and when steam (very hot! - beware!) comes out of the condenser, run cold water through the condenser.

The condensate will be pure distilled water.

Stop distillation whilst there is still at least 5 litres of water in the kettle.

Assuming that your Essential Extractor was clean before you began the distillation, the only reason for any odor or flavor in distilled water must have come from the original un-distilled water.

We have experienced this ourselves and we finally tracked down the culprit. We were filling the kettle using a regular garden hose and the hose was tainting the water. This off-odor and unpleasant flavor was eliminated when we stopped using the garden hose and switched to a hose made of food-grade plastic.

No!

It can certainly distill alcohol but it is designed to efficiently produce pure water. Thus, there is no reflux and the quality of alcohol will be significantly degraded.

There is no simple answer to this question as the degree of purity (or contamination) of YOUR alcohol is unknown. If it's very clean, the carbon will filter lots before it is saturated but if your alcohol is relatively dirty, the carbon will become saturated much sooner.

We recommend that when you filter a batch of alcohol, you do NOT collect all of the filtrate in one large container.

It is preferable to collect the filtrate in sequentially-numbered one-liter pop bottles and, since the first one filled will contain alcohol that passed through new carbon, it must be as good as it gets. Keep this bottle as a control for all future comparisons.

When you've done your filtration, compare the odor and taste of the contents of bottle one with bottle two, then bottle three, bottle four etc, etc until you notice a drop-off in quality. 

Everything collected before that point is clean but everything thereafter needs re-filtering through fresh carbon.

This will give you a very good idea of how much alcohol you can clean up with a pack of carbon.

Yes, indeed!

If it is filtered through an activated carbon filter, it will be improved by 100% to 150%

Your alcohol has been contaminated with congeners (fusel alcohols) during distillation. This occurs when you continue collecting distillate even after the "tails" are being condensed.

These oily-like substances are soluble in highly-concentrated alcohol and are then invisible but if the alcohol is then diluted, these substances are no longer entirely soluble in the dilute solution and form an emulsion that makes the alcohol appear milky.

Re-distillation is the way to remedy this problem.

Alternatively, the water used in your fermentation or dilution of distilled alcohol, may be very hard and some of the chemicals may precipitate out and form the milky or cloudy appearance.

The remedy is to use better-quality water such as water purified by the reverse-osmosis method and which can be bought at many grocery stores or specialized water stores.