[Sca-cooks] FWD: RE: Ice Distillation in Homes

[Bill Fisher]

On Wed, 22 Dec 2004 17:20:25 -0800 (PST), Chris Stanifer
<jugglethis at yahoo.com> wrote:

> According to your answer, this is wrong.  Removing the alcohol from the frozen mead for 'other
> beverage use' is fine.....so long as it does not produce a 'distilled alcohol product', which the
> same code defines as 48 proof or more on a proof-per-gallon basis (unless I read that portion
> completely wrong)

And are you checking the specific gravity of the solution to make sure
you are not
breaking through those lines?  - Just asking on that one....proof of
the proof so to
speak.

Most states laws that I have seenm lump all alcoholic beverage production 
together based on proof.    This would include even fortifying your homemade
mead with harder alcohol.

The big thing is, each state has different rules.  In GA, and PA, the
mere production
of ANY beverages above the distillation line is prohibited, you can
possess a gallon
of unlisted untaxed beverage, but not make it.

Even the production/possession of mead may be restricted based on its
alcohol content
and tax status. In GA you can only have seven gallons (I think, I
mentioned it in a previous
e-mail) of unstamped wine (defined by alcohol range, not be
ingredients) before they
will bust yo arse. You may laugh, but I have a cousin who made too
much wine one
year by five gallons, and they seized all of his stock, and gear to
make the wine.  All
on word of mouth amd by e-mail.

> It's not a matter of black-and-white...it's a matter of quantity and proof.  The amount of alcohol
> skimmed off the top of an ice cube tray, and reintroduced to a finished mead, will not raise the
> proof above 48.  Now, if you keep doing it, until you have 'mead-shine' then shame on you.... you
> deserve to have your house burned down by men-in-black, your family imprisoned, or whatever else
> the government is allegedly 'required by law' to do to you.

Actually it is black and white, but you need to look up your local
state and county
codes for the production and storage of alcohol.  You may be breaking laws you 
didn't know existed.

And before you write off another letter to a governing body, your inquiries can 
consitute "probable cause" to have your premises searched.  I wrote a letter of 
inquiry about PA distillation permits, and they showed up and checked out my 
premises to make sure I was not in the process of making anything, with warrant.

The state liquor control laws are publicly posted on each states
offical state website.

> However, for the 'conspiracy' crowd out there who insist that the government is still watching you
> through your kitchen windows, and asking your neighbors if they have noticed anything suspicious,
> here's an idea:
> 
> Get yourself a hard-copy of the the questions and reply I originally posted to this list, in which
> an employee of the BATF specifically writes that there is no federal law which prohibits this, and
> carry it around in your pocket with your copy of the Anarchist's Cookbook and Amnesty
> International Hotline telephone numbers.  Then, when you are brought in for interrogation and
> torture, you can tell the Executioner, through your mask of duct tape, that you were told by the
> guv'mint that it was okay.  Of course, your proof will probably be burned, along with any other
> proof of your existence, and an alien-robot hybrid will assume your identity from that point on.
> But, oh, well....
> 
> William de Grandfort

That was actually a rather sophmorish set of statements.  

You don't realize that most states have a zero tolerance definition
for controlled substance laws.   The penalties are clearly stated
along with the laws there.

Please look them up and then come back to the conversation.  Mocking people
with a "reason" to be "paranoid" doesn't make you right, just more wrong. You
seem to pull back to this stance a lot.

If anyone has any commentary to add on this, I won't be in this thread
any longer,
but you should really read your state and county laws, as they are the ones who
define the amounts and penalties. Once folks post the local codes, maybe this 
will be a real discussion.

Cadoc
-- 

"The 'Net is a waste of time, and that's exactly what's right about it" -
                                    - William Gibson