It isn’t difficult to make great spirits and liqueurs at home, but you do have to play by the rules. In some countries it is legal to own a still for making such things as distilled water, essential oils, bio‐fuel and alcohol. However, often the use of a still to produce alcohol is subject to government regulations and often licenses are required.  Essencia strongly recommends that you check the legal requirements of home distillation in your area.

If you are in an area where home distillation is not permitted, you can still produce your own great spirits and liqueurs – without distillation. Simply add the flavours to pure 40% ABV vodka.

Distilling alcohol for making spirits is similar to fermenting wine or home brewing beer. Following the instructions will result in pure, clean, hand crafted alcohol that often has less by‐products and impurities than alcohol produced from commercial sources.

Yes. People have been making spirits for centuries. Early evidence of distillation comes from Akkadian tablets dated c. 1200 BC describing perfumery operations, providing textual evidence that an early, primitive form of distillation was known to the Babylonians of ancient Mesopotamia.

The essencia System is the production of alcohol from a known mix of natural ingredients, being sugar, water, yeast and nutrients (the ‘wash’).
The alcohol is then extracted from the wash using a highly efficient distillation process.
The high strength alcohol produced is diluted to the desired strength, typically 38‐40% ABV, then treated with activated carbon to remove unwanted flavours and by-products.

This produces a very pure and smooth tasting spirit.

Using the essencia System from fermentation to flavouring, you can be drinking your own premium quality, homemade spirits & liqueurs within 10 days.

Both types of Still will remove the alcohol from a wash or mash, therefore the productivity is basically the same.

A Reflux Still refines the distillate to a high degree, producing a distillate of very high alcohol content with very little of the ‘character’ of the wash or mash coming through. A Reflux Still is a must for producing clean, neutral spirit or vodka.

A Pot Still produces a distillate with much lower alcohol content but with a correspondingly increased level of the ‘character’ coming through. This is important for distilleries producing spirits such as Whisky, Tequila and Rum etc. where the character of the base ingredients is required in the final product.  However these spirits require ‘aging’, often in oak barrels which help remove the unpleasant, harsh flavours over time, and also adds the flavour of the wood to the spirit.

With the authentic essencia flavours, you produce pure, clean spirit and then add-back the distinctive flavours of your favourite spirit.

No, you will just get more unfermented sugar remaining in the wash.

It’s important that you don’t add more sugar than the recipe or the manufacturer recommends, as yeast varieties are made and selected for different properties.

If too much sugar is added, the whole process from that point on will be out of balance, and is highly unlikely to give the expected results specified by the manufacturer. The wash will be bad, the distillation won’t run as expected and you are likely to have the wash foam through the condenser from the boiler.

1. Fermentation time. The more time you can allow between starting to produce the alcohol and enjoying the final product, the better it will be. A longer fermentation run at a lower temperature will produce better results. Whilst many yeasts claim to act extremely fast, a little more time always produces better results. When filtering and carbon-treating the alcohol, the alcohol must be in contact with the carbon for the correct amount of time and can’t be rushed. Aged spirit is smoother than freshly made. Ideally alcohol should be aged in sealed glass containers for at least one week. High quality flavourings designed for flavouring alcohol need around a week to properly infuse with the alcohol. These flavourings will improve with age.
2. Flavouring. A premium quality flavour can make average quality spirit taste good. Lower quality flavourings can make great spirit taste bad. It is worth spending a little more to buy better-quality flavours. The essencia range of flavours is designed specifically for the flavouring of spirits. Most flavours have been developed by the original distillers of the famous brands themselves. They will actually improve with age as opposed to fading.
3. Fermentation. Follow the manufacturer’s instructions supplied on the yeast packet. The manufacturer has spent a lot of time developing the mix in these packets to produce the optimum results. Fermenting a wash at a high temperature is fast, but it produces a lot of unwanted by-products, and has an adverse effect on the final product. It is recommended that you run your fermentation at the lower end of the temperature range specified by the manufacturer.
   Keeping the temperature as constant as possible during fermentation is also important. Using a heater pad when required and insulating the fermenting vessel (using a blanket etc) is recommended. Let the fermentation finish. When bubbling through the airlock stops and it appears that fermentation has finished, give the wash a good stir, turn on the heater pad and leave the wash to heat for 24 hours. At this point of the fermentation it doesn’t matter what temperature the wash gets to. This will ensure all possible activity is completed. Always use a hydrometer. Use it to record the Specific Gravity (SG) at the start, during and at the end of fermentation. This is the only way to monitor the fermentation, to know when it is finished and to troubleshoot any problems.
4. Still. A Reflux Still refines the distillate to a high degree, producing a distillate of very high alcohol content with very little of the ‘character’ of the wash or mash coming through. A Reflux Still is a must for producing neutral spirit or Vodka. A Pot Still produces a distillate with much lower alcohol content but with a correspondingly increased level of the ‘character’ coming through. This is important for distilleries producing spirits such as Whisky, Tequila and Rum etc. where the character of the base ingredients is required in the final product.
5. Carbon treatment. When distilling alcohol there are always impurities (congeners) carried over from the boiler to the collection vessel. The collected alcohol needs to be treated using activated carbon which is specifically designed to remove these impurities from alcohol. There is a lot of misinformation surrounding activated carbon and the carbon treatment of alcohol. Activated carbons are not all the same; in fact they are very different. If the carbon you use to treat your alcohol is not the right one, you have wasted your time and money (even though it was cheap). You are also drinking untreated alcohol. The essencia Carbon Filter is an all in one, multi stage filtering and treatment system designed to filter and treat the entire finished product, including the water used to dilute the spirit. For best results, and for the sake of your health, essencia recommends that you do not drink spirit at more than 40% ABV. Poisoning could result leading to serious permanent injury or death.

No.  Distillation itself does not make methanol. It simply refines whatever has been put into the boiler. When the essencia System is followed, using essencia ingredients and equipment, there is no methanol in the final product.

If you wish to distil other mixtures the amount of methanol in the distillate will depend on the amount in the mixture.

Making alternative fuel is one thing, but if you want to make a drinkable alcohol spirit, the results could prove disastrous.

In many commercial distilleries, aging is necessary due to the poor quality of the distilled spirit, and to gain the specific characteristics of each style.

Following the essencia method, you make an extremely clean spirit, then add a flavouring to replicate the specific characteristics of your favourite whisky, bourbon, rum, gin or other spirit.

You don’t have to, but there is some benefit in ageing your spirit as it will smooth out.
Your spirit can be consumed immediately after the flavour is added, and with essencia flavours, these will continue to improve with age.

Yes. Using the most advanced type of still available – the essencia Super Express Still will produce a very pure alcohol and will produce it very fast.

No. Essencia flavours do not contain gluten.