You put the sugar in the carboy and you shake it all up/me say "Doctor!" Charlie Bubba shakes like a mofo.

On the few sites that I did find on the 'net, the idea I'd always held that I would build my own still out of common household items and my shop in the garage quickly deflated. The pressures involved in the distilling process could cause explosions, turning my homemade still into a large grenade. Or, worse, if I used the wrong materials there could be some chemical seepage into the process.

Obviously, DIY was for the birds.

There were vendors who would ship you complete sets, but since they were in New Zealand, I kinda figured that shipping might be a bit prohibitive to say nothing of getting it through customs. Then, one day, lo and behold I found Stillife Publishing out of Canada. Canada? When I pictured moonshine, I pictured my kinfolk living out in the West Virginia hills (yes, I do have a genetic predisposition towards this activity), armed with shotguns in places like Bozoo yelling "git of mah laaaaahnd". Certainly not a bunch of Canadians: "pass the corn likker, eh"? But then I thought about it for a bit and remembered that Canada has long had an association with imports of illegal liquor products dating back to prohibition days, so it really wasn't all that surprising.

I had just gotten my income tax refund from the federales, and the idea of turning it around and buying a still with it was amusing in the extreme. The purchase arrived in fairly short order, indeed postmarked north of the border. While the equipment was very nicely constructed, it certainly was not the intricate thing that I had envisioned it. The pot still was a hacked pressure cooker: a thermometer had been inserted into the pressure release, and the spinner had been replaced by the vapor return. The condenser looked like it was a bit more intricately built, but with the correct parts and a modicum of skill, one could probably build a setup without too much difficulty. The book that came with the still is also available separately. While incredibly pricey for a simple booklet, it is very well written and gives complete plans and instructions for making a still oneself.