StillSmart

Aiden is correct. "Can drink it" and "should drink it" are two very different things. If you are just discarding the fore shots you are drinking things that are neither water nor ethyl alcohol. Ultimately it is your liver and your brain. "Tastes OK with flavouring" is not a metric I will use.


Chuck

All fermenting processes produce methanol. Some more than others. Fruits and grains produce more than sugar washes.
In saying that, there is not enough methanol produced to be life threatening.

A bottle of whiskey has about 15-25mg methanol.
A glass of orange juice has....wait for it......anywhere up to 150mg. WTF?

But, there are other ingredients far worse and in greater quantities in alcohol production. Such as acetates and aldehydes. The greater the quantity, the bigger the hangover and headache.

No amount of sophistication of a home distillation apparatus will produce pure ethanol. (Even hearts will have some contamination). An understanding of Raoults law will shed more light. (It's very technical)

Also, take heart in the fact that the antidote for methanol poisoning is ethanol.
Ironic, hey?

Always remove the foreshots. Always make good cuts.

scarecrow

In the UK the maximum intake of Methanol, as recommended by the Department of Health, is 600 mg per day for a 60 kg adult, .

http://archive.food.gov.uk/maff/archive ... orange.htm

So limit yourself to four glasses of orange juice. Make the rest home stillings.