Distillation Equipment – A Prepper’s Guide

There are many distillation applications, but for preppers, these four uses come out as the most important.

1. Distilling water
You can barely go a week without water. Let’s just say that water is life and if you will not have your equipment for any other purpose, at least have it for clean water supply. We need water to stay hydrated, clean up, and in other situations for medical applications. More than that, we need clean drinking water. Let’s put this into perspective. Averagely, the normal human being system requires at least 1.75 liters of clean water every day to be healthy and function normally. This could be more in harsher conditions for instance in the extremely hot climate areas.

Whether you are permanently living in a place or you are there only for a while, buying bottled water doesn’t really make economic sense particularly for groups of people. On the other hand, relying on boiling water to kill bacteria may not purify the water. Distillation remains to be the most effective method of not just eliminating bacteria and other microorganisms but also removing unsafe chemical compounds from drinking water. In emergency situations, distilling equipment come in handy and are a much economical investment compared to stocking-up bottled water.

A simple table-top home steam distiller will do if you need a simple drinking water solution. These units are sold in kits including an electric still integrated with a condenser, filter, and a collection container. With an average distillation rate of 15 minutes per gallon, the home steam distiller is just enough for a prepper. Again, they are pretty easy to use, maintain, and are also safe and portable.

Alternatively, you may opt for a simple DIY steam distiller especially if you are considering other heating options apart from electricity.

2. Distilling fuel alcohol

We certainly need fuel to run our automobiles or trucks, for heating, cooking, lighting, and many other purposes. No prepper’s survival checklist is complete without fuel. Agreed that wood and gas are widely available. However, if you’re the type that likes it lean, wood fuel can be bulky and messy while gasoline may be hard to refill. How about distilling some fuel alcohol in such cases?

Ethanol is a clean fuel that can easily be produced using distillation equipment. It can be used for almost all gasoline applications and makes a good alternative. It can also be used to power small machines, run vehicles, cook, and heat. The two greatest advantages of fuel alcohol is that it can be produced on demand and is also portable.

It is important to note that distillation eliminates up to 95% of impurities from alcohol fuel. Because engines should run on 100% pure fuel, the other 5% can be removed by treating the fuel with drying agents like corn grit in the prepper’s case.

The best stills for fuel alcohol distillation are the reflux column stills. These stills have the capacity to produce the highest proof alcohol fuel. However, preppers would typically go for hybrid stills which can double up to produce other products.

3. Distilling antiseptic and disinfectant

Antiseptics are used to clean wounds while disinfectants are used on surfaces. They kill germs and bacteria to maintain high levels of hygiene.

Ethyl alcohol, for instance, is a multipurpose antiseptic/disinfectant that can be produced from fermented sugar proofed through distillation. When distilling antiseptic, it is vital to note that the strength of antiseptics in alcohol should range between 50% and 70%. High alcohol content does not necessarily guarantee the effectiveness of antiseptic. Above 90% of alcohol will affect the healing process of wounds negatively.

4. Distilling spirits 

Spirits are not exactly necessary but it would make it in the list of important stuff for preppers. In addition, you never know when it will come in handy as a barter so you do not miss crucial supplies thus it counts as valuable or as an enjoyable pastime. Distilling spirits requires some skill therefore gear up and equip yourself, there is no harm in learning. Importantly, continuous practice makes you a master in case you opt, later in life, to go commercial. Just be keen to familiarize yourself with federal, state, and local regulations concerning production both for personal and distribution purposes.

On a simpler level, you could distill wine to produce high-proof brandy or corn liquor. However, you will need serious skill and sophisticated distillation equipment to produce spirits like whiskey. But if you are caught up in a situation, sophistication would be far from what you can manage. You would probably need the simpler, quick-fix versions using readily available supplies to keep you going.